Divine Incarnations: God's Emissaries--Discourse 1, Part 2

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(p.7) IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, and the Word was with God, and the Word was

God. The same was in the beginning with God.

 

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was

made.

 

In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

 

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not....

 

That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

 

He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

 

He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

 

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,

even to them that believe on his name:

 

Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of

man, but of God.

 

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the

glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

 

John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, " This was he of whom I spake, 'He

that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.' "

 

And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was

given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God

at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath

declared Him.

 

--John 1:1-5,9-18 [1]

 

 

" IN THE BEGINNING.... " With these words commence the cosmogonies of the Old and

New Testament alike. " Beginning " refers to the birth of finite creation, for in

the Eternal Absolute--Spirit--there is neither beginning nor end.

 

 

The One Spirit:

source of all creation

 

When no goblin nebulae breathed and glided in the space body, when no

fire-eyed baby planets opened their eyes in the cradle of space, when no

star-rivers ran across the tracts of infinite space, when the ocean of space was

unpeopled, uninhabited by floating island universes, when the sun and moon and

planetary families did not swim in space, when the little ball of earth with its

dollhouses and diminutive human beings did not exist, when no object of any kind

had come into being--Spirit existed. This Unmanifested Absolute cannot be

described except that It was the Knower, the Knowing, and the Known existing as

One. In It the being, Its cosmic consciousness, and Its omnipotence, all were

without differentiation: ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever newly joyous

Spirit.

 

In this Ever-New Bliss, there was no space or time, no dual conception or law

of relativity; everything that was, is, or is to be existed as One

Undifferentiated Spirit. Space and time and relativity are categories of

objects; as soon as a human being sees a planet hanging in the sky, he conceives

that it is occupying dimensional space and existing in time, relative to its

place in the universe. But when there were no finite objects of creation,

neither were there the dimensions of being that define them, only the Blissful

Spirit.

 

When, whence, and why came creation into being? Who may make bold to read the

Mind of the Infinite in seeking causes from the Uncaused, beginnings from the

Ever-Existing, paltry reasons from Omniscience? [2] Audacious mortals pursue

their queries, while sages enter that Mind and return to state in unadorned

simplicity that the One entertained a desireless desire to enjoy His Bliss

through many, and the cosmos and its beings were born. The Unmanifested Spirit

felt, " I am alone. I am conscious Bliss, but there is no one to taste the

sweetness of My Nectar of Joy. " Even as He thus dreamed, He became many.

 

(p.9) In poetic fancy, I penned a depiction of this cosmic musing:

 

" The Spirit was invisible, existing alone in the home of Infinity. He piped

to Himself the ever-new, ever-entertaining song of perfect beatific Bliss. As He

sang to Himself through His voice of Eternity, He wondered if aught but Himself

were listening and enjoying His song. To His wittingly imposed astonishment, He

felt His solitariness: He was the Cosmic Song, He was the Singing, and He was

the Lone Enjoyer. Even as thus He thought, lo, He became two: Spirit and Nature,

Man and Woman, Positive and Negative, Stamen and Pistil of the flowers, Peacock

and Peahen, Male Gem and Female Gem. "

 

Spirit, being the only existing Substance, had naught but Itself with which

to create. Spirit and Its universal creation could not be essentially different,

for two ever-existing Infinite Forces would consequently each be absolute, which

is by definition an impossibility. An orderly creation requires the duality of

Creator and created. Thus, Spirit first gave rise to a Magic Delusion, Maya, the

cosmic Magical Measurer, [3] which produces the illusion of dividing a portion

of the Indivisible Infinite into separate finite objects, even as a calm ocean

becomes distorted into individual waves on its surface by the action of a storm.

All creation is nothing but Spirit, seemingly and temporarily diversified by

Spirit's creative vibratory activity.

 

The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within You) Volume

I, Discourse 1, pg. 7-9

Paramahansa Yogananda

Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

ISBN-13:978-0-87612-557-1

ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7

 

Notes:

 

[1] Omitted here are verses 6-8; these are discussed in Discourse 6. In the

beginning segment of Saint John's Gospel, he relates encapsulated profound

truths of universal creation; appropriately for this revelation, these verses in

the original Greek are written as poetry. In verses 6-8 and 15, however, Saint

John digresses briefly to anticipate his historical narrative of the life and

activities of Jesus by making reference to Christ's forerunner, John the

Baptist; these verses, written as prose, depart from the poetic style of the

rest of this opening passage. About these first eighteen verses of John 1,

scholars observe: " With the exception of verses 6-8 and 15, which seem to be

interruptions, this prologue is in the form of Semitic poetry. " --Robert J.

Miller, ed., 'The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version'

(HarperSanFrancisco, 1994). (Publisher's Note)

 

[2] " 'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,'

saith the Lord. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways

higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts' " (Isaiah 55:8-9).

 

[3] See also Discourse 7, page 140.