The Holy Spirit - by Swami Nirmalananda Giri

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The Holy Spirit - by Swami Nirmalananda Giri

 

Chapter Sixteen—And in the Holy Spirit, the Lady and Giver of life:

Who proceedeth from the Father. Who together with the Father and the

Son Is worshipped and glorified. Who spoke by the prophets.

The Holy Spirit

 

" And in the Holy Spirit. " Here, as in the first part of the Creed,

Divinity is the subject. Having considered the Father and the Son, we

are now ready to complete the picture of Godhead with the inclusion

of the Holy Spirit, the Agia Pneuma.

 

" Holy " (agia) tells us that we are speaking of God, Who alone is

holy. The word pneuma means " breath, " which to the ancients of both

the Near and Far East was always equated with spirit.

 

Literally the expression Agia Pneuma means " Holy Breath " or " Holy Out-

breathing. " Why? Because breath is not independent but comes from a

source. By using this symbolic expression the framers of the Creed

convey to us that, just as the Only-begotten Son is an emanation from

the transcendent Godhead, the Father, so also is the Holy Spirit.

This is borne out by Jesus' saying that the Holy Spirit " proceedeth

from the Father. " 1 Thereby we come to understand that the Father is

the transcendent God, whereas the Son and the Holy Spirit together

are the immanent God.

 

" The Lady "

 

The next term set forth to describe the Holy Spirit is " Lady, "

not " Lord, " as was later used to designate the Holy Spirit. In both

Hebrew and Aramaic the word translated " Spirit " is always feminine.

In the fifth century the Aramaic text of the Bible (the Peshitta) was

falsified to make the Holy Spirit into a male to suit the Byzantine

Emperors who had appointed themselves theologians for their state

church. (Some of them were even called " Vicar of Christ " !)

 

As we have already stated, the Father is the transcendent Unity,

beyond all polarization. For that very reason He in no way interacts

with the realm of relative existence which is based on duality.

Therefore, whenever God wishes to produce and interact with an

objective creation, He first emanates, from His Transcendent Being,

His own Self as the Immanent Godhead, Which by its very nature must

be dual: eternal Male and Female. The Male aspect of the Immanent

Godhead we call " the Son " and " the Lord. " We call the Feminine

aspect " the Holy Spirit " and " the Lady. " These Two are the Father and

Mother of all creation. From this polarized Divinity emanates the

polarized creation, from the worlds of the Seraphim and Cherubim to

the worlds of the physically-embodied beings.

 

Divine Duality

 

The Immanent Godhead is also divided into the moving and the

unmoving, the dynamic and the static. The Son is unmoving

Consciousness, and the Holy Spirit, the " Holy Breathing, " is dynamic,

conscious divine Energy. The Son is unchanging, but the Holy Spirit,

as cosmic " breath, " is ever modifying and cycling Herself as energy.

Actually, the Holy Spirit, the Mother, is the creation, the infinite

sea of light-power manifesting as the relative universes, subtle and

gross.

 

Eternity of the Holy Spirit

 

In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit Herself speaks, saying: " Unto

you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple,

understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.

Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my

lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth; and

wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth

are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.

They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that

find knowledge. Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge

rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all

the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. I wisdom

dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. The

fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil

way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. Counsel is mine, and sound

wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. By me kings reign, and

princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the

judges of the earth. I love them that love me; and those that seek me

early shall find me. Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable

riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than

fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of

righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: That I may

cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their

treasures. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before

his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning,

or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought

forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the

mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: While

as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest

part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was

there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: When he

established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of

the deep: When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should

not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the

earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily

his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable

part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men. Now

therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that

keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.

Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates,

waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life,

and shall obtain favour of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me

wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death. " 2

 

This is reminiscent of the verses relating to the Son, when He

Himself says through the Psalmist: " The Lord hath said unto me, Thou

art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. " 3 Also, " The Lord said

unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies

thy footstool. " 4

 

In both instances we are speaking of Divinity, but a

Divinity " shaped " by the Father in Their emanating from Him. The

first part of the verses just quoted show that the Holy Spirit

existed in eternity before all time or relative existence, a quality

possible only to God.

 

If we analyze matter, we shall find that all things, from specks of

dust to planets, are in their fundamental existence simply light. The

entire universe itself is a single wave of light within which there

are infinite variations. And that Light is the Holy Spirit. Although

God the Son, Who is also being described in these verses, alone is

Creator in the sense of directing the creation, it is the Holy Spirit

Who " was with Him, forming all things " out of Her infinite Light.

 

In Eastern philosophy it is common to speak of " the dance of

creation. " The same idea is conveyed in the Holy Spirit's statement

that She was " playing before Him at all times, playing in the

world. " 5 This verse also shows that She never acts independently of

the Creator-Son, but that together They accomplish all things. These

verses have been attributed to the Virgin Mary by the Fathers of the

Church, since She is the Incarnation of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus is

the Incarnation of the Only-begotten Son.

 

True Nature Of Creation

 

Just as a sculptor takes clay and gives it form according to his

inspired idea, so God, according to the divine pattern, forms the

creation out of the ever-existing Light of the Holy Spirit,

implanting therein, as in a womb, the sparks of divine consciousness,

the spirits. The ever-existing God alone IS, and no other entity can

come into existence besides Him. Just as a spider spins its web from

its own body, so God weaves the universe from the fabric of His own

Self. All creation is but an eternal dance of God with Himself, by

Himself, and for Himself. " By Him, with Him, and in Him " says the

ancient prayer attributed to Saint Peter the Apostle.

 

The Holy Breath

 

" Breath " is an excellent symbol of the Holy Spirit, for when we

breathe out we produce sound. She is Herself the primal Sound, the

Word, which shapes Her formless primal Light into the semblance of

relative creation. Just as when we breathe on water it is shaped into

waves, so the Son, the Word, causes the Holy Spirit to manifest all

names and forms that exist momentarily in the great dance of

creation. The universe emerges from Her Light and melts back into It

at the end of the creation cycles, which are perpetual.

 

The Two Words

 

As has been said, there are two " Words " that are divine, just as in

human speech there are also two forms of the word. First, there is

the silent word in the mind which arises before we produce the second

word, the spoken word. The first, inner word is the silent concept-

pattern. The second word is the outer word, the sound " clothing " of

the inner word. So also the Only-begotten Son is the silent Word, the

directing, inner, universal Consciousness. And the Holy Spirit is

the " spoken " Word, the projected, moving power which is characterized

in the Scriptures as " a mighty rushing wind, " " the sound of many

waters, " " the sound of harpers harping on their harps, " " the voice of

a great trumpet, " " the Amen. " In the Odes of Solomon we find the

words: " Open unto me the harp of Thine Holy Spirit. "

 

Light and Sound, the dual aspects of the Holy Spirit, are the basis

for all relative existence. All forms are but patterns of light, and

sound is the force which produces the patterns. In Hindu scriptures

we read of Aum, " the Word that is God. "

 

The Masculine And Feminine In God

 

As we have already said, the Holy Spirit is the Great Mother, the

Feminine Power, the great Womb of light-energy into which the seeds

of the individual consciousnesses are cast by the Only-begotten Son.

He, in a sense, impregnates Her. We find in ancient mythology the

idea of the divine brother and sister who are married and have divine

children. Such symbology usually does not please society because on

the physical level that would be incest. But what we are speaking of

is far beyond the human plane or any tinge of sexuality. The

inexpressible mystery of this divine Duality is well portrayed by the

Taoist symbol of Yin-Yang, which has already been described and

discussed.

 

Dual Light

 

Another reference to this divine dualism is given in the New

Testament where two " Lights " are spoken of: (1) the Light

that " shineth in the darkness, " 6 Which is the Only-begotten, the

unspoken Word, and (2) the Light that " shine out of darkness, " 7

Which is the Holy Spirit, the communicating medium between us and the

Only-begotten, Who " hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of

the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. " 8 It

is this deifying uniting of Christ to us that is referred to by the

Celebrant in some of the Eastern Christian liturgies when he uses the

expression: " the communication of the Holy Spirit be with you all. "

Iconography

In Eastern Christian iconography the Mother is nearly always shown

carrying the Child Christ. The original depictions, such as those

found in the Catacombs, show the Mother with Her arms uplifted in

prayer ( " the Spirit itself [Herself] maketh intercession for us with

groanings which cannot be uttered " 9). Within the circle of Her heart

in the midst of Her chest there appears the divine Son as a child.

The idea conveyed by such icons is that the potential Christ, in the

form of every spirit, is to be found in the womb of the Great Mother,

which is this creation of vibratory energy. Because the vehicles

through which we evolve are formed of Her divine energy, it is also

appropriate to depict Her as carrying the Christ Child in Her arms.

It is the power and grace of the Holy Spirit that carries us upward

through the entire scale of evolution to the final attainment of

perfect union with Christ the Son, Who in turn will unite us with the

Father.

Evolution

Although we use the term " spiritual evolution " to speak of our

unfolding spiritual awareness as we pass from stage to stage,

evolution does not really take place on the level of the spirit; for

the spirit, like God, is ever perfect and never changes. What, then,

does evolve? The vehicles of our spirits: our bodies, minds,

intellects, and wills, all of which are grosser or subtler forms of

energy. They are actually what we experience as " evolving " as they

become more and more refined and receptive to the light of our pure

Self. These " layers " in which our spirit is wrapped are themselves

formed of divine power.

Except for the physical body and its grosser magnetic fields, we

retain these layers from life to life. In each incarnation we bring

them back with us and form around them the type of body which

reflects their state and destiny. If nothing hinders, in each life

they increase in their capacity to more perfectly reflect and act as

vehicles for our consciousness. They become more sensitive

instruments through which our spirit can function, rather than blocks

to higher consciousness, which they are in the earlier stages of

incarnation.

" Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, " wrote Oliver Wendell

Holmes in his poem, The Chambered Nautilus. As the nautilus in the

sea outgrows its shell, it extrudes a substance which hardens and

forms another " chamber " larger than the one in which it presently

lives. Then it moves outward into that larger area and seals off the

old living quarters. It carries on its back, in the form of its

curved shell, all of its former abodes. If the shell is sawn in half,

we find a spiral of ever-larger chambers, each of them having been at

one time the house of the nautilus until it was outgrown.

This is exactly what we are doing. In our subconscious mind we retain

all the lives and experiences that lie behind us. From life to life

we make a new body-shell in which to manifest, and it is the shells

that grow and evolve. It is the dance of the Mother around us,

the " sons of God, " just as She dances the dance of universal

evolution before the Only-begotten Son.

Our consciousness being drawn outward from our spirit, we " fall " into

awareness of the dance alone and identify with our " clothing, "

forgetting completely who we really are. In this deluded condition we

believe that we have been born and are destined to die, although it

is the body alone that undergoes the changes of birth and death. We

see ourselves as constantly changing, never coming to any true rest

or stability, when in reality it is the energies surrounding us that

are ever changing while we, as pure consciousness, never change. This

great folly is the root of " sin " (amartano), the great " falling

short. " On the other hand, true righteousness is knowing who we

really are, not in theory but in actual experience.

Mother And Child

Returning to the symbology of the icon of the Virgin and Child, the

Virgin represents the Holy Spirit as creation, and the Christ Child

represents the spirit of each being evolving within creation. Just as

a child that cannot walk is carried wherever the mother wishes, in

the same way the spirit, though divine, is carried about by the tides

and currents of material life, usually against its conscious will. As

the infant depends totally upon the mother for the support of its

life, so the spirit experiences apparent helplessness and total

dependency upon material forces.

In most icons, the Child is looking with complete absorption at the

face of the Mother. This symbolizes the self-forgetfulness of the

spirit as it becomes fascinated, even hypnotized, by the ever-

changing face of creation. Yet, as the babe grows all the time toward

maturity and independence, so does the spirit progress at all times

toward self-realization.

Suffering

Another aspect of the Mother's care for us is suffering and

discontent, though many do not know it.

When the female eagle makes her nest, she first puts in thorns and

sharp stones and then lines it with down so it is very soft and

comfortable. After the little ones have grown large enough to fly,

the mother discards the down and stirs up all the sharp objects,

forcing the little eaglets to hop up on to the edge of the nest. She

then pushes them off into the air…and they fly! This is one of the

reasons evolving spirits are often spoken of in the Bible

as " eagles. "

Suffering and discontent with this world is the Mother's prodding to

get us out of the nest and into our true element of divinity. With

us, too, there comes a time when Mother stirs the nest to unsettle us

and get us to move up higher. Eventually we come to understand that

real or lasting happiness, peace, and security are not possible in

this world, nor can we draw them from individuals, however close to

us they might be. With that awakening, we are pushed off into the

realm of spirit and there must learn to " fly, " no longer seeking for

peace or solace in this world, but setting about our real work of

transcending this relative sphere of time and space.

" Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts, " 10 that is,

at the voice of the Mother, the " sound of many waters, " we are drawn

upward, homeward. Those who are wise answer Her right away while it

is relatively easy. Foolish ones, thinking they are

being " independent " and " exploring life, " ignore and even despise Her

call. Some even deny it is there. Then, when they have drifted far

into the negative current and decide to turn toward the call, it is

often no longer there. An entire lifetime is simply gone. To hear Her

call again, many must wait for dozens of lives, and some for

hundreds.

" Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth,

that shall he also reap. " 11 Those who sow deafness and indifference

to God will, when they finally do begin their spiritual searching, at

first reap nothing but silence and spiritual void to the exact

measure that they have ignored Her. She is not punishing them; they

are simply reaping what they have sown. Having wanted God to be quiet

and leave them alone, to an equal degree they must now yearn for Her

to speak and come to them.

Sometimes such people are given a glimpse of spiritual realities and

for a brief period of time seem to soar into the heights of spiritual

experience. Then suddenly " the honeymoon is over " and they experience

emptiness and spiritual dryness until they reap the force of their

former indifference. Many fail that test. For some it is delayed for

quite a while, and after years of spiritual contact they must

undergo " the dark night of the soul. " All is meted out to us

mercifully by the Mother, who will never " suffer you to be tempted

[tested] above that ye are able;…that ye may be able to bear it. " 12

Those who fail, do so by choice, being shallow of heart, as Jesus

indicated in the Parable of the Sower.13 When we begin the long path

back homeward, it is as laborious as the sliding away from spiritual

consciousness was effortless. But Mother never stops calling, and

eventually we are " born " from Her womb back into the eternal Bosom of

God.

Divine Light

The Son is the " lightless light, " the Light that can only be seen by

the one eye of spirit in divine union, whereas the Mother in Her

objective manifestation is the light that is seen by the two eyes of

duality. Her creation is like two opposing mirrors in which we see an

endless chain of mirrors. By identifying with that illusion, we fall

into the infinite labyrinth of the creation, the countless chain of

worlds that each mirror the one above and below it. The Hermetic

principle, " As above, so below, " is both wisdom and illusion, for if

we but take away one mirror, that is, attain the vision of

the " single eye, " it all vanishes in a moment. But until then we are

subject to the law of duality. In all the worlds, from the highest to

the lowest, all objects consist of a positive and a negative pole

around which their constituent elements revolve. In the same way, the

separated consciousnesses circle around the Son and the Holy Spirit,

the positive and negative polarizations of the divine consciousness.

From there we must ascend back into the " unapproachable Light " 14 of

Unity, from the divine Immanence into the divine Transcendence.

Consciousness And Evolution

Because our spiritual eye is undeveloped, we see the Light of the

Holy Spirit as matter, though in reality it is Her Presence,

enfolding and directing our growth from life to life.

It is not matter that is our spirit's prison, but our deluded

consciousness which sees the divine Light as matter. Once our

consciousness is changed, we are free. And that freedom is effected

by the Mother Herself. Through our involvement with Her as matter, we

are impelled to transcend matter and become awakened children of God.

Saint Paul wrote about this, saying: " For the earnest expectation of

the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.…For we

know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together

until now. " 15 Here Saint Paul reveals that the creation is a

conscious entity, not dead matter. Not only is it conscious, its

entire purpose is to travail and give birth to sons of God. Impelling

us upward along the ladder of evolution, which is creation, the power

of the Mother ultimately brings us to the final birth of perfect

freedom and union with the Son, as Saint Paul further confirms: " For

whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the

image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren.

…shall he not with him also freely give us all things? " 16

What a different, dynamic understanding of life we have when these

things are known!

Our Choice

There is also an important point implied here. If we relate to the

Mother as though She were lifeless matter for us to seize and

exploit, to claim as " me " and " mine, " we are drawn deeper and deeper

into bondage under Her dream-power of spiritual hypnosis, the cosmic

illusion called maya in Indian philosophy. But if we understand that

this creation, including our own gross and subtle bodies, is really

the Light of the Holy Spirit, the energy of our divine Mother, and we

revere everything as Her manifestation, the whole situation changes.

That which heretofore bound us and weighed us down is seen to be the

very force which uplifts us to the Highest. How is this?

As we have already considered at some length, in the ocean of power

which is the Mother's manifestation, there are two distinct currents,

sometimes called in the scriptures the right and left " hands " of God.

One current impels the entities therein downward and outward to the

utmost regions of relative existence, to the grossest materiality and

(spiritual) unconsciousness. The other current draws the entities

therein inexorably upward and inward to the subtlest and highest

levels of awareness, impelling them to transcend that current and

merge into pure Consciousness Itself.

Everything depends on how we relate to the Mother. If we are not in

the right current of Her life, then all the prayers, repentances, and

religious actions will mean nothing. As Jesus said: " Except a man be

born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of

God. " 17 That is, if we are not " born " from and enlivened by the Holy

Spirit, we cannot enter the kingdom of God because we are still in

the downward current of relative existence. It is through Her only

that we are switched from the left-hand to the right-hand path of

spiritual evolution. All the sincerity and " faith " in the world means

nothing of itself. It is our relation to the Mother, " the Holy

Spirit, the Lady, " that tells the true story.18

The Giver Of Life

The next phrase of the Creed, still speaking of the Holy Spirit,

is: " The Giver of Life. " There are two kinds of life, the higher and

the lower, and Mother gives both kinds. She wraps us in the swaddling

clothes of the will, the intellect, the senses, the biomagnetic

energies, and the physical body. Through these means we function in

the external world, which is really Her. Through Her and in Her we

live, sowing and reaping through many bodies. We call that life,

which it is, but of the lesser type.

When we " ripen " and are ready for the higher life, we honor and

worship the Mother, calling on Her personally as our Mother. Then She

gives us that higher life, opening the passage to spiritual

realization. Finally, She brings us to the gate of freedom and we

step out from Her realm into the realm of the Only-begotten, the

realm of pure spirit.

All life, the life of bondage as well as the life of freedom, comes

from Her, indeed is Her. It is pointless to ask the Father or the Son

to deliver us from bondage or to give us freedom, for She alone has

the franchise from the Father to bind or free us. She alone must we

seek. When we find Her, nothing shall be lacking to us.

The Great Illusionist

It is not amiss to say that the Mother is the Great Illusionist. She

produces this vast drama of creation by Her Light alone, and all the

spirits within Her cosmic theatre are swept up into identification

with it although it is nothing but an appearance, a dream. As the

audience is distracted by the magician when he works his sleight of

hand, so the spirits with their attentions drawn from inner reality

to the outer dance of the Mother are utterly engulfed in the drama,

suffering, rejoicing, laughing, crying, being born, and dying–and

none of it is real. Those who do not love and worship the Mother are

deluded. Those who see through Her play, who end the game of

spiritual Hide and Seek by touching the home base within and

recognizing themselves as Her children, have nothing to fear.

As we see and seek Her, so will She respond. If we see Her as

blinding materiality and seek for that, then we shall have only that.

But if we seek Her as our Mother, longing to be taken by Her back to

our eternal home, She will be our deliverer, unerringly taking us to

the Only-begotten. When Ivan the Terrible made a silver cover for an

icon of the Virgin Mary painted by Saint Luke, he had engraved at the

top: " O Lady, hear our prayers and bring us to Thy Son. "

Whatever we want Her to be, that She will be. Mother will cooperate

with our bondage, and Mother will cooperate with our freedom. The

choice is ours. We make many excuses for our lack of spiritual life

and progress, but it is really a matter of our choice. By choice, I

mean a desire that is acted upon. A lot of people would be willing or

would like to be spiritually perfect if it took no effort on their

part, and if it could be done without their having to undergo any

significant change. So when they play religious and spiritual, it is

just that: a play. Mother is not fooled, and She leaves them alone.

The real desire to find God is an active striving for that

attainment, not the mere " no objection " attitude that many people

have toward spiritual life.

So long as we want Her delusion and materiality, just so long will we

have it. We need not blame others or " the devil. " The decision is

ours. She is not keeping us bound. We are. It is our will that She

does at all times. According to the Law of Sowing and Reaping we set

the universe in motion to effect certain things we want. And Who

responds? The Mother. Every time we come back again into the earth

plane, She has the stage already set according to our prior demands.

We alone have written the script, yet we wail and cry: " Oh, how could

God do this to me? " when She is only carrying out our directions to

the letter. When we change the script, She will set things up

accordingly.

The Supreme Life

In the highest sense, She is the Giver of the Life that is God. She

is the great Power that operates throughout incarnations without

number all to unite us with God. She is the one Who reshapes and

empowers all the bodies in which we evolve. She then brings God unto

us in a mode which we can receive–She gives birth to Him in us and

gives birth to us in Him. This is the great Mystery of Godliness.

The Cosmos is the domain of the Holy Spirit, Her effectual,

spiritual " womb " through which She gives us birth.

The Source Of The Holy Spirit

Next, the Creed tells us the origin of the Holy Spirit: " Who

proceedeth from the Father. " She and the Son have the same origin,

being equal in all things. And, just as there is no " second God, "

anything which has its origin in the Father must in the final

analysis be the Father. The Holy Spirit is just as much the Father as

is the Son. When all is said and done, there can remain but the One.

The Father is the origin and the essence of the Son and the Holy

Spirit, for He is the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is a great

mystery.

The Holy Spirit is in truth the one God that has no parts and yet is

Triune. She proceeds from the Father as the Son is begotten from the

Father, showing that there is a difference in manner of manifestation

between the Son and the Holy Spirit as the Father and Mother, the

positive and negative poles of creation. This was imaged in Adam and

Eve. First there was Adam, and out of his side came forth Eve. One

became two. So the Father emanated His own unitary Life, and it

polarized, separated, and became the Two that together are required

to accomplish anything outside the transcendental Being of the Father.

One Of The Trinity

" Who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and

glorified. " This statement not only affirms Her identity with the

Father and the Son as God, it makes it clear that we do not worship

the true God if we do not worship a God that is both transcendent and

incommunicable and at the same time immanent and communicable in the

dual form of Father and Mother (or Son and Mother). They must be

worshipped together, equally. That alone is Catholic–kata holos, all-

embracing–worship. We worship Three, realizing that they are at all

times really One.

Prophetic Power

" Who spoke by the prophets. " It was the Mother Who rested upon the

prophets and inspired them. For that reason also is She

called " breath. " For as we vibrate our breath to form our voice in

communicating with one another, so She is the vibrating medium

through which the divine message is communicated from the

transcendental to the human level. All spiritual powers which were

manifested through the prophets are called " gifts of the Spirit, " not

gifts of the Father or the Son. Where the authentic exercise of those

gifts are found, it is the working of the Mother. She is the source

of the oracles of God, for She is the Wisdom of God, as the prophets

named Her. She is the language in the mouth of the illumined.

The " just men made perfect " 19 are made perfect in Her, the Mother. By

their mouths She speaks Her truth. It should be evident, then, that

the only way to spiritual knowledge and illumination is the way of

the Holy Spirit Mother.

More chapters of the Gnosis of the Creed:

• Chapter One—The Nicene Creed

• Chapter Two—I believe

• Chapter Three—In one God, the Father almighty

• Chapter Four—Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible

and invisible

• Chapter Five—And in one Lord

• Chapter Six—Jesus Christ

• Chapter Seven—The Only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father

before all ages. Light from Light, True God from true God. Begotten

not made, Being of one substance with the Father; By Whom all things

were made.

• Chapter Eight—Who for us men, and for our salvation

• Chapter Nine—Came down from heaven

• Chapter Ten—And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit

• Chapter Eleven—Of the Virgin Mary. And was made Man.

• Chapter Twelve—He was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.

Suffered and was buried.

• Chapter Thirteen—And the third day He rose again according to the

Scriptures. And ascended into heaven. He sitteth at the right hand of

the Father.

• Chapter Fourteen—And He shall come again with glory to judge the

living and the dead.

• Chapter Fifteen—Of Whose kingdom there shall be no end.

• Chapter Sixteen—And in the Holy Spirit, the Lady and Giver of life:

Who proceedeth from the Father. Who together with the Father and the

Son Is worshipped and glorified. Who spoke by the prophets.

• Chapter Seventeen—And in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

• Chapter Eighteen—I confess one baptism for the remission of sins.

• Chapter Nineteen—And I look for the resurrection of the dead. And

the life of the age to come. Amen.

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1) John 15:26 [Go back]

2) Proverbs 8:4-36 [Go back]

3) Psalm 2:7 [Go back]

4) Psalm 110:1 [Go back]

5) Septuagint reading. [Go back]

6) John 1:5 [Go back]

7) II Corinthians 4:6 [Go back]

8) ibid. [Go back]

9) Romans 8:26 [Go back]

10) Psalm 42:7 [Go back]

11) Galatians 6:7 [Go back]

12) I Corinthians 10:13 [Go back]

13) " And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold,

a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the

way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon

stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they

sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun

was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they

withered away. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and

understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away

that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by

the way side. But he that received the seed into stony places, the

same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet

hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while. " (Matthew 13:3-

6,19-21) [Go back]

14) " Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man

can approach unto. " (I Timothy 6:16) [Go back]

15) Romans 8:19,22 [Go back]

16) Romans 8:29,32 [Go back]

17) John 3:5 [Go back]

18) The following two excerpts from An Eagle's Flight speak of the

seeming dual nature of the Mother God as seek in images of the Hindu

goddess Kali. " The Bengalis especially love the form of Durga known

as Kali. Whereas Durga, holding weapons in Her ten hands and riding

on a tiger, is intimidating enough to the uninitiated, Kali is much

more so. Garlanded with severed heads and clothed in a skirt of

severed arms, She presents the enigma of creation through Her four

arms. With her left arms She carries a bloody sword and a bowl of

wine and with Her right arms She makes the two mudras–ceremonial

gestures–signifying: " Fear not, " and " Draw near. " The message is that

for the ignorant who tread the " lefthand path, " this world is a place

of forgetfulness and death, but to the wise upon the " righthand path "

it is the evolving Ark of God intended to carry us safely back home.

Whatever a person may think of such startling symbolization, a little

observance definitely reveals that human beings live in drastically

differing worlds while walking the same planet. It is a matter of

consciousness. " " Within the shrine room beyond the threshold I saw a

remarkable image of the goddess Kali which, as I later learned, had

been made according to a detailed description given by Sri Ma

Anandamayi of a vision She once had of the goddess. Unlike most

images of Kali, this one was a dark royal blue, rather than the usual

black ( " Kali " means " the black one " ). Her black hair streamed down

behind her as She raised one left hand on high holding a bloody sword

while with the other She held a severed head. Her upper right hand

was raised, palm outward, in the ritual gesture (mudra) of blessing

known as abhaya, " fear not. " Her lower right hand was extended, also

palm outward, in a mudra which meant " draw near. " In this way the

dual aspect of the Divine Power the Hindus call Maha Shakti –and the

Christians call " Holy Spirit, " " Holy Breath, " the " Mighty Wind, "

the " Great `Amen' " –was revealed. " To those upon the " left hand of

God, " who tread the path of ignorance, Kali is terrible. With her

sword, upon which an eye is painted to indicate that it is the symbol

of awakened spiritual consciousness, or prajna, she cuts off

the " head " of egoity, the false self. Moreover, She wears a skirt

formed of severed arms strung together. The arms represent the egoic

delusion " I am the doer, " which blinds us to the fact that God is the

only power and the only actor. As the skirt hides the generative

organs of Kali which give birth to all that " is, " so our egos also

blind us to the fact that God alone is our source and our destiny of

return. Behind all our " doings " is the power of the Sole Doer, so

Mother Kali says to all, whether upon the left or the right

hand: " Without me ye can do nothing. " She cuts off our egoity with

the sword of illumination so we can become wise and say with

Christ: " I do nothing of myself. " (Some images of Kali hold a bowl of

wine instead of a severed head to indicate that to the willfully

ignorant She offers the wine of self-delusion, " that they should

believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the

truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. " ) On the other hand,

literally, Kali is benevolent, even loving, bestowing blessing and

asking Her children to draw near to Her and receive Her grace and

mercy. "

The Holy Spirit - by Swami Nirmalananda Giri

http://www.atmajyoti.org/gc_gnosis_creed_ch_16.asp