Amritasya Putraha – Jesus of Nazareth

Amritasya Putraha – Jesus of Nazareth
- Shreyoshi Ghosh, July 2011

Not recorded in history, the New Testament in the Bible talks of a Jew from Nazareth who claimed to be the Son of God. As per Jewish custom no mortal man could make such a claim, he can be a prophet, a messenger but not the son or daughter of God the Almighty. Hence he was brought to the Court of Law. In the Sanhedrin trial1 when the high priest asked that man: "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed one?" The man responded "I am". For the Jews, this was blasphemy - “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God."2 Thereafter that man was taken to the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate for judgment who found him innocent. But the Jews wanted him convicted and cruxified like a common criminal and so was done. Thereon his disciples went on preaching about him as the Messiah, “Son of God’, redeemer of sins and deliverer of salvation to whosoever followed him - “Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”3 Immortality is definitely the most lucrative reward for human kind. Thus for the past two millennia, the ‘sons of men’ in billions, stand as weaklings begging in front of that man from Nazareth for redemption of their sins for he claimed so - "‘…But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . ."4 He has been deified so as to receive forgiveness, grace of immortal life and entry to heaven also called salvation by such believers. Bible names that man as Jesus Christ.

However, the same Jesus said, "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple."5 Here is a clear deviation from the idea of unrestricted forgiveness towards the Karmic principle. He asks the seeker to be conscious of himself and his deeds. The seeker has to bear the situations of life with patience and strength and diligently play his part as Jesus did himself otherwise he cannot obtain the discipleship of Jesus. Claiming that Jesus was the son of God who resurrected from the dead and accepting he died on the Cross for others’ sins, do not render salvation to a believer or else half the world would have been liberated by now. Till the time there is ignorance it will give rise to desires and tempt to act in undesirable manner. No matter how many times he repents or does confessions of his sins he will be drifted back to his instinctive life out of those desires. This ignorance is what is styled as ‘sin’ because it binds us - ‘sin is a master to whom we become enslaved’.6 The Biblical story of Adam and Eve, in the book of Genesis - Old Testament, talks of the duo who disobeyed God’s command not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. But yielding to temptation they ate the forbidden fruit. Thus corruption entered them and they were thrown of the Garden of Eden – Paradise. This entire episode is called the story of Original Sin. This is an allegory through which the story of our lives is portrayed. We act as ignorant thereby creating discord in the world and making it suffer. We defeat the whole purpose of this life and indulge in an afflicted state of mind creating delusions for ourselves and suffer through our own diseased creation. Some may choose to call it ‘sin’ and some the Karmic Law. With this ignorance around one cannot see the light of immortal life.

Hence Jesus commands the seeker to carry his own cross i.e. to be conscious about oneself which will deliver him from the darkness of death to the light of eternal life. – “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”7 - A reflection of the Upanishadic prayer: Tamaso maa jyotirgamaya Mrityor maa amritan gamaya8. Herein ‘to follow’ does not mean following a religion or faith but manifestation of the ideal of being the ‘Son of God’ – As Saint Paul said, "always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body."9 So this carrying of cross or ‘kricchhashadhan’ as we call it in our culture is a means towards the manifestation of the spirit of son of God, realizing the true nature of ours and claiming our divine heritage just as Jesus did. “Shrinvantu vishwe amritasya putra ya je dhamani divyani tasthu”10 – Ye are the Children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. We are all a spark of that divinity, manifested through the combination of three qualities – sattwa, rajas, tamas. As the balance of elements in a compound change, the compound also changes. Similarly the manifestation changes with change in the balancing of the three qualities but the divine element never change. Ignorance shadows this element - the true self, making us continue in the delusion of momentary pleasures and pains. Self-enquiry or an inward contemplation leads us to the sole truth that we are the radiance of the one who is ever-illumined. But unlike the sun rays which are only centrifugal we are centripetal as well. We can trace ourselves back to our divine heritage and this going back to our root is the key to liberation from worldly miseries and death, this is the salvation which Jesus had to offer. When he said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”11 – contrary to the popular belief he did not mean that ‘Jesus Christ’ is the only way. Like he proclaimed his divine heritage he wanted us to to realize our divine heritage, on realizing that we will become one with truth and have eternal life but without this knowledge none will know God and continue to perish in mortality.

Knowing this truth one can detach himself from shackles of this world – Karma or Original Sin whichever one may choose to call it. He can see the light of life. Jesus was aware of his rightful heritage and thus had power over this world. He could even promise his disciples that they would be able to perform miracles and till date many claimed to have done so. One may get power of lower planes belonging to the physical and psychological realms thus performing miracles over natural elements12, miracles of healing13, miracles over negative energy14, miracles for supply of basic necessities of life15. One may also acquire powers over higher spiritual realms wherein there is a transformation of the self and that of others – the journey from human self to divine self. Thus the truth of life through self-realization allowed the Son of Man manifested himself as the son of God, from a carpenter by ancestry became a Messiah. To him the death sentence, physical torture, public humiliation, cruxification and every other pain became insignificant. At the face of death the Jesus could continue praising his divine heritage for he knew mortal death would not touch the divine spirit which dwelt in him and bein g eternal it would resurrect. Through his life and cruxification Jesus exemplified how a person can expand his I-consciousness thus establishing kinship with whole of creation, how he can be free from all kinds of worldly attachment and negative emotions and live to serve others. He showed what extent of courage, strength, morality of character, authority of power our true heritage bestows upon us. But we remain unaware of it due to ignorance – living the lives of amnesic patients and dreaming of an external ‘God’ who would come to revive us. But that divine savior is within us – “for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you”16 – who can claim that kingdom? Not just any heir but that heir who knows his heritage, who knows he is amritasya putra.

For knowing this truth one has to make constant efforts. A little boy who becomes a renowned scientist on growing up does not become so in one day, he goes through years of education, discipline, practice, research and meditation on the subject which enhances his capabilities to understand the subject. Obviously for knowing the highest truth the dedication will have to be of the highest order. When the self becomes ready the truth shines on its own. Most may like to call it God’s grace but even for God to bestow It’s grace one should be receptive enough to accept it – ‘chance favors only the prepared mind.’ 17 Enlightened souls like Jesus, in the form of Guru, will guide us to our divine home. But it is the seed of divinity within us which needs to be germinated with their Midas touch. We have to prepare ourselves to be worthy to claim our heritage or else we will not be able to receive it just like the scientist could not have written a Ph.D. thesis paper when he was a little boy no matter how intelligent he was because he was not prepared for it. “For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps”18, thus the wise ones will go with proper preparation so that they can receive the grace and sustain it. “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” 19 Every moment the seeker has to remain alert and conscious of the truth and make preparation thereof to takeoff for the eternal journey. Even for Jesus there was preparation. We could see from the New Testament, from the age of 12 till the age of 30, there is no record of the boy from Nazareth; any logical, intuitional mind would say that was the preparatory stage for his manifestation as the Son of God. The outcome was perfect continuous divine consciousness.

There are many noted characters in Vedantic philosophy, Puranas, world history of religions and myths whose reflections were seen in the life and words of Jesus. The Vedic Rishis themselves lived divine lives and dwelt in such knowledge much before the time of Jesus. It can be acquired by the one who seeks it fervently - come close to God, and God will come close to you20. Jesus of Nazareth acquired that knowledge and propagated the ‘idea of divine life’. This is to be pursued as an example and not him being idolized as the ‘only’ son of God. For ‘all’ of us are no less favorites of God than him, we are as pristine as him and with faith in our own divinity we can do anything even capable of claiming our own salvation provided we have manifested our true spirit. Each one is God’s own, Its beloved child. We could hear Paul saying –‘Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory’.21 The divine bliss is all-pervading not just being limited to men but all animate and inanimate objects for everything which exists is the manifestation of one single divinity. We could see this in the life of Saint Francis of Assisi who stood for the equality of all creatures, in place of the idea of man's domination over creation. He is known as the patron saint of animals and the environment. The Rig Vedic hymns sing praises of each aspect of nature, calling them Devas and offering them their due.

The only difference being, in man the potential to realize this divinity can be manifested hence it becomes our sole responsibility to accept and fulfill this gift. Our divine parent is waiting with Its eternal patience, for us to realize this truth, for the child may forget the mother but the mother never does so - ‘For the creation is eagerly awaiting the revelation of God's children’.22 It sends Avatars, Messiah, Prophets who live their lives to exemplify our divine heritage and remind us of ourselves. They call out to us -

Behold, the saving light dispelling darkness
Let all mortals rise today and inherit their immortal state
Let all mortals forsaking sleep of doubt ascend with the glory of dawn23

Be not a puppet in ambition’s hand beaten and buffeted
Wouldst thou be enticed and enslaved by a ruthless tyrant?
Should a child of eternity stoop so low?
Nay, be not trapped or be fooled by the seeming
Verily thou are ever free an heir to eternal omniscient life24

We could hear Swami Vivekananda saying on this, ‘I should better like that each one of you became a Prophet of this real New Testament, which is made up of all the Old Testaments. Take all the old messages, supplement them with your own realizations, and become a Prophet unto others. Each one of these Teachers has been great; each has left something for us; they have been our Gods. We salute them, we are their servants; and, all the same, we salute ourselves; for if they have been Prophets and children of God, we also are the same. They reached their perfection, and we are going to attain ours now. Remember the words of Jesus: "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" This very moment let everyone of us make a staunch resolution: "I will become a Prophet, I will become a messenger of Light, I will become a child of God, nay, I will become a God!" 25

Prayer: O Thou All-loving Mother of the Universe
I am thy child; my real nature is one with thine
Grant that I may realize my union with you
And express it through my every thought and deed. 23

References:

1. Gospel of Mark 14.61; New Testament (NT)
2. Gospel of John 10.33; NT
3. Gospel of John 8.51; NT
4. Gospel of Matthew 9:6; NT
5. Gospel of Luke 14.27; NT
6. Gospel of John 8.34; NT
7. Gospel of John 8.12; NT
8. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28;
9. Book of Second Corinthians 4.10; NT
10. Sage Kapila’s prayer in Rig Veda 10th Mandalam; Shvetashatara Upanishad 2:5;
Translation – C.W. of Swami Vivekananda – paper on Hinduism read at the Parliament on 19th September, 1893
11. Gospel of John 14.6; NT
12. Gospel of Matthew 25:13; NT
13. Book of Colossians 1:16; NT
14. Gospel of Matthew 4:23; NT
15. Gospel of Mark 1:32-34; NT
16. Gospel of Luke 17:20-21; NT
17. Louis Pasteur, Lecture, University of Lille (7 December 1854)
18. Gospel of Matthew 25:3-4; NT
19. Gospel of Luke 6:38; NT
20. Book of James 4:8
21. Book of Romans 8:17; NT
22. Book of Romans 8:19; NT
23. June 29th, Swami Paramananda, Daily Thoughts Prayers, RK Math Mylapore
24. June 28th, Swami Paramananda, Daily Thoughts Prayers, RK Math Mylapore
25. C.W. of Swami Vivekananda - The Great Teachers of the World delivered at the Shakespeare Club, Pasadena, California, February 3, 1900