I Will Take The First 10% Of Your Income

Towards A Global Government

I envision a world government to which every member country pays 1% of its GDP as tax. To the national government citizens pay income tax and indirect taxes. That income tax might be 25% or 35%, maybe even 40%. Sometimes you pay 35% to the federal government and another 10% to the city and state governments. And if you are to give 10% of your income to God, what are we looking at? Are you giving away half of your income? Maybe more? 60%?

There is income, and then there is wealth. Maybe all billionaires ought to limit themselves and their families to a billion and give away the rest. There can be foundations. There can be wealth tax. There is an urgency to meet the basic needs of all humanity.

There are laws that enforce taxation. If you don't pay up, you could go to jail. But the 10% you give to God is not like that. If you don't give you don't go to jail. If you don't give you don't go to hell either. The tithe is not God's tax. The act of not giving that 10% to God is not sin.

But it is guidance. That guidance is an act of love. God who created everything has no need for your money. Then why ask for it? And not just any 10% but the first 10%. Why? So you may, through your act of giving, reassure yourself that 100% of your income, 100% of your wealth comes from God. That is total surrender. It is so you may engage in work and generate income and create wealth and yet not fall into that trap of idolatry that worship of wealth is. Only God can be worshipped. Worship of wealth is idolatry and it takes you away from God and salvation becomes impossible. You do not give away 10% because priests and pastors need to be paid salaries or because houses of worship need to be built and maintained or because the hungry need to be fed, the naked need to be clothed, and the homeless need to be housed. All that is necessary but secondary. The primary reason is so you may attain 24/7 God-consciousness in the easiest way possible. You do it for you.

And so I will take the first 10% of your income. You are to give the first 10% of your income to God. There is no jail or hell if you don't. But if you don't that might lead you away from God and salvation. Paradise is so wonderful it is worth 100% of your income and wealth, it is worth your very life. But you are merely being asked to give the first 10% of your income.

How do you give me your 10%? You give it to the house of worship you visit. It is not too much to ask that each such house of worship keep their book keeping transparent. Taking care of the needy is the first order of business. Although worship related expenses are very much included. Try and get the ratio right. Reach out to the needy globally.

या अल्लाह, या अब्बा

इस सृष्टि के कण कण से आप झाँक रहे होते हैं
प्रत्येक ह्रदय के प्रत्येक स्पंदन में आप का वास है
आँख बंद करूँ तो आप सब जगह
आँख खोलुँ तो आप सामने
मेरे प्रार्थना के शब्द ह्रदय से निकलने से पहले
आप सुन लेते
जितना बड़ा ये संसार
उससे बड़ा आपका प्यार
अब्बा 

One God, Several Religions

The Holy Father is a Being. The Holy Son is a Being. The third member of that Holy Trinity is also a Being. The Holy Ghost is described a witness to both the Father and the Son. But God is one because the three exist in perfect harmony.

Jesus was a name the Holy Son acquired on earth in human incarnation. It is a culture-specific name too. It is Greek. The name actually was Yeshua. In the Koran the same name is Isa. In Hindi today the name is Yeshu. That name is for this cycle of creation until the earth is ended and the long night begins.

That there is a God, that there is a heaven, that there is a hell: these are counter-intuitive suggestions. That is why the trinity concept is hard to understand. Because the human being tries to understand the Trinity through four-dimensional metaphors. That is hugely limiting. Describe a three-dimensional person using only two-dimensional tools. What do you get? You get photographs and sketches, even videos. If God is the tenth, the final dimension, how do you present God in four dimensions? But it is possible for human beings to understand. Not God, but God's revelations. The creation itself is revelation, of what God can do. The scriptures are revelation.

A human incarnation of God is the ultimate revelation. It is a special divine act. It is done for the benefit of humanity.

The concept of a chosen people - the Jews, the Brahmins - is that otherwise it was hard for God to make His presence felt among human beings.

The major world religions all talk about the same God from slightly different angles. None of the scriptures contradict each other. If you have been born into one faith tradition you stand to benefit by learning about the other faith traditions. You get a fuller picture of God.

Ends up the third person of the Trinity has been on earth in human form. Hindus call Him Shiva. He is the founder of Yoga on earth. He had seven disciples. He is placed somewhere between 10 and 12 thousand years ago towards the end of the Ice Age. The Holy Father showed up in human incarnation as Lord Rama 7,000 years ago. Before He left (or died) He said He will be back, just like Jesus said He will be back. He was back 2,000 years later as Lord Krishna. But the Hindu belief system talks about birth after birth after birth. In the Geeta, spoken out by Lord Krishna 5,000 years ago, Jesus is presented as the path to salvation also for Hindus. No matter the extent of your sin, you can still go to heaven by way of Wisdom, Lord Krishna says. Wisdom is the name Jesus has in the Old Testament, or the Jewish Bible.

If God is one, and there is a heaven to go to, and all major religions talk about the same God, and if none of the scriptures contradict each other, then religions should not be thought of as tribes you belong to. It is not my religion is better than yours. It is how you love that one God. It is about how you do good work. It is about atoning for your sins.

The Jews were taught to burn animal fat. The Brahmins were taught to burn butter, or ghee. But both only to a point. After Jesus no animal sacrifice has been necessary anywhere. Contrition of heart is enough. That is universally applicable.

In the Koran Jesus is the Denied Son, because Ischmael was denied. There are many human beings today who do not know who their father is. To them God says I am your true Father. The Koran is a statement of love. Just like the Gospel is a statement of love. God sacrificed His Son to atone for your sins. Christians, of all people, should understand why God denies His Son in the Koran.

On the other hand, Prophet Muhammad dies not knowing if he is going to heaven. His task was to lead his people to the One True Living God from the many false gods and goddesses they had been worshipping. He did that. But Prophet Muhammad was not the bridge to heaven. He did not pretend otherwise. Just like the Geeta points towards Jesus, the Koran also points towards Jesus. You are to surrender to the knowledge that God denying His Son is an act of love. God so loved humanity He denied His very Son.

Matter and energy in the vast universe obey the laws of physics created by God. Human will is different. There are consequences to choices you make. You have to pay for your sins. But if you will repent, God will pay on your behalf.

Hell is so hellish, earth looks like paradise from hell. No pain, no discomfort, no deprivation, no injustice, no poverty, no torture on earth compares to the pain you would experience in hell. If you are on earth your first priority ought be to secure your place in heaven, in paradise. Have faith. Love God. Pray. Worship.

The pursuit of human knowledge is the premise that the human being does not know. There are many academic disciplines. At any point in time you have working knowledge based on which you make decisions. But the thing about faith is God is the God of perfect knowledge. There is nothing that God does not know. All knowledge you have acquired, all knowledge you will ever possibly acquire, God already knows it all, all of it. And that God loves you with His capacity for infinite love. Loving that God has got to be your priority number one. You love God back with your finite capacity for love.

Look at the past few hundred years. Look at how grandly you have messed up. For one, there is global warming. And that global warming Satan promises in the Koran. In the Koran Lucifer is quoted as saying, I will talk you into destroying the very nature that is your home. Think about that. Lucifer has had a monkish detachment towards all your scientific and technological advances of the past few hundred years. He has been utterly unimpressed. He does not care for your riches. He only wants your soul. In the recent centuries human knowledge has led to human hubris and by and large humanity has walked away from God, with disastrous consequences. Something as gigantic as the Pacific is floating in plastic. There is a big hole in the atmosphere.

Let that be a lesson as you embark on a steeper trajectory of advances in science and technology. Love of God has to be your priority number one. Otherwise you just end up with a much bigger version of global warming, if that is even possible.

Love God back with all your heart, mind and soul. That is the most important thing.

Those who study physics study the first four dimensions. Let them have the humility to extrapolate and see there are beyond dimensions. The fourth dimension of time itself was created. This is creation. You were created.

Mindless physical violence has to stop. Mindless emotional violence at the level of group identities has to come to a stop. Love of God is the path to peace, prosperity and, most important, salvation.