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Chapter One Hundred Nine

Hoffman's portrait of ChristPart 121 of the Aquarian Gospel for Awakening

Now, when the feast was finished, Jesus, with the foreign masters and the twelve, with Mary, Miriam and a band of loyal women who believed in Christ, went to a place apart to pray.

And when their silence ended Jesus said, Be on your guard; the leaven of the Pharisees is being thrown in every measure of the meal of life. It is a poison that will taint whatever it may touch; and it will blight the soul as sure as the fumes of Diabolos; it is hypocrisy. (Aquarian Gospel 109:1-3)

Jesus says that hypocrisy is completely pervading human life. It was most evident in the Pharisees, but it was a universal blight. Mahendranath Gupta, the author of The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and who was written about in Autobiography of a Yogi as “Master Mahasaya,” often said: “The entire world is filled with insincerity.” And so it is. In religion this is usually the rule: The higher they talk the lower they live. The Hallelujah Trail leads downward, deep downward. Real religion keeps us aware of the need to reach the goal, not to brag about how we have made it.

As usual the sages of India said it best in the Kena Upanishad: “If you think that you know well the truth of Brahman, know that you know little. What you think to be Brahman in your self, or what you think to be Brahman in the gods–that is not Brahman. What is indeed the truth of Brahman you must therefore learn.

“I cannot say that I know Brahman fully. Nor can I say that I know him not. He among us knows him best who understands the spirit of the words: “Nor do I know that I know him not.)

“He truly knows Brahman who knows him as beyond knowledge; he who thinks that he knows, knows not. The ignorant think that Brahman is known, but the wise know him to be beyond knowledge” (Kena Upanishad 2:1-3).

The Tao Teh King in Section 56 says: “He who knows does not speak; he who speaks does not know.”

The Pharisees seem fair in speech, but they are diabolical in heart. And then they seem to think that thought is something they can lock within themselves. (Aquarian Gospel 109:4, 5)

This is a perfect picturing of Fundamentalist Protestantism. So many people are fooled by their extravagant claims of how close to God they are. They speak “great swelling words” (II Peter 2:18; Jude 16), but have very little to show for it once the public display is over and real life resumes. “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous” (I John 3:7). Jesus tells us: “When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10). He does not tell us to brag about how much we know and how much we have attained.

In his autobiography Paramhansa Yogananda tells of meeting a great Master, Ram Gopal Mazumdar. After telling Yogananda about his nearly half a century of intense spiritual practice in the Himalayas: “You are asking illumination from me,” the yogi continued musingly, “while I am wondering–inconsiderable as I am, and with the little meditation I have done–if I have succeeded in pleasing God, and what worth I may find in His eyes at the final reckoning.…God is Eternity Itself. To assume that one can fully know Him by forty-five years of meditation is rather a preposterous expectation.” This is how the Masters speak.

They do not seem to know that every thought and wish is photographed and then preserved within the Book of Life to be revealed at any time the masters will. That which is thought, or wished, or done in darkest night shall be proclaimed in brightest day; that which is whispered in the ear within the secret place shall be made known upon the streets. (Aquarian Gospel 109:6-8)

Karma is the foundation of evolutionary existence along with rebirth which is brought about by karma. Karma comes first, then rebirth, and they keep reacting on and in each other until they are almost inseparable and unstoppable. Therefore a religion that does not have karma and reincarnation as cardinal tenets is no religion at all, but a superstitious speculation. Anyone who has escaped from such a religion into the light of true religion is very aware of this fact. All religions do not lead to the same place. Ignorant religions lead to more ignorance and the true wisdom religions lead to more truth. One plunges into darkness, the other lifts into the light. This is no exaggeration but simple fact.

So spiritual Pharisees understand nothing about themselves, having no idea where they came from, where they are going and why they are here at the present moment. Confusion is the result, and a stubborn, dedicated confusion at that. Separating such a person from his delusion is impossible. Only his own innate nature will manage that when it finally begins to surface in his consciousness and lead him out of fantasyland. For the life of the spirit which is within shall certainly reveal itself in time.

And in the judgment day when all the books are opened up, these men, and every other man, shall be a-judged, not by what they’ve said or done, but by the ways in which they used the thoughts of God, and how the ethers of eternal love were made to serve; for men may make these ethers serve the carnal self, or serve the holy self within. (Aquarian Gospel 109:9-11)

I never heard this in the revival meetings we used to have twice a year back in the fundamentalist church! It was just sin, hell and damnation, and all at the whim of God.

The judgment day spoken of here is not at the end of the world but at the end of each life we live when the cloud lifts and we have to face the truth about ourself and the life we have just completed. Words and deeds will mean nothing. The only consideration will be the ways we either used, distorted or suppressed “the thoughts of God,” the seed-patterns inherent in us from the very beginning of our entry into relative creation. If we recognized and followed them, then all is well. If we twisted them to conform to our distorted understanding, then things are not well. And if we suppressed them, then we have lived in vain; our life is literally nothing in the great summing up. The question at the end of each life is: What have we done with it? Have we progressed toward the realization of God or not? If we have progressed, how much did we progress? God will be the measure of judgment. This is a serious matter and dangerous to take lightly or ignore.

Behold, these men may kill the body of this flesh; but what of that? the flesh is but a transitory thing, and soon, by natural law, will pass; their slaughter only hastens nature’s work a little time. And when they kill the flesh, they reach their bounds of power; they cannot kill the soul. But nature is the keeper of the soul as of the flesh, and in the harvest time of soul, the trees of life are all inspected by the judge; and every tree that bears no fruit of good is plucked up by the roots and cast into the flames. (Aquarian Gospel 109:12-16)

As the Gita says, “Death is certain for the born” (2:27). Therefore the question is only when death will come, not if it will come. But that which is beyond the body, the subtle levels which include the mind, the will and the destiny (karma) they create, must be taken much more seriously than the body which is only one in a series of rebirths. The subtle bodies persist through many lives, though they are continually changing in response to our experiences in the physical and subtle worlds as we move between earthly incarnation and astral or causal incarnation.

When we leave this world and enter the subtler worlds we undergo a profound evaluation which determines what will be our experience in those worlds as well as when we will be returning to this world and what will happen to us there. In other words, our karma is examined and those karmas are selected which are to be dealt with. As the great mystic and philosopher Mokichi Okada, pointed out, all purification manifests as pain. Therefore pain is a blessing though certainly not enjoyed or desired. So the “flames” spoken of here are the purifications necessary to elminate our bad karma. They are not punishment. They are blessing. For all things exist solely for good.

Who then shall you regard? Not him who has the power to kill the flesh, and nothing more. Regard the mighty one who has the power to dissolve both soul and body in the flames of nature’s fire. (Aquarian Gospel 109:17, 18)

Jesus tells us to regard, not fear, the divine power of purification and balancing and take it seriously. Factors that kill the physical body are of little consequence, but those which destroy the subtle bodies that are distorted beyond repair and purification are certainly to be taken into account and respected. They are for our benefit. Our English translations of the Bible make the corresponding passages sound like Jesus is telling us to not fear people but fear God. This is not the message at all. God and all that he has provided for our evolution are not to be feared but cooperated with. If pain must come it should be welcomed, but if we become “workers together with him” (II Corinthians 6:1) we will not be creating situations that will result in pain. Any future suffering with be from old, earlier misdeeds.

So we must respect and act in accordance with the laws of cause and effect, and the moral and spiritual principles we have been given. And we must be sure we understand them fully and know how to apply them. Then peace and happiness will be our assured future.

Notice Jesus speaks of “the flames of nature’s fire,” not fires of hell and retribution. There are cosmic laws whose violation kindles the fires of suffering. They do not cause the suffering, that is the reaction to the true causes: ignorance and transgression of the laws. We must become truly rational and wise. Then we will live life as it should be lived.

But man is king; he may direct his thoughts, his loves, his life, and gain the prize of everlasting life. (Aquarian Gospel 109:19)

Jesus does not say humans shall be king or master, but that they are such right now. It is common for human beings to have no idea of the inner powers they possess, and nearly every aspect of society, including religion, reinforces that unawareness and even actively deny those abilities. Nevertheless, we can indeed direct all our faculties and open up the gates of everlasting life and pass through into immortality.

And you are not abandoned in your struggle for the crown of life. Your Father lives, and you shall live.

God has a care for every living thing. He numbers stars, and suns, and moons; he numbers angels, men and every thing below; the birds, the flowers, the trees; the very petals of the rose he knows by name, and every one is numbered in his Book of Life; and every hair upon your head, and every drop of blood within your veins, he knows by number and by rhythm.

He hears the birdling’s call, the cricket’s chirp, the glow worm’s song; and not a sparrow falls to earth without his knowledge and consent. A sparrow seems a thing of little worth; yea, five of them are worth two farthings in the market place, and yet God cares for every one of them.

Will he not care much more for you who bear his image in your soul? (Aquarian Gospel 109:20-27)

You are not abandoned in your struggle for the crown of life. At all times God and all the forces of good and truth are present to help us. It is just our limitation that keeps us from perceiving this. This is revealed in an incident from Jesus’ previous life as the prophet Elisha. The king of Syria learned that Elisha was able to tell the king of Israel everything the Syrian king said in his own tent. So: “[The king of Syria] said, Go and spy where [Elisha] is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha” (II Kings 6: 13-17).

We should never think that we are alone. God and his saints and angels are ever ready to help us. Sometimes because of past karma we have to wait to experience that, but we will in time. We shift back and forth and change like a weathervane, but God, “with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17), is not like us. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear” (Psalms 46:1, 2).

Your Father lives, and you shall live. Why? Because we are ONE. No, we are not exactly the same because God is infinite and we are finite, but we are all divine consciousness, divine light. God is the whole and we are the parts. There is a distinction between us and God, obviously, but there is no essential difference. An individual wave is not the ocean, but the ocean is the wave.

Our life is God’s life, and God’s perfection is potentially ours. There is no spiritual level we cannot attain because we share in God’s all-encompassing being. Just as God cannot go against his own nature or cancel it, neither can we, though we can avoid expressing our innate divinity for a while. But eventually it must surface. God cannot “deny himself” (II Timothy 2:13), and neither can we. But we can try to and thereby cause ourselves immeasurable suffering. The choice is ours.

God has a care for every living thing.…and every one is numbered in his Book of Life. Everyone and everything is rooted in the infinite life that is God. We can lose awareness of that fact, but it cannot be weakened or changed. We are all predestined to attain the knowledge: “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30).

Will he not care much more for you who bear his image in your soul? “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God,” (Romans 8: 38, 39). And this is not a mechanical thing, but the result of God’s eternal, personal love for each thing that exists. The Bhagavad Gita expresses this very clearly:

“Among those who are purified by their good deeds, there are four kinds of men who worship me: the world-weary, the seeker for knowledge, the seeker for happiness and the man of spiritual discrimination. The man of discrimination is the highest of these. He is continually united with me. He devotes himself to me always, and to no other. For I am very dear to that man, and he is dear to me. Certainly, all these are noble: but the man of discrimination I see as my very Self. For he alone loves me because I am myself: the last and only goal of his devoted heart” (Bhagavad Gita 7:16-18).

“My devotees dwell within me always: I also show forth and am seen within them. Though a man be soiled with the sins of a lifetime, let him but love me, rightly resolved, in utter devotion: I see no sinner, that man is holy” (Bhagavad Gita 9:29, 30).

Fear not to make confession of the Christ before the sons of men, and God will own you as his sons and daughters in the presence of the host of heaven. If you deny the Christ before the sons of men, then God will not receive you as his own before the hosts of heaven. And more I say, Fear not when men shall bring you up before the rulers of the land to answer for your faith. Behold, the Holy Breath shall teach you in your hour of need what you should say, and what is best left unsaid. (Aquarian Gospel 109:28-31)

Jesus is not speaking of us going about making a nuisance of ourselves by “witnessing for Christ” and expounding Christ as a mere theological abstraction. Rather, he is speaking of our confessing (affirming) the truth of “Christ in you the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27), the Christhood of all sentient beings and of ourselves. If we unwaveringly bear witness to this sublime reality, then we shall be revealed as the children of God. But if we deny it and label others and ourselves as sinners, corrupt and depraved by nature, then our divine sonship shall not manifest and we will not awaken from the dream of sin into the reality of holiness. So it is and shall be.

And then the Christines went again to teach the multitudes. (Aquarian Gospel 109:32

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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