In later times, a prayer arose that sounded like this: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me." Much later, the last words: "Have mercy on me a sinner," were added to this great prayer. This completely absurd phrase that speaks of "sinfulness" is contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ himself, who preached the divinity of every person.
Of course, on the path of life we all make mistakes, but fixing our attention on sin is extremely wrong. We make mistakes, which we learn from, and then we move on in our spiritual development. All possible mistakes made on the path of life are experiences from which lessons are learned with gratitude. If you fix your attention on the fact that you are allegedly sinful, then by doing so you direct your energy there and create an even greater opportunity for aggravating sin, thus forgetting about your original divinity.
One of the greatest spiritual teachers of India in the 19th century, Ramakrishna, said the greatest sin is to consider a person a sinner, because every person is divine.
Sathya Sai Baba also preached that every person is divine and can discover his nature as a son or daughter of God and even reach the same level of union with God as himself.
48. Simultaneously God and Man
Some people ask, why in the Jesus Prayer do we say, "Lord Jesus Christ" and then add "son of God?" Some see this as a contradiction. But there is no contradiction here because this phrase points to the dual nature of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was a man, but at the same time he is God. He is a historical figure, but at the same time a symbol. That is why his name consists of two parts, Jesus and Christ. Jesus is a symbol of human nature, and Christ is divine nature.
It is important to understand these two natures: human and divine, are present not only in Jesus Christ, but absolutely in every person. Everyone carries in his mind the divine and human nature.
The practice of repeating the names of God is very ancient and is used in both the Vedic and Biblical traditions. All the power of God is contained in His Holy Names. That is why the Lord's Prayer says: "Hallowed be Thy Name."
In the science of Kabbalah, there is a practice of repeating seventy-two names of God, and in the Vedic tradition, the practice of repeating one hundred and eight, as well as one thousand and eight names of God. The name of Jesus Christ has great spiritual power, as do the names of the other greatest teachers of the world, such as Krishna and Buddha.
