“On the highest level of understanding, when Lord Jesus so magnificently asserts, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within thee,” He is speaking about the one goal of all religions: God-realization, Enlightenment or Nirvana. This powerful statement of Lord Jesus is explicit in pointing out that the Heaven you seek is not outside of yourself and not to be expected as a future event; rather, it is the intrinsic fact of your existence. You must seek Heaven through an inner transformation.
The same theme reverberates in such great utterances of Vedanta as “Thou Art That.” With these words, the Guru instructs the disciple: You are not this passing personality or any of the limited concepts that you, in ignorance, consider yourself to be. Through purification of mind you will discover that you are that Pure Consciousness that is the Essence of all. You are Brahman, the Supreme Self. To Lord Jesus, God is identical with Heaven. Therefore, abiding in Heaven is the same as abiding in God. This is described in Vedanta as Jivan Mukti, or Liberation in life, which is the goal of all Yogic movements, the very goal of life Lord Jesus taught in clear and concise terms that you must never forget the principal purpose of your existence: attainment of the Kingdom of Heaven, Liberation, Nirvana, Self-realization, release from the bondage of birth and death, cessation of sorrow.
But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. (KJV Luke 12: 31)
The quest for the highest goal implies integrating your personality, so that in this journey every part of your being becomes deeply involved and fulfilled. You seek God through your intellect by following the path of wisdom. You pursue Him through your heart by following the path of devotion. You seek to do His will by following the path of meditation and action. Human life must be a perpetual quest for the Kingdom of Heaven, for the attainment of God-realization.” (p. 222-223)
~ Mystic Pathways Through The Bible by Swami Jyotirmayananda
