The Second Birth of Man--In Spirit - Part 5

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The Second Birth of Man--In Spirit - Part 5

(Dialogue with Nicodemus, Part I)

 

" Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the

kingdom of God " (John 3:5).

 

(p.245) To be " born of water " is usually interpreted as a mandate for the outer

ritual of baptism by water--a symbolic rebirth--in order to be eligible for

God's kingdom after death. But Jesus did not mention a 're'birth involving

water. [1] " Water " here means protoplasm; the body is made up mostly of water

and begins its earthly existence in the amniotic fluid of the mother's womb.

Though the soul has to go through the natural process of birth that God has

established through His biological laws, physical birth is not enough for man to

be fit to see or enter the kingdom of God.

 

The ordinary consciousness is tied to the flesh, and through the two physical

eyes man can see only into the diminutive playhouse of this earth and its

encircling starry sky. Through the small outer windows of the five senses,

body-bound souls perceive nothing of the wonders beyond limited matter.

 

When a person is high aloft in an airplane he sees no boundaries, only the

limitlessness of space and free skies. But if he is caged in a room, surrounded

by windowless walls, he loses the vision of vastness. Similarly, when man's soul

is sent out of the infinity of Spirit into a sensory-circumscribed mortal body,

his outer experiences are confined to the limitations of matter. So Jesus

alluded to the fact, as expressed by modern scientists, that we can see and know

only as much as the limited instrumentality of the senses and reason allow. Just

as by a two-inch telescope the details of the distant stars cannot be seen, so

Jesus was saying that man cannot see or know anything about the heavenly kingdom

of God through the unaugmented power of his mind and senses. (p.246) However, a

200-inch telescope enables man to peer into the vast reaches of star-peopled

space; and similarly, by developing the intuitional sense through meditation he

can behold and enter the causal and astral kingdom of God--birthplace of

thoughts, stars, and souls.

 

Jesus points out that after man's soul becomes incarnate--born of water, or

protoplasm--he should transcend the mortal impositions of the body by

self-development. Through awakening the " sixth sense, " intuition, and opening

the spiritual eye, his illumined consciousness can enter into the kingdom of

God. In this second birth the body remains the same; but the soul's

consciousness, instead of being tied to the material plane, is free to roam in

the boundless, eternally joyous empire of Spirit.

 

God intended His human children to live on earth with an awakened perception of

the Spirit informing all creation, and thus to enjoy His dream-drama as a cosmic

entertainment. Alone among living creatures, the human body was equipped, as a

special creation of God, with the instruments and capacities necessary to

express fully the soul's divine potentials. [2] But through the delusion of

Satan, man ignores his higher endowments and remains attached to the limited

fleshly form and its mortality.

 

As individualized souls, Spirit progressively unfolds Its power of knowing

through the successive stages of evolution: as unconscious response in minerals,

as feeling in plant life, as instinctive sentient knowledge in animals, as

intellect, reason, and undeveloped introspective intuition in man, and as pure

intuition in the superman.

 

It is said that after eight million lives traveling the successive steps of

upward evolution like a prodigal son through the cycles of incarnations, at last

the soul arrives in a human birth. Originally, human beings were pure sons of

God. Nobody knows the divine consciousness enjoyed by Adam and Eve except the

saints. Ever since the Fall, man's misuse of his independence, he has lost that

consciousness by associative equivalence of himself with the fleshly ego and its

mortal desires. Not altogether uncommon are persons more like instinct-motivated

animals than intellectually responsive human beings. They are so materially

minded that when you talk about food or sex or money they understand and

reflexively respond, like Pavlov's famous salivating dog. But try to engage them

in a meaningful philosophical exchange about God or the mystery of life, and

their uncomprehending reaction is as though their conversationalist is crazy.

 

(p.247) The spiritual man is trying to free himself from the materiality that is

the cause of his prodigal wandering in the maze of incarnations, but the

ordinary man does not want more than a betterment of his earthly existence. As

instinct confines the animal within prescribed limits, so also does reason

circumscribe the human being who does not try to be a superman by developing

intuition. The person who worships reason only and is not conscious of the

availability of his power of intuition--by which alone he can know himself as

soul--remains little more than a rational animal, out of touch with the

spiritual heritage that is his birthright.

 

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

You) Volume 1, Discourse 13, pg. 245-247

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] Nowhere in the four Gospels is it specifically stated that Jesus instructed

his disciples to practice the ritual of water baptism. However, the Gospel

According to St. Matthew quotes Jesus as issuing to his followers, after his

resurrection, what Christian theologians call the " Great Commission " : " Go ye

therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and

of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things

whatsoever I have commanded you " (Matthew 28:19-20).

 

The nature of the baptism intended by Jesus is apparent in John the Baptist's

declaration that though John baptized with water, Jesus " shall baptize you with

the Holy Ghost, and with fire. " (See Discourse 6.)

 

The principal import of Jesus' words to Nicodemus goes beyond an implied

reference to reincarnation. This is clear from Nicodemus' request for further

explanation of how an 'adult' could reach God's kingdom: Must he reenter his

mother's womb and be reborn? [2] Jesus elaborates in the succeeding verses as to

how a person can be " born again " in his present incarnation--how a soul

identified with the flesh and sense limitations can acquire by meditation a new

birth in Cosmic Consciousness.

 

[2] See Discourse 7, pages 144-45.