Chapter 14
In this chapter Jesus affirms his soon departure and reunification with the Father. He is consoling his disciples and reassuring them that they will not be alone after his death, he talks about his successor and the importance of being attached to the Holy Ghost that he calls the Comforter, and that he, himself, will lead his disciples back home to a room of his Father’s house.
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
It was interesting for me to read Beas explanation of what Jesus is sharing here with his disciples. I was not aware of these messages before. “There are many spiritual stages on the way, right from the eye centre up to the end of the journey. We have to go through many stages, or “mansions”, and everyone gets a place in them according to his spiritual attainment. How far he (a disciple) can go depends upon his own spiritual progress; … continues to make progress from there onward until he finally merges into the Father.”
Beas, then, continues reminding us that “the real form of the Master is not the physical body but the Word. “…the Word has taken abode in the flesh. He is the “the Word made flesh”. When Jesus says that “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” he says that “the Word is the way, the truth, and the life. … because through the Word we find our way back to the Father. It is the truth, because it never perishes.”
Referring to our progress as initiates Beas kindly assures us that “We are always making progress no matter how feeble our mediation seems to be, but the soul has such a huge mountain of darkness to bore through that no matter how far it has gone, until it sees some Light it feels that it has made no progress at all.”
In my experience it can be very tricky to know the truth about our advancement. I personally has gone through various stages and I often feel that I have not progressed in my spiritual advancement at all. In contrast, at some earlier stages I was convinced that I had attained complete freedom. Looking back now I see how silly that assumptions were.
“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.”
Beas explains that Jesus here reminds us that we are spiritually blind and so God, out of His mercy and grace, comes down and takes on a physical form to instruct us how to find the path back home to Him. So, the person we see in the physical, the teacher, is the Father who is doing everything through the physical form of the teacher.
”… and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”
Here Jesus, again, mentions his successor and claims – similarly to the way John the Baptist talked about him – that this person will do greater things than he ever did.
As I was reading “If ye love me, keep my commandments.“ I was wondering what kind of commandments he is talking about since the so called ‘original’ commandments were made by Moses. Beas gives the answer that makes so much sense since it is the very thing that Jesus will symbolize for many centuries to come: “Love one another.”
And this may be the hardest thing. Though it sounds so easy and so matter of fact, we do not tend to act upon it much. Actually the “love” that Jesus talks about is not only the kindness that we are to show towards each other but the Loving that ‘overthrows empires’ , that defines all of us and gives meaning to our existence.
“Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
Beas says that the Spirit of Truth “cannot be seen with the physical eyes, and the worldly people are slaves of the senses …” but it guides those who are attached to it. Then he goes on explaining why the Holy Ghost is called the Comforter by Jesus. Those who are attached to the Holy Ghost within are at peace and experience happiness, bliss and comfort, whereas those without it are all at war within themselves.
It is such a powerful reminder, particularly in the mists of our (initiates’) struggles that we are the lucky ones since we can experience true peace, comfort and bliss while others live a life that is in constant inner war. I do see that in the world. I believe that the againstness we constantly generate in the world and in our personal lives is but a reflection of the war that goes on inside of us. In the same way as most of us spend a life time finding home or a partner who will love us the way we wish to be loved. There is no home for us in the world, we are simply in constant search for our ‘lost home”. At the same time, we search for God’s endless and unconditional Love for us in the heart and eyes of a lover who is just as limited as ourselves, therefore, we spend our whole life searching or settling with the best ‘alternative’ life can offer.
“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.”
“You will never be orphaned, Christ tells his disciples … if you turn to me for guidance. I am always ready to help you.” Beas also explains that we shall see Jesus within “I (Jesus) will always be with you in my Radiant Form … When you see inside, you will also never die. … He is always with the disciples. … The Master within is continually attracting the disciple upward, and the purer the soul, the sooner it contacts the inner Master, the Word.”
Reading these passages is such a lovely reassurance for me. I often meet Jesus’ Radiant Form in my mediations and dreams and I am by now convinced that he shows up on the inner for me in order to support me and to guide me on my journey. He has been with me from the very beginning. The first time I met him I was not even an initiate. I always thought that he, himself, guided me to my present teachers and onto the Path. I could not be more grateful.
Then Jesus reassures us in return for our love and devotion to him that ”… and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. … “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.“
Beas, however, warns us that “merely saying ‘I love you’ is meaningless. If you really love me (Jesus), you will keep my teachings in your heart 24 hours a day.”
I know from personal experience, that it is so easy to slip, and simply go through the motion of devotion but lacking depth and true commitment. Similarly to the rituals of the Church and the way we get lost in these meaningless rituals without putting ourselves through the pain of discovery and hard earned change. Sitting down to meditate for the ‘prescribed’ 2,5 hours and spending this time simply contemplating on daily duties and shopping lists is like spending 5 minutes kneeling in front of the Madonna begging to be healed but failing to investigate where we need to heal ourselves.
However, “those of you who love me and follow m instructions. … you will become clean and pure and will be fit to merge into the Father.” explains Beas and adds the thorough explanation of the Holy Trinity that is the representation of the merging and ‘becoming one’, “the Holy Trinity – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost – … three is one …”. Then, he goes on reminding us that “we cannot understand this truth unless we experience it and we can experience it only when we free the soul from the domination of the mind and senses through the practise of the word. … When the soul becomes free from mind and senses, that is self-realization; and only through self-realization can we attain God-realization and merge back into the Father. ”
I often wonder why our main focus on the Path is to find out who we are. Even if we feel inclined to serve others in one way or another, our first and foremost job is to realize ourselves, find and stand firmly in who we are as God. God-realization, to my understanding it is our merging back with God, comes as a result of realizing ourselves and living the life we are here on Earth to live.
“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 unto you.”
I found it very revealing as Beas explains why “the sound Current, is also referred to as the Holy Ghost.” Earlier in chapter three Jesus says that ‘the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and wither it goeth.’ Beas explains that “the Sound is invisible to the physical eyes, and therefore it is called a Ghost.” And that the Word “manifests itself to us in the same way within, at the eye centre. Hence it is also called a Ghost or the Word of God.”
Regarding the topic of teachers’ job in the world Jesus says ” Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” and Beas explains that “neither Christ nor any other Master has ever come to bring peace in this world. They come to bring heavenly peace to the souls allotted to them by the Father.” It is a mistake to think that this World can at any point be peaceful or loving.
“But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.”
To my surprise, Beas explains that the sentence ‘Arise, let us go hence.’ does not refer to Jesus asking the disciples to leave the place where they were at the time. According to Beas it means “Leave this dark den of iniquity and attain that eternal Light, peace, and bliss.” I find it amusing to realize that Jesus did not waste a word on unimportant matters. Every word he let out bore meaning and a teaching. One needs to be careful when studying the scriptures not to miss important messages.