Self-realization: Jesus' approach is outright revolutionary, one that will be cursed by ecclesiastical authority today
Dear disciples of the Paraclete Shri Mataji,
i have come across a most amazing book by Richard Valantasis and
ordered it after coming across the sayings of Jesus that left me
silenced .......... for loss of words to describe their immense depth
and grandeur:
The Gospel of Thomas (Richard Valantasis)
Order Placed: April 27 2011
Amazon.ca order number: 701-1624392-6645XXX
Order Total: CDN$ 21.49 (Second-hand)
The book has the author's articles concerning Jesus' explanation of
Self-realization. There is no incarnation who has the depth and
vastness of enlightenment as that of Jesus. His precise, priceless
knowledge and technique required for attaining life eternal are
beyond reproach. It is unassailable! It is unsurpassable! It is a way
of daily life like no other, one that is beyond the ignorant masses
and their religious leaders to attain.
i totally agree with this customer review:
"I know that Routledge has put out some amazing books and it quite
suprized me that they would be interesting in publishing a book
concerning the gospel of thomas. But nevertheless, this is a very
scholarly book. The author does not delve himself into mindless
speculation, but rather the hard facts. Those that have read Elaine
Pagels' 'Beyond Belief' should rather focus their attention on this
book if they wish to read a scholarly book at its finest. Definitely
worth the price."
Yes, it is far better than Elaine Pagels 'Beyond Belief'. No question
about that! Valantasis covers the entire Gospel of Thomas in rich
detail and esoteric depth, which was what Jesus was trying to convey.
Each saying is worth pondering. Many are priceless. Collectively,
they all lead to _true_ Self-realization. i must emphasize "true"
because Self-realization is far more than kundalini awakening and
chakras.
i have never come across any Self-realization that conveys more
meaning and awe. One can almost feel the presence of Jesus guiding
from within. His teachings and warnings come to life today (and again
you are assured that the edited and corrupted SYSSR is sure 'death').
The Self-realization that Jesus teaches is what the Paraclete and
Spirit-Paraclete have revealed. With this book we can finally
approach Christians and non-Christians alike concerning what is
believed to be an overwhelmingly Hindu concept. It is not. Thus
seeking God in the churches (and synagogues, mosques, temples and
gurdwara) will cease. Jesus' assures us that we can and must worship
God in Spirit and truth _within_ ourselves. A reader admits that the
"addition of this book to the Bible would make this world a better
place. We Christians would be more like Buddhists."
To be honest, i now understand Self-realization better. It makes much
more sense. Jesus' instructions are down to earth, contemporary and
brutally honest. Jesus' approach is outright revolutionary, one that
will be cursed by ecclesiastical authority today exactly as it was
anathema to them two millennia ago. Surely one must agree:
"Readers experience for the first time the irony and sarcasm possible
in these collections of sayings. The narrative strategy has already
invested the reader with a kind of full authority to find the
community's interpretation of the sayings, a process that has
guaranteed immortality. When we first hear about "leaders," they are
giving bad information, directing the seekers' attention to the sky
or under the earth. To follow such leaders results in getting lost.
In contrast to such misguided leadership, Jesus directs the readers
to understand their own empowerment: the imperial rule of God is
found both within and without the seeker. True leadership directs the
seeker inward to a new understanding of the self, and outward to a
new understanding of the world in which God's imperial rule is
manifested. The seeker guides the self into knowledge, requiring no
external guidance other than the saying of Jesus that directs the
seekers to themselves.
The important point is not only that there is a new understanding of
an empowered self, but also that God's imperial rule must be
understood anew. The location of God's imperial rule is not in the
heavens, nor is it under the earth (other creatures would experience
the rule of God first, if this were the case), but God's imperial
rule is within and without the person. The interior location of the
imperial rule, as Patterson (1993:71-72) argues, finds specific
thematic parallels with Luke 17.20-21 ("for behold, the kingdom of
God is in the midst of you") and perhaps with Matthew's "warning
against those who would locate the kingdom in a specific place"
(Matthew 24.26). The Kingdom of God in this saying, however, remains
interior in that it emerges from self-knowledge and exterior in that
it depends upon a self-awareness that leads to a new understanding of
the mundane world.
This relocation of the imperial rule of God probably represents one
side of an ongoing conversation among early Christian people about
authority and power: some probably expected an apocalyptic rule of
God inaugurated from the heavens (as Paul did in 1 Thessalonians),
others may have experienced the church community itself as the
inauguration of the reign of God (as Matthew did in his gospel),
still others at once interiorized the rule of God and, therefore,
reinterpreted its external significance (as in this saying).
This new awareness and understanding of the self develops from the
kind of seeking mentioned in the previous saying. The readers, and
the seekers, will find this understanding of the rule of God as they
come to know themselves. Self-knowledge reveals the connection to the
Father, not as an external adoption by a distant heavenly Father, but
as "children of the living Father," a Father who is present and
vital. The opposite of this self-knowledge is poverty: true wealth
does not consist in anything but knowing self, poverty both as a
state of being and as a condition of life follows from the refusal to
seek.
All of these issues are intimately connected. The true self, the
empowering strategy both of the narrator and of Jesus' sayings, the
alternative understanding of the world, the redefinition of poverty
both as ontological and social, the rejection of hierarchical
leadership—all these conspire to create alternative understandings of
self, relationships, and world. These alternatives work ascetically;
they are a part of a systematic means of redefining and reorienting
the seeker to the world (see Valantasis 1995b). They open the
possibility of transformation and renewal through the interpretative
practices outlined in the sayings."
Richard Valantasis, The Gospel of Thomas
Routledge; 1 edition (June 27, 1997) p. 44
So we will wait for the book to arrive. i believe Jesus Christ is to
spirituality and eternal life what Che Guevera was to socialism and
armed class struggle. Both were revolutionaries who urged radical
means to confront and overcome the oppressors. Both paid the ultimate
price and pain for their beliefs and struggle, Jesus far more.
But i said that "Jesus _is_ to spirituality and eternal life". The
arrival of the Paraclete Shri Mataji concluded His teachings, and has
now set His radical spiritual revolution in motion. Upon the death of
Shri Mataji the Spirit-Paraclete within took over, for all times.
The Self-realization that Jesus speaks about is as revolutionary as
it is foreboding. It grants eternity to those who believe, death to
those who taunt. The same fate awaits the world's ecclesiastical
authorities poised to oppose it!
In the "Gospel of Thomas" Jesus promises to protect and nurture the
tiny community of believers bearing that spiritual revolution till
they are strong enough to set the world ablaze with the declaration
that the Resurrection and Last Judgment has begun: "I have cast fire
upon the world, and look, I'm guarding it until it blazes."
There is still a lot of work required to present the divine
eschatological fire of the Paraclete in a manner that can be
understood and accepted by the world. Above all, we need to persevere
against the tens of thousands of SYSSR fools who tried to extinguish
this fire. They almost succeeded but that danger is now gone. Without
question, Shri Mataji has taken care of this negativity that nearly
destroyed Her advent and message.
The eschatological fire will blaze one day. We have the Savior's word
on that! And the Paraclete's too! In the meantime, the Spirit-
Paraclete comforts as we wait for the eschatological fire to spread
and set the world ablaze. It is only a matter of time.
regards to all,
jagbir
www.sahajayoga-shrimataji.org
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