The Greatest Sign is The Sign revealed to humanity through Maitreya. It reveals the unity of all Religions and Spiritual truth on earth (Universe).  It Unifies all religions of the world and fulfills the prophecies of a unifying teaching to come.

02/21/1988 Satsang (Discourse) by

Maitreya: Today we are going to present an overall view of the Mission and our basic teaching. It can be a kind of capsule of what we're trying to accomplish in our Mission, and what is our vision for the coming of the New Era on earth.

If you look at the whole right now, you can see the whole earth is going through a great upheaval. This upheaval can be seen in all levels of human endeavor. It's not only in one country, one nation, or one people, it's affecting everyone's life.

All the signs are directing and showing that a new direction for humanity is very necessary. This new direction, or coming of the New Era, has been predicted by all the major religions of the world. All of them predicted that eventually earth will be a peaceful place and humanity will reach a point where they'll see there is no way but to realize, this is one world, one earth, one humanity, one creation, one Creator and we are interdependent -- not just interdependent with one another but with the whole universe.

This connection cannot be broken. Someone said that if even one person could break this connection, the whole universe would collapse. Of course, it's not possible to break because there is no separation between man and the Creator. God -- Creator, Father -- whatever name you want to call Him -- is desirous that humanity realize that this creation, this earth, and humanity are all one and inseparable from Him.

If this is true, then why is there so much confusion in religions, each religion separating itself from the other religion, or other persons? They say, "No, I am a Jew, or I am a Moslem, or I am a Christian, or I am a Hindu," or whatever religion their fathers were in, or their affiliates, or their countrymen are following. That is the religion that they think everyone else has to follow. "I'm in this denomination, you're in another denomination, so we are separate from one another. I am a Moslem, you are a Christian, so we are different. You are a Jew, we are different."

There's only one Creator. How can He create so many different religions and create so much confusion? Man did not want to follow God's Laws, which He gave thousands of years ago. And because man became self-conscious and said, "My will, not God's Will," there was a decision made that humanity would be left alone, by itself. He let them follow their own will and whims, and let them try to create their world, as they think the earth, or the life, or the environment they live in, has to be.

Spirit (Grace) was withdrawn from guiding humanity because they didn't want to listen. They said, "Our will, not Yours." That's why in the last 12,000 years there's been such confusion in human life, and from 6,000 years ago, great Prophets and great religions started appearing on earth.

God chose Prophets and sent messages through them. These messages each covered just one part of the greater truth. This truth was not revealed in whole during the last 12,000 years. Although it was revealed to humanity before then, humanity failed around 12,000 years ago. That's why a period of testing occurred, a period of letting the human see what he's going to do alone by himself and to the earth if there is no guidance from God, from higher consciousness.

You can look at history and see strife, wars, injustice, disease and many, many horrible things that have gone through the earth for at least the last 6,000 years that we have written history and we are aware of what has happened. It is war after war, the domination of one group over the other and then the fall of that group and the domination from another group, etc. It's happened all through history to this point. Being separate from one another has become kind of a norm for humanity.

We were talking about unity. Some people can't imagine it because they separate one from another in so many ways -- "ours and theirs, this is my religion, this is their religion." Now people are waking up more and more, and they are seeing that is not working. Probably years ago it would have worked. Now they see, if something happens to another country or another nation, it's going to affect them. They have no escape. They are very much a part of the interdependent earth, and they cannot escape being affected by the actions of other people -- their beliefs, their value system, their economical system, their social system, their intellectual system. All of this is affecting them. They have no escape.

They don't understand it, there's such confusion. Each culture truly believes they have the truth. They really believe they are the way and what they have been inspired with is the only way. You know this by listening to a Hindu or a Buddhist or a Moslem or a Christian. They really believe, they are sincere in what they do and what they are following. At the same time, all of them preach there is one God who sends all these religions to humanity, and the other person's God doesn't know what he is talking about. Only their God knows the truth.

So although they want to create unification, each wants to convert the other to his own religion. They say, "The only way that peace can come on earth is for everyone to become a Moslem," "The only way that humanity can be saved is for everyone to become a Christian," "The only way that God is going to bring that everlasting peace is to fulfill the Jewish expectation of being the chosen people."

Then what is the truth? What has God really created in the last 12,000 years? Who is the chosen person? The chosen person is the person who follows God's Will. Yet, who knows what God's Will is?

That is where the Mission comes in. Our teaching comes to humanity with a definite answer. We don't want to convert each of you to one religion. Each person, each religion, each Prophet had a message for humanity. Each of these messages, although they have great truth, are not complete without the rest of the messages. Each of these messages belong to the greater truth which we call, the Eternal Divine Path.

And who is the Elect? Who is the chosen? The One who follows this Eternal Divine Path, or those who follow the Eternal Divine Path are the Children of Israel (Children of Light)‚ the chosen ones, the light bearers.

This Message brings unity because the Moslem doesn't have to stop being a Moslem. He expands himself to the rest of the truth. The Christian doesn't have to give up his Christianity. He expands himself to the six other truths that we present to humanity. All this teaching has been given in The Greatest Sign. In The Greatest Sign, humanity is unified.

The very center of The Greatest Sign represents God. The three colors of The Greatest Sign, the blue, the orange and the white, represent the creative forces in the universe. Consciousness doesn't have any form, any color, any name. It can only be realized in its purest form which is not created, because it is beyond the three creative forces (gunas) in the universe.

So when the universe started expanding from the very center of itself, you can call It "Father" or "Pure Consciousness," It evolved Itself in a spinning process. As It spun, It created the whole universe. So the whole universe is created by Consciousness, or Father, and the creative force which you can call Mother, The Holy Mother, the Creation, Nature.

Eventually man was created in the image of God (). As you see, the seal on the bottom of The Greatest Sign () and the center sign () are in each other's image. God created man in His own image. Of course, man's spiritual forces, which are represented by the horizontal I-Ching, have not yet been awakened. That's why man's spiritual forces are in a horizontal position () and God's spiritual forces are in a vertical position (). From the very beginning God presented the Eternal Divine Path, or the seven steps to reach Pure Consciousness (or the goal of life).

In order to know God, you have to become familiar with Self and how the universe has been created (). In this regard, many paths and much mystical knowledge has been revealed to humanity. This mystical knowledge is taught in all religions of the world. The very base of this knowledge is meditation, or going within to know Self. If you know Self, which is in the image of God, then you know God. Man, know thyself -- to know God -- because Self and God are the same.

These mystical paths cover Hinduism, or the Far East Philosophies. It covers Buddhism; it covers Kaballah, the mystical teaching of the Jewish religion. It covers mystical Christianity. It covers Sufism in Islam and any other path that talks about knowing Self is knowing God. So the very first step in this spiritual journey is to know Self. The fastest way to know Self is meditation.

In order to meditate you need an environment which supports you in all levels, so you can have enough time to meditate and know Self. That is where the Communities of Light (second seal or star of David) () come in. If you study the Old Testament, you will see that God is trying to choose a people as His own, the people who will accept Him as their King. They will accept Him as the Highest Authority. And they will create Communities of Light based on God's Word, God's Teachings and God's Commands.

These communities are symbolically represented by the twelve tribes of Israel. The twelve tribes of Israel had a system -- the triangle upward -- which Moses brought to them. They also had a very deep spiritual understanding of God's Plan and God's Law -- the triangle downward.

So they had the system (), and they had the Laws and Grace of God (). They were reaching up to God and God was reaching down to them. That is why they created the Communities of Light, they became the Children of Israel -- the Children of Light. Knowing Self will be accelerated in these communities because you will have the time, support and understanding of others to be able to meditate to know God and become One with Him.

In order to create such communities, sacrifice is needed. The third seal (the cross) () is the symbol of the coming of the Christ, Esa (Jesus). Esa went to the cross for his ideal. He showed that in order to create the Communities of the Children of Light, the utmost sacrifice is necessary. Sacrifice really means, not being self-centered. It means to be other-centered, to give up "mine" and "thine" for "ours."

Sacrifice makes such communities possible. Of course, sacrifice, like everything else, can be three kinds. It can be from ignorance, passion or knowledge. Sacrifice for something that is not necessary and the person doesn't need it, is from ignorance. Sacrifice when you expect something in return, is from passion. When you expect something in return, then it's really a business, isn't it? "I do something for you, you do something for me." So you are not really doing sacrifice but you are making a deal. "You do this for me, I'll do that for you." Sacrifice from knowledge is when it's done without expectation, for the good of the community.

At the same time, you always have to be careful. It's just like a good plant. When you have a good plant the soil around the plant is good. So usually the weeds start growing around it also. The weeds start trying to obtain the nutrition from the soil where the plants are growing.

Sacrificing has to be done with a very discriminating mind, that we will not sacrifice for the weeds but for the real plants. So we have to weed out those elements that use the resources of the community but really don't give any flower, they don't give any fruit.

You know them by their fruits. If they're not giving any fruits, what do you do? It's a weed, cut it off. You have no choice. You have to say, "OK, this is a weed, now I know." Then, after awhile, you know all the weeds. When you see a weed you say, "Oh, that is a weed," right away.

That's why sacrificing is so important. Many communities have suffered because very few sacrifice to the utmost and many other "weeds" just eat their nutrition. Then they became thinner and thinner. Eventually they died because they didn't have any nutrition themselves to continue. They just gave and gave and gave. When they no longer gave, those communities fell apart!

Everyone, even the highest person on earth, has a limit in his capacity to give. The physical body is very demanding on the energy. Therefore, you have to weed out those things that will weaken the community and only bring in those that bring fruits. Then you might be able to help others to a point that they also will give fruit.

Even in sacrificing, there is a pitfall. After you sacrifice for awhile, you might create two kinds of expectation. You either say, "Oh, I am sacrificing so much, but why is it not working?" Sometimes it feels so slow, everything is going slow and things are not happening. You put so much effort into people and things, and you think, "It's not happening." So you might become discouraged.

The other one is, you sacrifice and you do to gain some results. And you say, "Wow, I'm such a great person. Look at me. I'm the person who's doing this. Really, this Mission needs me. I am really the person running this Mission," etc. Ego comes in.

That is when the surrendering and submission (fourth seal) () should be remembered. Surrendering means to do the Will of God but surrender the results to Him. Submission is to ideate that, It's not really me who's doing it, it is God who is doing it through me.

With submission we become a channel for God, and we do sacrifice with a discriminative mind. We weed out the weeds. We strengthen the community. Yet at the same time, we never become very egoistical. We say, "OK God, you did a good job. Thank you very much, I'll go ahead to another project, to another thing."

The very name of Islam means to be submissive to God. Yet, with being submissive, you still might create a narrow perception of the universe.

We say, "OK, I just sacrificed and became a channel for God for this community. I don't care about the rest of the communities. I don't care about the rest of humanity. I don't care about the rest of the universe. As long as my community is in good shape, that's enough." That is where the narrowness and the smallness of the mind comes in.

It's just like a river going to the ocean. As long as the water continues flowing to the ocean, it stays fresh, it stays beautiful. It jumps over the rocks and you can see the joy in it, just like it's laughing. If you listen to the river very carefully, you can hear the river laughing because it's going to the ocean.

Just imagine somehow the water in the river got stuck and became a pond. What happens to a pond? It spoils. It doesn't progress any longer. The moment the river doesn't progress toward the ocean, or God, what happens? It becomes spoiled. The frogs start entering it and a lot of unwanted animals start living in that pond. It becomes smelly, full of bugs and germs. It's no longer connected, it's no longer progressing.

That's what happens when you do not become a universalist (fifth seal) (). A universalist is one who sees that God is everything and the universe is God. There is no separation between any element in this universe and any other element. He realizes that whatever separates any portion of the universe from another portion, is narrow. That is not from God. That is dogma. Universalism is the very pivotal point in the Baha'i teaching. The Baha'i teaching is universalism.

So by meditation and becoming familiar with the Spirit within (first seal) (), we will understand the mystical part in humans. Then by trying to create the Communities of Light (second seal) (), sacrificing to create the Communities of Light (third seal) (), and becoming submissive to God (fourth seal) (), we awaken our spiritual forces. If we look at The Greatest Sign in the fourth seal, the spiritual force has become vertical now, as God's is.

When you are submissive, your spiritual forces are awakened. This is not the same as the people who love to have a lot of powers. For instance, they work on how to bend a fork. Why do you want to have the power of mind to bend a fork? What good does that do?

It just reminds me of that yogi who went to his teacher. His teacher said, "OK, go and meditate on this word." This yogi went and meditated for ten years. He came back to his teacher and said, "Teacher, come, come, I want to show you a great thing." The teacher said, "What, what do you want to show me?" He said, "Come, come." They went to the lake close by where his teacher was living, and the disciple started walking on the water and went to the middle of the lake.

His teacher thought for awhile, called the boatman and gave him a penny. He said, "Take me to that foolish yogi there." And so the boatman took him there. When the teacher came to the yogi he said, "You spent ten years for something I can buy for one penny? So you can walk on the water. You wasted your time. I didn't give you that word for you to learn how to walk on the water!"

It's OK, if some powers came to you, it's fine. If during your spiritual progress some powers came to you, this is the gift of The Holy Ghost. That's OK, use them for the good of humanity but don't be proud of them and show them off. Don't become carried away by them. "Oh, I have this healing power. I am channeling. I can bend a fork." Bending a fork is really foolish. Having these gifts is great, but how can I help humanity? This is greater. It is our birthright to have these gifts.

Then, when we become submissive, this submission brings us the feeling that even that gift is from God. When we awaken our spiritual forces, then God is manifested through us in Truth. He and us are One because our spiritual forces are awakened. We are One in Spirit. See, the I-Ching is vertical in the center sign () and the I-Ching in the fourth seal is vertical (). The spiritual forces are awakened.

After becoming a universalist, seeing God is everywhere and in everything and there is no separation (), you become an Elect (sixth seal) (). That is who an Elect is. An Elect is a person who knows himself (first seal) (). He tries to create the Communities of Light (second seal) (). He sacrifices for the Communities of Light (third seal) (). He becomes submissive to God (fourth seal) (), a universalist (fifth seal) (), and then he becomes an Elect (sixth seal) ().

An Elect is not a religious name. It's not Jewish, or Hindu, or Moslem, or Christian -- it doesn't have any name. It has the quality of that which he has gone through. Such a person is open and is a dynamic spiritual force. These people will lead humanity to Oneness with God, to Pure Consciousness.

So really, as we see, the spiritual forces are awakened in the fourth seal (). By the time we come to the sixth seal (), as we go through the Eternal Divine Path, our spiritual forces are fully awakened. We are One with God in all levels. In this sixth seal (), we manifest God's qualities completely. There is no narrowness of mind. There is no separation. There is no "mine and thine." There is no "my country, your country, my religion, your religion, my this and my that." It's, What is God's Plan?

God's Plan is to bring Unity in the universe. What makes us not be unified and One? Our egos which separate us from one another.

As we can see The Greatest Sign represents the seven seals that have been prophesied will come to earth. It explains a greater truth which contains all major religions and all the Mystical Paths on earth. Not only does it show the path to Pure Consciousness or Oneness with God, it also unifies everyone together. It shows how all have come from one God and all only have part of His Truth. When we put all of these seals together, we will become one. The whole is greater than its parts!

That is the purest, most clear teaching or revelation for humanity. This can create unity for humanity and make them come out of this dead end that they are in. As we said, you have to accept God and His Teachings. You have to accept His Will. You have to accept His Message and work toward Its fulfillment.

Its fulfillment is really very simple. It is to create the Communities of Light. That is where the power goes to the people. The Communities of Light are really where we can say, "It is a system for the people, by the people and of the people." It's in the hands of the people and that is how we can give the power to the people -- the people whose minds, decisions and communities are based on God and God's Plan.

These communities will create the hierarchy, or the system. It is these communities that will create the hierarchy on earth and will bring unity to humanity. And it will happen, not by force, but in a very evolutionary manner, because these communities are of the people, and it is the people who will change the earth, not anyone else. Because it evolves from the people and because it is the desire of God and His Will, it will happen.

It has been prophesied that He will come as the King and we have to accept Him as the King. These communities will accept Him as the King. And because they accept Him as the King, He will come. His Will is to see this happen. Therefore, that is the only way to bring peace and unity to humanity. That is why we emphasize the creation of the Communities of Light.

The Communities of Light are the answer to our salvation, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. It is in these communities that we can see ourselves face-to-face and work on ourselves to progress to our perfection. This comes not easily and overnight but in an evolutionary manner.

Individually in the Communities of Light, in the dynamics of the collectivity, we start seeing ourselves clearly -- the way we act. Then because we meditate and everyone is in higher consciousness in these communities, we have no choice but to face the Spirit in each other. When we face the Spirit in each other -- and it is from higher consciousness -- we suddenly realize, "Look, there are so many things that I didn't know about myself. Now I can look at myself squarely and there's no judgmentality. It's OK. We're not perfect. We'll try together."

As we're trying together, we're compassionate toward one another. We see one another's faults, yet at the same time we compassionately point out to one another those faults. We grow together toward a greater unity which is in God because we all are focusing on God, not one another.

If I am One with God and you are One with God, then we are One. But if I try to become one with you and you try to become one with me, it won't happen because nothing becomes united in physical creation. It is an illusion that the people want -- to become unified and united with each other. After awhile they become disillusioned. Then they try many relationships and have no choice but to say, "Well, this is not the person. This is not the person. This is not the person."

Eventually they go through all these relationships and they become very disappointed. They say, "No, it can't be done on earth." Yet with God it can be done. If I am One with God and you're one with God, and we take care of these little personality problems and our wills, eventually we reach a point where we see, Yes, we are One. It wasn't that hard. We just needed to work out some little personality problems with each other. Then that Love of God will spring from each of us and that is the rarest commodity in the universe. Very few people really have the commodity of the true Love of God that they can present to each other. Yet that is what humanity needs.

The more of these Communities of Light we create, the more people go to this fountain of Love. As Esa told that lady at the well, "I'll give you of this water that you will thirst no more."

Then many people can eat of this infinite Love and drink of this fountain, and never thirst again. That is when the Kingdom will come on earth, not by force, not by revolution, but by the infinite Love of God in the Communities of Light.