Who Are True Christians?
Where is the “Blessing” in Persecution?
Reading and Affirmation for August
From the book The Beatitudes: Their Inner Meaning by Swami Kriyananda
Truth is one and eternal. Realize oneness with it in your deathless Self, within.
The following commentary is based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda.
Jesus Christ said, in Chapter 10 of the Gospel of St. John: “All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.”
Many Christians, not surprisingly, quote this saying in condemnation of other spiritual teachers – not only the old Testament prophets, but also Buddha, Krishna, and others who lived before Jesus, as well as (by inference) any who came after him. Yet Jesus himself said, in St. Matthew Chapter 5, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”
Nowhere do we find Jesus condemning, or even gently criticizing, other spiritual masters. His criticisms were reserved for worldly attitudes, and for those hypocritical Pharisees who had allowed religion to become, for them, a pretense.
Paramhansa Yogananda explained that the expression “All that ever came before me” referred to those spiritual teachers who place their egos and their self-importance ahead of the Christ Consciousness, in the sense of drawing people’s devotion to themselves and not offering it where alone it truly belongs, to God.
Yogananda himself was very firm in this regard. For example, he never spoke of anyone as his disciple. Instead, he always insisted, “They are God’s disciples. God is the Guru, not I.”
Ego is a way-station on the soul’s journey toward enlightenment. The soul is first trapped in lower bodily forms. Slowly it evolves to the human level, at which point self-consciousness appears. Only in human form can self-consciousness transcend material form altogether, including the lower identity of ego-consciousness, and discover the true, divine Self within. Self-consciousness manifested as ego is an incentive to deliberate self-development. Later in this process of development, however, the ego becomes an obstruction. Inevitably, new spiritual aspirants do not emerge effortlessly from the vortex of ego-consciousness. Desire must be offered up resolutely and ever-more wholeheartedly on the altar of Infinity. It is a gradual process, and few even among those who seek to help others are free of ego. If, however, their motive in teaching is not to serve, but to be served, they deserve a severe reprimand, as Jesus gave them. For their direction of development is no longer upward, but downward. In the name of giving up desires they are creating new ones. As it says in the Bhagavad Gita in the third Chapter:
Desire obscures even the wisdom of the wise. Their relentless foe it is, a flame never quenched.
Intellect, mind, and senses: These combined are referred to as the seat of desire. Desire, through them, deludes and eclipses the discrimination of the embodied soul.
O Arjuna, discipline your senses! And, having done so, work to destroy desire, annihilator of wisdom and of Self-realization.
Give God the credit for everything you do. See Him as the true Doer.
Thus, through holy Scripture, God has spoken to mankind.
Whispers From Eternity
139. I want to hear Thy song in the silence of my Soul
Thy gentle voice saying, “Come home!” I often heard. But through many lives it was drowned in the tumult of my wild cravings. I have forsaken the jostling crowds of desire. In the solitude of my mind my devotion bursts to hear Thy voice. Take away every dream-memory of earthly sounds that yet lurks in my mind. I want to hear Thy still voice, ever singing in the silence of my soul.
Paramhansa Yogananda
Inspiration from the Rays of One Light
“All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.”
John 10:8
We will take these meaningful words into our meditation together for deep reflection and contemplation. But firstly, we will listen to the beautiful Psalm of David, sung by Mary Kretzmann.
Psalm of David
Listen to the Psalm of David
Reflect, Meditate and Listen to Instrumental Music
Reflection from the Rays of the One Light
Peace Sangha
This week, I was moved by the words of John 10:8 from the Rays of the One Light.
“All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.”
Here is a poem I created called “Guiding Souls to be Safe Forever.”.
Guiding Souls to be Safe Forever
In the high valley
The winds whispered their songs to the skies
Through the Himalayan air
The movement of God
A call so gentle
The heart feels it there
The Giri mountains
The guardians of the sheep
Where the soul learns which voices to follow
No thief can enter the soul’s sacred keep
For the Shepherd’s voice guards every sheep
Rejecting anything that steals its peace
His whisper is safety
His presence is the door
And the heart that knows Him is stolen no more
Aum Peace Amen
