Christ and Ramana - Happy Easter

March 25, 2005

The Non-Dual Christ

("If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." Mark Ch 4: 23, again Mark 7: 16)

Could the Teachings of Christ Really Be in the Same Tradition as the Ancient sages, Krishna, and others? Are the Teachings of Christ Actually Centered in the Philosophy of Non-Dualism? Is Christ in reality the all pervasive timeless unconditioned Self, abiding as the Heart of everyone, as Consciousness Itself? If Christ IS the Truth, as He says, shouldn't His Teachings be examined to discover Who and What That Truth is and abide as That, rather than to seek out for remedies in this world? - as in "Go first to God ("I AM") and all things will be added unto you." Luke 12:31

There are many passages in the New (and Old) Testament, where, when the notion of the West, that we are all separate beings, centered in our identities as thinking bodies, is put aside, one is surprised to find that most passages are apparently referring to Christ as being the Self, and likewise He speaks from the perspective of an Avadhut, or as Krishna might speak, or another sage from the non-dualist tradition.

While in the Old Testament God states the Truth as "I AM THAT I AM", in the West we have built Christianity around Descartes' dictum: "I think therefore I am." From, the point of view of a non-dualist, the first two of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20: 1-7) are extremely powerful statements. So, it is no wonder that in reading the words of Christ, as a non-dualist, the statements come out as being also very powerful.

The following are several quotes about Christ as the Self, in terms that are identical to those of the ancient eastern sages:

"All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made." John I: 3

'In him was life, and the life was the light of men." John I: 4

"And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not." John I: 5

"That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that is born into this world." John I: 9

Basically, these are descriptions very similar to how Krishna describes himself. Here the creation is not only created by Christ, but also all creation throughout all time, as "without him was not anything made that was made". Who Christ is said to be is Life, and that Life was the Light (Consciousness) of "every man that is born into this world." The darkness described is the mind, which cannot know the Self, the All Knower, and cannot see the seer, which lights it.

From these quotes and the quotes to follow, we will see that Christ is defined clearly as the Self of all, and that his teachings are to redirect each listener that can "hear" him, to purify the mind, or directly to enquire into and abide as the Self, or to admonish them to take their stand in the Truth and "abide in me", the Self. Quoting a few passages, it will become clear that these are statements from the perspective of Krishna, or an Avadhut, or someone, who, having realized their Self, no longer has a sense of "I" in relation to the body or mind, but abides as and is "Consciousness Itself".

"No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven."John 3: 13

Here Christ states essentially that the Self is always realized. In John 3: 14-21 Christ elaborates on this theme of the "Light" further, as do many other of his passages. When seen from the perspective of a non-dualist, His passages are intensely strong, giving no ground for alternate ideas that there may be some reality to the world or some basis to the world or some alternate "Ways" or approaches. For example:

"I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of Life." John 8: 12

One might think from reading these passages that Christ always speaks as the Atman and of the Father as Brahman, or as the Self realized being One in relation to the All pervasive and timeless Self. Just as Krishna tells Arjuna that he taught Aditia (the Sun), Christ states:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I AM." John 8: 58

One can see from the way Christ always refers to the Father, as the doer of the miracles and all that He says, that regardless of His apparent actions, that He has no sense of being a doer, that all He says and does just happens, because He abides in the Father. Consider the following passage, where Jesus is speaking to the Apostles in John Ch 14:

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: No man cometh to the Father but by Me. (verse 6)

If you had known me, you should have known my Father also: and from hence forth you know him and have seen him. (verse 7)

"Philip said to Jesus, 'Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.' (verse 8)

"To which Jesus replied:

"Have I been so long with you, yet you have still not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father; therefore, how do you say, 'Show us the Father'? (verse 9)

"Believe you not that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me he does the works. (verse 11)

"Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works' sake." (verse 12)

Again:

"I and my Father are one." John 10: 30

Explaining how his Truth is in fact the Truth of all, Christ states in John Ch 15:

"Abide in me, and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me. (verse 4)

"I am the vine, you are the branches...apart from me you can do nothing." (verse 5)

In John Chapter 17, Christ prays to the Father on behalf of the Apostles, that He sanctify them by His Truth, and that they might be one with the Father, just as He (Jesus) is. Here, one can see that His state is always one with the Father. One is quite clear that Christ’s permanent abiding state, when He says "where I am", is unrelated to the world. He asks:

"Father, I will that they also, whom thou has given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which you have given me: For you have loved me from before the foundation of the world." (verse 24)

The notion of Spirit, that He (Christ) and God (the Father) are one in Spirit also conveys the sense of the formlessness of Brahman (the Father), as well as our own Truth as spirit versus body:

"God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4: 24)

Apart from all Christ's statements and parables about non-judgment (Mat Ch 7: 1-2; Luke 6: 37-42; John 8: 6-11), non-attachment (Mat 6: 40), non-anxiety (Mat 6: 25-34; Luke 12: 22-32), perpetual forgiveness (Luke 17: 4; Mat 19: 21-22; Mark 11:25), compassion (Mat 25: 34-40), humility (Mat 18: 4), and so on, which all relate to a discarding of attention to the world ("Take no thought for your life." Mat 6: 25), probably the most profoundly direct instruction Christ gave concerning the teaching of non-dualism is from Luke 11:

"The light of the body is the eye: Therefore, when thine eye is single, your whole body will be filled with light...." (verse 34)

To a non-dualist, this is easily paraphrased as follows:

The part of you that sees (the seer, one's Self) is your true light. Therefore, if you hold the seer (subject-"I") singly or exclusively (versus giving attention to thoughts) you will have illumination - or what some call the "enlightenment of the whole body".

This is the exact instruction of the non-dualists of the Vedanta tradition, with the same described outcome, as related above. (As if God’s First and Second Commandments weren’t clear enough in terms of having no images before the “I AM.”)

And as to the Heart: "The wise man's heart is at his right hand, but the fool's heart at his left." Ecclesiastics 10: 2. And: "The pure in heart shall see God ("I AM")." Matt 3: 8.

Anyone in the east, coming to a similar conclusion about Christ, might call the approach of Christ the path of "sudden realization", because his teachings are often in the form of commandments or statements giving no ground (room to maneuver). His approach permits no delays, no second chance, no outs, no remedy, no alternatives to the tribulations of the world. His way to God (the "I AM" of the Old Testament) is full of beatitudes and purity (Mat 5: 2-11), blessedness and love (Mat 6: 38-48). But those that oppose the Spirit "will never be forgiven" (Luke 12: 10, Mat 12: 32; Mark 3: 29) and "will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there is great suffering and gnashing of teeth." (Mat 8: 12;14: 50; 22: 13; 24: 51)

In considering Christ as a non-dualist, like Krishna, or the Avadhut, the Rishis of the Upanishads, or one of the Buddhas, the approach might be stated as "radical" or "ruthless". The reading of the New Testament requires a constant coming to terms with Christ's life: His all knowingness of each person close or far away, now and in the future, how they will act, what will happen, when, and why; the constant ceaseless flow of power, where miracles fall from him, undirected. In the non-dualist texts, these are the powers described as God's, to be all knowing, all powerful, and so forth. In Revelations, Ch I: 8, Christ tells John:

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending" sayeth the Lord, "which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."

Many of the stories about Christ and the words He spoke are similar to stories we might read of Saints and sages in India, Tibet, and China, as found in "The Tibetan Book of Great Liberation" and Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa" by Evens-Wentz, "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Yogananda, "Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self Knowledge" by Arthur Osborn, "The Ramayana" by Tulsidas, books about the lives of different Buddhas, or the 10 Sikh Sat (Truth) Gurus, and many other books one can find about the miraculous lives of these sages, Saints, Avatars, Jnanis, and so on.

But what was special about Christ was the sense of awe-inspiring fierceness, the intensity of rock hard Reality that packed each moment, demanding ... commanding perfection of everyone, now. For example:

"Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."

"I give you a commandment: Love one another." John 15: 12, 17

"For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know his commandment is life everlasting." John 12: 49

As Christ repeatedly stated "If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." Mark Ch 4: 23, again Mark 7: 16, etc.. This "hearing" is central to the entire teaching process of the non-dualist. In the "Lamp of Non-Dual Knowledge" (Advaita Bodha Deepika), Jewel Garland of Enquiry" (Vichara Mani Malai), "The Cream of Emancipation" (Kaivalya Navaneeta), "The Essence of Yoga Vashishta" (Yoga Vashishta Sara) - instructions of the Saint Vashishta to Rama, Shankara's "Crest-Jewel of Discrimination", and others, over and over again we see that the three necessities to realizing the Self, apart from the prerequisite of a "still mind"*, are "hearing", "consideration", and "perfect abiding".

*"Stillness of mind" means "Be still and know that I am God (‘I AM’ Ex 3: 14)." (David, Ps).

Hearing is to understand the concept of the non-dual Self; "consideration", to reflect inwardly: "From where do the thoughts arise?" or "Who sees?" which includes a steady, even ruthless disregard of all rising thoughts, as "not this, not this,.." ("neti, neti,.."); and finally "perfect abiding" in the form of "objectless abiding as the seer" or as Ground (asraya) is to a Lightningbolt (Vajra Siddhi), until the Self flashes forth, as in "I say unto all, Watch!" Mk 13: 37.

Probably the best summation of the possibility, potential, or promise that Christ represents to the Western world is in his following statement from John 16: 33.

"These things I have spoken to you that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulations: But be of good cheer; I have overcome (conquered) the world."

Actually, not to see Christ as the personification of non-dualism is to turn all He says into demagoguery, to make him into another "zealot" of the time, the founder of a bizarre cult, of strange rituals based in fanatical superstition and myth, a revamping of paganism in monistic form.

It seems quite obvious that if we can "hear" Him Christ (as the Vajra Siddhi Guru), ever abiding in and as the Father, may be one of the most profound Teachers of the non-dual nature of Reality and proof of its philosophy in terms of realizing the Truth of our own Reality as all pervasive Self!

Blessed am I

In freedom am I

I am the infinite

in my soul

I can find no beginning

no end

All is my Self

March 26, 2005

OM NAMO BHAGAVATE SRI RAMANAYA

Dear Pietersa

thank you for your deep article "the non-dual christ"

in my humble opinion there is only one truth

I AM WHO I AM

and this truth the real followers of Ramana have to follow every moment

whatever christianity is its of no importance at all - whats important is how "you" Pietersa and "i" michael live the truth we feel inside

how "christians" did it - just look at the results.....

whoever "Jeshu" was it stands for LOVE BHAKTI

and thats for "michael" GD

fullpoint

glad to have met you

in Ramana

michael

......

and as this list is dedicated to our beloved Sadguru Ramana Maharshi - GD like "you" and "me" let me in love remind you that

L O V E is a state of BEING and therefore we have to live this state of being if LOVE it is what "you" and "i" want to radiate.........

be embraced with inner smiles of happiness

SAT CHIT ANANDA

Pieter <pietersa wrote: