Resurrection

[Guest guest]

My God,

 

I love You enough

to give you up

like a habit

and walk the desert of withdrawal

 

I wash these hands of you oh Lord

in the river Styx

 

I love You enough to nail you to a tree

 

 

so that I may be reborn...

[Guest guest]

--- On Mon, 13/4/09, Swami sadasivananda <sadasivananda wrote:

Swami sadasivananda <sadasivanandaResurrection"Alan Jacobs" <alanadamsjacobsMonday, 13 April, 2009, 5:09 AM

 

[DEAR ALAN, THIS IS FROM ONE WHO HAS SEEN THE LORD, BOTH A BROTHER AND MASTER OF MINE! PERHAPS YOUR SATSANG GROUP ( SOMEONE AT LEAST) WOULD FIND GUIDANCE WITH THESE TRUTHS.]

 

The Symbolism of the Resurrection

Making the Resurrection practical in our own lives.

Because of our modern system of reckoning time, people are often confused as to how it can be said that Jesus was in the tomb three days. By the Jewish (and present-day Eastern Christian) system of calculation, a “day†begins at sundown, not at midnight. In Genesis we read: “And the evening and the morning were the first day.†(Genesis 1:5)

Jesus was buried on Friday afternoon before sunset, after which it was Saturday. We do not know the precise time He came forth from the tomb, but it was surely after sunset on Saturday, making it Sunday. In this way His burial spanned three days.

Symbolism

But what is really important here is the symbolism of the three days.

Man is a body, a mind, and an individualized spirit–he is physical, psychic, and spiritual. We must resurrect from the confinement of our consciousness within all three and ascend to God. In each of the three we experience “evening,†a period of preparatory darkness, and the dawn of that day’s “morning†light.

Body

At the beginning of our evolution in relative existence, we first start with physical embodiment, and for ages identify with it totally, calling the body “me,†and believing that to be “alive†means to be in a “living†physical body. But then the light dawns on us and we realize that we are not this perishable body, but that we are trapped in it and made to continually undergo the evil dreams of death and birth. Then we begin to purify the body so it can no longer bind us and pull our minds and spirits down again into the bondage of rebirth.

As the very first step we eliminate from our diet all animal flesh (including eggs) absolutely, all harmful vegetable substances such as caffeine and nicotine, and all harmful chemicals such as alcohol and mind-altering drugs, whether legal or illegal. Further, we so discipline and control the bodily senses that they cannot nail us any longer onto the cross of material sufferings or pleasures.

The “morning light†comes into us through meditation.

Mind

When this has been done to perfection, our consciousness “resurrects†and ascends to the next level of our being, which is the mind. And what will we discover there? That it is dark with ignorance. It cannot see Reality; rather, what it thinks it “sees†is an hallucination of the ego. It does not really know anything. This is a very difficult insight for most people to cope with, and if their egotism is strong, they simply do not acknowledge it, and pull back, refusing to go any further. This is why some people begin the Way of Christ but after a few weeks, months, or years begin to get shaky and eventually vanish without a trace, having returned to the kingdom of darkness.

But those who press onward, more desirous of winning immortality than of feeling good about themselves, face the facts about their condition and begin to work with the mind to purify it, just as they did with the body. (Those who do not work with the body never really–i.e., effectively–get to the mental stage.)

The Effect Of Meditation

By meditating we become aware of our mental states. Many people say: “Whenever I sit to meditate my mind just goes wild.†The truth is, their mind is always wild, but they do not experience it until they try to be inwardly still.

It is amazing how blind we can be to the true state of our mind. But meditation leaves us no illusions. People often say: “When I was meditating, problems came up that I thought I had gotten rid of years ago.†Meditation makes the mind give up all its secrets. This is described in the book of Revelation: “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them†(Revelation 20:13. This verse also refers to the transmutation process at the end of all earthly rebirth.)–that is, the buried impressions from many past lives arise in the mind during meditation.

Saint John Chrysostom said that meditation is the place where confessions are extracted and judgment is passed upon them. Even more, he said that armies of evil thoughts and desires are hiding in our heart, but suddenly with a roar and a shout they rise up and begin to do battle against our meditation, for they know that in time meditation will utterly wipe them out.

Negative thoughts and feelings will arise during meditation as a matter of course, but if we keep on meditating they will be dissolved. God allows us to see them as they arise so we will not foolishly think that we are already purified and free from darkness. Also, it helps keep us humble and in a correct perspective, realizing that we need to keep on working, for we have a long way to go before reaching perfection.

In real spiritual life meditation is often a war with hand-to-hand combat unto death. The secret is to keep on meditating. When faced with the awesome depths of the mind, the foolish turn back, but the wise press on, for meditation is a powerful mode of “psychic surgery†which deeply purifies and reshapes the mind. Every time the aspirant meditates he is subtly changed. If his life has been so ordered to conform to the principles of Christ, the change will be permanent, and the more he meditates, the greater will be the effect–strengthening and freeing him.

The Psychic Sea

However we look at it, there is the great psychic sea to cross. Sad to say, most people do not cross it, but drown in it, getting lost in all types of “expanded consciousness†experiences and the development of psychic awareness and powers. Those things are definitely real and are in no way “of the devil†as the ignorant think, however, they are eventually proven to be as unreal and as binding as the awareness and powers of this material world. We lose our spiritual consciousness by diving into them and getting lost in them.

The common folly of people involved in psychic phenomena is very much like that of divers who, going too deep into the ocean without adequate equipment, experience what is called “the ecstasy of the deep,†wherein they feel wonderfully free, with no need at all for breathing equipment, so they toss it away and drown in that intoxicated state. In like manner, those with psychic development frequently feel that they are progressing spiritually and have no need of anything more, contentedly drowning their spiritual consciousness in the waters of psychism.

The psychic world is so vast that we can wander through it for ages, being continually entertained and interested. But in the final summing up it will be seen to have no value whatsoever as far as our progress toward God is concerned. Psychic tourism is a terrible trap to fall into, for it can hold us in its fascination for lifetimes, becoming a kind of spiritual drug. One writer on esoteric matters has appropriately called those who get caught up in the realm of the psychic, “astral junkies.â€

Spirit

Until the time of resurrection, our spirit is darkened, forgetting where it has come from and identifying completely with the ever-changing and suffering body and mind. A great deal of work is required to even become aware of our present status.

Once we rise above the psychic, we can enter into the domain of the spirit to behold our spirit helplessly bound in its “grave clothes,†like the Lord Himself in the tomb. The Lord in His resurrection passed through the grave clothes (John 20:4-7)–and so must we. Just as Christ left them behind in the tomb, when we resurrect into spirit we leave behind all bonds of body, mind, and spirit. Those who are wise get busy right now and work intensely to free themselves from any further entanglements.

This triple phase of liberation is symbolized by the three days in the tomb.