Commentary on the Aquarian Gospel–2–by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
Revelations in the Temple
Forty days after the birth of Jesus, Mary took Him to the Temple to be consecrated, for the Law said: “Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.” That is, if the firstborn child was male, he would be consecrated to God and considered of the priestly class (Levite) and allowed to teach in the synagogue. There in the Temple the prophet Simeon and the prophetess Anna spoke of the spiritual destiny of the Child.
The sword
Simeon proclaimed Him to be the Messiah “and then he took the infant in his arms and said, Behold, this child will bring a sword upon my people, Israel, and all the world; but he will break the sword and then the nations will learn war no more.” This is a prophecy of the two comings of the Lord Jesus. In His first coming He surely brought a sword. For those who believed in Him and followed His Way, he brought the sword of victory over all evil, the power to cut away all the bonds of ignorance that held them captive. To those that rejected (not just passively ignored and disbelieved) Him He brought the sword of cutting off for that and many lifetimes. He brought a sword of separation between the wise and the foolish, the just and the unjust, the faithful and the unfaithful, the believing and the unbelieving. For all nations He brought the sword of bewilderment to the eyes of the willfully ignorant and wayward and the sword of confusion to the dull of heart who could not comprehend His gospel. Christianity itself because a sword of destruction in the hands of the unfit and prideful to work their lust for power and conquest and riches. That which should have been a blessing became a curse unto the earth. All this came from His first coming as Son of Joseph. But in His return as Son of David He Himself will break all such swords and bestow peace upon nations as well as individuals so they “will learn war no more.”
The cross
Speaking further of Jesus, Simeon declared: “The master’s cross I see upon the forehead of this child, and he will conquer by this sign.”
It is thought that the cross is a Christian symbol, but it is more than that, being an ancient holy sign both to the Jews and to the Egyptians, the Jews calling it Tau (Mark), and the Egyptians calling it Ankh (Life). The Tau or Ankh is a T surmounted by a circle or an ellipse (oval) representing the mastery of materiality by the spirit–matter being represented by the T and spirit by the circle. Hence it is a symbol of eternal life–of the triumph of spirit life over material death. It is therefore a symbol of resurrection from death to life, not a symbol of sacrifice and death. The original Christians did not use the Roman implement of crucifixion as their symbol as that would be a declaration of the power of death over life. Rather, they used the crux ansata, the Cross of Life, the Tau/Ankh. Both Jews and Egyptians looked upon the Ankh as having the power to convey life. So it was also considered a symbol of Christ and of Jesus Who conquered death through Christhood. This cross was the mark of Christhood. The original Christians (Christines) used the Cross of Life, wearing it and drawing it upon the walls of their homes.
The Cross of Life is also a symbol of the Trinity. The circle is the Father, the horizontal bar is the Son, and the base is the Holy Spirit Mother. It also symbolizes the human being: the circle is the superconscious mind, the horizontal bar the conscious mind, and the base the subconscious mind. The circle is also considered to be the rising sun resting upon the horizon of the earth, a symbol of the dawning of spiritual-consciousness.
The Egyptians particularly looked upon the Ankh as having innate energizing power either by touch or by sight. This immediately reminds us of the cross which Moses made in the wilderness, the sight of which cured those bitten by poisonous snakes. In later times the gods were shown holding the Ankh by the circle to indicate that they were masters of spiritual consciousness–that this was what made them gods.
In the book of Ezekiel God speaks to an angel and says to him: “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark (tau) upon the foreheads of the men” that were righteous. For a great destruction was coming upon the people, but it would “come not near any man upon whom is the mark (tau) .”
When Anna the prophetess “saw the infant Jesus she exclaimed, Behold Immanuel! Behold the signet cross of the Messiah on his brow!” There must have been some esoteric lore among the Essenes, known to Simeon and Anna, which said that a Tau would be seen clairvoyantly upon the foreheads of the masters and of the Master of masters, the Messiah.
Worship
Having seen the Cross of Life upon the brow of the infant Jesus, “the woman knelt to worship him, as God with us, Immanuel; but one, a master, clothed in white, appeared and said, Good woman, stay; take heed to what you do; you may not worship man; this is idolatry. This child is man, the son of man, and worthy of all praise. You shall adore and worship God; him only shall you serve. The woman rose and bowed her head in thankfulness and worshipped God.”
This is a most valuable lesson, since religious people continually break the command to have no other gods but God. They substitute just about anything for God, some things being more ridiculous or harmful than others. Perhaps the last “idol” to be erected is that of enlightened beings that are Christs and Saviors–yet only by virtue of their total union with God. True, they are part of God, waves of the Infinite Sea, yet they are not God, and without God they would be less than nothing–they would not even exist.
When Paul and Barnabas were at Lystra the people thought they were the gods Jupiter and Mercury because of their miracles and their sacred demeanor. The priest of Jupiter even tried to offer sacrifice to them. But they called out to the people and said: “Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God” On one hand this shows the laudable eagerness of the people to have contact with God, but on the other it shows their ignorance of the nature of God.
The proofs commonly set forth by exoteric Christianity as to the divinity of Jesus are really the proofs of His being a perfect Son of God, a Christ. Compared to ordinary men–and angels–Jesus certainly is a god. But He is not THE God, and so the master appeared and stopped Anna in her attempt to worship the Child. It is no honoring of Jesus to call Him what He is not and to use Him as an excuse to usurp the rightful place of God Who alone is worthy of worship. Rather, it is an attempt to turn Jesus in the “man of sin” who “as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” It is an insulting attempt to turn Jesus from Christ into Antichrist however sentimentally and “reverently” it may be done.
During his vision recorded in Revelation, Jesus guided Saint John who tells us that toward its end: “I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” To accept the testimony of Jesus is to worship God alone.
When Jesus was in Bethany He had this to say about who and what He was and was not:
“Men call me Christ, and God has recognized the name; but Christ is not a man. The Christ is universal love, and Love is king. This Jesus is but man who has been fitted by temptations overcome, by trials multiform, to be the temple through which Christ can manifest to men. Then hear, you men of Israel, hear! Look not upon the flesh; it is not king. Look to the Christ within, who shall be formed in every one of you, as he is formed in me.” Nothing further need be said; but much must be done.
More Commentary on the Aquarian Gospel: |
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• The Seven Pillars of Aquarian Christianity
• The Silence and the Word
1. Introducing the Aquarian Gospel
2. Revelations in the Temple
3. Revelations in Egypt
4. The Two Selfs
5. Deliverance From Gods and Demons
6. About God the Tao
7. The Wisdom of Buddha
8. God and Prayer
9. The Mission of Jesus and John the Baptist
10. Sin and the Forgiveness of Sin
11. The Universal Law of Man’s Free Will and the Divine Will For Man
12. Understanding Death
13. The True Teacher
14. Vision of the Child Jesus
15. The Law Behind All Laws
16. Opening To The Truth
17. The Twelve-Step Ladder To Perfection
18. What is Truth?
19. What Is Man?
20. What is Power?
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21. Understanding
22. Wisdom
23. Faith
24. Healing and Healers
25. The Destiny of All Men
26. God and Man
27. The Voice in the Heart
28. Seeing the Unseeable
29. To God Through Man
30. Who Is Jesus?
31. The Real Versus The Apparent
32. The Brotherhood of Life
33. God…and Man
34. Relating To God
35. The Worthy Host
36. Come to the Light
37. The Kingdom Revealed
38. The King Revealed
39. Perspective On Death
40. Fire and Sword
41. Evolution: The Path of Glory
42. The Real Heaven
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Text of The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ
by Levi H. Dowling
• Sections I and II –Birth and Early Life of Mary, Mother of Jesus, and Birth and Infancy of the Harbinger, and of Jesus
• Section III–Education of Mary and Elizabeth
• Sections IV and V–Childhood and Early Education of John the Harbinger, and Childhood and Early Education of Jesus
• Section VI–Life and Works of Jesus in India
• Sections VII through X–Life and Works of Jesus in Western India, Tibet, Persia, Assyria, and Greece
• Section XI–Life and Works of Jesus in Egypt
• Sections XII and XIII–The Council of the Seven Sages; The Ministry of John the Harbinger
• Sections XIV and XV–The Christine Ministry of Jesus–The First Annual Epoch
• Section XVI–The Christine Ministry of Jesus–The Second Annual Epoch
• Section XVII–The Christine Ministry of Jesus–The Third Annual Epoch
• Sections XVIII and XIX–The Betrayal, Arrest, Trial, and Execution of Jesus
• Sections XX through XXII–The Resurrection and Appearances of Jesus–Establishment of the Christine Church
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1) Luke 2:23
[Go back]
2) Aquarian Gospel 4:6 [Go back]
3) Aquarian Gospel 4:7 [Go back]
4) “And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” (Numbers 21:8,9) [Go back]
5) Ezekiel 9:4 [Go back]
6) Ezekiel 9:6 [Go back]
7) Aquarian Gospel 4:9 [Go back]
8) Aquarian Gospel 4:10-13 [Go back]
9) Exodus 20:3 [Go back]
10) See Acts 14:11-18. [Go back]
11) Acts 14:15 [Go back]
12) II Thessalonians 2:3,4 [Go back]
13) Revelation 19:10 [Go back]
14) Aquarian Gospel 68:11-13 [Go back]
