The Unification Church Symbol

[Jim Spencer]

When we look at the Unification Church symbol, we see that there are 12 rays extending outward. This symbol was chosen to represent the Unification of World Religions. As Unificationists--how are we going to unify the world? Can we do it by jamming "our" view of truth down their throats? Can we do it by listening to other God loving people while having a secret ambition to get them to a DP workshop so that they can recognize Father as the Lord of the 2nd Advent? If we have that  kind of attitude, it will never work. The only way that we can ever hope to unite all religions is through our love. God rules the universe through His love and people that were created as the children of God will naturally gravitate toward the highest love. So, the question must be----how do we develop our hearts so that we become generators of God's powerful love? Well, Father made one important statement which gives a major clue---"In the shoes of a servant and with the heart of the Father". People on Earth may belong to different religions but when God looks down, He only sees his children. It is religionists that put up the barriers of theological dogma to keep mankind separated from each other. When people start to judge each other based on their intellectual understanding of universal truth----only dis-unity can result. The human heart also goes through the Formation, Growth, and Perfection stages. A seeker on the road to Paradise can tell at what stage his own heart is at by the amount of unconditional love he or she feels about all other people. What made Jesus so special was his incredible love for others---the rich, the poor, the sinners, and even those who persecuted him. One way that we can grow our hearts is to understand how other people think and worship. Vist those temples, ashrams, and churches-----not to convert with a superior attitude----but to fellowship with your brothers and sisters---to share your love with them, and to serve them. Respect them, whatever stage of life they are at; and bow to the divine spirit within them. The more you do this, the bigger your hearts will grow, and the more magnetic your personality will be. Here is a Christmas message from the Self-Realization Fellowship. Their leader, Yogananda, was the first yogi to come to America in the 1930's. He died in 1959.

He came from the Hindu religion but, much of what he believed is what we Unificationist's believe, isn't it?

                       

                       

"Make your heart an altar of Christ-love ... so that you may love all
people, seeing in their body-temples the dwelling place of omnipresent
Christ."

- Paramahansa Yogananda

2011

Dear One,

Joyous Christmas greetings and goodwill of the holiday season from the ashrams of Paramahansa
Yogananda! May your heart be filled with the celestial joy and peace felt by receptive souls at this
auspicious time when so many around the world celebrate the birth of the beloved Lord Jesus.

In the incarnation of Jesus the infinitude and magnificence of God's universe-sustaining con-
sciousness -Kutastha Chaitanya-was fully manifest; yet perhaps what touches us most personally is
the way he lived and moved among the populace of his time in humility and boundless compassion
for every soul. He looked upon all persons as God's children, with the empathy and understanding of
one who has shared our human experience and knows our struggles. In sending His God-realized
souls to earth, God asks us to follow their example of living the heart-enlightening universal precepts,
so that we too can realize in our souls and express in Christlike actions the all-loving, all-giving divine
consciousness.

Our gurudeva, Paramahansaji, emphasized that spiritually auspicious occasions are a call to our
own soul's awakening-a favorable opportunity for a new birth of the latent power of God's univer-
sallove. That transforms our own lives and thereby blesses all those with whom we come in contact.

"Arise from dreams of littleness," Guruji urged us, "to the realization of the vastness within
you." To that end he invited us all to celebrate the real Christmas with a day set aside for soul-
expanding devotional meditation on God and His universal Christ Consciousness omnipresent in
every atom of being.

Our consciousness sheds its selfish boundaries proportionately as we reach out in empathetic
support of others, whether materially or by giving gifts of our time, attention, and caring. With every
effort we make to hold kindness in our hearts even toward those with whom we have had difficul-
ties, to harmonize and heal with the patience of understanding and the sweetness of forgiveness,
we draw upon the all-embracing consciousness that we honor in Jesus during this holy season.
Recognizing as he did the divine kinship of all humanity as souls, free of the constraints of social,
national, and religiou~ boundaries, is the, ultimate answer to so many of the challenges of our times.

In communion with God's omnipresence in meditation, we experience in the deepest way the
Heavenly Father that Jesus knew. The heart's feeling bursts its boundaries and feels for all as its
very own; you cannot bear to exclude anyone from that love. May that expanded consciousness be
the divine gift you receive this Christmas, to carry with you into the new year. Gurudeva told us, "If
everyone lived the ideals exemplified in the life of Jesus, having made those qualities a part of their
own selves through meditation, a millennium of peace and brotherhood would come on earth."

Wishing you and your dear ones all joy, peace, and blessings,

 

Sri Mrinalini Mata

Copyright © 2011 Self-Realization Fellowship. All rights reserved. Additional copies available on request.