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Finding the Hidden Treasure

Chapter 109 of the Gospel of Thomas for Awakening

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Jesus said, The kingdom is like a man who had a hidden treasure in his field without knowing it. And after he died, he left it to his son. The son did not know (about the treasure). He inherited the field and sold it. And the one who bought it went plowing and found the treasure. He began to lend money at interest to whomever he wished. (109)

This is an allegory of a person’s awakening to the divine consciousness inherent in each one of us. The three people in the story are really incarnations of a single person and should be understood accordingly. In the Bhagavad Gita the thirteenth chapter is entitled: The Field and Its Knower. The body is said to be the field and the Self is its knower, or rather “the knower in the field.” For the Self is the hidden treasure.

The kingdom is like a man who had a hidden treasure in his field without knowing it. And after he died, he left it to his son. The son did not know (about the treasure). He inherited the field and sold it.

For many incarnations we have no idea of the Self. We may believe that there is an immortal part or “something” to us, but a comprehension of the Self is completely absent from our minds. So we keep passing on the subtle bodies which make up the field from incarnation to incarnation, to our various reincarnations–our “descendants.” Often knowledge from our past lives exists to be carried over as a subconscious knowledge in each incarnation.

And the one who bought it went plowing and found the treasure. Finally in one incarnation we decide to “buy” the field. That is, we decide to control it, understand its purpose, master it and bring some order and even happiness and fulfillment into our life. Our motivation may not be completely spiritual, but we intuit that there must be a purpose for “all this” and decide to make an attempt at figuring things out.

This goes on for some lives, until in one life we begin looking inward, feeling that “something” must be there to find. After a number of more lives, trying this and that in our search, we have the good karma to discover an actual spiritual methodology that will reveal what we are seeking if we apply it correctly and diligently. In other words: we learn yoga and become a yogi.

“Plowing” the field through yoga practice, according to our persistence and fervor we eventually find the treasure–the Self. And we not only “see” it, we possess it and identify with it fully. That is, we come to know the Self and thereby know God.

He began to lend money at interest to whomever he wished. Having found the treasure we share it with others whom we feel are truly interested and capable of finding the Self. The “interest” exacted of them is faithful practice and the conforming of their life to the yogic principles of yama and niyama. In time they, too, gain the treasure hidden in their field and can also share it with others as we shared with them.

And so the story ends as Eternity begins.

“Therefore, become a yogi” (Bhagavad Gita 6:46).

Read the next article in the Gospel of Thomas for Yogis: Having Come to the End

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Chapters in The Gospel of Thomas for Awakening

  1. The Open Secrets
  2. Seeking Is More Than Just Finding
  3. Seeking the Kingdom Realistically
  4. The One Goal
  5. From the Seen to the Unseen
  6. What Jesus Wants Us To Do
  7. Eat Or Be Eaten
  8. Fishing Wisely
  9. The Inner Field
  10. Guarding the Flame
  11. What Will You Do?
  12. Who Shall Lead?
  13. The Unspeakable
  14. When Virtue is Vice
  15. Father in Heaven; Father on Earth
  16. Divine Discord
  17. The Divine Gift
  18. The Origin is the End
  19. Original Being
  20. A Mustard Seed
  21. Disciples of Jesus
  22. How to Enter the Kingdom
  23. Unity of Vision
  24. Where is Christ?
  25. Love and Protect
  26. Seeing
  27. The Fasting and Sabbath of the Spirit
  28. How Jesus Saw the World
  29. Hidden Treasure
  30. One
  31. The Power of Unbelief
  32. Spiritual Strength
  33. Speak It Out
  34. The Blind
  35. The Secret of Spiritual Security
  36. Live Carefree
  37. Unashamed Before God
  38. At the Source
  39. The Religion of Ignorance
  40. Within God
  41. Spiritual Gain and Loss
  42. Move On
  43. Challenging the Master
  44. The Source of Good and Evil
  45. Great in the Kingdom
  46. Impossible Duality
  47. Peace That Moves Mountains
  48. Back to the Source
  49. Children of the Light
  50. Here and Now
  51. Seeing Yet Blind
  52. Outer Ritual or Inner Growth?
  53. Infinite Transcendence
  54. “Hate”
  55. True Understanding
  56. Wheat and Weeds
  57. Finding Life
  58. Live and Die Not
  59. “Lest Thou Also…”
  60. Who Will Die; Who Will Live
  61. The Path of Unknowing
  62. Awakened by Death
  63. Turning Ourselves Away
  64. Gullibility
  65. The Rejected is Truly Accepted
  66. All–and Nothing
  67. The Blessings of Persecution
  68. Life or Death Lie Within
  69. Admission
  70. Not a Divider
  71. Seeking the Harvest
  72. Thirsting in Vain
  73. Who Shall Enter?
  74. Unfailing Treasure
  75. The All Speaks
  76. Well-dressed Ignoramuses
  77. True Blessedness
  78. A Duplication
  79. Balancing the Inner and the Outer
  80. Near and Far
  81. Seeing the Unseeable
  82. Seeing Your Unknown Side
  83. Our Forefather Adam
  84. Blessed Homelessness
  85. Doubly Wretched
  86. Onward and Upward
  87. Twofold Life
  88. The Yoke of Christ
  89. Knowing the Unknown
  90. Asking and Hearing
  91. Give Not…
  92. Seeking and Knocking
  93. Right Generosity
  94. The Expanding Kingdom
  95. The Fulfilled Universe
  96. Taking Stock
  97. The Spiritual Family
  98. Three Debts
  99. Father and Mother
  100. Exoteric Religion
  101. Ready for Invasion
  102. Penitential Discipline, Anyone?
  103. Daring to Know
  104. Ending Duality
  105. “I Love You More…”
  106. At the Source
  107. Finding the Hidden Treasure
  108. Having Come to the End
  109. Immortal and Above the World
  110. Body and Soul
  111. Where is the Kingdom?
  112. Male and Female?
  113. In Conclusion
  114. Glossary
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