CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS

A Discourse by Sri Swami Krishnananda

(From the "World Parliament of Religions Commemoration Volume"

published in 1956)

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Introductory

 

Godmen appear on earth when the forces governing life take a course

counter to the law of the integrity of the universe and the

supremacy of the Divine Spirit. The power of the unity of life

exerted by these noble souls influences the course of the lives of

those around them. This influence may be felt consciously or

received unconsciously, but its immanent presence and active

operation is one of the grandest phenomena of existence, known to

those who are alive to the glow of the spiritual light. Jesus

Christ's incarnation is one such lofty instance of the descent of

Divine Power for the overcoming of error on earth and the

establishment of the law of Truth. The people to reform whom Jesus

appeared on earth were ridden over by false beliefs, empty rituals

and hypocritical practices in the name of religion. He came to make

known the doctrine which is His that sent him, the law of God who

rules the universe from inside and outside.

 

The doctrine of Christ is the system of the Supreme Consciousness,

which is the highest Reality, and it implies the relative laws of

what are termed here forms of righteousness. That is said to be

righteous which tends to the conscious recognition of the Eternal

Divine Presence. Hence righteousness consists more in spirit than in

letter, in inward feeling than outward form, in psychological and

spiritual attitude rather than ritualistic and traditional routine.

And Christ came to bear witness to this righteousness underlying the

law of the Truth. In essence, this righteousness consists in

renunciation of appearances and affirmation of Reality. And all the

stages that lead to this righteousness, also are righteousness. The

whole of Christ's teachings abounds in this twofold revelation of

the meaning of life. In the terminology of the system of Indian

Yoga, these constitute Vairagya and Abhyasa. In fact, all saints

have said only this, that phenomena have to be renounced, that the

Imperishable Spirit should be contemplated upon and realized. Christ

gives expression to these truths in various ways in his life and in

his precepts.

 

Suffering and Tolerance

 

"What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and

lose his own soul?" And yet this is what most men of the world do

not care to think. Search for outward things in which man seems to

be continuously engaged is really the denial of the independence and

dignity of the Self, and the assertion of the unreal, tantalizing

presentations to the senses. It is the teaching of Christ that man

shall not live by bread alone, but by the Spirit within. But

adherence to the righteousness of the Spirit means self-abnegation,

an abandonment of the external temptations. Not only this; it

implies the possession of a power of enduring all persecutions from

the opposing forces of the lower nature.

 

"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness'

sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.Blessed are ye

when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all

manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." He that gains

blessedness in the realm of Spirit, casts aside the corresponding

negativity in the region of darkness. Suffering in this world is the

price to be paid for the supreme fulfilment in the Consciousness of

the Divine. Suffering cannot be avoided for man as long as he is an

element of the relative universe. And this suffering should be

accompanied by great tolerance; even positive evil should not evoke

out propensity to retaliation. "Resist not evil" is a shining

gem adorning the garland of the teachings of Christ. Perhaps it sums

up the major teaching concerning spiritual life, that evil is the

product of erroneous perception and that correct vision of things

affirms the absoluteness of the pure Spirit.

 

All resistance is an affirmation of ego, however much it may be

justified by false logic and prejudiced understanding. It may be

that some forms of egoism are considered harmless in that they are

supposed to tend to or even express righteousness, and sometimes

indispensable. Yes, it is so as an apology for true righteousness;

but it does not require much thinking to discover that it is a

sanction to the weaker side of human nature and that the greatest

heroism of spirit is manifest in unlimited tolerance. No retaliation

can equal in its effects the majesty of endurance par

excellence. `Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do

good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use

you and persecute you;for if ye love them which love you

what reward have ye? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father

which art in heaven is perfect."

 

Love, Service and Dependence on God

 

It is not only tolerance and non-retaliation that are required of us

but positive love towards all. This love is expressed both in mind

and body. A feeling of love for all, based on the omnipresence and

supremacy of God, characterizes the psychic being. And in external

life, love takes the form of service. Service should be done not to

win the gratitude of the person served or to enjoy the goodwill and

praise of the public but to purify the inner nature and fulfil the

law of God. Hence Christ says: "Take heed that ye do not your

alms before men, to be seen of them - when thou doest alms, let not

thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth - and thy Father which

seeth in secret, Himself shall reward thee openly."

 

We do charity not to glory on earth, but to glory in God. If all the

earth is to consider of a man great, but in the eyes of God he is

little, he has gained nothing. But if, on the other hand, he is

great to God and nothing to man, he has truly gained the all; for

the opinion of those on earth counts not before the Sovereign of the

Universe. And further, a desire to do service and charity in public

implies a non-belief in the absolute reality of God and a faith in

the phenomenal universe. It is this false faith in things that

perish that constitutes real sin. Christ warns man not to trust the

things of sense and not to bestow thought even on one's creature

comforts. The world is sustained by the spirit of God, and not by

the egoistic efforts of man. Where the so-called effort of man seems

to bring success, it is to be understood that it is on account of

its flowing with the current of the Law of God. And where it fails

it is in variance with the Law. Individual effort is the name given

to the function of the Universal Force when it passes through the

egoism of the individual.

 

A wise person should put his trust in God and be a silent

participator in the fulfilment of the Law. No `individual

effort' has a value independent of the working of the Divine Law.

"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life. Is not

life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Which of you by

taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? Your heavenly

Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye

first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these

things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the

morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.Provide

neither gold, nor silver, nor dress in your purses, nor scrip for

your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves, for

the workman is worthy of his meat."

 

Seek the Eternal

 

The power, the inner strength that is required to overcome the

temptation to yield the urge to seek pleasure in external things is

to be acquired from the Eternal Foot of God. One has only to seek it

sincerely and one shall have it. Intense aspiration for the

realization of the Eternal Spirit is like a fire which shall burn up

all extraneous thoughts and lift the aspirant above the mire of

sense-experience. The fault lies in man who does not sincerely seek

it, for he seems to be satisfied with the constricted vision and the

painful life to which he is tethered by ignorance of higher truths

and values. A surrender of personality engendered by deep devotion

to the Eternal shall pull out the bolt of the ego closing the door

of the heart, and let in the flood of the blissful consciousness of

perfection and power from above. But, for this, the condition is

seeking—aspiring. "Ask, and it shall be given to you; knock,

and it shall be opened unto you."

 

The Strait Gate

 

Christ calls the path of God `the strait gate.' The way to

the knowledge and experience of God is distressful, abounding in

difficulties. One may say that it is even painful, distasteful, and

to some, fearful. Many turn away from it, after making the

preliminary attempts to tread it. Fear, disgust, doubt and despair

debar the aspirants from entering `the strait gate.' Indian

teachers call this `the pathless path,' `the bird's

path,' `the path of the fish,' etc., meaning that the way

to God is mysterious, hard to understand and untraceable like the

path of birds in the air, or of aquatic animals in water. They call

it `the pathless path,' because it is not a path but a state

of consciousness; it is not accurate in space, which is the accepted

meaning of path, but an internal transfiguration of one's entire

being.

 

"Enter ye in at the strait gate; for, wide is the gate and broad

is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go

in thereat. Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which

leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." It is easy to

flow with the current of a river but hard to swim against it. To

carry out the commands of the lower instincts is pleasant, for man

generally lives in agreement with them; but to conquer them and

listen to the silent voice of the Spirit is a task demanding

extraordinary courage and understanding. It is quite likely that the

aspirant may experience at a certain stage of his spiritual

practices a natural desertion of himself by other persons and

things. This is not experienced at all times, but only at a

particular situation in which the seeker finds himself while

searching for Reality. While the earth is cut from under the feet,

and the heavens have not yet lent enough support, the seeker finds

himself in a peculiar predicament where consciousness of the pain of

one's separation from objects of individual satisfaction

supervenes.

 

At this stage the Light of God appears to be eclipsed and the

natural forces are at wax with the seeker. There is an apparent

suppression of Truth by the undivine forces before it finally

overthrows them and reveals itself in glorious triumph. Christ, in

his life of suffering symbolizes this position of the aspiring soul,

and says: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have

nests; but the son of man hath not where to lay his head." When

God's grace descends on man, he is first stripped of all his

possessions and cut off from the centres of his enjoyment, Christ

demonstrates this to mankind in his life of `symbolic

suffering.'

 

Self-Surrender

 

The grandest peak of his teaching is the gospel of self-

surrender. "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,

and take up his cross, and follow me; for whosoever will save his

life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake

shall find it." The process of spiritual attainment is one of

`dying to live.' The complete negation of personality is the

same as the attainment of the Impersonal Absolute. The cross of

relative suffering and pain everyone has to take up, for the sake of

the supreme peace that passeth all understanding. Love of life is

the strong iron chain binding the soul to bodily life and misery, by

which it loses the real life which is of the Higher Spirit. But he

who aspires for the Supreme Blessedness of the Spirit shall have to

cast aside the life of the flesh here on earth and surrender himself

to the Supreme. Surrender is the fruit of faith. Faith can work

wonders. "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall

say unto this mountain `Remove hence to yonder place,' and it

shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

 

Much discussion has been carried on in regard to the relation

between self-effort and predetermination. But Christ declares

emphatically that nothing can happen without the will of God. And so

even the so-called sell-effort should form part of the Will of

God. "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them

shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs

of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore ye are of more

value than many sparrows." Man is bound not because he puts forth

effort in some direction, but because he thinks and also feels that

it is his separated individuality that exercises the effort, not

knowing that he cannot lift a straw without the Divine Will. The

moment effort is realized to be a single phase of the Spirit, effort

becomes not a force directed to any individualized end but a cosmic

movement, a process of the universe within itself in relation to the

whole of itself, and not merely to one of its parts. In the

consciousness of this universal nature of all actions and thoughts

does consist the liberation of the individual.

 

Christ gives the assurance that those who go to him for help shall

find it abundantly. Only, they have to bear his yoke. "Come unto

me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you

rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and

lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke

is easy, and my burden is light." How humble and simple is the

supreme master of all the world! Yes, his burden is light, but men

find it heavier than an iron hill. His yoke is easy, but difficult

as baling the ocean with a blade of grass. But it is certain that

those who have enough guts can attain through him the rest which he

promises to give them. Sri Krishna has already given the same

promise: "Abandoning all other duties, come to Me alone as

refuge. I shall liberate thee from all sins; grieve not."

 

The assurance is highly consoling and solacing; but the yoke is hard

to take up. This is the tragedy of the life of man, and also his

glory. Wherever he turns, man finds himself gyrating in a vicious

circle. This is because he has not learnt to think properly. And

once he knows how to think, he is in the empyrean of the felicity of

freedom. When he learns to think, he becomes humble and regains the

purity and simplicity of the child. "Transcending learning, one

should become a child," says the Upanishad. And Christ says,

"Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall

not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." These are the saintly men,

who in his words, are those which have made themselves "eunuchs

for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake." They are neither men nor

women, not really humans, who have "forsaken" everything for

his sake, to receive a "hundredfold," and "inherit

everlasting life."

 

Relation to God and Man

 

"Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God with all thy heart, and with

all thy soul, and with all thy mind." A natural corollary of this

commandment is that "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as

thyself." Because thy neighbour is really thyself in the One God.

Here is summed up the spiritual and the social ethics for man. God

is one and since all are in the Being of God, each bears to the

other a relation of brotherhood and an intimate kinship of the

nature of identity. In the world of social relations this identity

is relative and secondary; in God it is absolute and primary. The

whole life of man is to be dedicated for the purpose of recognizing

and experiencing this identity of Self. No doubt it is hard even to

attempt it. "The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is

weak." But "I am with you always, even unto the end of the

world." And so there is no fear. The temptations shall be

overcome by the power of the eternal presence of Christ with us. He

and his Father are one. And we are his. He is our way and the light

and the life and the love, and by abnegating ourselves, we shall

offer ourselves to him. When he is pleased, God is pleased, and when

God is pleased we get installed in the Kingdom of Heaven which is

within us. This is immortal life.

 

Conclusion

 

The teachings of Jesus offer solutions to all problems of life.

Metaphysical, ethical, social and individual relations, commonweal,

national good, and all the values of life, are finally centred in

the nature of God-consciousness. Everything should be judged from

the stand-point of this consciousness; only then will the true worth

of a thing be known. But other forms of judgment arise from mistake

and lead to mistake. "Judge not, that ye be not judged." For,

in the manner in which we behave towards things shall they, and shall

God's Law behave with us. "All things whatsoever ye would

that men should do to you, do you even so to them; for this is the

law of the prophets." The incarnation of Christ have its mission

in revealing to the world the greatness of God, the glory of Truth,

the worthlessness of things mundane which are estranged from God who

is Truth, the necessity of surrender, and the importance of

renunciation and fortitude.

 

Those who have these virtues are truly Christians, sons of God, the

beloved of the Son of Man. They shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven

who are united with Him in spirit, and "Not everyone that saith

unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he

that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." He does the

Will of the One Father who loves all as his own self, who serves all

as variegated manifestations of the One, who hates none, wants

nothing, gives whatever he has, and loses himself in contemplation

of the Eternal—for this he knows is his supreme duty here. All is

his who has God with him, who is in God, and no thought need enter

his mind. His is the blessed life, the Divine Life, and he has come

to raise humanity to this state of Divinity, through his thoughts,

words and actions.