For eighteen years, from the age of 12 through 30, Jesus disappeared from public view only to reappear later proclaiming a set of principles and a spiritual way of life very much at odds with what had been embraced by the reigning Jewish ideologues of his time, the Pharisees and Sadducees. During his absence, he may have traveled far from his home in Bethlehem. If he did, he would have traveled either east (Persia and beyond) or west (Egypt) through the Hebrew diaspora. Regardless of where he traveled, he would have come in contact with Yogic and Buddhist teachers who, for hundreds of years, had traveled the caravan routes between Kashmir and Alexandria.
His views and teachings, presented in the form of sutras and parables, certainly reflect an Asiatic (Vedantic and Buddhist) influence.
The term “sutra” comes from a Sanskrit root which means to sew. Thus, a sutra can be thought of as a thread which leads to the essence of something. Sutras had been used as teaching aids among the masters of India and China for centuries. In this issue of Inner Awareness Newsletter, we will look at one of the sutras attributed to Jesus. The Biblical sutra Matt: ch. 6, vs. 24 declares “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
This sutra would appear excessively doctrinaire if it was being applied to two spiritual masters whose zeitgeist differed or to the relationship of phenomena whose vibrations were antagonistic to one another. However, neither is the case; the sutra does not apply to the qualitative differences of human beings or to the interactions of phenomena. Rather it applies to something far more fundamental – the essential difference between the individual self, which is represented by the ’I’ and ego, and the universal Self, which is represented by Atman. In fact, by focusing on the relationship between the universal Self and the individual self, Jesus brings the issue of Self-realization (which was the crux of his message) squarely into the arena of individual responsibility and personal choice. As the sutra declares: “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one or love the other or serve one and despise the other.” By suggesting that personal responsibility and choice determine whether a person remains attached to the ‘I’ and ego or enjoys union with the Self, the Nazarite makes it clear that appropriate choices are the foundation of human spirituality. Make appropriate choices, the sutra implies, and “All things will be added unto you.” Choose mammon, and you’ll remain trapped by your ‘I’ and ego.
The sutra is based on the principles of Yoga and Buddhism and has for millennia been a formula for personal liberation. This is something Jesus would have learned if he visited the Hebrew diaspora in Persia and/or Egypt during his absence from Israel and Judea.
By placing responsibility for Self-realization on each individual and by making it dependent on individual choice, the Nazarite takes responsibility for Self-realization away from a savior, a priesthood, or vagaries of religious doctrine. The sutra implies that none of them are essential for Self-realization. How could they be when the metaphysics of Self-realization rest on this simple principle, “You get what you want most.”
Hey... I’m’a Talkin to Yu
In the day, Hebrew prophets spoke collectively to the nation rather than to individuals. In Matt: ch. 6, vs. 24, Jesus breaks that tradition by speaking directly to each Hebrew man and woman and by extension to every person who’s ever yearned for union with the Self. By declaring that no one can love God and mammon, the sutra infers that an aspirant can only experience the Self by performing activities that are appropriate. These are activities that enhance the flow of life-affirming consciousness and energy through the subtle field, the field of consciousness, subtle energy and matter that interpenetrate a human’s physical-material body. The sutra also implies that the aspirant can enhance their experience of the Self by embracing the universal qualities that emerge from it. Jesus echoes this truth when he declares “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’?” John: ch. 10, vs. 34.
According to the Nazarite who declared, “I am the first of many brethren,” an aspirant can only enjoy the benefits of Self-realization once they’ve rejected the will and desire of their ‘I’ and ego and integrated appropriateness into their day-to-day life. By engaging in that process, an aspirant’s will and desire will submit to the will and desire of the Self and, by extension, Universal Consciousness.
What About Sin?
Since sinful activities exist within the world of phenomena (maya); they have never separated anyone from Universal Consciousness. Making inappropriate decisions, which apparently separates a sinful person from the Self, can only prevent them from enjoying the benefits of their a priori union with Universal Consciousness. If inappropriate activities (sin) could cause permanent separation, as the Church implies, it would mean that God “… is a respecter of persons” and doesn’t exist within everyone. This is incompatible with Universal Consciousness, who carries the multiverse within itself.
Before we go any further, it’s important to recognize that the God Jesus refers to in Matt: ch. 6, vs. 24 is not Jehovah, the personal God, who is known as Ishvara in Sanskrit. Vedanta explains that Jehovah (Ishvara), the personal God, is a narrow manifestation of Universal Consciousness. That’s because Jehovah is subject to the same principles that regulate interactions within the multiverse, while Universal Consciousness is not. In contrast to Jehovah, Universal Consciousness is the original source of everything manifest (loka) and unmanifest (aloka) including both universal qualities and individual qualities. The inconvenient truth is that Jehovah, like every other living being, owes its existence to Universal Consciousness, who is both omnipotent and omnipresent.
Enlightenment 101
Centuries before Jesus’s birth, the distinction between Universal Consciousness and the world of the ‘I’ & ego had been made by the Hebrews. But the metaphysics of this lofty concept still hadn’t been worked out on a practical level. From this sutra and many others still extant, we can see that Jesus’s intent was to proclaim that a reliable process of Self-realization was available. The method, which had been applied for millennia in India and China, was based on individual choice and appropriate action, which function collectively to propel an aspirant into union with the Self and, by extension, Universal Consciousness.
In the Bhagavad Gita, which had been written more than a millennium before Jesus’s birth, Krishna explained to prince Arjuna that it’s impossible not to act, because choosing not to act was itself an act – not its negation. But it’s important to recognize that actions can emerge from fields with universal qualities as well as fields with individual qualities. It follows, therefore, that actions performed by human beings, which include those that are passive and active, can be rooted in the Self, which manifests universal qualities, or the ‘I’ and ego, which manifest individual qualities. When the choice to perform an appropriate activity has been actualized by fields with universal qualities through the synchronistic function of a person’s spirit, soul, and body, it will be appropriate and support the process of Self-realization. Activities that emerge from the Self and are embraced by an aspirant are not motivated by survival, need, or fear but by the consciousness of the Self and universal feminine energy (Shakti), who manifests her universal qualities through loka, the multiverse. When an aspirant performs activities that are appropriate and refuses to perform activities that are inappropriate, the ‘I’ and ego will lose their power to attach them to the external world of phenomena. By simultaneously embracing appropriate activities and rejecting inappropriate activities, an aspirant will also experience bliss, which will shield them from suffering in all its forms.
If You’re Not Having Fun, It’s Inappropriate
Inappropriate activities are actions that emerge from the ‘I’ and ego (mammon) and the karmic baggage each person carries within their subtle field from lifetime to lifetime. Such activities are primarily motivated by need, fear, and the instinct for personal survival. Since each person is an eternal being, the instinct for personal survival can only emerge from the field of mammon (maya), not the Self, which is in union with Universal Consciousness.
Decisions that are inappropriate are also unreliable because the ‘I’ and ego must rely on incomplete and distorted information and perceptions. Seen in this way the Nazarite’s declaration in Matt: ch. 6, vs. 24 illuminates an additional truth: that inappropriate decisions and activities can never satisfy an aspirant’s yearning for truth, freedom, and divine love.
Consciously and unconsciously, each individual makes hundreds of decisions each day to either do what is appropriate and stay in union with the Self or to do what is inappropriate and serve mammon. Since pleasure, love, intimacy, and bliss all emerge from Universal Consciousness (the Self), the question one should ask themselves is this: “Why do I serve mammon – by remaining attached to my ‘I” and ego – when embracing appropriateness will provide me with all the benefits of Self-realization, including Sat, Chit, Ananda – eternal life, all knowledge, and bliss?
Grossartig ! Danke ! ich bin sehr berührt von dieser Erklärung der tiefsten Frage in mir.
Und ...wie wunderbar, dass Du wieder gesund bist ! Love .