WHO IS JESUS?

The Mystic Christ - Chapter Preview

The mind should disappear. You should become "no-mind." A person who is in the state of "no-mind" might dwell in the world of diversity, but in reality, he is in God. You might see him act or speak, but he does neither. He is actionless and has no speech; he is still and silent in all circumstances. But your mind will impose a mind on him. Your mind will impose a body, speech and action onto him. You yourself are divided; therefore you will try to make him divided also. Yet, try your whole lifetime, put forth all your effort and call the whole world to help you, and still you cannot divide him. You will become exhausted and collapse trying to do the impossible. Ammachi, Awaken Children vol. 4, p302

It is not possible for us to know the true nature of Jesus unless we, ourselves, become like Jesus. If our Christian fathers had known this, much trouble could have been avoided. In 325 C.E. Roman Emperor Constantine convened the first ecumenical council which is now referred to as the Council of Nicaea. His main purpose in calling the council was to make an attempt at resolving the rancorous and heated debate that had arisen over the correct understanding of the nature of Jesus. The main body of Christianity was in great danger of fragmenting like a watermelon sitting on a stick of dynamite. The question as to the nature of Jesus had become a seething volcano of dissention that threatened to erupt with an irrevocable destructive force. The entire fourth century was consumed by this controversy.

If God is the infinite and immutable monad of existence how could such a One be contained wholly in the fleshly package we know as Jesus who had a mortal birth, grew, changed and was mortally killed? The doctrine of Arianism stated that if God is immutable then the Son who is mutable (shown in the scriptures as subject to growth and change) cannot be God.

"The incarnate Lord who was born, wept, suffered, and died could not be one with the transcendent first cause of creation who is beyond all suffering." - Encyclopedia Britannica, re: Arius.

This point of view was made popular by the Alexandrian presbyter Arius and it arose out of his intent to establish the unity and simplicity of the eternal God. The antagonists of this view at the other extreme were the monophysites who stated that Jesus was absolutely one and the same as the eternal God. In between was the Nestorian doctrine which stated that Jesus had two natures which were, in effect, cohabitating as the appearance of Jesus on earth. In truth, such discussion is futile as the true nature of Jesus, or any other incarnation of God, is beyond the mind.

JOHN 14:6

Jesus is one of the ways but he is not the only way. Did Jesus really mean that only through him we can enter the kingdom of God? John 14:6 is the most often quoted scripture to be offered as proof that Jesus is the only way. This statement appears in John but not in the other three gospels.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6, KJV [bold by author]

In the last word of this scripture we must understand who it is that is the "me." No man comes to the father except by me. Because we see through the eye of ignorance we imagine Jesus to be like us. He appeared to be a physical person like us but there was a significant difference. In Jesus there was no individual. There was no ego. There was no "I" and "mine." He was in the state of "no mind" as described at the beginning of this chapter by Ammachi. There was only God and one who is one with God we call a Christ. When we speak of God universally we say the "father" and when we speak of God appearing in a human form we say it is "Christ." When most of us think of Jesus, we see and know only the flesh and imagine him to have an ego or a set of identities, attachments and desires like we do. We are incapable, in our present state of dualistic thinking, to comprehend the nature of Jesus.

Jesus was the Christ but the Christ is much more than what we see as Jesus. The body of Jesus had a beginning in the womb of Mary but the Christ exists eternally - long before the body of Jesus came into being. The Christ is never born and therefore never dies. There is only one Christ in all eternity. Our confusion over the nature of Jesus stems from our inability to see the body as nothing more than a garment. Jesus knew he was the Christ and not the perishable body. We, on the other hand, see bodies only and therefore we are not capable of understanding who Jesus is. Jesus clarified the distinction between the Christ and what we perceive to be the man Jesus.

A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. Luke 18:18-19, NIV

Available in a 80 page 6"x 9" paperback February 1, 2004 for $13.95 + Shipping.