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Teachings of Jesus

“What Think Ye Of Christ?”

what think ye of christ?

Toward the end of his mission in Israel, Jesus asked his disciples: “What think ye of Christ?” (Matthew 22:42).

It is a sad but true fact that the teachings of any master or world-teacher are misunderstood even during his life, and after his departure from this world there is a steady degeneration and distortion of his teachings until what remains is unrecognizable. It is rare that the teachings of a master survive even one generation unmarred. Many fundamental distortions of Jesus’ teachings in the first three centuries created a religion far from His original message.

The masters are always aware of the tenuous nature of their precepts. That is why Jesus, speaking of His future rebirth in this world, asked His disciples: “When the Son of man cometh [again], shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22, 23).

yogananda-warren vickermanMany times Paramhansa Yogananda said to his disciples: “When I am gone you will all change everything.” The first time I went into the bookstore at the Hollywood center in 1961, I met one of Yogananda’s first New York City disciples, Annie Vickerman, the wife of Warren Vickerman, Yogananda’s second American disciple. In our conversation she said: “Master more than once said to Vickie [her husband] and myself: ‘After three generations you will not even know I came to this country.’ When we asked him what use his coming here was, he told us: ‘I have planted a seed and it will grow. My work will go on, even if my name is not mentioned.’”

Confusion about Christ

One of the most harmful deviations from the original teachings of Jesus was the confusing of Jesus with Christ. “Christ” and “Christ Consciousness” are designations of Ishwara, the Lord, the personal creator aspect of God (Brahman). As an ordinary Christian I never met anyone who understood the doctrine of the Trinity and could speak a single intelligent sentence about it. But when I read the writings of Paramhansa Yogananda it was not just clear, it was simple.

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A Yogi’s View of Christian Scriptures

om and bible - all scriptures?When Paul writes (Ephesians 5:14): “Thus God speaks through the scriptures: ‘Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light,’”  which scriptures is he referring to?

The King James Version simply has: “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” And so does the Greek text. (Most “modern language” translations are interpretive to the point of dishonesty.)

Saint Paul quotes words of Jesus not found in the Gospels and Saint Jude cites a prophecy of Enoch. So we can be sure that the Christians in the early days had access to writings now lost through persecutions, wars and the deliberate destruction by those who thought their own version of Christianity was the only right one.

All the Christian world read the more than three hundred books of Origen until a Church council declared them heretical and they were destroyed. Today we have only a few of them still existing.

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Krishna and Jesus: Are They God, or Teachers, or What?

Jesus and Krishna

Q: Is Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead or just a teacher like Jesus?

Krishna is not Parabrahman, the Absolute Being, and Jesus is not the Godhead, either. Nor are they “just teachers,” either.

Both Krishna and Jesus were perfect siddhas, thoroughly deified persons, truly god, having evolved through all the worlds of relative existence and transcended them in total union with the Absolute. Though finite, their consciousness and power is infinite. And this is true of all incarnations of God (avatars) such as Rama and Buddha. (See the book Robe of Light.)

A totally liberated being, a siddha, is far beyond the concept of God held by human beings, for being finite humans cannot at all even begin to correctly conceive of God. This is why the truly God-realized never attempt to describe or explain the nature of God.

Words from a Master

Sri Ramakrishna
Sri Ramakrishna

As Sri Ramakrishna said,

“What Brahman is cannot be described. All things in the world–the Vedas, the Puranas, the Tantras, the six systems of philosophy–have been defiled, like food that has been touched by the tongue, for they have been read or uttered by the tongue. Only one thing has not been defiled in this way, and that is Brahman. No one has ever been able to say what Brahman is.

“A man had two sons. The father sent them to a preceptor to learn the Knowledge of Brahman. After a few years they returned from their preceptor’s house and bowed low before their father. Wanting to measure the depth of their knowledge of Brahman, he first questioned the older of the two boys. ‘My child,’ he said, ‘You have studied all the scriptures. Now tell me, what is the nature of Brahman?’ The boy began to explain Brahman by reciting various texts from the Vedas. The father did not say anything. Then he asked the younger son the same question. But the boy remained silent and stood with eyes cast down. No word escaped his lips. The father was pleased and said to him: ‘My child, you have understood a little of Brahman. What It is cannot be expressed in words.’

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Yajna (Sacrifice): The Many Meanings and Practical Applications in the Bhagavad Gita

Yajna - fire sacrifice

Q: May I ask for your explanation of the true sense of yajna [sacrifice] and Adiyajna [Primal Sacrifice] as used by Lord Krishna, and is it found in the sacred teachings of The Christ?

Although we naturally equate yajna with the fire sacrifice, agnihotra, yajna basically means any kind of offering.

Those who publish and distribute books of spiritual and scriptural knowledge are said to be engaging in Jnana Yajna. It is very common to call akhanda kirtan (especially of the Mahamantra) Nama Yajna.

As in virtually all spiritual matters, the supreme authority is the Bhagavad Gita. There we find the subject explained thoroughly and perfectly. No commentary is needed because Sri Veda Vyasa has expressed everything so clearly.

1. “The world is bound by the actions not done for sake of sacrifice. Hence for sacrifice you should act without attachment. In the beginning along with mankind Prajapati created sacrifice and said: ‘By this shall you increase: this shall be the granter of desires. May you foster the gods by this, and may the gods then foster you.

Then, each the others fostering, you shall attain the highest welfare. The gods, fostered by sacrifice, will give you desired enjoyments. But he who enjoys the gods’ gifts without offering to them is a thief.’ The good who eat the sacrificial remains are freed from all evils. The wicked eat their own evil who cook food only for themselves.

From food all beings are produced, and from rain all food is produced. From sacrifice there comes down rain. From action is born sacrifice. Understand that action arises from Brahma, Brahma arises from the Imperishable. Hence the all-pervading Brahma is eternally established in sacrifice” (Bhagavad Gita 3:9-15).

2. “The karma of one who is free from attachment, whose thought is established in knowledge, undertaking action for sacrifice, is wholly dissolved.

Brahman is the offering, Brahman is the oblation poured out by Brahman into the fire of Brahman. Brahman is to be attained by him who always sees Brahman in action.

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