Chapter 9
This chapter is about Jesus’ encounter with the blind man. The parable in this chapter is about seeing clearly in God and being blind in the world.
“Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. “
Upon reading this sentence, I remembered how often we complain about different circumstances and dispositions in or lives without noticing the relevance of the condition to our development. Jesus says that the man was not blind so to be punished for his sins but so God could manifest miracles through him. His condition is a blessing that God bestowed upon him so he can be of service to His works.
“ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
“Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples.
We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.”
Here, once again, there a reference to the importance of a living teacher in the physical. Jesus says that he can only be the light of the world, he can do miracles (initiate) until he is in the physical. The second quote shows how organised religion can blind the faithful from perceiving the truth. Beas, however, also points out that Jesus does not say that there would be or there have not been another Light in the world with him not being in the World. Jesus reminds us that our liberation is down to our connecting with and being initiated by a living master.
The above quotes also prove that only those particular souls which were marked by the Father recognize the appointed Teacher. Therefore, those who do not recognize a living Master, are not marked.
”And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, …
According to Beas, “Unless we become worthy of the Lord’s judgement, we cannot go back to Him. And the soul becomes worthy of His judgement when it becomes free from sins.” Beas also says that one must become blind to the creation so she can detach oneself from the creation. As soon as that happens, she/he can start seeing the Creator everywhere in the creation and him/herself included.
“And Jesus said, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.”
These sentences, in my understanding, refer to being honest or being arrogant with our journey. So often, I see, that when we are on a spiritual journey upon having different experiences and having greater understanding of Spirit and the works of God we may become arrogant. In our ignorance, like the Pharisees in this parable, we may think that we can see clearly and we are in Spirit but often we are actually blinded by our arrogance and misunderstanding. I suspect that what Jesus says here is that honesty comes with claiming our blindness and ignorance first.
According to Beas by realizing the Lord within us, we come to know the value of human beings. Then, we automatically become humble before them and become respectful to them. Beas reminds us – seeing the behaviour of the Pharisees – that “we have to realize that the Creator is within everyone, and not just by theory but by practical experience.” Beas claims that the creation blinds us, our karmas weigh us down and keep us in bondage within the creation. When we become blind to the creation is when we have no more attachments to this creation and we lose our sins. But we can only do that by attaching ourselves to the Spirit within through the practice of meditation.