The Baptism of Jesus - Part 4

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The Baptism of Jesus - Part 4

 

Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But

John forbad him, saying, " I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to

me? "

 

And Jesus answering said unto him, " Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh

us to fulfill all righteousness. " Then he suffered him (Matthew 3:13-15).

 

Guru-disciple relationship:

the way of " all righteousness "

 

(p.104) When Jesus came to John asking to be baptized, John affirmed his

inferior position, an incarnation of lesser prominence in the cosmic drama. With

what artless humility, the hallmark of godliness, John had set aside his former

preeminence--declaring himself unworthy to baptize Jesus, and that he himself

rather had need to be baptized. Certainly Jesus, a master, was far above the

need for ritualistic baptism, especially by anyone of far lesser spiritual

stature. A doctor of philosophy does not take lessons from a child engaged in

elementary studies. Jesus, recognizing the divine instrumentality of his

past-life guru, therefore gave no credence to John's statement; rather he said:

" Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. "

These words speak volumes of Jesus' reverential regard for John, of whom he was

later to proclaim, " Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women

there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. " [1]

 

In receiving baptism from John, Jesus not only honored in the eyes of the masses

the ancient, pre-Christian, Hindu custom of baptism in holy waters, but also the

tradition of initiation that uniquely distinguishes the guru-disciple

relationship, the divine law through which " all righteousness " (truth and

salvation) is bestowed on the disciple by a God-ordained master. Jesus came to

John for that spiritual anointing, an avowal of reverence for his guru from whom

he had received " a double portion of Spirit " in their incarnations of Elijah and

Elisha.

 

The relationship of guru and disciple is not for one incarnation only. A guru,

being the agent of salvation appointed by God, must take the disciple through

successive incarnations, if necessary, until complete liberation of the disciple

is reached. (p.105) In the dim past, in former lifetimes when John was first

sent by God as the guru of Jesus in response to his prayers, the souls of John

the Baptist and of Jesus were eternally bound together by the law of

unconditional divine friendship; and both at this long-ago first meeting as guru

and disciple had made the resolution, " We will be divine friends forever until

our souls by mutual help and the lasting goodwill of many incarnations break the

bubble-walls of caging desires and set free our imprisoned omnipresence to

become one with the sea of Infinitude. "

 

Jesus came on earth as a world savior, a role of higher degree than that of John

the Baptist, yet he acknowledged John as his guru of former incarnations, the

agent first sent by God to enter with him into this covenant of divinely

ordained friendship. This is why Jesus said, " Suffer it to be so now, for thus

it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. " Though John and Jesus both knew

that Jesus was far beyond the need for this outer ritual, they were quite

sincerely enacting the necessary formalities in setting the right example for

the world. [2] Words may be easily forgotten or distorted; the erudition of acts

is far more indelible.

 

John's declaration to the priests and Levites, " I indeed baptize you with water

unto repentance; but he that cometh after me...shall baptize you with the Holy

Ghost, and with fire, " introduces a doctrine crucial to the attainment of

salvation: that the real baptism consists of spiritual initiation bestowed by a

true guru. Even though John said he baptized the masses with water, he did not

say he was incapable of baptizing with Spirit, only that such initiation would

be the prerogative of the Christ who by special dispensation would come to be

their savior, or guru. In fact, it was the true baptism of Spirit that was

bestowed on Jesus when, after immersion in the Jordan (purification by water),

" the heavens were opened unto him. " As John himself witnessed: " I saw the Spirit

descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him " (John 1:32). If John

were an ordinary man, he would not have seen the Spirit descending on Jesus. He

himself was in tune with Spirit, but with unfeigned humbleness deflected

attention from himself to the preeminence of Jesus.

 

(p.106) It is by the grace of the guru that heavenly consciousness unfolds to

the initiated disciple, revealing the light of the omniscient spiritual eye,

symbolized by the dove--through this medium one ascends from the body to Spirit

through the Holy Ghost, the Christ Consciousness " only begotten Son, " and Cosmic

Consciousness, or God the Father.

 

The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

You) Volume 1, Discourse 6, pg. 104-106

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 11:11 (See Discourse 34).

 

[2] " Whatever a superior being does, inferior persons imitate. His actions set a

standard for people of the world " ('God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita

III:21).