God is not "the man upstairs"

Inasmuch as religious feeling is part of the process of growing up in modern society, it is most often relegated to the category of the irrational, and can then be regarded as unprovable, and so, unreal. Logical thought and action appear alone to determine reality. The transcendental gradually diminishes in importance because it is never personally experienced. And the main reason for this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of God. The Divinity is not remote from us at some mystically infinite distance, but inside each one of us. It should inspire us to lead our lives in harmony with the Infinite -- to recognize our short existence on Earth as part of the eternal Whole.

For centuries, Western thought has viewed the individual falsely as a being separate from God. In the 'enlightened' twentieth century, modern Western thought seems less certain than ever about possible answers to the most ancient human questions about God and the meaning of life. All over the world, new spiritual centres have sprung up, attempting to give answers to these questions -- questions which the rigidly held precepts of Church officialdom cannot answer. A kind of ecumenical world religion of the future is in ascendance. It is moving towards self-realization, towards a search for Enlightenment, towards a mystical and consummate vision of the cosmic context of one's individual existence, and all this by means of contemplation, self-knowledge and meditation.

The most forceful impetus for promoting such an internalization of religion has always come, and will continue to come, from the East, primarily from India. Western Man must now reorient himself in the most literal sense of the word -- turn towards the eastern dawn. The Orient is the origin and source of our experience of the inner realm.

From Jesus Lived in India: His Unknown Life Before and After the Crucifixion, by Holger Kersten, Pg. 5