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Be Ye Therefore Perfect - Swami Kriyananda |
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Part I |
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Ye have heard it said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you; and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun to rise on the evil as well as on the good, and sends rain to both the just and the unjust. For if ye love them who love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the tax collectors the same? And if ye salute only your brethren, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? |
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(Matt. 5:43-7) |
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Jesus goes on to emphasize that virtue, rewarding as it is in itself for the peace and happiness it brings, serves the supreme purpose of inspiring the desire for soul-union with God. His next words read: |
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Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect. |
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Jesus is saying that we are children of God, and as such have a divine duty to break out of our prison of human imperfection. Every human feeling should be refined to the point where it expresses God’s infinite love. Virtue itself should be thought of in more than human terms, for it springs from the source of all goodness, in God. |
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© "The Mind and its Control" by Swami Budhananda, published by Advaita Ashrama, 5 Dehi Entally Road, Kolkata 700 014. website: www.advaitaashrama.org. Reprinted with permission. |
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