The Living Christ

The concept of Christ Consciousness has expanded for me and I thought I would share what I have learned. This is from Paramahansa Yogananada's work:

The threefold nature of God is: God the Father is the Absolute, the Unmanifested, existing beyond vibratory creation. God the Son is the Christ Consciousness existing within vibratory creation - this Christ Consciousness is the "only begotten" or sole reflection in creation of the Uncreated Infinite. The outer manifestation of the omnipresent Christ Consciousness, its "witness" is the Word or Holy Ghost - the invisible divine power, the only doer, the sole causative and activating force that upholds all creation through vibration. "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you." (John 14:26)

And then concerning meditation: What is important is fixing the whole attention at the point between the eyebrows. This is the Christ Consciousness center, the seat of the single eye spoken of by Christ: "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." (Matthew 6:22)

Self-realization: Self-realization means knowledge of one's own soul and of its oneness with the Father. It is the knowing - in body, mind and soul - that we are one with the omnipresence of God; that we do not have to pray that it come to us, that we are not merely near it at all times, but that God's omnipresence is our omnipresence; that we are just as much a part of Him now as we ever will be. All we have to do is improve our knowing.

He continues: So long as it dwells on the material plane, human
consciousness cannot encompass the universal Christ Consciousness no matter how desirous it may be of doing so. By practice of meditation however, the sincere student can increase and refine the receptivity of his consciousness so that he may ultimately perceive the Christ Consciousness universally present in every atom of creation. St. John referred to this expansion of the human consciousness to receive the divine when he declared of Christ: "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name." (St. John 1:12) Thus, according to the Bible, all men may discover their actual oneness with Christ Consciousness. By intuitive self-realization, or knowledge of his own soul, man becomes aware of his oneness with the Christ Consciousness. Those who attain the highest self-realization know without any doubt that they are "the sons of God".

And lastly, I thought you might find this interesting. This is a footnote from his book "Autobiography of a Yogi": His guru, Sr Yukteswar, told him: "Theologians have misinterprested Christ's words in such passages as 'I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me' (John 14:6). Jesus meant, never that he was the sole Son of God, but that no man can attain the unqualified Absolute, the transcendent Father beyond creation, until he has first manifested the 'Son' or activating Christ Consciousness within creation. Jesus, who had achieved entire oneness with that Christ Consciousness identified himself with it inasmuch as his own ego had long since been dissolved."

The footnote continues: When Paul wrote: "God..created all things by Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 3:9) and when Jesus said: "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58), the sheer essence of the words is impersonality. A form of spiritual cowardice leads many wordly people to believe comfortably that only one man was the Son of God. "Christ was uniquely created," they reason, "so how can I, a mere mortal, emulate Him?" But all men have been divinely created, and must someday obey Christ's command: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt 5:48). "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" (I John 3:1).

Understanding of the law of karma and of its corollary, reincarnation, is displayed in numerous Biblical passages; eg. "Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed" (Gen 9:6). If every murderer must himself be killed "by man", the reactive process obviously requires in many cases more than one lifetime. The contemporary police are just not quick enough!

The early Christian church accepted the doctrine of reincarnation, which was expounded by the Gnostics and by numerous church fathers, including Clement of Alexandria, the celebrated Origen (both 3rd century) and St. Jerome (5th century). The doctrine was first declared a heresy in AD 553 by the Second Council of Constantinople. At that time many Christians thought the doctrine of reincarnation afforded man too ample a stage of time and space to encourage him to strive for immediate salvation. But truth supressed leads disconcertingly to a host of errors. The millions have not utilized their "one lifetime" to seek God, but to enjoy this world - so uniquely won, and shortly to be forever lost! The truth is that man recincarnates on earth until he has consciously regained his status as a son of God.

An email I received from my mother, a fellow spiritual traveller and an inspiration.