The Infancy and Youth of Jesus - Part 3

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The Infancy and Youth of Jesus - Part 3

 

(p.74) Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the

Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the

custom of the feast.

 

And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried

behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they,

supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought

him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they

turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, that after

three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors,

both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were

astonished at his understanding and answers.

 

And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, " Son, why

hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee

sorrowing. "

 

And he said unto them, " How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be

about my Father's business? " And they understood not the saying which he spake

unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject

unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart (Luke 2:41-51).

 

Spiritual geniuses draw

on the all-knowing intuitive

faculty of the soul

 

(p.75) We know of mental geniuses, whose brains absorb knowledge at astonishing

speed. They are endowed with learning and learning abilities from past lives,

which predisposes them to super-efficient brain development. Spiritual geniuses

have, in addition, the superconscious ability to tap the wisdom library of soul

realization--the all-knowing intuitive faculty of the soul that manifests its

oneness with the infinite Divine Intelligence.

 

Narratives about godly youthful savants abound in the spiritual lore of India.

It is widely accepted that those who come on earth for a God-given purpose are

graced with divine intervention that blesses them with wisdom transcending the

natural growth of the intellect.

 

Shukadeva was the saintly son of Rishi Vyasa (compiler of the Vedas and composer

of the epic 'Mahabharata', which contains the Bhagavad Gita). The boy was an

extraordinary child from birth. Quickly absorbing all knowledge, he is reputed

to have recited from memory the entire Vedas as well as the more than 100,000

verses of the 'Mahabharata', having heard them from his father, Vyasa.

 

Of exceptional renown is the sainted Swami Shankara, often extolled as India's

greatest philosopher. The annals surrounding him relate that within his first

year he was proficient in languages; by age two he could read; having once heard

something he could recall it, and absorb its meaning intuitively. (p.76) By the

age of eight he had mastered the Vedas and completed his formal

education--having become a wisdom expert in all the holy scriptures, writings,

and six systems of Hindu philosophy. He preached throughout India his Advaita

(non-dualistic) philosophy. The very best of the learned could not match him in

debate. By sixteen he had completed writing his extensive commentaries, which

are veritably revered to this day by scholars. He reorganized the monastic Order

of Swamis, of which he is known as Adi ( " the first " ) Shankaracharya, head of

this sacred tradition of 'sannyasis'. Having completed his work, he died at the

age of thirty-two.

 

As told in the Biblical gospel of Luke, Jesus in his twelfth year, having been

missing for three days is at last found in the temple at Jerusalem discoursing

with the learned doctors and elders. One final amplification of this temple

scene from the apocryphal Infancy Gospels might be noted; its recounting by the

early Christians an attempt, no doubt, to express the awe and reverence they

felt that Jesus was vested not only with heavenly wisdom, but earthly profundity

as well.

 

" A certain principal rabbi asked him, Hast thou read books? Jesus answered he

had read both books and the things which were contained in books. And he

explained to them the books of the law, and precepts, and statutes, and the

mysteries which are contained in the books of the prophets; things which the

mind of no creature could reach....

 

" When a certain astronomer, who was present, asked the Lord Jesus, Whether he

had studied astronomy? The Lord Jesus replied, and told him the number of the

spheres and heavenly bodies, as also their triangular, square, and sextile

aspects; their progressive and retrograde motion; their size and several

prognostications; and other things, which the reason of man had never

discovered.

 

" There was also among them a philosopher well skilled in physic and natural

philosophy, who asked the Lord Jesus, whether he had studied physic? "

 

Here the reply attributed to Jesus transforms the young child into what might be

seen as a hoary 'rishi' reciting yoga philosophy from the Upanishads and

Bhagavad Gita:

 

" He replied, and explained to him physics and metaphysics, and also those things

which were above and below the power of nature; the powers also of the body, its

humors and their effects; also the number of its members, and bones, veins,

arteries, and nerves; the several constitutions of the body, hot and dry, cold

and moist, and the tendencies of them. How the soul operated upon the body; what

its various sensations and faculties were; the faculty of speaking, anger,

desire. (p.77) And lastly, the manner of its composition and dissolution; and

among other things, which the understanding of no creature had ever reached. "

 

When Mary finds and chastises the child for the worry he had caused by his

disappearance, he, in effect, spoke before the assemblage his encapsulated first

sermon, which was to characterize his forthcoming ministry: his simple message

was to be one of renunciation of material bonds for the greater love of God.

" How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's

business? "

 

" I must be about my

Father's business " :

Jesus' ideal of

renunciation

 

In setting Jesus apart as one who is to be venerated but whose perfection cannot

be emulated, the majority of his followers pay only token notice to the example

of renunciation that he lived and preached: Seek ye first the kingdom of God;

sell that thou hast and give to the poor and follow me; take no thought for your

life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye

shall put on; who is my mother or my brethren save whosoever shall do the will

of God; follow me and let the dead bury the dead; the foxes have holes, and the

birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head;

whosoever that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Lofty

admonitions! But all who have stood in purity before the omnipresence of God

know that without letting go of corporeal attachments in one's consciousness--to

which outer renunciation is an aid if not an absolute condition--there is no

possibility of possessing the Infinite. Though Jesus stressed complete

renunciation, he also said, " Love thy neighbour, " which means work for all--and

this, while you " Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. "

 

The perfect life of Jesus, even at such a tender age, brings forth a perfect

utterance as to how a divine child, consecrated to serve humanity, behaves.

Knowing himself as a son of God, he states outright that his highest duty is to

look after the celestial business of spreading the kingdom of his Heavenly

Father. His caring parents had no cause to worry for him who was protected by

the King of kings. It was the first public hint by Jesus to his parents as to

what they would have to expect about what his life was to be.

 

Jesus knew that parental love and affection, being blindly compulsive, might

demand from him greater attention to his earthly father's occupation than to the

work of his Heavenly Father, for which he came on earth. (p.78) With the

innocence of a divine audacity Jesus remonstrates that his parents should know

this, and should wish for him to be busy with God's work. The world, busy with

all its busy-ness, little understands, as Jesus' parents did not, the supreme

focus of one who knows that if one duty contradicts another, then it is not

duty, but something to be avoided. Spiritual and material duties should not

contradict, but rather complement one another. If contradiction occurs, those

duties are incomplete and should be modified so that instead of contending

against each other they work together like two stallions, pulling the car of

life harmoniously and uniformly to one happy goal.

 

Spiritual and material

duties should complement

one another

 

The ordinary man thinks of the world, his family, and his work as his business;

but the spiritual man knows that duties to parents, children, family ties, the

business world, and all else are to be carried out as service to God. Everyone

should help to maintain the well-being of the world by a universal consciousness

of love and service, rather than as a selfish man whose actions are compelled

and actuated by instinctive blood ties and greed.

 

Business should be spiritualized; everything should be done with the

consciousness of God within. Man should endeavour in his works to please God by

harmonizing all things with His ideals. Business that conforms with God's divine

laws is of lasting benefit to mankind. Moneymaking enterprises that cater only

to human luxury, and to false or evil propensities, are bound to be destroyed by

the working of the divine law of the survival of the worthiest. Any business

that harms the real spiritual comfort of people does no real service, and is

bound to meet with destruction by the very nature of its activities.

 

A successful life must be begun with spiritual culture, for all material and

moral actions are governed by spiritual laws. Noble parents, lovers of God,

should wish the first interest of their children to be in God's business. They

should start their children on the right road in life by showing them the way to

be proficient in contacting God and in doing all things with God-consciousness.

A life can be successful, healthy, and complete--balanced with wisdom and

happiness--when activity is guided by God's inner, intuitive direction.

 

In expressing the proper attitude toward his parents--that though duty to

parents is important, it is secondary to one's first and foremost duty to the

Heavenly Father--Jesus spoke not only of his own divine dispensation, but the

truth that every man should remember: " God first. "

 

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

1, Discourse 4, pg. 74-78

Paramahansa Yogananda

Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

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

ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7