When someone asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come, he replied that it was not something that was outside that could be pointed at or discovered by directing the senses outwards. He made this clear by saying, “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or lo there! for behold the kingdom of God is within you!” (Luke 17:21).
But how does one discover “The Kingdom of God” within? What do we have to do to get there?
The answer is provided by the saint called “Peace Pilgrim”. She said that doing the “right effort” gets you there:
“Never think of any right effort as being fruitless. All right effort bears fruit, whether we see the results or not.”
In another essay she writes, “In the final analysis you find spiritual truth through your own higher nature. Your higher nature is a drop in the ocean of God – and has access to the ocean. Sometimes your higher nature is awakened through the inspiration of beautiful surroundings or beautiful music, bringing you insights of truth. Sometimes you see the truth written or hear the truth spoken, and your higher nature confirms it. Or you directly perceive the truth from the inside through an awakening of the higher nature, which is my way. All the inspired writing came from the inner source, and you too can receive from that source. Be still and know.”
On the same lines, Fr. Anthony de Mello says, “If you search within your heart, you will find something there that will make it possible for you to understand: a spark of disenchantment and discontent, which if fanned into flame will become a raging forest fire that will burn up the whole of the illusory world you are living in, thereby unveiling to your wondering eyes the kingdom that you have always lived in unsuspectingly.”
The “Kingdom Of God” is not a thought nor a belief as Eckhart Tolle says, “Being spiritual has nothing to do with what you believe and everything to do with your state of consciousness.”
Many thousands of years ago Patanjali showed the way to deeper states of consciousness through Yoga. “Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind.” He said. And once you start on this journey there will be no stopping:
“Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame.”- B.K.S. Iyengar
Credits: This has been written by Raj Shah and edited by Ketna Shah.