The Second Birth of Man--In Spirit - Part 1

[Guest guest]

The Second Birth of Man--In Spirit - (Introduction)

 

(p.237) " The term 'born again' means much more than merely joining a church and

receiving ceremonial baptism....The twenty-one verses describing Nicodemus'

visit present, in condensed epigrammatic sayings so typical of Oriental

scripture, Jesus' comprehensive esoteric teachings relating to the practical

attainment of the infinite kingdom of blissful divine consciousness. "

 

(p.238) There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, " Rabbi, we know that thou

art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,

except God be with him. "

 

Jesus answered and said unto him, " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man

be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. "

 

Nicodemus saith unto him, " How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter

the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? "

 

Jesus answered, " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water

and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born

of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel

not that I said unto thee, 'Ye must be born again.' The wind bloweth where it

listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it

cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. "

 

--John 3:1-8

 

 

The Second Birth of Man--In Spirit - Part 1

(Dialogue With Nicodemus, Part 1)

 

(p.239) There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, " Rabbi, we know that thou

art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,

except God be with him. "

 

Jesus answered and said unto him, " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man

be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God " (John 3:1-3).

 

Nicodemus visited Jesus secretly in the night, for he feared social criticism.

It was an act of courage for one of his position to approach the controversial

teacher and to declare his faith in Jesus' divine stature. He reverently

affirmed his conviction that only a master who had actual God-communion could

work the superlaws that govern the inner life of all beings and all things. In

reply, Christ forthrightly directed Nicodemus' attention to the heavenly Source

of all phenomena in creation--mundane as well as " miraculous " --pointing out

succinctly that anyone can contact that Source and know the wonders that proceed

therefrom, even as Jesus himself did, by undergoing the spiritual " second birth "

of intuitional soul-awakening.

 

(p.240) The superficially curious crowds attracted by displays of phenomenal

powers received only scantily from the wisdom trove of Jesus, but the manifest

sincerity of Nicodemus elicited from the Master determinate guidance that

emphasized the Supreme Power and Goal on which man should concentrate. [1]

Miracles of wisdom to enlighten the mind are superior to miracles of physical

healing and the subjugation of nature; and the even greater miracle is the

healing of the root-cause of every form of suffering: delusive ignorance that

obscures the unity of man's soul and God. That primordial forgetfulness is

vanquished only by Self-realization, through the intuitive power by which the

soul directly apprehends its own nature as individualized Spirit and perceives

Spirit as the essence of everything.

 

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

You) Volume 1, Discourse 13, pg. 237-240

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] In the Buddhist scrolls discovered in a Tibetan lamasery and published by

Nicholas Notovitch (see Discourse 5), Jesus is quoted as saying:

 

" Put not your faith in miracles performed by the hands of men, for He who rules

nature is alone capable of doing supernatural things, while man is impotent to

arrest the wrath of the winds or cause the rain to fall.

 

" One miracle, however, is within the power of man to accomplish. It is, when his

heart is filled with sincere faith, he resolves to root out from his mind all

evil promptings and desires, and when, in order to attain this end, he ceases to

walk the path of iniquity. "