Just conceptions of God and man
“A feast in honor of the magian God was being held, and many men were gathered in Persepolis. And on the great day of the feast the ruling magian master said, Within these sacred walls is liberty; whoever wills to speak may speak.“And Jesus, standing in the midst of all the people, said, My brothers, sisters, children of our Father-God: Most blest are you among the sons of men today, because you have such just conceptions of the Holy One and man” (Aquarian Gospel 39:1-4).
I once heard the phrase: “Man’s inhumanity to God,” and years ago I had a small book called Think Well of God, written by a cleric of a church which has trafficked for centuries in threats of hell and damnation, especially fond of talking about incurring the wrath of God and “losing the friendship of God.” He was doing his best to counteract the damage done for so long, but considering his book is long out of print I can only assume that God as a Big Stick has remained the preferred usage in his church. It is no joke: believers can be far more blasphemous of God than unbelievers.
The only just conception of God and man is that of their fundamental unity–even identity–an understanding that it is their nature to be in total harmony with one another, for God to dwell in man and man to dwell in God. This is certainly the viewpoint of Jesus.
Purity in worship and life
“Your purity in worship and in life is pleasing unto God; and to your master, Zarathustra, praise is due” (Aquarian Gospel 39:5).
Purity is needed in both belief and deed, for impure belief will eventually produce impure action, and impure acts will corrupt the mind and thereby in time corrupt our beliefs. This is why sincerity alone is not sufficient in spiritual life, even though it is impossible to be truly spiritual without sincerity, which is a form of truthfulness.
Cosmology
“Well say you all, There is one God from whose great being there came forth the seven Spirits that created heaven and earth; and manifest unto the sons of men are these great Spirits in the sun, and moon, and stars” (Aquarian Gospel 39:6).
The One and the Seven have already been covered earlier, the only new fact here being that the distinctive powers of the Seven are manifested in and through the radiations of the sun and planets. This used to be held by astrologers in Europe–that the powers of the seven Archangels were conveyed by the planets, and planetary configurations were interpreted as angelic influences. Life was looked upon as a weaving together of angelic influences, and astrology was primarily a spiritual science, the life being looked upon as totally supernatural. This changed at the advent of “rationalism” and the “Enlightenment,” so that astrology now only tells us about external factors as though they were the real causes rather than the incidental effects.
Evil born of Good?
“But in your sacred books we read that two among these seven are of superior strength; that one of these created all the good; the other one created all that evil is. I pray you, honored masters, tell me how that evil can be born of that which is all good?
“A magus rose and said, If you will answer me, your problem will be solved. We all do recognize the fact that evil is. Whatever is, must have a cause, If God, the One, made not this evil, then, where is the God who did?” (Aquarian Gospel 39:7-10).
Outside India this was a prevailing dilemma.
Understanding evil
“And Jesus said, Whatever God, the One, has made is good, and like the great first Cause, the seven Spirits all are good, and everything that comes from their creative hands is good.
“Now, all created things have colors, tones and forms their own; but certain tones, though good and pure themselves, when mixed, produce inharmonies, discordant tones. And certain things, though good and pure, when mixed, produce discordant things, yea, poisonous things, that men call evil things. So evil is the inharmonious blending of the colors, tones, or forms of good.
“Now, man is not all-wise, and yet has will his own. He has the power, and he uses it, to mix God’s good things in a multitude of ways, and every day he makes discordant sounds, and evil things. And every tone and form, be it of good, or ill, becomes a living thing, a demon, sprite, or spirit of a good or vicious kind” (Aquarian Gospel 39:11-16).
Two points are made here: that “evil” is only a misapplication or distortion of good, and that many evil forces or entities are really only thoughtform creations of human beings.
Fear of evil
“Man makes his evil thus; and then becomes afraid of him and flees; his devil is emboldened, follows him away and casts him into torturing fires. The devil and the burning fires are both the works of man, and none can put the fires out and dissipate the evil one, but man who made them both” (Aquarian Gospel 39:17, 18).
This is absolutely necessary for us to understand. The sole problem is human ignorance and wrong action. All the evil in our life comes from us and must be dealt with by us. We must remit our own sins through purification of our consciousness. Whining before God accomplishes nothing but reinforcement of our mistaken ideas about evil–and about ourselves. We must “save” ourselves. God has given us the means to do this through the teachings of the great sages. Our task is to learn and apply those teachings. Then all will be well.
Entering the inner realm
“Then Jesus stood aside, and not a magus answered him. And he departed from the throng and went into a secret place to pray” (Aquarian Gospel 39:19, 20).
There is a lot of talk in metaphysical circles about a balanced life. Jesus shows us what that really means. Whenever he engaged in intense teaching or other external activity he would withdraw by himself and engage in equally intense meditation. This is needful for those who would ascend to divine awareness. No one is exempt, not even the great masters. Meditation is the basis for meaningful life.
Read the next section in the Aquarian Gospel for Yogis: The Silence