Deepak Chopra: Jesus belongs to the world. The promise of resurrection is also universal.

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Resurrection Times Three

Posted by Deepak Chopra on March 22, 2008 9:29 AM

 

" The Resurrection is a second-hand miracle, and for that reason a bit

disappointing. Spirituality is about first-hand experience, while

organized religion is forced to begin with the second-hand. How

strange that the literal fact of the Resurrection remains

controversial. This country was founded in the Age of Enlightenment,

when a new, more rational religion -- the kind typified by Thomas

Jefferson -- was supposed to replace archaic superstition and church

dogma. Spiritually, throwing out the bishops was as American as

throwing out the King politically. The revolution took hold, and now

as children of the Enlightenment, our society is overwhelmingly

secular and scientific. But this didn't heal an aching wound, the

longing for redemption that the Resurrection symbolizes. For the

Resurrection to be real, it must be the key to salvation.

 

I think there are three ways to interpret the Resurrection and remain

Christian in every sense of the word.

 

1. Jesus of Nazareth literally arose from the dead.

2. The divine Resurrection as the core of Christian theology.

3. The resurrection of the spirit whenever a person attains higher

consciousness.

 

The first two versions are easier to accept because you aren't

responsible for the miracle. Faith and acceptance are good enough. It

goes without saying that fundamentalists demand allegiance to the

first version and devout Catholics to the second. But at its root

Christianity is about personal salvation, which is a first-hand

miracle. It begins by following Jesus's teachings inwardly, finding

the Kingdom of God within. This leads to a radical shift in

consciousness, and when your allegiance shifts to allow divine truth

a place in daily life, personal resurrection occurs. The " death " from

which you are saved is symbolic but very real: it's the inert,

selfish, lonely ego isolated from God.

 

I am speaking as someone outside the Christian faith, but it's my

belief that Jesus belongs to the world. The promise of resurrection

is also universal. If Jesus was in God-consciousness, he must have

opened the same path to his followers. He told them that through God

they would accomplish things as great as he did and even greater --

isn't that what we should take literally? If we don't, the awe of

Christ's victory over death will remain, but the possibility of a

first-hand miracle becomes far more remote. "

 

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/deepak_chopra/2008/03/resurrection_ti\

mes_three_1.html

Deepak Chopra

 

 

" Jesus solemnly assures the disciples that they will, in the future,

perform even greater miracles than He. By this He means to say that

through the power of the Holy Spirit, they will bring about the

greatest miracle of all – the salvation of lost souls. He promises

them that whatever they ask for, in connection with their ministry of

bringing the miracle of salvation to lost men, will be granted them.

 

The theme of this section is reassurance and encouragement. Jesus

gives the disciples three basic reasons they should cease being

troubled in their spirits. First, He tells them that, although He is

going away, He will return for them so that they may ultimately join

Him where He is going (vv. 1-3). Second, He tells them that, though

He is going away, He will be the only means by which men may come to

God and go to Heaven (vv. 4-11). Third, He tells them that, though He

is going away, their ministries are not finished. In fact, the best

is still ahead. They are going, by the Holy Spirit's power, to be

part of the greatest miracle of all, bringing men to salvation (vv.

12-14). "

 

J. W. Stallings, Bible Commentary: The Gospel of John,

Randall House Publications, 1989, page 205

 

 

" Declare to all the nations now that I am the Holy Ghost and I have

come for this Special Time, that is, the Resurrection Time. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi - Sydney, Australia - March 21, 1983