Digest Number 849

[Guest guest]

I would like to draw your attention to a new book, by Elaine Pagels, on

Christianity. I think it offers an unparalleled opportunity for those

Christians

following Amma, who also believe that somehow they are in violation of true

Christianity by accepting Amma as God, rather than Jesus alone. The Pagel's

book, "Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas" demonstrates that onlly the

gospels of Matthew, Mark Luke and John were considered official, and gospel of

Thomas was deemed heretical, by Bishop Irenaeus of Lyons in 180 A.D.

 

It turns out that Thomasbelieved that Jesus led each disciple to discover the

light within himself; "within a person of light, there is light." Thus, in

Thomas, Jesus is not the sole fount of light, but each of us may look within

ourself and see the light, the same light as Jesus found. This is a radical

thing to say, as it is not part of the mainstream understanding of Xianity.

Yet, for those who feel bothered, tortured by this cleft, they might relax when

they find that some of the Gospels reveal another side of the religion. I

would recommend the book. It shows how the religion got to be the way it is,

which

is not necessarily what Jesus taught.

 

Avram

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Namah Shivaya dear Lights of IT,

 

The information our brother Avram shared points in an interesting direction

that indeed can resolve many of the apparent conflicts between Amma's

teachings and the Jesus is the only way teachings. As I've offered before on

this list, a guru at an ashram in upstate NY was teaching that the scripture

"I am the way, the truth and the light" is correctly translated "I AM is the

way, the truth and the light." He taught ³I AM² as a mantra which I have

found to be very helpful. It¹s interesting that Amma¹s new meditation is

called ³IAM² (Integrated Amrita Meditation).

 

Christianity split early on into the Gnostic or John church and the Peter

church. The former was forced underground by the latter (Inquisition) in the

form of Free Masonry. It split over the role of the feminine (women were

spiritual leaders in the John church) and over the issue that Avram notes:

no priest is required to contact God who is within. The numerous Black

Madonnas throughout Europe are symbols of this form. The gypsies, whose

migration route began in Rajistan, India and ended in Ireland and US carried

this history in the form of the tarot and sing about Kali. Every year they

gather at San Maries d¹ Le Mer in southern France and carry to the sea a

sacred figure called St. Sara who otherwise resides in an underground

chamber of a small church. On our pilgrimage to that chamber we discovered

that she looked and felt just like Amma. Other devotees from our satsang had

the same experience on their own separate pilgrimage.

 

More recommended reading for a radically different view of Christianity: The

Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ by Lynn

Picknett and Clive Prince.

 

Jai Amma who is IT.

premarupa

Aum Amriteshvaryai Namah