The Ascension of Man--Lifting up the Serpent in the Wilderness--Part 1

[Guest guest]

The Ascension of Man--Lifting up the Serpent in the Wilderness - (Introduction)

 

(p.255) " Whosoever believes in the doctrine of lifting the bodily consciousness

(Son of man) from the physical to the astral by reversing the life force through

the coiled passage at the base of the spine...will gradually acquire the

immutable state--Christ Consciousness. "

 

(p.256) Nicodemus answered and said unto him, " How can these things be? "

 

Jesus answered and said unto him, " Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not

these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know, and

testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you

earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of

heavenly things?

 

" And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even

the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the

wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth

in him should not perish, but have eternal life. "

 

- John 3:9-15

 

 

The Ascension of Man--Lifting up the Serpent in the Wilderness--Part 1

(Dialogue With Nicodemus, Part II)

 

(p.257) Nicodemus answered and said unto him, " How can these things be? "

 

Jesus answered and said unto him, " Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not

these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know, and

testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you

earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of

heavenly things?

 

Heavenly truths can

be fully known only

through intuition

 

Jesus, in addressing Nicodemus, observed that merely holding the ceremonial

office of a master of the house of Israel did not guarantee an understanding of

the mysteries of life. Often persons are accorded religious titles by virtue of

intellectual knowledge of the scriptures; but a full comprehension of the

esoteric depths of truth can be known only by intuitive experience.

 

" We speak that we do know " is knowledge deeper than the information derived

through sensory-dependent intellect and reason. Since the senses are limited, so

is intellectual understanding. (p.258) The senses and mind are the outer doors

through which knowledge percolates into the consciousness. Human knowledge

filters in through the senses and is interpreted by the mind. If the senses err

in perception, the conclusion drawn by the understanding of that data is also

incorrect. A white gossamer cloth fluttering in the distance may look like a

ghost, and a superstitious person believes that it is a ghost; but closer

observation reveals the error of that conclusion. The senses and understanding

are easily deluded because they cannot grasp the real nature, the essential

character and substance, of created things. Jesus, with his intuition, had full

realization of the noumena supporting the workings of the cosmos and its

diversity of life, so he said authoritatively: " We do know. "

 

Jesus was attuned to the grand scheme of manifestation behind all space, behind

earthly vision. To belligerent minds he could not speak openly of his

omnipresent perceptions--even the truths he did tell brought crucifixion! He

said to Nicodemus: " If I tell you about matters pertaining to human souls who

are visibly present on earth, and how they can enter into the kingdom of God,

and you believe not, then how can you believe me if I tell you about happenings

in the heavenly realms, which are completely hidden from the ordinary human

gaze? "

 

Though Jesus regretted, with accommodating patience, that Nicodemus doubted the

intuitional revelations of the Christ state, he went on to tell his visitor the

way in which he--and any other seeker of truth--could experience these truths

for himself.

 

So many doubt heaven because they do not see it. Yet they do not doubt the

breeze simply because it is unseen. It is known by its sound and sensation on

the skin and the motion in the leaves and other objects. The whole universe

lives, moves, breathes because of the invisible presence of God in the heavenly

forces behind matter.

 

Once a man gave some olives to another who had never seen olives, and said,

" These have a lot of oil in them. " The person cut the fruit but could see no

oil--until his friend showed him how to squeeze the olives in order to extract

the oil from the pulp. So it is with God. Everything in the universe is

saturated with His presence--the twinkling stars, the rose, the son of the bird,

our minds. His Being permeates everything, everywhere. But one has

metaphorically to " squeeze " God out of His material concealment.

 

Inner concentration is the way to realize the subtle, prolific heaven behind

this gross universe. (p.259) Seclusion is the price of greatness and

God-contact. All who are willing to snatch time from the greedy material world

to devote it instead to the divine search can learn to behold the wondrous

factory of creation out of which all things are born. From the heavenly causal

and astral spheres every physically incarnate soul has descended, and every soul

can reascend by retreating to the " wilderness " of interior silence and

practicing the scientific method of lifting up the life force and consciousness

from body identification to union with God.

 

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

You) Volume 1, Discourse 14, pg. 255-259

Paramahansa Yogananda

Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

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

ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7