The Promise of the Scriptures (with Nayaswami Parvati)
Sunday Service with Nayaswami Parvati and Nayaswami Pranaba at Ananda Village, recorded November 13th 2022.
In the Bible, Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son, who, after leaving and wasting all of his father's money, comes back to the palace to be received with open arms. Nayawami Parvati sheds light on the deeper meaning of this parable and how the prodigal son's journey represents the journey of almost every soul on earth.
This week's reading is:
The Promise of the Scriptures
(From Rays of the One Light - Weekly Commentaries on the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Kriyananda)
Truth is one and eternal. Realize oneness with it in your deathless Self, within.
The following commentary is based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda.
In the Gospel of St. Luke, Chapter 15, we read the famous Parable of the Prodigal Son. Jesus tells of the man who took the wealth bestowed on him by his father, and squandered it in foreign lands, where he fell into evil ways. At last, repentant, he returned to his father’s home. When his father saw him, he was (Jesus tells us)
moved with compassion, and ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee. I am no longer worthy to be called thy son.” But the father said to his servants, “Fetch quickly the best robe and put it on him, and give him a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet; and bring out the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; because this my son was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and is found.” And they began to make merry.
Small-hearted human beings, identified as they are with their little egos, give exaggerated importance to any slight they receive from others. Thus, they imagine God, like them, to be petty, unpardoning, and vindictive. In God’s eyes, however, when human beings go astray there is nothing to forgive. All of us are aspects, only, of His own Self. He who made us resides in us. He is not far away from us in some far-off heaven. His call to us, always, is to return to our own home, within.
The way of return is described in the Bhagavad Gita, in the sixth Chapter:
Supreme blessedness is that yogi’s who has completely calmed his mind, controlled his ego-active tendencies (rajas), and purged himself of desire, thereby attaining oneness with Brahma, the Infinite Spirit.
Thus, through holy Scripture, God has spoken to mankind.
