Jesus is leading his disciples to a higher realm/understanding

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" Jesus is leading his disciples to a higher realm, a higher understanding, in

which those things are no longer relevant "

 

" The idea was that as we move forward in consciousness, Yes can become No, No

can become Yes, and both can become Neither " ... (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)....

 

 

 

When Virtue is Vice

 

(Commentary on the Gospel of Thomas–14—by Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

 

" Jesus said to them, If you fast, you will give rise to sin for yourselves; and

if you pray, you will be condemned; and if you give alms, you will do harm to

your spirits. " (14)

 

There is a Zen story of a man who gave an answer to a roshi's question, and was

told he had answered correctly. The next day the roshi asked the same question

and the man gave the same answer. The roshi said his answer was wrong. When the

man protested that the day before his answer was said to be correct, the roshi

replied that the day before it had been right, but today it was wrong. The idea

was that as we move forward in consciousness, Yes can become No, No can become

Yes, and both can become Neither.

 

In the Father's " house " are many " mansions. " 1 In the field of relative

existence, there are many strata, many " realities. " As a consequence, what is

wise in one stratum can be folly in another. This is expressed in this verse of

the Gospel of Thomas. Obviously, fasting, prayer, and almsgiving are viable

forms of self-purification. But Jesus is leading the disciples to a higher

realm, a higher understanding, in which those things are no longer relevant.

 

Fasting

 

Fasting is purely physical. Being in a body, we are deeply influenced by its

conditions and changes. The mind and body are so interwoven they are often

indistinguishable. Therefore our eating patterns affect us greatly. Fasting is

recommended as a means of lessening our body identity. This is certainly

beneficial. But once a person develops skill in yoga, his center of awareness is

shifted into higher mental levels, and a physical practice no longer has the

efficiency it once has. In time it becomes irrelevant. A point is reached in

which fasting is as silly as having a horse pull an automobile rather than

turning on the engine.

 

Therefore to continue fasting as a spiritual discipline is to act incongruously

with our present status and can, through habit, cause us to revert to our former

status in which fasting was relevant. So what was once an aid can become a

detriment.

 

Prayer

 

It is the same with prayer. It presupposes the absurdity that we need to inform

God of our inner thoughts, feelings, and needs–that otherwise He will either not

know of them or will not care about them.

 

Furthermore, prayer assumes a dependency on another and denies our own innate

power as spiritual beings. Jesus frequently told people that it was their faith,

their conviction, that healed them.2 Yet, we steadfastly refuse to believe this

fundamental truth: " According to your faith be it unto you. " 3

 

In Greek, the language both of the Four Gospels and the Gospel of Thomas, two

words are used which in English are translated " prayer. " One is deesis, which

means asking for something. This is what Jesus condemns in this instance. The

second word is prosevke, which means " to draw near. " This is a completely

different matter, as it is a spiritual movement toward Infinity. Even verbal

formulas can effect this drawing near to Higher Consciousness. This form of

prayer is not being censured by Jesus.

 

The much worse aspect of prayer (deesis) is its presupposition that we are

separate from God. So when we pray we affirm this illusion and strengthen

ourselves in it. The Chandogya Upanishad tells us: " Where one sees nothing but

the One, hears nothing but the One, knows nothing but the One–there is the

Infinite. Where one sees another, hears another, knows another–there is the

finite. The Infinite is immortal, the finite is mortal. " 4 To affirm a

non-existent separation from God is to doom ourselves to mortality, to

death-in-life.

 

Almsgiving

 

The situation is very much the same with almsgiving, if we see those we give

assistance to as separate from ourselves. For when we help others we are really

helping ourselves, for in God we are at one with all that lives. Not only that,

those with opened spiritual eyes see that whatever they do to others they do to

God, the Indweller of Hearts.5 Through others we either give or take from God.

This is an awesome truth. If God is the object of our almsgiving, then it is an

act of supreme virtue that leads to the Supreme.

 

What to do?

 

Should we then immediately stop these three observances? Not necessarily. What

is needed is for us to diligently apply ourselves to meditation and rectitude of

life so we can ascend to that level of evolution in which the words of Jesus

apply to us just as they did to the apostles.

 

http://www.atmajyoti.org/ch_gospel_of_thomas_14.asp