It is imperative that we discover the real meaning of that spiritual state to which Jesus called his disciples. The Beloved Disciple John in his epistle speaks of those that overcome the world (I John 5:5-5), and in dictating his experience on Patmos he relayed these words of Jesus in the book of Revelation:
“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.… He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.… He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it” (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17).
First we must note that Jesus is relaying what the Holy Spirit is saying to all. And we must understand these words in their intended yogic sense, not as exoterics think. We should briefly consider these meanings.
The inner meaning of the Gospels
The paradise of God is the illumined Sahasrara chakra of which the brain is the most material manifestation. The tree of life is the Spirit itself, the Chidakasha (Ether of Consciousness) which is in the midst of the Sahasrara. The second death is the death of the body, the first death being earthly birth itself in which the incarnating spirit forgets its past and its nature as spirit and begins to identify with the ever-changing mind and the mortal body. The hidden manna is the Word of God, the direct experience and communication/union of the spirit with God by which Jesus says we shall live (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4). The white stone and the new name is the deified consciousness of the overcomer. (There is more to this, but this is not the place to engage in the long explanation that would be required.)
The spiritual nature of these promises is shown by the next verse:
“And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations” (Revelation 2:26)
Obviously this is not a promise of universal rulership of the earth, but the mastery of all the facets, faculties and powers of the individual person’s makeup which are symbolized more than once in the Bible by the word “nations.” In sum: “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son” (Revelation 21:7), just as is Jesus.
Saint Paul had this understanding also when he expressed the hope and intention
“that I may win Christ,… if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that” (Philippians 3:8, 11-12).
If he had meant the resurrection of the physical body that exoteric Christianity teaches will occur at the end of the world, he would naturally have said that he had not already attained it. But he was speaking of the resurrection into God Consciousness, into God whose perfection would then be his as a Son of God. Therefore he continued:
“I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:8-14),
the call that comes to all who have “ears to hear” (Matthew 11:15).
Affirming this we have the words of Saint John:
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (I John 3:2-3).
We must heed the words of the Bhagavad Gita: “Therefore be a yogi” (6:46).
Where “Churchianity” gets it wrong
I do not want to weary the point, but since what I am saying is so different, even contrary, to the beliefs of ordinary Christianity (Churchianity), I want to consider one more example, also from Saint Paul.
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.… He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5-11).
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. The word translated “mind” is phroneo, which means thinking, resolving and seeing (understanding). The idea is that we should think, will, see and understand things exactly did the Lord Jesus himself. Saint Paul further said:
“Who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” (I Corinthians 2:16).
Here the word translated “mind” is nous, the entire mind of a person, encompassing knowledge and understanding. It also means awareness and perception. Therefore we are told that we can have the same mind as Christ Jesus. That is why the very word “Christian” means “another Christ.” It was first used by the unbelievers to mock the followers of Jesus because at that time the original Christians believed that the very purpose of their religion was to enable them to become other Christs:
“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we… may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:13,15).
In the image and likeness of God
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Being in the image and likeness of God–as are we, also–Jesus aspired to divinity. The word morphe translated “form” does not just mean outer shape, but nature. Jesus had learned in India that although he was finite and God was infinite, yet he could realize and manifest fully that divine nature and likeness. Saint Paul was simply transmitting the teaching of Jesus when he told the philosophers on Mars Hill regarding God:
“In him we live, and move, and have our being;… For we are also his offspring” (Acts 17:28).
The word translated “form” is isos, which means to be equal to something by being totally like it. This comes from the root word eido, which to have the same awareness, knowledge, perception and consciousness as another. As said before, Ishwara is the Christ, and Jesus became a Christ–as shall we.
He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. Uperupsao means to elevate or raise to the highest position. Can the eternal God, about whom we sing: “Glory be to God in the highest,” be elevated or raised to any degree? Of course not. “God also hath highly exalted him” could never be said about the Only-Begotten of the Father, the Second Person of the Trinity: Ishwara. Jesus attained that position through his self-purification as a yogi, culminating in his voluntary sacrifice on the cross. That is why Jesus himself said in Revelation:
“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Revelation 3:21).
Those who overcome all obstacles to the manifestation of their innate divinity will be like Jesus and will be established (“sit”) with him in the same exalted status which he attained before us. Saint Paul wrote about Christ that God “raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand” (Ephesians 1:20). And it shall be the same with all who resurrect into divine consciousness like Jesus.
The difficulty with these various passages I have cited is the mixture of terminology that at one time implies Jesus is absolute divinity, and then in another place that he attained to his deification. This is why it is so important to realize that Jesus lived most of his life in India (and not as a missionary) before returning to Israel and beginning his ministry, and that he returned to India. The historical records show that Jesus was a yoga siddha, an adherent of Sanatana Dharma. We can only have an accurate perspective on Jesus if we are the same: Sanatana Dharmis and yogis.
Further Reading:
- In the Beginning and Before: the Inner Meaning of The Gospels
- Sanatana Dharma, Vedanta, and the Bible : Essential Differences
- The Bible and Psychic Phenomena
- Abbot George’s Books on Amazon