The Birth of Jesus and the Adoration of the Three Wise Men - Part 3

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The Birth of Jesus and the Adoration of the Three Wise Men - Part 3

 

(p.58) The pages of this book invite the reader to reach back with the teachings

of Jesus to the cradle of religion that has from ages unnumbered been tended by

Mother India, and thence to the universality of religion in God-realization. In

the words of Jesus: " Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the

prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. " [1]

 

As the prophets of the Old Testament foretold the coming of a Christ to be born

in Bethlehem, so this major event of God's helping hand extended to man was

foreknown also to the Wise Men with whom Christ's life and mission were to be

linked. (p.59) Avatars often choose for their time of birth auspicious

astronomical and astrological configurations of the heavenly bodies, all of

which emit their own characteristic vibrations that interact with one another

for good or ill effect. These starry signs can be read by the spiritual insight

of men of God, perception not even remotely approachable by the elaborate charts

attempted by modern casters of horoscopes.

 

The spiritual eye: true

" star in the east "

 

(p.60) Whatever celestial star might have indicated to the Wise Men the birth of

Jesus, it was a " star in the east " of greater power by which they knew of the

coming on earth of Christ Jesus: the all-revealing light of the spiritual eye of

the soul's intuitive divine perception located in the " east " of the body--in a

subtle spiritual center of Christ Consciousness in the forehead between the two

physical eyes. [2]

 

Man is veritably a microcosm of the macrocosmic universe. His finite

consciousness is potentially infinite. While his physical sensory organs confine

him to the world of matter, his soul is endowed with all-powerful instruments of

perception by which God Himself may be known. Jesus said, " Behold, the kingdom

of God is within you. " [3] All manifestation is of the Holy Ghost Vibration,

imbued with the Intelligence and Power of the transcendental Cosmic

Consciousness of God the Father reflecting within vibratory creation as Christ

Consciousness. This trinity of God is manifested microcosmically in man as the

spiritual eye. As the universe is created by the Power and Intelligence of the

Trinity, so is man upheld by the microcosmic triune power and consciousness in

the spiritual eye.

 

During meditative concentration at the point between the eyebrows, the spiritual

eye can be seen: a brilliant white star in the center, encased within a sphere

of sapphire-blue light, encircled by a radiant golden aura. (p.61) The golden

light is the epitome of the vibratory sphere of the Holy Ghost; the blue light

is the omnipresent Intelligence of the Christ Consciousness; the star is the

mystic door into the Cosmic Consciousness of God the Father.

 

Jesus said, " If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of

light. " [4] Any devotee who, by the practice of yoga meditation, knows how to

focus his inward gaze at the point between the eyebrows, finds that the light

traveling through the optic nerves into the two physical eyes becomes

concentrated instead into the single visible spiritual eye. The two physical

eyes perceive only limited portions at a time of the world of relativity; the

vision of the spiritual eye is spherical and can see into omnipresence.

 

By deep meditation the devotee penetrates his consciousness and life force

through the tricolored lights of the spiritual eye into the macrocosmic

manifestation of the Trinity.

 

When the Wise Men saw a star intimating to them the birth of Christ, they were

beholding through the wisdom-star of infinite perception in their spiritual eye

where the Christ Consciousness was newly manifested in the body of infant Jesus.

[5]

 

Infinite power

manifested in the

little babe Jesus

 

We think of the baby Jesus as helpless in his crib, dependent on his mother's

milk and care; yet within that tiny form was the Infinite Christ, the Light of

the universe in which we are all dancing as motion-picture shadows. During one

of our day-long Christmas meditations, when I prayed to see the baby Christ, the

light of the spiritual eye in my forehead opened its rays, and I saw Jesus as an

infant. He appeared in such beauty and power of God. All the forces of nature

were playing in that baby-face. In the light of those eyes the universe

trembled--waiting for the command of those eyes. Such was the infant the Wise

Men beheld--a little child over whom the angels stood watch, and in whom the

whole universal consciousness was manifest.

 

(p.62) Spiritual signs appear on the body and face of one who is a realized

soul; these signs are held secret, and only a few know how to read them. By

these signs, and by their sight divine, the Wise Men were able to know they had

found the Christ they sought, the babe who was one with the Lord of the

Universe. They knelt and offered their symbolic gifts. These were the

traditional gifts given in India to the newborn; but they held further meaning

coming from the Wise Men to Jesus: Gold (material treasure) is offered to a

giver of wisdom as a symbol of appreciation of the great value of liberating

truth bestowed by the spiritual teacher. Incense symbolizes devotion, the

fragrance of the heart's love offered to the master who is a channel through

whom God's guidance and blessings flow. The myrrh was in recognition of the

bitter trial and sacrifice that would be required of Jesus in fulfilling his

divine mission.

 

On a transcendent level of consciousness, in which others could neither

participate nor bear witness, there was a spiritual exchange of soul-communion

concerning the destiny of Jesus, which would be of universal benefit to man--as

Jesus would be one of God's supreme message-bearers of Truth. [6]

 

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

1, Discourse 3, pg. 58-62

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] Matthew 5:17 (see Discourse 27).

 

[2] The words of the Gospel give no specific information about the origin of the

Magi (or even their number); opinions as to their native land vary from Babylon,

Arabia, Chaldea, or Persia--the latter deriving support from the fact that the

Zoroastrian priests of the Persian religion were known as Magi. However, in 'The

Story of the Magi' (Bombay: Society of St. Paul, 1954), Henry Heras, S.J., of the Indian Historical Research Institute, St. Xavier's College,

Bombay, presents an extensive array of historical information to support the

view that the Wise Men were in fact Hindu 'rishis' from India. (Father Hera's

work was held in high repute; he was honored by the Government of India in 1981

with a commemorative stamp for his outstanding contribution to historical

research and archaeology.)

 

According to Father Heras, in the Gospel the word 'magoi' is not used to

identify the Wise Men as Zoroastrian priests, " for if that were so, all the

patristic tradition would have acknowledged Persia as the country of the Magi,

which is not the case....St. Matthew uses this name with reference to the gift

of wisdom in general, that is to say, partakers of the gift of wisdom, sages.

The English translation of this passage, 'Wise Men,' seems to give precisely the

meaning intended by the author. But from what country did the Wise Men

hail?...Everything seems to indicate that the Wise Men were Indians, certain

'rishis' of this country who from immemorial times made the quest of Truth--the

eternal breath of this most ancient nation.... "

 

Long before the time of Christ, India had trade relations with Palestine; much

of the commerce between the Orient and the Mediterranean civilizations

(including Egypt, Greece, and Rome) passed through Jerusalem, the western

terminus of the ancient Silk Road and other important caravan routes to China

and India. East-west commerce is also referred to in the Bible (II Chronicles

9:21,10), which records that the " ships of Tarshish " brought to King Solomon

" gold, and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks " and " algum [sandalwood] trees and

precious stones " from Ophir (Sopara on the Bombay coast). Furthermore, scholarly

and Christian tradition agree that Christianity arrived on the western coast of

India very shortly after the time of Jesus, reportedly brought in person by one

of Christ's twelve apostles, Thomas, who spent the last years of his life in

India. Father Heras quotes an ancient Christian text called the 'Opus

Imperfectum in Mattheum', which " locates the preaching of St. Thomas the Apostle

in the land of the Magi. Ancient Oriental writers knew very well that India was

the field of the ministry of this Apostle. St. Jerome writes that St. Thomas

preached the Gospel to the Magi and finally slept, that is died, in India. "

 

Father Heras points out: " If therefore the Magi were 'rishis' of India, the

traditional land of wisdom, it is not to be wondered at that they offered gold,

frankincense, and myrrh to the infant and his mother, since these were precisely

the gifts that from the most ancient times were offered in India to the parents

of the newly born....The custom of offering these three gifts to the parents of

the recently born does not now exist in Persia; nor do scholars know that any

such custom ever existed in that country. "

 

Centuries-old traditions in India itself refer to the Wise Men as having come

from that land. Fernao do Queyroz, a seventeenth-century Portuguese Jesuit

priest who lived in Goa (Portuguese colony on the west coast of India), cited

the work of earlier historians (Manuel dos Anjos and Jeronimo Osorio, both of

the sixteenth century) who wrote that when the famous Portuguese explorer Vasco

da Gama reached India in May 1498, he found at Calicut on the western coast a

Hindu temple dedicated to the Virgin Mary. According to these Portuguese

historians, da Gama was told that the annals of the Malabar Kingdom relate that

the temple was founded by Chery Perimale ( " Chera Perumal " ), an ancient emperor

of Malabar who also founded the city of Calicut. Da Gama was informed that

Perimale " was a Brahmin, one of the wisest in India, and was one of the three

Magi who went to Bethlehem " to adore the baby Jesus; on his return to Calicut he

had the temple erected.

 

Another account is found in the writings of Joao De Barros, a sixteenth-century

Portuguese historian, who mentions the Malabar tradition that a king from South

India named " Pirimal " went to Mascate and thence with others to Bethlehem to

adore the infant Jesus. ('Publisher's Note')

 

[3] In the Hindu scriptures the forehead in man is called the " eastern " part of

his body. Even as the earth's directional compass points are derived from the

north and south magnetic poles, and from the earth's rotation on its axis which

makes the sun appear to rise in the east and set in the west, so yoga physiology

speaks symbolically of north, south, east, and west in relation to the microcosm

of the human body. " North " and " south " are the positive and negative poles of

the cerebrospinal axis. Life energy and consciousness are magnetically drawn

either upward to the higher spiritual centers in the brain ( " north " ) or downward

to the lower spinal centers associated with material consciousness ( " south " ).

" East " and " west " refer to the orientation of man's life and awareness either

inward ( " east " ) through the intuitive spiritual eye to perceptions of the subtle

divine realms or outward ( " west " ) through the senses to interaction with the

gross material creation. The " star in the east " thus symbolizes the spiritual

eye in the forehead--the sun of life in the human body and doorway to the inner

kingdom of God.

 

Ezekiel said: " Afterwards He brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh

toward the east: and, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way

of the east: and His voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined

with His glory " (Ezekiel 43:1-2). Through the divine eye in the forehead (east),

the yogi sails his consciousness into omnipresence, hearing the 'Word' or 'Aum',

divine sound of " many waters " : the vibrations of light that constitute the sole

reality of creation.

 

[4] Matthew 6:22 (see Discourse 28).

 

[5] Saint John Chrysostom (c. 347-407, bishop of Constantinople, Doctor of the

Church, greatest of the Greek Church Fathers) wrote in his " Sixth Homily on the

Gospel of Saint Matthew " : " It seems to me that not only was it not one of the

many stars, but that it was not a star at all; it was rather, in my belief, a

certain invisible power that looked like a star....This star appeared not only

by night but also during the day when the Sun shone over the skies....Had it

been in the high skies, it could hardly guide the travelers...for it is

impossible that a star can show the place in which a cottage stands; much less

still, the place in which the Babe lay down. "

 

[6] Among Westerners who concur that the Wise Men came from India is the great

twentieth-century mystic and stigmatist Therese Neumann of Konnersreuth,

Germany, who experienced weekly visions of Jesus' passion and crucifixion, the

" stations of the cross. " (See 'Autobiography of a Yogi', Chapter 39.) In

'Therese of Konnersreuth: A New Chronicle', by Friedrich Ritter von Lama

(Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company, 1935), the following incident is related:

 

" The visit to Konnersreuth in September, 1932, of His Excellency Bishop

Alexander der Chulaparambil of Kottayam, India, with the Reverend Father

Theccanat, the rector of the Bishop's seminary, afforded interesting evidence of

Therese's ability in the state of ecstasy and corporal blindness to recognize

what must be unknown to her in a normal state. The companion of His Excellency

wrote me as follows: 'Neither Therese nor the pastor knew of our coming....

Therese had just witnessed the Station in which Simon of Cyrene appears and now,

in a period of rest, was talking of what she had seen and heard....and repeated

in Syrian (that is, Aramaic) the words " Slanlak Malka de Judae! " (Hail, King of

the Jews!) We were of course astounded at hearing these words. The Bishop, who

belongs to the Syro-Malabarian Rite, repeated them, but Therese corrected his

expression, saying: " Perhaps you speak the words as they are written, but I

heard them this way, " and she repeated them. Thereupon we recognized the mistake

we had made. We had used a short 'a' in the last syllable of the first word,

whereas it ought to be a long 'a', as Therese used it....After a few minutes

Father Naber motioned to His Excellency to come close to the bed. When the

Bishop touched Therese's left hand, she held it fast. " This is a high pastor

from the land whence the Kings came to worship the Christ Child, " [she said.]' "

('Publisher's Note')