God's Word or Human Words - Part 8

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

Shri Mataji says that the people who follow the dharma and stay at that

point--(and Shri Mataji describes what with regard to SY we call the SYSSR)--are

stagnated at the point of dharma. But when they rise to the point of truth they

don't use rituals anymore---that would be because they don't need rituals

anymore. So, this is a universal truth that Shri Mataji is pointing out here,

that, regardless of what religion a person is following, if they are still

following a ritual of some kind--then they have not yet arrived at the truth.

 

Christ expressed this truth that is within when He said that:

 

" I am the way, and the truth, and the life " (John 14:6a)

 

Christ, by being the truth, was beyond the stage of dharma whereby he did not

condemn and throw stones at the prostitute like the other dharmic people were

doing. He was able to do this because he had gone beyond dharma to the

truth--and the truth is not only greater than dharma, says Shri Mataji, but it

is 'much greater' than dharma:

 

" Also, I have seen some Sahaja Yogis who start new methods in Sahaja Yoga: 'You

do like this, so it will be alright; you do like that, and it will be all

right'--because they are stagnated at the point of dharma, so they start telling

people: 'you do this way, you do that way'. But when you rise to the point of

truth, then you don't do any rituals, you don't need any rituals. You are not

bothered, because you are in Dharma and you are standing on the truth. And truth

is much greater than Dharma. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, Sahasrara Puja, Cabella, Italy - 04/05/97

 

Not only to focus on SYs, but for example, if a Christian has their

Self-realization and realizes that the bread of Life and the wine of the Holy

Spirit now actually reside and flow as the awakened power of the holy Spirit

within, what would be the point or need for them to continue the ritual of the

Last Supper--which ritual is a mere symbol and not the actual happening--that

has already happened within themself? It would not make sense to do the ritual

anymore, would it? Otherwise, the deities within might get upset that the person

is not realizing the truth of the awakening within, and is still going about as

if they are in the pre-Self-realization stage!

 

When Jesus talks about a person that " is born of the Spirit " he is talking about

a Self-realized person that experiences the Wind of the holy Spirit. This Wind

is a wind that you cannot tell where it is coming from and where it is going,

because in reality it arises from within; it arises due to the " born of the

Spirit " state:

 

" The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know

where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the

Spirit " . (John 3:8)

 

We have been having very high temperatures in Geelong and Melbourne and other

places in Victoria and South Australia these past few days, with temperatures

ranging up to 45 deg. C, with no wind or rain, and there have been Electricity

Commission breakdowns. After wading in the Southern Ocean till late in the

evening with hubby, we came home and i sat in the swing chair just outside, to

meditate. As i recollected myself, a cool, gentle wind started to blow around my

head and body. It was the Wind of the Spirit. There was no other wind blowing,

except the Wind of the Spirit, around me.

 

The Wind of the Spirit happens to those who are born of the Spirit. The

experience of the Wind is something that Christians think happened only at

Pentecost, but it now happens to those who avail themselves of the Helper that

Jesus Christ promised would come. Shri Mataji has come and enabled a mass

awakening of that Helper, who is our individual Mother within, the Holy Spirit:

 

" And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, that S/He may be

with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth. " (John 14:17)

 

Jesus spoke about the Wind that emanates from those who are born of the Spirit,

and Shri Mataji has spoken of this Cool Breeze or Wind that emanates from those

who are born of the Spirit. But, Apostle Paul does not talk like Christ or like

Shri Mataji. Shri Mataji explains why:

 

" In the Bible the mistake came when Saint Paul, who never knew Christ--he had

nothing to do with Christ--just entered into the Bible. I don't know, why he is

there. He was not a realised soul. He was just [a] supraconscious Roman soldier,

Roman, very bad soldier, who used to kill so many Christians. And suddenly they

entered this Mr. Saint Paul into it and he is accepted in the Bible all over the

world. But you read him and you will know he is not a realised soul at all. He

talks in a supraconscious way. He is an organising machine and he is good for

nothing. There he describes, in the Acts you see, which he has written--many

people may not be knowing that Acts has been written by Mr. Paul himself--and

this Mr. Paul tries to describe the disciples of Christ as supraconscious

bhoots, absolutely like supraconscious people and they behaved in such a funny

manner that everybody started feeling that they are mad. Can you imagine,

Christ's disciples behaving like that! But you have to gulp it down and devour

everything if you are a Christian. Because it is in the Bible. And you start

questioning if you are a born-realised person, that what is this non-sense, who

is this Mr. Paul? From where does he come in? Because he does not talk like

Christ. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, Formal Talk 'Agnya Chakra', Delhi, India - 03/02/83.

 

 

We concluded Part 7 with the following:

 

(p.93) Having received the spirit through this initiation, each member of

Marcus's circle believed that he or she shared " the gift of prophecy. " (p.94)

When they would gather to celebrate the sacred meal, the eucharist, Irenaeus

says that " all of them [were] accustomed to cast lots. " Thus they followed an

ancient Israelite practice, which, as Luke says in Acts, Christians revived, of

throwing lots in order to invite the holy spirit to show, by the way the lots

fell, whom the spirit chose to offer that day's prophecy. [51]

 

As Irenaeus tells it--perhaps adding details for the sake of sensation--Marcus

claimed that divine truth had revealed itself to him naked, " in feminine form,

having descended upon him from invisible and ineffable space, for the world

could not have borne [the truth] coming in masculine form. " [52] According to

Irenaeus, Marcus said that she revealed herself through letters and numbers,

each part of her body adorned with one of the twenty-four letters of the Greek

alphabet; and she spoke the mystical name " Christ Jesus. " [53] The letters and

numbers in which Marcus received his vision reflected Jewish traditions known to

followers of his spiritual teacher, Valentinus, who claimed to be initiated into

Paul's secret wisdom teaching. Similar traditions would flower, more than a

thousand years later, among mystically inclined Jewish groups, who would call

them 'kabbalah'.

 

Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas), Chapter 3, p. 93-94.

 

Notes:

 

[51] Ibid., 1.13.4; see Acts 1:17-26.

 

[52] Irenaeus, AH 1.14.1.

 

[53] Ibid., 1.14.4.

 

 

Here now, is Part 8.

 

Enjoy,

 

violet

 

 

 

 

God's Word or Human Words - Part 8

 

(p.94) Although the Hebrew term simply means " tradition, " 'kabbalah' radically

transforms tradition. The late Gershom Scholem, professor of Jewish mysticism at

the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, far more sympathetic to Marcus than Irenaeus

was, explained that those who take the path of 'kabbalah' seek to know God " not

through dogmatic theology but through living experience and intuition. " [54]

Like other Jews, kabbalists interpret the Scriptures; but in their hands the

Scriptures become the language of spiritual exploration. Like kabbalists more

than a thousand years later, Marcus asked, How can we speak of what is

ineffable? (p.95) How can the invisible, incomprehensible God become manifest?

Marcus's vision suggests that the whole alphabet--all of human speech--can

become a mystical form of divine truth--a conviction that many kabbalists would

share.

 

Like many others, Marcus was fascinated with Genesis, as he wondered what

happened " in the beginning " --and even 'before' the beginning--of the universe.

And like the authors of Thomas and John, Marcus interpreted Genesis 1, and

suggested that " when first the unbegotten, inconceivable father, who is neither

male nor female, willed to bring forth...he opened his mouth and spoke the word "

('logos'). [55] Marcus explained that, as he envisioned this process, each

separate letter that God spoke at first recognized neither its own nature nor

that of the others, for " while every one of them is part of the whole, each one

imagines its own sound to be the whole name " of the divine being. Yet, Marcus

continued, " the restoration of all things will take place " only when this

illusion of separateness is overcome, and " all these [elements], mingling into

one sound, shall join unanimously " in the same song of praise. [56] For the

universe itself came forth from " the glory of that sound of praise. " Marcus

believed that this is something everyone knows intuitively, and acknowledges

from the first cry a newborn utters emerging from the womb to those moments of

anguish when a person moans or cries out " in difficulty and distress...saying

'oh.' " [57] Such sounds, Marcus said, echo the divine name, which, he believed,

people instinctively--even unconsciously--utter in the form of spontaneous

prayer for divine help. And when people join their voices together in worship to

chant " Amen " (Hebrew for " May it be so " ), their unanimous voice anticipates how

all that exists finally shall be restored into a single, harmonious whole.

 

(p.96) Irenaeus says that he tried hard, at a friend's request, to investigate

Marcus's teaching in order to expose him as an interloper and a fraud. For by

attracting disciples, performing initiations, and offering special teachings to

" spiritual " Christians, Marcus's activity threatened Irenaeus's effort to unify

all Christians in the area into a homogenous church. Irenaeus charged that

Marcus was a magician, " the herald of Antichrist " --a man whose made-up visions

and pretense to spiritual power masked his true identity as Satan's own apostle.

[58] He ridiculed Marcus's claims to investigate " the deep things of God " and

mocked him for urging initiates to seek revelations of their own:

 

While they say such things as these about the creation, every one of them

generates something new every day, according to his ability; for no one is

considered " mature " [or " initiated " ] among them who does not develop some

enormous lies. [59]

 

Irenaeus expresses dismay that many other teachers, too, within Christian

communities, " introduce an indescribable number of secret and illegitimate

writings, which they themselves have forged, to bewilder the minds of foolish

people, who are ignorant of the true scriptures. " [60] He quotes some of their

writings, including part of a well-known and influential text called the Secret

Book of John (discovered among the so-called gnostic gospels at Nag Hammadi in

1945), and he refers to many others, including a Gospel of Truth (perhaps the

one discovered at Nag Hammadi), which he attributes to Marcus's teacher,

Valentinus, and even a Gospel of Judas. (p.97) Irenaeus decided that stemming

this flood of " secret writings " would be an essential first step toward limiting

the proliferation of " revelations " that he suspected of being only delusional

or, worse, demonically inspired. [61]

 

Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas), Chapter 3, p. 94-97

Elaine Pagels

Vintage Books, New York, U.S.A

ISBN: 0-375-70316-0

 

Notes:

 

[54] See, for more recent discussion, Moshe Idel, 'Kabbalah: New Perspectives'

(New Haven, 1988). Idel, following previous scholars, including Moses Gaster,

sees Marcus's teaching drawing upon Jewish theological speculations and

practice. For a major recent contribution, see Niclas Forster's important

monograph, 'Marcus Magnus: Kult, Lehre, und Gemeindeleben einer

valentinianischen Gnostikergruppe: Sammlung der Quellen und Kommentar'

(Tubingen, 1999).

 

[55] Cf. Genesis 1:3.

 

[56] Irenaeus, AH 1.14.8.

 

[57] Ibid., 1.14.1.

 

[58] Here Irenaeus's polemic echoes that of an admired predecessor whom he calls

" the holy elder " ('presbyter': the term is sometimes translated " priest, " but

this may be a later connotation); ibid., 1.15.6.

 

[59]Ibid., 1.18.1.

 

[60] Ibid., 1.20.1.

 

[61] For discussion of the Secret Book of John and the Gospel of Truth and how

such writings interpret " the Scriptures, " see Chapter 4; for some recent

articles on gnostic exegesis, see, for example, Pheme Perkins, " Spirit and

Letter: Poking Holes in the Canon, " 'Journal of Religion' (1996), 307-327;

Harold W. Attridge, " The Gospel of Truth as an Exoteric Text, " in 'Nag Hammadi,

Gnosticism, and Early Christianity' C.W. Hedrick and R. Hodgson, eds., (Peabody,

Mass., 1986), 239-255 Patricia Cox Miller, " 'Words with an Alien Voice':

Gnostics, Scripture, and Canon, " 'Journal of the American Academy of Religion'

57 (1989), 459-483; Robert M. Grant, 'Heresy and Criticism: The Search for

Authenticity in Early Christian Literature' (Louisville, Ky., 1993); and Louis

Painchaud, " The Use of Scripture in Gnostic Literature, " 'Journal of Early

Christian Studies' 4:2 (1996), 129-146.