The Miracle of Christ - Talk by Swami Paramatmananda - Part 4

[Guest guest]

[continued from a talk given by Swami Paramatmananda at MA Center

while he was in residence there between 1990 and 2001]

 

After some days, Jesus's parents decided to go to Jerusalem to offer

their first male child to God. It was a ritual that the Jews used to

do by offering animals as sacrifice and praying to God to accept their

child into His service. That is how things were done in those days.

When they entered the temple, they saw a saintly man there named

Simeon. He had God's grace with him, and somehow he knew unknown

things. He was waiting for the Messiah to be born. Everybody was more

or less waiting, but he was really waiting, and he was convinced that

God was going to come pretty soon. And so, by God's Will, he had come

into the temple just at that time and saw the child. Immediately, he

took Jesus into his arms and said,

" Lord, now you are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to

Your word, for I have seen that which You prepared, a light to bring

enlightenment to Your people. "

He immediately recognized the Messiah! How many people do you think

recognized Amma when she was one month old? Nobody. I certainly did

not recognize Amma when I met her and she was already twenty-five. It

took a while! I had to see the Krishna Bhava, and then I understood

that Amma was Divine. What insight this man must have had. Simeon said

to Mary and Joseph,

" This child is destined for the fall and the rise of many in Israel,

and (here's the bad news) a sword will pierce through your soul, so

that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. "

At the same time, there was a lady in the temple who was also a saint,

a yogini. She was a widow in her eighties who spent her entire time

doing sadhana. She had a well-developed intuition and came running

over to where Jesus was and also declared that he was the Messiah.

After this, we don't hear anything about Christ for twelve years.

Nobody really knows what happened during his childhood years, but most

likely he was to all external appearances just like any other child of

that time.

When he was twelve years old, there was a festival going on in

Jerusalem and his parents decided they would go to see it and bring

him along also. On their way back to Nazareth, they did not see him

and thought he must be with some of the other travelers. There was a

big group that had come from Nazareth and he must be playing around

with some of the other people.

But on the third day, they started getting worried. They inquired but

couldn't find him anywhere, so they went back to Jerusalem, to the

temple. And what did they find? He was sitting there talking to all

the pundits and the priests. They were having heated discussions about

difficult points in the Jewish law. There was a big satsang going on.

They were astonished at his level of understanding and his answers to

their questions. He was a twelve-year-old boy who was the son of a

carpenter. He should probably know some carpentry and that's all.

Where did he get this spiritual knowledge?

His mother said, " Son, what have you done to us? " which means " Why did

you ditch us like this for three days? We had no idea where you were.

We were so worried about you. Your father and I have anxiously looked

for you. "

He coolly turned to them and said, " Why did you look for me? Don't you

know that I must be about my Father's business? " What did he mean? Did

he come there to get some contracts for his father for carpentry work?

This is when he starts to talk about his Father, God. His Father's

business is to have satsang with the priests and scholars. He was so

full of confidence. He had divine knowledge, not book knowledge. Of

course, his poor parents did not understand a word that he said.

Suddenly, the next scene in the Bible finds Jesus as a thirty-year-old

man. Where was he between the ages of twelve and thirty? Nobody knows.

It is not mentioned in the four gospels. Some people say that he

traveled as far east as India where he learned a lot from the yogis

there. He also went to Tibet and Egypt. He trained under various

masters, but nobody knows for sure.

It was when he was thirty that his mission really started and

continued until he was thirty-two. Perhaps everything before that was

a preparation for what was about to happen. By a strange coincidence,

Shankaracharya also ended his mission on earth when he was thirty-two.

One day when Jesus was in his village in Nazareth, he went to the

synagogue, the temple for the Jews. He got up to read from the Book of

Isaiah. He was very particular about what he was going to read, and

this is what He said:

" The spirit of God is upon me. He has appointed me to preach the good

news to the poor. He sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to announce

that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the

down-trodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God is

ready to give blessings to all who come to Him. " He closed the book

and handed it back to the person in charge of the book.

Everybody was looking at him. He said, " Today the scripture is

fulfilled in your hearing. " What did he mean? They understood what he

meant, but they did not agree with him. He was saying that he is the

one that the scriptures were talking about. He is that Divine Being

come to bless the world. The men there flew into a rage and chased

him, trying to kill him, but he just disappeared. That was the

beginning of his troubles.

Amma says, " Nobody can kill a Mahatma unless the Mahatma allows that

to happen. " A Mahatma means a fully Self-realized soul, a full-blown

sage. Jesus did not allow them to kill him because it wasn't the right

time, but he sure stirred up all the locals against himself by saying

" I am the Messiah. "

A little later, he appeared in another temple, where a person came who

was possessed by a demon. We may feel that some of our friends or our

parents are possessed by demons, and maybe they are, but that is

nothing compared to the demons that were possessing this man. He was

completely out of control. He would scream and rant and fall on the

ground foaming at the mouth. He was shouting, " Leave us alone. What

have we to do with you, Jesus? Did you come to destroy us? We know who

you are, the holy one of God. " You may feel that this story must be an

exaggeration, a bunch of nonsense, but I've seen similar things happen

near Amma.

Many years ago, people used to come to Amma who were possessed by

demons, and they would say the same things, strangely enough. " Let us

alone, don't chase us out. Don't touch us, Devi. " They would call Amma

'Devi'. " What did we do? We're not doing anything to You. Leave us

alone, Devi. " Then Amma would bless them or cast them out, and they

would depart. The possessed person would then become peaceful.

Apparently these demonic beings know who's who. They have a subtle

vision that we don't have. Becoming a demon is a high price to pay to

get that subtle vision. You don't want to do that. You can also become

a divine being, a god and have subtle vision. That is better.

Jesus rebuked the demon saying " Be quiet and come out of him. " When

the demon had thrown him down in their midst, it came out and did not

hurt him anymore. Everybody was amazed and said, " What a word is this!

With such authority and power he commands these demons and they come out! "

This was the first miracle that he performed. He showed his power. No

big rituals, nothing -- just " Get out. "

Immediately after this, he started to gather his disciples. He knew

exactly who was his own. As soon as he saw one who was to become his

disciple, he bound them with his love.

One day he was by the side of a lake, giving satsang to a crowd of

people. There were some fishermen there to whom he said, " Let's get in

the boat and go out in the lake. "

After they went out into the lake, he told them, " Go deeper and let

your nets down for a catch. "

But the fishermen said, " Master, we toiled all night long and we did

not catch anything. But because you say so, we will let down the

nets. " When they did this, and they pulled up the nets, the nets

started breaking because they were so full of fish.

Such a thing happened in Amma's life also. The local fishermen were

trying to catch fish for many days, but there were none, so they

approached Amma during Krishna Bhava, who gave them a little pot of

water and said, " Go in such and such a direction into the ocean. Pour

this water there and then put your nets out. " They did as they were

told, and the same thing happened. They pulled up the nets, which were

so full of fish that they were almost breaking. There were no fish in

that place before, not even a minnow or a sardine!

Peter, who was the chief fisherman, saw this and fell down at the feet

of Christ. He said, " Please leave, because I am a sinner, Lord. " He

felt that he was such a bad person, and now here was this super holy

being in his fishing boat. He didn't really want to get rid of him,

but he was afraid.

Christ said, " Don't be afraid. From now on, you will catch men. " Does

this mean that he will go out and catch people in his net? No! He will

catch souls -- make lost souls into devotees of God. Who but a Mahatma

could say that to somebody?

 

 

(to be continued)