Jesus has spoken to Ajainin about the nature of the kingdom of God, the infinity of Spirit. God is the King of All, reigning in that kingdom, so naturally:
“Ajainin asked, Can I become a subject of this king?
“And Jesus said, You are yourself a king, and you may enter through the gate and be a subject of the King of kings” (Aquarian Gospel 29:23, 24).
This perspective, which at that time was held by none but the sages of India, is needed by all who would meaningfully pursue a spiritual life rather than the abject superstition most people today consider religion–even in India, I am sorry to say. The pleasing and displeasing of gods, the bewailing of sins, and insistence on personal weakness and unworthiness, and the need for “grace,” prevails just about everywhere. It is a fact beyond doubt: a sincere person must decide whether to be a “Christian” or a follower of Jesus, seeking to also become a Christ.
The first thing we must realize is our own spiritual kingship. The kingdom of heaven is ours, not by gift but by nature. True, the absolute power there is that of the King of kings, of God, but we are the kings that reign there with him. We are the waves and he is the Ocean, but we are of the same essence as him. The controversies that went on in the early centuries were confined to arguments about the nature of Jesus, when they should have been about our nature. For we, too, like Jesus, are “of one substance with the Father,” as the Nicene Creed says. Until we comprehend our own divinity we cannot intelligently worship God, much less know him.
Although we are kings we have lost the awareness of that, and thereby in a sense lost the kingdom. But Jesus says that we can “enter through the gate” and regain our status as kingly subjects of the One King.
How to enter
Of course we want to enter the kingdom, so Jesus says:
“But you must lay aside your priestly robes; must cease to serve the Holy One for gold; must give your life, and all you have, in willing service to the sons of men” (Aquarian Gospel 29:25).
We are not professional priests as was Ajainin, but what has been told to him can be applied to us.
You must lay aside your priestly robes. We must lay aside all egoic definitions of ourself. Especially we must not pride ourselves on our “spirituality” or our supposed dedication to God. Nor should we “think little” of ourselves. We should not think of ourselves at all, but rather of God. Even when affirming our oneness with God, it is God who should dominate our thought, not us. We should look ever into the Divine Light. Then we shall unerringly enter there and discover our oneness with It.
You must cease to serve the Holy One for gold. Our involvement with God cannot be for any material or external, gain. Nor can it be for some kind of ego satisfaction. We should be seeking nothing from God–only God Himself. There is a state in which God gives the seeker anything he wants–easily. And so the poor fool plays with the toys God gives in place of Himself. This is a trap many fall into. Yes, God does test us–to reveal our real motivation to ourselves. I knew a man who became a fervent yogi. Time went on, and things got better and better for him. Then one day a relative died and left him an apartment house. After a while he had three more apartment houses, but had along the way totally abandoned his search for God. His misery was great, but the world had entered his heart and crowded out even the sense of his own self-worth as a king of spirit. In such a state he did not even know what was wrong. So there was no hope of his turning back–at least in this lifetime.
You must give your life, and all you have, in willing service to the sons of men. In the Bhagavad Gita, which Jesus knew well, Krishna describes those who are enlightened. At one point he says that “their every action is wed to the welfare of fellow-creatures” (Bhagavad Gita 5:25). We see this in the lives of all saints. In God they become keenly aware of the plight of those around them and work for the alleviation of their suffering. They do this in many ways, according to their own nature and development, but all are dedicated to serving God in others. As Krishna further says: “Who burns with the bliss and suffers the sorrow of every creature within his own heart, making his own each bliss and each sorrow: him I hold highest of all the yogis” (Bhagavad Gita 6:32).
Spiritual service must of course be rendered by all of us, even if we also engage in some type of more external assistance. To lose ourselves in the removal of physical suffering and leave aside the very basis for our involvement with others is to betray both ourselves and them. For we will lose our spiritual perspective and be unable to really help them. Any material help we give must by its nature be temporary, but the spiritual upliftment will be eternal if they respond accordingly and also turn their attention to God and their own divinity.
In the fourth chapter of Autobiography of a Yogi, Yogananda presents this wisdom regarding the helping of others on the material plane:
“It was evident in all miracles performed by Lahiri Mahasaya that he never allowed the ego-principle to consider itself a causative force. By perfection of resistless surrender, the master enabled the Prime Healing Power to flow freely through him.
“The numerous bodies which were spectacularly healed through Lahiri Mahasaya eventually had to feed the flames of cremation. But the silent spiritual awakenings he effected, the Christlike disciples he fashioned, are his imperishable miracles.”
So it is with all true saints–and must be with us.
Growing into the Light
Real spiritual life is very much like physical life: growth often takes place imperceptibly, but it is eventually seen by us.
“And Jesus said no more; Ajainin went his way; and while he could not comprehend the truth that Jesus spoke, he saw what he had never seen before. The realm of faith he never had explored; but in his heart the seeds of faith and universal brotherhood had found good soil” (Aquarian Gospel 29:26, 27).
This is the experience of all seekers of higher life. Sometimes we not only do not understand, we are actually confused. But if we have seen what we have never seen before, either in our intuition as we heard the words of life, or saw lived out before us in the life of a great soul, we need not worry. The seeds will grow.
“And as he journeyed to his home he seemed to sleep, to pass through darkest night, and when he woke the Sun of Righteousness had arisen; he had found the king” (Aquarian Gospel 29:28).
It sometimes is just like that. I remember when the idea of “Divine Mother” seemed completely alien to me, and even a bit silly. But time went on and I kept meditating and keeping quiet when others talked of Divine Mother. Then one morning I woke up comprehending the concept completely and having the strange urge to “wear my Mother.” So I went right away to a religious goods store and got a medal of the Virgin Mary which I wore from then on. It had just been a matter of time. And so it is with us all. It is a wonderful thing to be a yogi, for in time everything comes to us.
“Now, in Benares Jesus tarried many days and taught” (Aquarian Gospel 29:29).
But from now on Ajainin was taught by the Teacher of teachers, his own Self.
Read the next section in the Aquarian Gospel for Yogis: Perspective On Death