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Chapter One Hundred Forty Three

Hoffman's portrait of ChristPart 155 of the Aquarian Gospel for Awakening

The Lord was standing by the sea; the multitudes were there and one stood forth and said, Does God bestow rewards as men bestow rewards, for what is done?

And Jesus said, Men never know what other men have done, this life is such a seeming life. One man may seem to do a mighty work, and be adjudged by men as worthy of a great reward. Another man may seem to be a failure in the harvest fields of life, and be dishonored in the face of men.

Men do not know the hearts of men; God only knows the hearts of men, and when the day is done he may reward with life the man who fell beneath the burdens of the day, and turn away the man who was the idol of the hearts of men. (Aquarian Gospel 143:1-6)

Karma is the law. Everything is determined by it. It is our mistaken ideas that cause us to believe that God is a cosmic arbitrator, that all is in a sense God’s judgment and action. Instead the universe is a great reactor, and we determine its response. We create our life through the karma we create. The most important aspect of karma is the fact that it is determined by our minds. Buddha emphasized this continually. Therefore Jesus insists that the heart of the human being determines his destiny. We are always the masters of our fate.

And then he spoke a parable; he said, The kingdom of the soul is like a man who had a vast estate. And in the morning time he went down to the market place to search for men to gather in his grain. He found three men, and he agreed to give to each a penny for his service for the day, and sent them to his field. Again he went down to the market place the third hour of the day and found five men in waiting, and he said, Go down into my field and serve, and I will pay you what is right; and they went down and served. He went again; it was the sixth hour of the day, and seven men were waiting at the stand; he sent them to the field to serve. And at the eleventh hour he went again; twelve men stood there in seeming idleness; he said to them, Why stand you here in idleness all day? They said, Because we have no work to do; no man has hired us. And then he sent them to his field to serve. Now, when the evening came the man said to his steward, Call the laborers from the field, and pay each for his services. And all were paid, and each received a penny for his hire. Now, when the twelve, who served but from the eleventh hour, received each one penny for his hire, the three were sore aggrieved; they said, These twelve have served but one short hour, and now they have an equal share with us who have toiled through the scorching hours of day; should we not have at least two pennies for our hire? The man replied, My friends, I do no wrong to you. Did we not have a fast agreement when you went to work? Have I not paid in full? What is it unto you if I should pay these men a smaller or a larger sum? Take that which is your own and go your way, for I will give unto the twelve what I will give unto the three, the five, the seven. They did their best and you could do no more than do your best. The hire of man is based upon the intent of the heart. (Aquarian Gospel 143:7-21)

Everything is disposed according to the ways of the heart.

As Jesus taught, a Pharisee came up and said, Lord, is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? And Jesus said, You ought to know; what says the law? The Pharisee replied, The law provides that man may be divorced, may put away his wife. And Jesus said, The hardness of the hearts of men induced the giver of the law to make provisions such as these; but from the first it was not so. God made a woman for a man, and they were one; and afterwards he said, A man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife; they are no more divided; they are one, one flesh. What God has joined no man can part. (Aquarian Gospel 143:22-27)

Man’s law, including those of religion, is almost always different from God’s law, therefore we must be very careful as to what we assume is allowed or prohibited. Our intuition must reveal to us the higher purposes of God, and not those of ourselves.

Now, when they went up to the house, a man made free to ask again about this matter of divorce. And Jesus said again what to the Pharisee he said; and then he gave the higher law of marriage life: Whoever puts away his wife, except she be a courtesan, and then shall take another wife, commits adultery. The woman who shall leave a man, unless he be a libertine and an adulterer, and then becomes the wife of any other man, commits adultery. (Aquarian Gospel 143:28-31)

This is a very high ideal, but what is the desire to be a disciple of Jesus and his Father but the highest possible ideal? We must be those who will to do the highest and the best. Once a Western missionary could not understand the sacrifices a devout Indian woman was making for her religion, and challenged her. She simply and gently replied: “Only the best for my God.” If we are not the best by the standards of Christ and God how can we ever be theirs?

And Thomas asked, What is adultery?

And Jesus said, The man who harbors lustful thoughts, who covets any woman not his wife, is an adulterer. The wife who harbors lustful thoughts, and covets any man who is not wed to her, is not her husband, is a courtesan. Men cannot make a law to bind two hearts. When two are bound in love they have no thought of lust. The woman cannot leave the man; the man has no desire to send his wife away. When men and women harbor lustful thoughts, and covet any other flesh, they are not one, not joined by God. (Aquarian Gospel 143:32-37)

This is extremely clear and extremely discomfiting to those who either will not or cannot conform to this ideal. Interestingly, monastics find this very easy to comprehend and have no problem with the high ideal of marriage that Jesus consistently sets forth in the Aquarian Gospel. In fact that alone is acceptable to them. The essence of this passage is in two principles:

1) Men cannot make a law to bind two hearts. Marriage is not a matter of human law, but divine law. Nor can religion create marriage laws. This God alone can do, and has done from the beginning of the human race. Only the seekers for God have the capacity to understand the true and high nature of marriage. Anyone can comprehend the animalistic wallow of adultery, and most prefer it.

2) When two are bound in love they have no thought of lust. Love and lust are incompatible. “The sanctified pleasures of marriage” are a blasphemous myth, denying the nature of God and man. No one can love someone and feel sexual desire for them. The idea that sex is an expression of love is outrageous. It is like saying that war is the ideal and expression of peace. See the misery that comes from humanity being continually trapped in and through sex. Sex is a total denial of the Self, a destroyer of higher consciousness in any form. It is a form of aggression and essentially violent. Any clear-sighted observer can see that is true. Saint Gregory the Great said that it was impossible to engage in sexual relations without committing the sin of concupiscence.

The words of Jesus in several places of the Aquarian Gospel make this clear. Either we follow them or we do not. And there the matter ends.

And Philip said, Lord, are there few that God has joined in holy marriage bonds? And Jesus said, God knows the pure in heart; the lustful men and women are but creatures of the lustful self; they cannot be at one; nor can they be at one with God. (Aquarian Gospel 143:38, 39)

Then we can clearly see that sex renders the very purpose of human life, union with God, impossible. Nothing else can truthfully be said. Just as Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup, so a human being sells his soul for sex: turns away from God and seizes animal lust.

Nathaniel said, Is it not well that all men should refrain from taking on themselves the marriage vow? And Jesus said, Men are not pure because they are unmarried men. The man who lusts is an adulterer if he has wife or not. (Aquarian Gospel 143:40, 41)

This is also true and must be faced by the unmarried, and especially the monastics

And then he said to all, Some things men know by being told, while other things they know not till the gate of consciousness shall open up for them. (Aquarian Gospel 143:42)

A worthy teacher shows the way to open the gate of consciousness and then waits for the aspirant to do the needful. And there are others who one day just know without being told the true facts of life. But in all cases, until the necessary level of evolution, of consciousness, is reached there is no possibility of higher knowledge coming to anyone.

I speak a mystery that now you cannot understand; but you shall some day understand. A eunuch is a man who does not lust; some men are eunuchs born, some are eunuchs by the power of men, and some are eunuchs by the Holy Breath, who makes them free in God through Christ. He who is able to receive the truth I speak, let him receive. (Aquarian Gospel 143:43-45)

One who does not understand cannot really receive what Jesus is teaching, and such a one is not censured by Jesus who understands that consciousness must open before these vital principles can really be grasped. But he knows that all shall come to this point, so there is no need for anxiety. We must follow his example if we would be wise.

Read the next section in the Aquarian Gospel for Yogis

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The Aquarian Gospel—Commentary and Text

The Aquarian Gospel for Awakening—A Commentary on the Aquarian Gospel
by Swami Nirmalananda Giri (Abbot George Burke)

  1. The Mother of Jesus
  2. Prophecies of the Births of Saint John the Baptist and Jesus
  3. The Birth of Jesus
  4. Revelations in the Temple
  5. Coming of the Wise Men
  6. Herod’s Reaction
  7. Revelations in Egypt
  8. The Two Selfs
  9. Deliverance From Gods and Demons
  10. About God the Tao
  11. From India to Chaldea
  12. The Wisdom of Buddha
  13. God and Prayer
  14. The Mission of Jesus and John the Baptist
  15. Sin and the Forgiveness of Sin
  16. The Universal Law of Man’s Free Will and the Divine Will For Man
  17. Understanding Death
  18. The True Teacher
  19. The Value of Ritual
  20. The Law Behind All Laws
  21. Opening To The Truth
  22. In the Temple at the Age of Ten
  23. Revelation to the Teachers and People in the Temple
  24. Jerusalem to Nazareth
  25. Nazareth to India
  26. What is Truth?
  27. What Is Man?
  28. What is Power?
  29. Understanding
  30. Wisdom
  31. Faith
  32. Healing and Healers
  33. Conflict Over Caste
  34. The Destiny of All Men
  35. God and Man
  36. The Voice in the Heart
  37. Seeing the Unseeable
  38. To God Through Man
  39. Who Is Jesus?
  40. The Real Versus The Apparent
  41. The Brotherhood of Life
  42. God…and Man
  43. Relating To God
  44. The Worthy Host
  45. Come to the Light
  46. The Kingdom Revealed
  47. The King Revealed
  48. Perspective On Death
  49. Fire and Sword
  50. Evolution: The Path of Glory
  51. The Real Heaven
  52. Getting to the Essence
  53. New Perspective on Religion
  54. In Tibet and Ladakh
  55. Words to the Worthy
  56. The Thirty-Eighth Chapter
  57. The Origin of Evil
  58. The Silence
  59. The Source of Healing
  60. The Fivefold Gospel
  61. Homecoming
  62. In Athens
  63. The Oracle of Delphi
  64. The Real God
  65. Return to Egypt
  66. First Steps to Wisdom
  67. Strong in Will and Intent
  68. Here Comes the Ego
  69. Blessed are the Merciful
  70. Claiming Our Freedom
  71. The Great Test
  72. Comprehending Death
  73. The Christ!
  74. The Asembly of the Masters
  75. The Seven Pillars of the Aquarian Age – I
  76. The Seven Pillars of the Aquarian Age – II
  77. The Declaration of Jesus
  78. John the Baptist – I
  79. John the Baptist – II
  80. John the Baptist – III
  81. Baptism – Jesus and John
  82. Self-Examination and Temptation
  83. The First Disciples Follow Jesus
  84. Jesus’ First Sermon
  85. The King and the Kingdom
  86. Dealing With Challengers
  87. The First Miracle of Jesus
  88. Kings and Kingdoms
  89. The Temple of God
  90. What Is A Messiah?
  91. The Laws of Healing
  92. Nicodemus Finds The Kingdom
  93. The Prince of Peace
  94. Dealing With Spiritual Opposition
  95. The Opened Gate
  96. John the Baptist Speaks of the Christ
  97. John Speaks Further About Jesus
  98. The Woman at the Well
  99. The Disciples and Samaritans at the Well
  100. Jesus in Sychar
  101. More Wisdom In Samaria
  102. The Imprisonment of John the Baptist
  103. In Jerusalem
  104. The Insights of Jesus
  105. Sabbath Wisdom
  106. Prayer and Good Deeds
  107. Divine Laws and Principles for Seekers of the Divine
  108. A New Understanding of the Ten Commandments
  109. Aspects of the Higher Law – 1
  110. Aspects of the Higher Law – 2
  111. Aspects of the Higher Law – 3
  112. Aspects of the Higher Law – 4
  113. Chapter One Hundred One
  114. Chapter One Hundred Two
  115. Chapter One Hundred Three
  116. Chapter One Hundred Four
  117. Chapter One Hundred Five
  118. Chapter One Hundred Six
  119. Chapter One Hundred Seven
  120. Chapter One Hundred Eight
  121. Chapter One Hundred Nine
  122. Chapter One Hundred Ten
  123. Chapter One Hundred Eleven
  124. Chapter One Hundred Twelve
  125. Chapter One Hundred Thirteen
  126. Chapter One Hundred Fourteen
  127. Chapter One Hundred Fifteen
  128. Chapter One Hundred Sixteen
  129. Chapter One Hundred Seventeen
  130. Chapter One Hundred Eighteen
  131. Chapter One Hundred Nineteen
  132. Chapter One Hundred Twenty
  133. Chapter One Hundred Twenty One
  134. Chapter One Hundred Twenty Two
  135. Chapter One Hundred Twenty Three
  136. Chapter One Hundred Twenty Four
  137. Chapter One Hundred Twenty Five
  138. Chapter One Hundred Twenty Six
  139. Chapter One Hundred Twenty Seven
  140. Chapter One Hundred Twenty Eight
  141. Chapter One Hundred Twenty Nine
  142. Chapter One Hundred Thirty
  143. Chapter One Hundred Thirty One
  144. Chapter One Hundred Thirty Two
  145. Chapter One Hundred Thirty Three
  146. Chapter One Hundred Thirty Four
  147. Chapter One Hundred Thirty Five
  148. Chapter One Hundred Thirty Six
  149. Chapter One Hundred Thirty Seven
  150. Chapter One Hundred Thirty Eight
  151. Chapter One Hundred Thirty Nine
  152. Chapter One Hundred Forty
  153. Chapter One Hundred Forty One
  154. Chapter One Hundred Forty Two
  155. Chapter One Hundred Forty Three
  156. Chapter One Hundred Forty Four
  157. Chapter One Hundred Forty Five
  158. Chapter One Hundred Forty Six
  159. Chapter One Hundred Forty Seven
  160. Chapter One Hundred Forty Eight
  161. Chapter One Hundred Forty Nine
  162. Chapter One Hundred Fifty
  163. Chapter One Hundred Fifty-One
  164. Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Two
  165. Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Three
  166. Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Four
  167. Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Five
  168. Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Six
  169. Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Seven
  170. Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Eight
  171. Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Nine
  172. Chapter One Hundred Sixty
  173. Chapter One Hundred Sixty One
  174. Chapter One Hundred Sixty Two
  175. Chapter One Hundred Sixty Three
  176. Chapter One Hundred Sixty Four
  177. Chapter One Hundred Sixty Five
  178. Chapter One Hundred Sixty Six
  179. Chapter One Hundred Sixty Seven
  180. Chapter One Hundred Sixty Eight
  181. Chapter One Hundred Sixty Nine
  182. Chapter One Hundred Seventy
  183. Chapter One Hundred Seventy One
  184. Chapter One Hundred Seventy Two
  185. Chapter One Hundred Seventy Three
  186. Chapter One Hundred Seventy Four
  187. Chapter One Hundred Seventy Five
  188. Chapter One Hundred Seventy Six
  189. Chapter One Hundred Seventy Seven
  190. Chapter One Hundred Seventy Eight
  191. Chapter One Hundred Seventy Nine
  192. Chapter One Hundred Eighty
  193. Chapter One Hundred Eighty One
  194. Chapter One Hundred Eighty Two

The Text of the Aquarian Gospel—by Levi Dowling

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