Jesus Meets His First Disciples - Part 6

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Dear All,

 

Part 6 is the conclusion to 'Jesus Meets His First Disciples', which comes from

Discourse 9. Parts 1-5 should have said 'Discourse 9' rather than Discourse 8.

 

thanks,

 

violet

 

 

Jesus Meets His First Disciples - Part 6

 

(p.191) Delusion and bad habits may completely overpower the judgment and will

power of a disciple during crucial tests when the factitious dictates of his own

reason seem to him to be valid, even virtuous. In this state, the disciple

should not trust to his own decisions. Vice wears the cloak of virtuous reason

to lure the unwary one who finds it pleasant to submit to conclusions that serve

his wishes. Determinations should be matched with the wisdom-guidance of the

preceptor and followed obediently, even though the disciple's befogged reason

may rebel. (p.192) In the delusive state, the devotee may find that even the

best-intentioned of undertakings may nevertheless end in a disaster; for Satan,

the Universal Metaphysical Tempter, tries by every means to instigate faulty

reason and unspiritual behavior in the virtuous devotee on the spiritual path.

 

My guru Sri Yukteswar said to me, when he accepted me for training: " Allow me to

discipline you; for freedom of will does not consist in doing things according

to the dictates of prenatal or postnatal habits or of mental whims, but in

acting according to the suggestions of wisdom and free choice. If you tune in

your will with mine, you will find freedom. " In attunement with his God-guided,

wisdom-guided will, I did find freedom.

 

Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita: " Comprehending that wisdom from a guru,

thou wilt not again fall into delusion....Even if thou art the chief sinner

among all sinners, yet by the sole raft of wisdom thou shalt safely cross the

sea of sin " (IV:35-36). One who is spiritually ill-equipped to pilot the boat of

his own will through rough seas will surely founder. But if he clings to the

wisdom-raft of the guru's guidance, he will reach safe harbor.

 

He is not a guru who leads his followers into blind subjugation. Teachers who

slavishly control their students after a dogmatic pattern destroy in them the

power of free will. Such teachers want the student to see only as the teacher

sees. Obedience to a true guru, however, does not produce any such spiritual

blindness in the disciple. On the contrary, the guru wants the disciple to keep

his eyes of reason open, and in addition he helps to develop in the disciple

another eye: the " single eye " of wisdom and intuition whereby he may act wisely

out of his own free choice. A guru disciplines the disciple only until the

latter can guide himself through his own unfolding soul wisdom.

 

The God-sent guru has no selfish interest, only the highest interest of the

disciple. Everyone needs a psychological mirror in order to see the blemishes

that have become an accustomed and favored part of the acquired personality of

one's second nature. The guru serves as this mirror. He holds up to the devotee

a reflection of his perfect soul-image over which are superimposed the flaws of

the ego that yet mar perfection. In ways both open and subtle the guru brings to

the fore in the disciple lessons to be learned that perhaps for incarnations

have lain shelved in the dusty corners of the consciousness. In an inevitable

sooner-or-later choice the devotee accepts and learns or balks and avoids these

admonitions. (p.193) Wiser for learning, he moves nearer to freedom; obstinate

in ego comfort, delusion continues to hold him tightly.

 

Very few persons enjoy true freedom of will. To follow one's desires, compelled

by the dictates of instincts and habits, or to be good and refrain from evil

simply because one has become accustomed to that good behavior, is not freedom.

When the will is guided by discriminative wisdom to choose good instead of evil

in any and every instance, then indeed one is free. Harnessed to wisdom, no

longer swayed by prejudice and error or by the influences of heredity, prenatal

or postnatal habits, family, and social and world environment, the will becomes

established in righteousness. Until then, the way to all righteousness lies in

following the wisdom-guidance and 'sadhana' of a master who is divinely

empowered to bestow enlightenment on others. Such was the Master recognized by

the disciples of Jesus, who began one by one to seek spiritual shelter in his

grace and blessings.

 

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

You) Volume 1, Discourse 9, pg. 191-193

Paramahansa Yogananda

Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

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

ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7