Yesu_Bhaktan

I am so tired of this small infantile mind set I won't bother answering. But I will ask a rhetorical questrion in return. What does being a poly-theistic hindoo have to do with Vaisnavism?

I got into the habit of wearing ear plugs when I thought I would be at an excessive loud kirtan. They work great. The sound is not blocked it is just softened so your mind is better able to get into it. Ear plugs are also great for japa. Gingko helps many tinnutus sufferers. I am tuning into you pyschically right now Babhru. But I am sending you waves of soft pleasant sounds that border on silence. The sound of waves as they run across the sand and are just at their fullest extention before they reverse and go back out to sea. I love the sound they make. shshhshshhhshshshh

Well in the physical sense we see that matter is manipulated differently according to the predominant guna that controls the mind of someone. A builder of buildings in the mood of goodness is very likely to build a temple or church or meditation center, Something that will promote goodness, like even a park in the midst of a city. A man in the mood of passion will open a bank or department store that he can profit from. A man in the mode of ignorance may inherit a lot or apartment building but he will neglect it and let it run down. We also see matter decaying when cut off from the influence of the spiritself. Like an animal by the side of the road or even a leaf fallen from the tree. That matter moves towards complete dis-oraganization or entropy. In our own bodies we see the process of metabolism which sustains the body. Sustaining is a quality of goodness. But mixed in metabolism is anabolism which is the building up phase of the body and also catabolism which is the breaking down of the bodily cells. It is all happening at once. There is constant flux and change. It is also relative. A flower buds on a tree. We see passion developing it. It is sustained for sometime at the peek of it's beauty and goodness. It then falls off to the ground in time and begins to break up wilt and decay. So we see the flower petals in tamas lying on the ground. But in that decay those molecules are being liberated from the flower form and are being taken up by the roots of other nearby plants both building them up and sustaining them. Another angle is that material bodies take on their forms and funtions according to the combination of gunas that control the mind of the person seeking rebirth into the gross physical world. In fact this whole universe is formed according to the subtle desires of the inhabitants coming to reside here. I don't look to try and analyze this stuff too closely. One can get lost doing that. But just noticing things as they come up inspires a sense of awe towards Krsna. That is its real value otherwise it is just a fantastic light show.

Great souls always attract the minds of others.

Actually that is not true. The simple yet difficult tenets of Christ's teachings are eternal. Of course demons will want to to undermine people's faith in a variety of ways. Such is always the case as that is what demons do.

I heard this on the news last night. It's like a small hole being drilled through the Berlin wall. It's a start. I am more for the breaking up of the present education monopoly entirely but I can appreciate all the hard work these people did.

Nov 8, KOLKATA, INDIA (NEW INDIA PRESS) — Where was Jesus Christ between the age of 12 and 30 years? He supposedly visited India during this period, according to a theory, and a filmmaker here has tried to follow Christ's yet unexplored trail in his new movie. Though the Bible does not give credence to such theories, engineer-turned filmmaker Subhrajit Mitra's "The Unknown Stories of the Messiah" focuses on the unexplored life of Christ and his unaccounted years in the Bible. Did Christ visit India after his crucifixion? Is a tomb in the Kashmir Valley that of Christ? These are some of the controversial questions Mitra raises in his film. "Christ supposedly visited India, according to an alternative theory," Mitra said. "Neither the Bible nor the mainstream gospels give credence to such theories but the scrolls found in caves near the Dead Sea or at Nag Hammadi (in Egypt), believed to be the first drafts of the Bible, corroborate the alternative theory about Christ," Mitra told IANS. "According to Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic scriptures and beliefs, Christ visited India during the period of his missing years in the Bible and stayed in the country for 14 years. "His Christianity was influenced by Hinduism as we find that the New Testament of the Bible was more akin to Hinduism than Judaism. "In Bhavishya Maha Puran, a text dating back to the second century AD, there are references of Christ's interaction with King Shalivahan, the grandson of Vikramaditya, in Kashmir. "Scholars say it happened after Christ's resurrection," said Mitra. He also noted that there were different isolated pockets that corroborated the "alternative theory" about Christ. This alternative theory was strengthened after some scrolls (dating back to between 200 BC and 100 AD) were discovered in 1947 in a group of caves near Khirbat Qumran in Jordan at the northwestern end of the Dead Sea. Two years before that, in 1945, some scrolls dating back to 350 AD were found tucked into a large jar at Nag Hammadi village in upper Egypt. Mitra's film, produced by Atanu Roy of Sweet Melody, seeks to unearth the truth through the discourses of an archaeologist (played by Soumitra Chatterjee) and a novelist (Aparna Sen). "We have shot in Ladakh, Kashmir, the Silk Route, Kerala, Varanasi and Puri for the film - following the trail of Christ," said Mitra. "There are many documents in the vault of the Vatican and the church doesn't publish them because they obviously want to project Christ as a god and not as a human. "Assimilation of all such stories raises the question why there was no proper research on the alternative theory about Christ," said Mitra. German scholar H.J. Trebst, who has been researching on the subject of Christ's missing 12 years, invited scholars to a seminar at Puri in Orissa in November 2003. According to some scholars of the Orient and the West, Christ had visited Puri where he had studied Veda and yoga before returning home to preach Christianity. Christ also studied Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent, according to Trebst, who has done extensive research in Ladakh and Nepal to trace the evidence of Christ's itinerary in the subcontinent. According to Trebst, Puri was a famous seat of learning some 2,000 years ago and history has revealed that various religious leaders visited the city over the centuries. There is also a belief that Christ's tomb is in the Kashmir Valley and foreigners, especially Israelis, visit it in large numbers. The main attractions in the valley for Israelis are two graves - believed by some to be those of Christ and Moses. A section of the local population believes that Kashmiris are one of the lost tribes of Israel. Aziz Kashmiri, author of the book "Christ in Kashmir", insists that Kashmiris are descendants of one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel and that Christ died during a visit to the valley. According to Mitra, it is time serious research begins to verify the alternative theory about Christ and his Indian connections. About 2.3 percent of India's population of 1.1 billion follows Christianity, with about 60 percent of them being Catholics. The History Channel has shown interest in his film, Mitra said.

Some nameless guest made allusions to some of Christ' words while on the cross, "Why hast thou forsaken me". Jesus was referring us to Psalm 22. Teacher to the end. Psalm 22 For the director of music. To the tune of "The Doe of the Morning." A psalm of David. 1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent. 3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. [a] 4 In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. 5 They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: 8 "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." 9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. 10 From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God. 11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. 12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. 13 Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. 18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. 19 But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. 20 Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. 21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. 22 I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you. 23 You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! 24 For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. 25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows. 26 The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise him— may your hearts live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, 28 for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. 29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive. 30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. 31 They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn— for he has done it.

The Jesus Prayer Fr. Steven Peter Tsichlis Prayer is the basis of our Christian life, the source of our experience of Jesus as the Risen Lord. Yet how few Christians know how to pray with any depth! For most of us, prayer means little more than standing in the pews for an hour or so on Sunday morning or perhaps reciting, in a mechanical fashion, prayers once learned by rote during childhood. Our prayer life - and thus our life as Christians - remains, for the most part, at this superficial level. THE CHALLENGE OF ST. PAUL But this approach to the life of prayer has nothing to do with the Christianity of St. Paul, who urges the Christians of first century Thessalonica to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:1). And in his letter to Rome, the Apostle instructs the Christian community there to "be constant in prayer" (Rom. 12:12). He not only demands unceasing prayer of the Christians in his care, but practices it himself. "We constantly thank God for you" (1 Thess. 2:13) he writes in his letter to the Thessalonian community; and he comforts Timothy, his "true child in the faith" (1 Tim. 1:2) with the words: "Always I remember you in my prayers" (2 Tim. 1:3). In fact, whenever St. Paul speaks of prayer in his letters, two Greek words repeatedly appear: PANTOTE (pantote), which means always; and ADIALEPTOS (adialeptos), meaning without interruption or unceasingly. Prayer is then not merely a part of life which we can conveniently lay aside if something we deem more important comes up; prayer is all of life. Prayer is as essential to our life as breathing. This raises some important questions. How can we be expected to pray all the time? We are, after all, very busy people. Our work, our spouse, our children, our school - all place heavy demands upon our time. How can we fit more time for prayer into our already overcrowded lives? These questions and the many others like them which could be asked set up a false dichotomy in our lives as Christians. To pray does not mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things or to spend time with God in contrast to spending time with our family and friends. Rather, to pray means to think and live our entire life in the Presence of God. As Paul Evdokimov has remarked: "Our whole life, every act and gesture, even a smile must become a hymn or adoration, an offering, a prayer. We must become prayer-prayer incarnate." This is what St. Paul means when he writes to the Corinthians that "whatever you do, do it for the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). THE JESUS PRAYER In order to enter more deeply into the life of prayer and to come to grips with St. Paul's challenge to pray unceasingly, the Orthodox Tradition offers the Jesus Prayer, which is sometimes called the prayer of the heart. The Jesus Prayer is offered as a means of concentration, as a focal point for our inner life. Though there are both longer and shorter versions, the most frequently used form of the Jesus Prayer is: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." This prayer, in its simplicity and clarity, is rooted in the Scriptures and the new life granted by the Holy Spirit. It is first and foremost a prayer of the Spirit because of the fact that the prayer addresses Jesus as Lord, Christ and Son of God; and as St. Paul tells us, "no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3). THE SCRIPTURAL ROOTS OF THE JESUS PRAYER The Scriptures give the Jesus Prayer both its concrete form and its theological content. It is rooted in the Scriptures in four ways: 1. In its brevity and simplicity, it is the fulfillment of Jesus' command that "in praying" we are "not to heap up empty phrases as the heathen do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them . . . (Matt. 6:7-8). 2*. The Jesus Prayer is rooted in the Name of the Lord. In the Scriptures, the power and glory of God are present in his Name. In the Old Testament to deliberately and attentively invoke God's Name was to place oneself in his Presence. Jesus, whose name in Hebrew means God saves, is the living Word addressed to humanity. Jesus is the final Name of God. Jesus is "the Name which is above all other names" and it is written that "all beings should bend the knee at the Name of Jesus" (Phil. 2:9-10). In this Name devils are cast out (Luke 10:17), prayers are answered (John 14:13 14) and the lame are healed (Acts 3:6-7). The Name of Jesus is unbridled spiritual power. 3. The words of the Jesus Prayer are themselves based on Scriptural texts: the cry of the blind man sitting at the side of the road near Jericho, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me" (Luke 18:38); the ten lepers who "called to him, Jesus, Master, take pity on us' " (Luke 17:13); and the cry for mercy of the publican, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner" (Luke 18:14). 4. It is a prayer in which the first step of the spiritual journey is taken: the recognition of our own sinfulness, our essential estrangement from God and the people around us. The Jesus Prayer is a prayer in which we admit our desperate need of a Saviour. For "if we say we have no sin in us, we are deceiving ourselves and refusing to admit the truth" (1 John 1:8). THE THREE LEVELS OF PRAYER Because prayer is a living reality, a deeply personal encounter with the living God, it is not to be confined to any given classification or rigid analysis. However, in order to offer some broad, general guidelines for those interested in using the Jesus Prayer to develop their inner life, Theophan the Recluse, a 19th century Russian spiritual writer, distinguishes three levels in the saying of the Prayer: It begins as oral prayer or prayer of the lips, a simple recitation which Theophan defines as prayers' "verbal expression and shape." Although very important, this level of prayer is still external to us and thus only the first step, for "the essence or soul of prayer is within a man's mind and heart." As we enter more deeply into prayer, we reach a level at which we begin to pray without distraction. Theophan remarks that at this point, "the mind is focused upon the words" of the Prayer, "speaking them as if they were our own." The third and final level is prayer of the heart. At this stage prayer is no longer something we do but who we are. Such prayer, which is a gift of the Spirit, is to return to the Father as did the prodigal son (Luke 15:32). The prayer of the heart is the prayer of adoption, when "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit that cries 'Abba, Father!'" (Gal. 4:6). THE FRUITS OF THE JESUS PRAYER This return to the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit is the goal of all Christian spirituality. It is to be open to the presence of the Kingdom in our midst. The anonymous author of The Way of the Pilgrim reports that the Jesus Prayer has two very concrete effects upon his vision of the world. First, it transfigures his relation ship with the material creation around him; the world becomes transparent, a sign, a means of communicating God's presence. He writes: "When I prayed in my heart, everything around me seemed delightful and marvelous. The trees, the grass, the birds, the air, the light seemed to be telling me that they existed for man's sake, that they witnessed to the love of God for man, that all things prayed to God and sang his praise." Second, the Prayer transfigures his relationship to his fellow human beings. His relationships are given form within their proper context: the forgiveness and compassion of the crucified and risen Lord. "Again I started off on my wanderings. But now I did not walk along as before, filled with care. The invocation of the Name of Jesus gladdened my way. Everybody was kind to me. If anyone harms me I have only to think, 'How sweet is the Prayer of Jesus!' and the injury and the anger alike pass away and I forget it all." ENDLESS GROWTH "Growth in prayer has no end," Theophan informs us. "If this growth ceases, it means that life ceases." The way of the heart is endless because the God whom we seek is infinite in the depths of his glory. The Jesus Prayer is a signpost along the spiritual journey, a journey that all of us must take. * Concerning #2 I take issue with this. Althgough Jesus' name is actually a name of the Father to say it is the final name is debateable because salvation is not the final goal. But this is a side point for us now. -- APPENDIX The purpose of this pamphlet is merely to introduce the practice of the Jesus Prayer. The Jesus Prayer cannot be separated from the sacramental life of the Church and asceticism. The following books are recommended for further study: The Art of Prayer edited with an introduction by Kallistos Ware (Faber and Faber: London) 1966 The Power of the Name by Kallistos Ware (SLG Press: Oxford) 1974 The Way of a Pilgrim translated by R. M. French (Seabury Press: New York) 1965 Christ is in our Midst by Father John of New Valaamo (St. Vladimirs' Seminary Press: New York) 1980 The Jesus Prayer by Per-Olof Sjogren (Fortress Press: Philadelphia) 1975 Prayer of the Heart by George A. Maloney (Ave Maria Press: Notre Dame) 1980

I will post an article on the Jesus Prayer. TV...yes I sometimes call it Hyno-Vision. Very dangerous. Advertisers have one goal and that is to inflam our material desires, to increase our lust for the illusory objects of this world. To do this more effectively they employ techniques of hypnosis. We need to avoid filling our minds with this garbage. But the mind cannot remain void of content. If we clean it nicely of the garbage but fail to fill it with loving thoughts of God the garbage will return. Nature abhors a vacuum they say. Learning to "pray without ceasing" will protect us from wordly influences by connecting us in a positive way to the Lord at all times. That is why many people chant Hare Krishna which is a call for the mercy of God to let us serve Him. Different cultures have different languages and thus different sounding names for God. That is not important. The main thing is we are calling out to the One Supreme Person and not just "one of the many gods". That understanding is vital. By calling out Hare Krishna devotees are following the example of Lord Jesus Christ who also prayed to the Father and taught us to as well. The Hebrews used other names to indicate the Father but it is the same person that is being addressed. "A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet."

Intelligent Design Debate BY: SUN STAFF Nov 7, DOVER, PENNSYLVANIA (SUN) — Arguments were made before a federal judge on Friday by the attorney representing eight families, who want the court to overturn a policy requiring that discussion of Intelligent Design be included in biology class curriculum, saying the policy violates the constitutional separation of church and state. The plaintiffs claim that this policy improperly promotes religion in schools. The school board's lawyer defended the policy on the basis that it intends to call attention to a new "science movement." Dover is the first school system in the U.S. to require that students be exposed to the intelligent design concept. Intelligent design asserts that the universe is so complex, it must have been created by an 'intelligent' higher force. Critics charge that Intelligent Design is simply creationism in the disguise of scientific language. Eric Rothschild, the attorney representing the families, claims that the concept promotes a Biblical view of creation, asserting that evolution cannot fully explain the origin of life or the emergence of highly complex life forms. In closing arguments, Rothschild said "Intelligent Design became the label for the board's desire to teach creationism". The school district's policy puts forth to students a statement saying that Charles Darwin's theory is not a fact and has inexplicable gaps. Students are encouraged towards further reading and research. During the six-week trial, many expert witnesses represented both sides of the argument, debating the scientific merits of both intelligent design and Darwinism. University of Idaho microbiology professor Scott Minnich, who supports Intelligent Design curriculum, said that Intelligent Design articles are not found in major peer-reviewed scientific journals because it is a minority view. "To endorse intelligent design comes with risk because it's a position against the consensus. Science is not a democratic process," he said. The plaintiffs are represented by the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The school district is being represented by the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Thomas More Law Center, whose mission is to defend the religious freedom of Christians. Federal Judge John E. Jones III hopes to issue a ruling in the case by January.

Vegans need not worry about this one.

I am curious if you are familar with the Eastern Orthodox practice of chanting the Lord Jesus Prayer. "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me." The practice is to chant this and meditate upon it until it arises spontaneously from one's heart. They would make ropes with knots for beads and many today use wooden beads of various types. This is a wonderful practice that needs to catch on more in the West. We spend too much time watching TV and other nonsense things and too little time on prayer and reciting the Lord's name. Have you heard of this practice?

There is no need for us to try to work out our disagreements on how we see things. We both have a lot of very important work to do on ourselves and getting right with God. May the Lord's grace befall us both.

I was there once only and thought it was the exact place of Krishna's appearance that now has the Mosque but I am not confident enough in that to say for sure. Please help.

Yes I understand what you say I just disagree. In the spiritual world or the spiritual Kingdom of God all is Absolute Truth. Truth does not oppose itself. But there is also relativity. That is we as individual children of God will have our own individual taste in how we worship and love God. No. This is called getting stuck on the mental plane. The mind accepts something as truth and then it may reject that same something as truth in the next moment. Truly accepting the truth means with every fiber of our being. And when we accept the truth with every fiber of our being there is nothing but the truth in our make up. We are then 100% truth because we will be saturated with knowledge of and love for God. This state is also called Krishna consciousness. It is much more than a mental or intellectual state. It is in fact oneness with God. You will know that you are one with God but as Christ said the "Father is greater than I" so even with this sense of oneness you will be conscious of the Supreme Lord as geater than you and to be served. As you grow in love of God through Christ it is not that will will turn into an exact replica of Jesus like a clone or something. You will grow into your own perfection. Jesus said be perfect even as the Father is perfect. So what does it mean to be a perfect person. Christ showed us himself as the template. A perfect person loves God with his whole mind body words and soul. That is the way the truth and the life. If you deny that possibility within yourself then you deny the very mission of Christ which is to raise us up to that perfection ourselves. Jesus Christ is not looking to build a fan club for Himself. He wants to show us who we are in relation to the Supreme Lord. You may not accept it now but in the future after you have fully matured into a pure lover of God He may send you to some distant planet to reclaim some lost souls on His behalf. Then you may say "I am the truth the way and the life no one comes to the Father but by me" and you will be correct.

But this is also another meaningless argument. Don't you know that Krishna is said to have used the excuse of being shot in the heel with an arrow by some hunter mistaking Him for a deer for His disappearance ("death") pastime? By restating this argument you are continuing to argue against Krishna being God as well.

The Vaisnavas that Prabhupada is writing about are very rare. We, the karmis or even vikarmis, are given a chance to cooperate in the mission to save ourselves and others. This is how we can learn to please Krsna. Your points are well taken.

The servants of God come to propagate God consciousness, and intelligent people should cooperate with them in every respect. By serving the servant of God, one can please God more than by directly serving the Lord. The Lord is more pleased when He sees that His servants are properly respected because such servants risk everything for the service of the Lord and so are very dear to the Lord. The Lord declares in the Bhagavad-gita (18.69) that no one is dearer to Him than one who risks everything to preach His glory. By serving the servants of the Lord, one gradually gets the quality of such servants, and thus one becomes qualified to hear the glories of God. The eagerness to hear about God is the first qualification of a devotee eligible for entering the kingdom of God. SB 4.12.36 pur

A Krishna conscious being is always engaged in planning how to take all of suffering humanity back home, back to Godhead. Even if one is not successful in reclaiming all the fallen souls back to Godhead, still, because he is Krishna conscious, his path to Vaikunthaloka is open. He personally becomes qualified to enter the Vaikunthalokas, and if anyone follows such a devotee, he also enters into Vaikunthaloka. Others, who engage in envious activities, are known as karmis. Karmis are envious of one another. Simply for sense gratification, they can kill thousands of innocent animals. Jnanis are not as sinful as karmis, but they do not try to reclaim others back to Godhead. They perform austerities for their own liberation. Yogis are also engaged in self-aggrandizement by trying to attain mystic powers. But devotees, Vaishnavas, who are servants of the Lord, come forward in the actual field of work in Krishna consciousness to reclaim fallen souls. Only Krishna conscious persons are eligible to enter into the spiritual world. That is clearly stated in this verse and is confirmed in Bhagavad—gita, wherein the Lord says that there is no one dearer to Him than those who preach the gospel of Bhagavad-gita to the world. SB 4.12.36

Listen learn then preach. That sounds like good advice. thank you.

I hear you. I saw Chirac on TV today saying he won't let this get much worse or he will have to get tough. LOL !! th night of rioting and each night is worse than the one before. Villipen or however you sp. his name was said to be consulting with community leaders over the problem. OMG what a clueless crew they are. Too many in the US think as they do unfortunately. As well as waking up Europe I hope it awakens the leftist liberals here as well. But you know somehow I am sure it will just go over their heads unseen.

I am not sure all of what evangelical prophetic interpretations even say. I don't believe in the devil and I see all that is not bhakti as being anti-christ. That is it for me. As far as some great battle between God and the evil one I have read something similar happening already between Varaha and Hiranyaksa. I don't know what these things mean exactly.

Dear guest, I don't know much about any saint or even God Himself but what little crumb of knowledge I do happen to acquire I plan on sharing with others. If that disturbs you well frankly...I could not care less.

I believe Jesus who said "I and the Father are one" and "The Father is greater than I". Shakyavesa avatar and it is also Lord Caitanya's philosophy. That is true. But then to think that Jesus died is superfical. To think death is real for anyone is also superfical. When those barbarians came to arrest Christ His disciple Peter pulled his sword to defend him and Jesus told him not to bother. That if he said the word so many legions of angles would come to his immediate defense. He gave up his bodily life as a teaching to we materialists. Only way to God. Absolutely true. But what does that mean? First one has to understand something about who Christ is. He is Bhakti personified. Bhakti is the way, the truth, and the life and Bhakti is personal, not just some abstraction. You and I have this potential also although it is now dormant. When awakened fully you will also be able to say I am the truth the way and the life, for so you will be. The thing we often forget is that Christ also said pick up your cross and follow me. Which means that we also must learn to sacrifice the fleshly desires to fulfill the desires of the Supreme Lord. Not that Jesus did it for me so I don't have to. That is foolishness.