Posted February 2025

My tradition for the month of Valentine’s day is to recount the following story from the book Inspiration for a Life Worth Living, by Alan Cohen:

Who Amongst Us?

A mysterious stranger showed up at the door of a rundown monastery operated by several old monks who had become “spiritually parched.”

The monks noticed that the mysterious stranger had a glow about him. So they were eager to get to know him and learn of his wisdom and the source of that glow. The next morning, they joined the stranger at breakfast. The stranger announced that he had a dream in which one of the monks in this monastery was revealed to be the Messiah.

The monks were astonished. They asked him which one of them is the Messiah. The stranger replied that he could not reveal the answer.

That day, the mysterious stranger just as mysteriously disappeared from the monastery. The monks were stunned. They were left to themselves again, wondering now who amongst them is the Messiah.

During the months that followed, they began opening their eyes and hearts to one another for the first time. They treated one another with greater respect and love, knowing any one of them could be the Messiah.

Then, over a period of time, something miraculous began to happen. For the first time in many years, joy and appreciation began to fill the halls of the monastery. A feeling of eager anticipation enlivened the monks’ prayers, meals and conversations. Even the people who visited the monastery felt uplifted, and the number of visitors increased…

This is a wonderful story. Yet, there’s a better story. In a yogic version of this story, the stranger would have told the monks that every one of them is the messiah – not just one of them but all of them. Then, they would no longer wonder who is the messiah amongst them. Instead, they would know with all their heart that everyone of them is divine. They would not have to judge one another. No one would be put on a pedestal. No one would be looked down upon. Everyone would be given equal appreciation and love. The monastery would be a heavenly place. The monks would experience heaven on earth. Also, in the yogic version of the story, would know human nature and the tendency to forget their divinity and to revert to a negative, more limited view of themselves.  So instead of abandon the monks and letting them fend for themselves against those tendencies, he would stay with them and relentlessly show them their divinity and remind them of their divinity every day.

The Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh wrote In Living Buddha, Living Christ:

“From a Buddhist perspective, who is not the son or daughter of God?… When we are in touch with the highest spirit in ourselves, we too are a Buddha, filled with the Holy Spirit, and we become very tolerant, very open, very deep, and very understanding.”

In the February 2023 teaching article, Choosing Your State, Swami Nirmalananda wrote: “Yoga makes you able to find the Divine within, your essence effulging forth like a blossoming flower. You bring it with you into everything outside of you.”

So find and know the Divine Messiah within you, and know that that Divinity is in all beings. Respect and honor your own Divinity, and respect and honor the Divinity of all beings. Let there be heaven on earth!