Modified Religion by Maitreya

The idea of a spirit as continuing the life of a man in another dimension or state is widely accepted throughout the world. The Overlord, also sometimes known as, Overself, Overseer, or Personal God is an Eastern belief that is gaining popularity and respectability. This concept is found in the Hindu trinity, and once this is understood, the Mystery of the Holy Trinity of the Christian religion will also be easily answered.

To prove that what I am saying is nothing new but has existed through all times, instead of explaining what the Overlord is from my own words, I will relate it with the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Brahma, as we have understood earlier is God, but for the purposes of this section, we will take it to mean as a Personal God or Overlord. The Hindus of old might not have really bothered to distinguish between Brahma as the Personal God and Brahma as the Supreme God because in the hierarchy, man could only grasp as high as the concept of Brahma the Personal God. In my opinion, it would have been futile to comprehend God, when in fact, the concept of a Personal God was already puzzling by itself.

The Hindus created a hierarchy with lots of Gods at their disposal but they were never equal to or less than the Overlords, and the highest of these was referred to as the Supreme Brahma. As there are many gods in the hierarchy, so are there many Personal Gods, spirits, and men. All, except man are not material or physical in composition.

The second deity of the Hindu trinity is Vishnu, sometimes known as the preserver of universal and moral laws, the intermediary, and sustainer of life. It is this deity who reincarnates when the need arises according to the Hindu belief. In spite of all the descriptions and qualities assigned to him, Vishnu is still the spirit - the intermediary between Brahma the Overlord and man. It may sound very simple but it is the truth that physical man cannot reach out to his Overlord, nor the Overlord can reach down to him. But why is an intermediary needed? Why is there a spirit?

To answer the preceding questions, the whole Buddhist philosophy should be taken into account. According to Buddhist beliefs, this life is an illusion. This material existence is so far removed from the finer things of truth and reality that only through the eyes of our souls and spirits can we learn of the higher spiritual realm. I read a comment that if a Buddhist, while walking on the railway track sees a train coming his way, he will not jump off the track because, according to the article, the train is just an illusion. It is a very shallow interpretation with no effort put on thinking. In one way, this life is an illusion because we still need an intermediary - the spirit - to gain insight into the greater reality. It is an illusion because while we are living our material existence, we cannot understand the other greater life beyond or even completely comprehend our physical surrounding. It takes an insight into that other realm or dimension for us to have a basic and simple knowledge of our world. A whole book may be written why this life is called the world of illusion but the point is that we are not as capable here as we would be on the other side. We shall become greater when we shall have reached onto the other life.

The intermediary or spirit exists and gives life or animation to our physical existence. We on earth would not be worth more than inorganic objects if it isn't for the spirit in us. Since our physical bodies cannot and will never get to the other side, we have the spirit to move about. There will never be the much awaited rapture, so to speak. Our body is therefore the vessel, which one day, will be broken to let the spirit free but before that time comes, it pays to be careful and not harm our bodies. As a vessel, our physical body gains tactile and sensory experiences, which of course the spirit cannot do. Conditions are different here on earth from those prevailing in the other realm and when the time comes when the spirit is free, it carries with it the lessons, tribulations and experiences learned while the body was alive.

The third deity of the Hindu trinity is Shiva, a good study of contrasting personalities: destroyer and restorer, ascetic and sensual, kind and wrathful. The trinity is not a triangle as is commonly pictured but a hierarchy with Brahma - the Overlord or Personal God at the top, Vishnu - the spirit in the middle, and Shiva - man at the bottom. Between God or the Supreme Brahma and the Overlords or Personal Gods are the lesser Gods of the hierarchy but they do not concern us, and in fact, would complicate things. Let us therefore limit ourselves, as we have done, to gaining understanding of what the spirit and the Overlord are.

Looking at things the other way around, the Overlord or Brahma creates the spirit to enter and bring life into man. It is funny how some people deny the existence of the soul; they don't know that their respective spirits already were in existence before they were born as men. In fact, it is the soul which gives them awareness or consciousness; the sensory perceptions and experiences gathered while in the physical world are not relayed per se but are somewhat tempered. It is received by the spirit then eventually by the Overlord. Here again, many questions arise: if the experience of physical pain is tempered is there still pain in the other world? And if there is no pain, is pleasure nonexistent, too? Pain such as being roasted forever in hell or for a few years in purgatory or being kicked around by the devil does not exist. Pleasure, however, in the sense of being in a state of happiness exist. So, it is the soul or spirit which shall experience all these, differently from the body. Again, a good description of these non-earthly pleasures are found in the Hindu scriptures, but I think these were written purely to satisfy the curiosity of the cat (like we all are) and is not really spiritual in context. I really admire the Hindu writers; they are very comprehensive in the coverage of their subject matter, though not very concise, it takes a lot of reading between the lines to separate the chaff from the wheat. What they have written about these nonworldly kinds of experiences can be summarized however as what man thinks, that he will be.

The spirit therefore resides inside the body of man. It does not take sustenance from the body nor can it be corrupted when the body is harmed. It is like, as the Buddhists say, a lotus which remains pure even if its surroundings are filthy. When there is substance abuse such as the use of drugs and alcohol, it is the body which suffers and the link between the spirit and the body is affected. The spirit and the body are linked and messages between the two pass through here and into the mind or brain of the person. The mind of an alcoholic or a drug user, while under the influence of either substance, is not functioning normally, so some of the messages, get garbled, lost, misplaced or deformed. I say "link" between the body and the spirit for lack of a better term. It is sometimes referred to as a silver cord, and again a full understanding of this link will not lead to power or spiritual knowledge because it is just the soul, really, getting a grip on the living body. Where, if any part of the body, do exactly the spirit and the physical brain meet? One is not material and the other is physical. The brain converts the chemicals into electricity and vibrations; the spirit then receives and picks-up the vibrations which are harmonious with it. So, through abuse of the body, the vibrations become gross, and the signals become incompatible with the finer state of the soul.

MODIFIED RELIGION
by Maitreya

III. THE REALITY OF A PERSONAL GOD
AND THE SPIRIT

MODIFIED RELIGION by Maitreya

III. THE REALITY OF A PERSONAL GOD AND THE SPIRIT

MODIFIED RELIGION
by Maitreya

III. THE REALITY OF A PERSONAL GOD
AND THE SPIRIT