Commentary on the Aquarian Gospel–by Swami Nirmalananda Giri

The Seven Pillars of Aquarian Christianity

According to the Aquarian Gospel, when Jesus had completed His time in Egypt and had been declared perfect, the Christ, He went to Alexandria, to the home of the renowned Jewish philosopher Philo. There He found illumined representatives of the spiritual traditions of China, India, Persia, Assyria, Greece, and Egypt. In all, seven sages had assembled, with Jesus as the eighth, the Master of the New (Piscean) Age. After speaking together, they spent seven days in silent meditation. On the eighth day each of the seven enunciated a spiritual principle, the principles which were to be the basis of the teachings of Jesus. Regarding them, Jesus said: “The history of life is well condensed in these immortal postulates. These are the seven hills on which the holy city shall be built. These are the seven sure foundation stones on which the Universal Church shall stand.” (Aquarian Gospel 60:2,3) After explaining that since the consciousness of the (Piscean) Age was not developed enough for the Universal Church to be made manifest, He would create a forerunner, a “model” Church, which would in time be replaced by the Universal Church at the dawning of the Aquarian Age. After speaking of the ways in which the Church would be distorted by ignorant men, He concluded: “The Model Church will live. Though carnal man will prostitute its sacred laws, symbolic rites and forms, for selfish ends, and make it but an outward show, the few will find through it the kingdom of the soul. And when the better age shall come the Universal Church will stand upon the seven postulates, and will be built according to the pattern given.…And in the name of God, our Father-God, the kingdom of the soul shall be established on the seven hills.” (Aquarian Gospel 60:14-15,17) A careful study of these seven foundation stones of the Universal Church is essential for those who wish to pass over the bridge of “model” Christianity into the kingdom of the soul that is the Universal Church of the spirit.

These Seven Pillars, found in the fifty-eighth chapter of the Aquarian Gospel, are:

1) All things are thought; all life is thought activity. The multitude of beings are but phases of the one great thought made manifest. Lo, God is Thought, and Thought is God.

“Thought” has two aspects: consciousness and the movement of conscious will that manifests as the power of Logos (Word)–first the internal concept and then the exteriorizing ideation, and finally the external manifestation which may take the form of actual thought, word, or deed.

“All things are consciousness; all life is the activity of consciousness.”

Looking at this principle from the first aspect we can express it this way: “All things are consciousness; all life is the activity of consciousness. The multitude of beings are but phases of the one great consciousness made manifest. Lo, God is Consciousness, and Consciousness is God.” There can be no more complete or exact statement of Non-dual Theism. We can even paraphrase and get this: “All things are God; all life is the activity of God. The multitude of beings are but phases of the one great God made manifest. Lo, God is All, and All is God.”

Considering the principle from the second aspect we can express it this way: “All things are the thoughts of God; all life is the activity of the thoughts of God. The multitude of beings are but phases of the one great thought-power of God made manifest. Lo, God is His Thought, and His Thought is God.”

If these formulations are read slowly, carefully, and with pause for penetrative thought, no commentary is needed.

2) Eternal Thought is one; in essence it is two–Intelligence and Force; and when they breathe a child is born; this child is Love. And thus the Triune God stands forth, whom men call Father-Mother-Child.

The Eternal God is absolutely One. Yet, in His very essence He is dual, comprised of Awareness and Power, the Father-God and the Mother-God. Yet there appears between them a third Divine Aspect that draws them together and produces the Divine Projection that is Creation. This is the Child, the Divine Son, the Christ. This is symbolized by pictures of the Holy Family in which the child Jesus walks between Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary. Though usually thought of as being no more than a historical depiction, this is really a mirroring of the Trinity within the depths of the Godhead. This is the Holy Trinity: 1) Transcendent Consciousness, 2) Immanent (Indwelling) Consciousness, and 3) Divine Energy. These are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (which in the Aquarian Gospel is always called Holy Breath since it is a breathing or moving forth of Divine Intelligence in the form of Creative Light).

The Child/Son is Love because He it is whose function is the recalling of the straying spirits that have emerged from the bosom of the Father and submerged themselves into the bosom of the Mother, losing themselves in a false consciousness of separation and materiality. For Love is not an emotion but a magnetic Force that reunites the finite with the Infinite, the many with the One. This is the Mediatorship of the Son with the Father, the Love that is God. For the Christ does not love, He is Love. When He draw us upward and into the Bosom of the Father, He is not “loving” us, He is being Love extended to us from the Father. This is a profound mystery, as is the Trinity Itself, and although the intellect can never grasp it, it can–and must–be experienced by each one of us.

This Triune God is one; but like the one of light, in essence he is seven. And when the Triune God breathes forth, lo, seven Spirits stand before his face; these are creative attributes.

Light appears to be a single white “color,” but essentially it is the entire spectrum of color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. The white is Transcendent Unity, the spectrum is Immanent Diversity. For before God is Love, He is Light.

When creation is to emanate from the Divine as an extension, not as a separate entity or as a creation ex nihil (from nothing), the emanation takes place in various stages. First there is the One that is Two; then there is the Three; then there is the Seven. (I keep saying “is” because the Unity is never lost.) These seven are the great Creator Spirits who bring about the manifestation of all things. They are the Seven Archons–primal beings that are also Aeons, levels of manifestation. They, too, are one and many simultaneously. They are mirrored more closely to us as the Seven Archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Anael, Samuel, Zacchariel, and Cassiel. Their energies are focused on human beings both directly and through agency of the seven planets: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. They are spoken of in the Bible as “the seven Spirits before the Throne.”

“Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne.” (Revelation 1:4)

“These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God.” (Revelation 3:1)

“There were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” (Revelation 4:5)

“In the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” (Revelation 5:6)

Men call them lesser gods, and in their image they made man.

These Seven Spirits are the Elohim who said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26) Consequently we are sevenfold in various ways, the best-known being our possession of the seven psychic centers known in the Yoga System as chakras. Each of these corresponds to a state of consciousness that is native to one of the seven “layers” or “bodies” in which our spirit is encased.

3) Man was a thought of God, formed in the image of the Septonate, clothed in the substances of soul.

Again, we must understand that “thought” does not mean a simple abstract mental idea, as with us, but that with God truly “thoughts are things” in the sense that each of us is a drop of consciousness in the infinite ocean of Divine Consciousness, a spark or ray of the Divine Light. In other words, divinity is our essential nature, unity is our nature. But we have been “formed in the image of the Septonate, clothed in the substances of soul.” That is, our consciousness has been modified into a sevenfold mode and enclosed in the envelope of the soul, the soul being a complex of energies ranging from most subtle to the nearly material life-force known to the yogis as prana. (It is necessary to make a distinction between soul and spirit, as Saint Paul does. Hebrews 4:12) Even though we presently function in this sevenfold mode of awareness and find ourselves confined to the soul and body, we must not identify with them, for is that root of all our troubles, but know that we are the spirit. Meditation is the only process for ending that mistaken identity.

And his desires were strong; he sought to manifest on every plane of life, and for himself he made a body of the ethers of the earthly forms, and so descended to the plane of earth.

Where did those desires come from? How could they arise in a disembodied being that had no prior experience of relative existence, no experience of a separate object that could be desired? Our publication Ladder of Light explains it this way:

“All conscious beings have existed eternally within the being of God–the technical term being ‘Bosom of God’–living within the heart of God, one with Him, distinct though not separate. Having their essential being rooted in the infinity of God, the individual consciousnesses have within them a natural impulse to transcend their finitude and attain the boundlessness of their Origin. This, of course, is impossible, since the essential, eternal nature of a being cannot be altered. Being rooted in God, and therefore in a sense a part of God, all beings are as immutable as God–the only infinite Being. Yet the urge for transcendence is part of their essential nature.

“The solution to this dilemma is actually quite simple: the individual consciousnesses cannot alter their natural state of finitude but they can come to share and participate in the infinite Consciousness of God. That is, they cannot become infinite themselves, but they can experience the infinity of another–their divine Father-Source. This is symbolized in the Scriptures by the expressions regarding their coming to sit in the throne of the Father or becoming heirs of His kingdom. Just as a psychically sensitive person can experience the thoughts and feelings of another by tuning in to him, yet in no way becoming that other person, so the individual consciousness can come to experience the Consciousness of God while remaining in its limited native state.

“It is necessary, however, for the individual spirit to develop the capacity for such a state of awareness. And this is done by learning to fully experience the state of existence of a being completely different from oneself–to enter into an alien mode of being altogether, while retaining the awareness of one’s true identity. In other words, the individual spirit must learn to put on a ‘costume’ of a consciousness utterly different from its own and become able not just to fully experience that other mode of consciousness, but also to develop the ability to function as that other kind of being.

“To enable the spirits to enter into this process, God breathes forth–emanates–His own Self as the Son and the Holy Spirit and manifests all the realms of relative existence, from the most subtle worlds of the Cherubim and Seraphim to the most objective worlds of atomic matter. The spirits then enter into relative existence by taking on ‘bodies’ of varying grades and patterns of vibratory energies and descend into this material world to begin working their way back up the ladder of ever-evolving forms, beginning with forms whose scope of consciousness is lesser than theirs and working their way upward, entering into higher and higher levels of awareness until they can surpass their original breadth of consciousness and begin to partake of a life of awareness much beyond their own.

“Upward and upward they evolve until their capacity for awareness is developed to such a perfect state that they can actually experience the Being of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Then, after having perfected themselves in even that empyrean state, they can actually reenter the Bosom of the Father in full participation of His all-embracing consciousness, thenceforth to live in His infinity, His ultimate gift of love to them, thus experiencing the meaning of His ancient declaration: ‘I am…thy exceeding great reward.’” (Genesis 15:1)

“As Shakespeare wrote, ‘all the world’s a stage’ with the individual spirits wearing their costumes and playing their parts. Just as actors begin with small parts and progress to bigger roles by demonstrating their skill in those smaller parts, so also do the spirits advance to higher and more complex forms of existence and consciousness through taking on and perfecting their identity and functions within the elementary forms of creation, returning at last home to God.” This is the ideal, but:

In this descent he lost his birthright; lost his harmony with God, and made discordant all the notes of life.

Have you ever been in a life-threatening situation? For many people at such a time panic takes over and all good sense is forgotten, resulting in pointless and even destructive behavior. Those who have almost drowned really know how this is. Many people who are drowning drown those who try to save them because they are utterly irrational from desperation and fear. Being completely overwhelmed by the external situation, a person totally forgets all reason and reacts in a foolish way. That is the crux of the whole thing: forgetfulness.

“We know that what we are seeing is not real, yet we react as though it is.”

Perhaps more close to home is our reaction to motion pictures. We watch and feel fear, happiness, humor, sorrow, anxiety, pride, anger, and disappointment–all just in response to light patterns on a screen! We know that what we are seeing is not real, yet we react as though it is. We do not seem able to help ourselves. It is my experience that no matter how many times I see a dramatic motion picture and know the outcome I still feel tension or anxiety each time. This is absurd. Knowing that all will be well, I feel tense and anxious about whether it will come out well. This is akin to mental illness–and maybe not just akin!

The senses draw us into an externalized consciousness that makes us completely forget reality and come to believe thoroughly in unreality. Identification with the body and its senses, including the mind, turns us inside-out, makes us truly negative, seeing black as white and white as black. Destructive ignorance is the result.

The birthright we lose is self-awareness and self-knowledge; and once those are lost what can remain? We become like a piece of driftwood on the heaving swells of the sea, dwarfed, dominated, and tossed about aimlessly. If this is not hell, what is?

Forgetting ourselves we naturally forget God, the root of our existence, the archetype of our being. No longer in sync with God we become engulfed in disharmony. Being in conflict with ourselves we are in conflict with God, and ourselves become “Satan.” Being out of harmony with God, it is inevitable that every note of our life becomes discordant, a clashing symphony of derangement and chaos. We become deranged on all levels of our being. With our ability to accept unreality as reality, we order our insanity and call it sane and “normal.” Even worse, we become fearful or angered at any contradiction or displacement of our delusion, feeling threatened by that which would restore us to inner harmony. We mistake numbness for peace and unawareness for security. Yet the horrible truth is:

Inharmony and evil are the same; so evil is the handiwork of man.

Being crazy, we raise all kinds of delusory structures–philosophical, religious, psychological, and social–to attribute evil to any other source but ourselves. We even try to make God the source of evil, or His shadow-image “the Devil.” And until we get enough sanity to acknowledge that we are the source, that it is our clinging to delusion which produces all our troubles (which we also try to not admit to), there is no hope of our emerging from this darkness into the light of truth.

When in Persepolis on His way back to Israel to begin His ministry there, Jesus spoke of this situation in this way: “Whatever God, the One, has made is good, and like the great first Cause, the seven Spirits all are good, and everything that comes from their creative hands is good. Now, all created things have colors, tones and forms their own; but certain tones, though good and pure themselves, when mixed, produce inharmonies, discordant tones. And certain things, though good and pure, when mixed, produce discordant things, yea, poisonous things, that men call evil things. So evil is the inharmonious blending of the colors, tones, or forms of good. Now, man is not all-wise, and yet has will his own. He has the power, and he uses it, to mix God’s good things in a multitude of ways, and every day he makes discordant sounds, and evil things. And every tone and form, be it of good, or ill, becomes a living thing, a demon, sprite, or spirit of a good or vicious kind. Man makes his evil thus; and then becomes afraid of him and flees; his devil is emboldened, follows him away and casts him into torturing fires. The devil and the burning fires are both the works of man, and none can put the fires out and dissipate the evil one, but man who made them both.” (Aquarian Gospel 39:11-18)

However great the mess we find ourselves in, embodiment is presently necessary for us, and is a positive thing when like the Prodigal Son we “come to ourselves” and begin to live in the eternal perspective. So the next principle presents a happier (and inevitable) picture.

4) Seeds do not germinate in light; they do not grow until they find the soil, and hide themselves away from light. Man was evolved a seed of everlasting life; but in the ethers of the Triune God the light was far too great for seeds to grow; and so man sought the soil of carnal life, and in the darksomeness of earth he found a place where he could germinate and grow. The seed has taken root and grown full well. The tree of human life is rising from the soil of earthy things, and, under natural law, is reaching up to perfect form.

Nothing can be more satanic than a philosophy or theology that convinces human beings that they are innately, naturally evil, and then condemns them for it. What else could they do, if it is their nature? What a malicious deception most “Christianity” is on this point. It is calculated to utterly confuse and torment. “Damned if you do and damned if you don’t” is really the condition of those who accept such a lie. But the truth is otherwise: Christhood is our nature; and since it is our nature it is the path of harmony, peace, and assurance, because it is also inevitable. Nature itself is on our side in our spiritual development.

Equally assuring is the fact that our spiritual development occurs under Natural Law. This means that our evolution is precise and orderly, not skipping a single step (no, there is no “short path”), and moving forward according to Law, not the whim of a Cosmic Tyrant who must be placated or “pleased” lest we be kicked back like a ball because of his wrath at a misstep or omission. We need not ask God for help–He has set it up for us from eternity and has spread out the vast series of worlds, causal, astral, and physical, as an “evolution machine.”

“Our spiritual evolution can be enhanced and quickened by spiritual methodology.”

It follows, then, that our spiritual evolution can be enhanced and quickened by spiritual methodology, by practices based on the nature of the human complex and its capacity for openness to divine influence as well as its capacity for self-unfoldment. According to the Aquarian Gospel Jesus gave two method-tools for spiritual liberation: Silence and Word. (See the essay The Silence and The Word.) Silence is meditation which centers us in the consciousness of Spirit, and The Word is the invocation of the Divine Life within ourselves. These Keys to the Kingdom, when applied in a context of morality and spiritual orientation of thought, word, and deed, are infallible keys to the kingdom of Divine Consciousness.

There are no supernatural acts of God to lift a man from carnal life to spirit blessedness; he grows as grows the plant, and in due time is perfected.

These words do not mean that God is not with each one of us, blessing and guiding (if we will be open to His blessing and guiding); in fact, the division of life into “natural” and “supernatural” is erroneous–all is Divine. However, it is true that Divinity is orderly and operates strictly by spiritual law. Yet, since Divinity exists on many planes, (“In my Father’s house are many mansions.” John 14:2). there are many levels of laws, some superseding or cancelling out those on lesser planes. This is evident even in the physical world. The law of gravity pulls things to earth, yet birds fly by the application of laws that circumvent gravity, at least for a while. By “natural law” an airplane should not fly because of its tremendous weight; but since the laws of aerodynamics have been discovered nearly a million people fly every year in the United States alone. Aviation is neither an abrogation of natural law nor supernatural intervention–it is an operation of previously unknown laws.

All of the foregoing is to explain that there are indeed spiritual mechanisms that facilitate our evolution, but they are in no way the whimsical intervention of God on behalf of any “favorite sons.” So we should do our utmost to understand the ways and means of spiritual law and work accordingly rather than asking God to help us or do things for us. He is with us every moment, but the doing must be ours; otherwise there would be no progress on our part. Rather than “storming heaven” with prayers and praises we need to get busy and “work out our own salvation.” (“Work out your own salvation” Philippians 2:12)

There is a superstitious supernaturalism that has no place in spiritual life. Saint Peter gives the exact perspective when he outlines the following work-plan for self evolution: “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature….And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (II Peter 1:1-8) We can accelerate our evolution by conforming to the principles of inner life, but we cannot skip over even a single step. Otherwise we would not be able to “stand perfect and complete” (Colossians 4:12) in our development.

The quality of soul that makes it possible for man to rise to spirit life is purity.

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8 ) The literal translation of these words are: “Blessed are those who are clear at the center, for they shall see God.” Those whose consciousness has been cleared of all obstructions of ignorance and passion are admitted to the vision of God which is union with God. Purity of thought, word, and deed are essential; and purity is not some kind of warmy, snuggy feeling and Pinochio-type aspiration such as “I wish I was a real Christ.” To purify ourselves we have to get our physical, mental, and spiritual hands “calloused” by deliberate, willful application of the highest moral and ethical principles.

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” (I John 3:2,3)

5) The soul is drawn to perfect light by four white steeds, and these are Will, and Faith, and Helpfulness and Love. That which one wills to do, he has the power to do. A knowledge of that power is faith; and when faith moves, the soul begins its flight. A selfish faith leads not to light. There is no lonely pilgrim on the way to light. Men only gain the heights by helping others gain the heights. The steed that leads the way to spirit life is Love; is pure unselfish Love.

The ascension to Divine Light occurs through the agencies of “Will, and Faith, and Helpfulness and Love.”

Will was mentioned at the end of the previous section. Will is important because it is the fundamental power of the human being. Each person has five levels or “bodies” through which he functions–physical, emotional, sensory, intellectual, and will bodies, called in Sanskrit the annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, jnanamaya, and anandamaya koshas. They correspond to the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether. Will arises from the etheric level of our being, which is the nearest to our pure consciousness. Exercise of the will is the most “spiritual” activity of which we are capable, and self-discipline is the means for development of will. Many people think they have will-power when they are really driven by emotions and subconscious impulses alone. They think that they choose, when they are actually being impelled by blind and instinctual urges. They do not know the difference between desiring (wanting) and willing. A great deal of outright brutality is passed off as will-power, but it is not.

“Development of will is the prime basis of spiritual growth.”

When this Principle speaks of “will” it is referring to intelligent will proceeding from the inmost light of the spirit. The will is both developed and freed by correct spiritual practice, especially meditation. Meditation is the most potent means for achieving a perfectly illumined will. Will is mentioned first in the list of “steeds” to underline the fact that spiritual ascension is exclusively an individual, personal activity. No one can do it for us; we do it solely on our own. So development of will is the prime basis of spiritual growth. Here, too, “feelings” have no meaning; gnosis and will are inseparable. The whole matter is summed up in the statement: “That which one wills to do, he has the power to do.” The possession of perfectly-developed will is an infallible guarantee of spiritual success.

Faith is not belief; it is a conviction that arises from experience. Actually, faith is based on experiential knowledge. Some of that knowledge comes from previous lives, so we may think that our faith is based on a feeling or an intuition, but it is not; it is a matter of knowing. Consequently, truly viable faith can be expressed intelligently, can be explained. Those who simply cite a scripture or other authority do not have faith. They have ideas and principles, but not faith. Usually what they really have is ignorance and superstition that gives birth to bigotry. (“Intolerance is ignorance matured” Aquarian Gospel 77:13) As with Will, Faith is developed through meditation, “and when faith moves, the soul begins its flight.”

Helpfulness is the fulfillment of the counsel to love our neighbor as our self. Two elements are involved in Helpfulness: mercy/compassion and the creation of positive karma, for whatever we sow we shall reap. If we sow kindness and assistance toward others we shall reap the same for ourselves. Another element is the understanding of our fundamental unity with all beings–not just with God. This is expressed by Saint Paul when he says: “Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?” (II Corinthians 11:29) “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” (Romans 12:15) It is not enough to care; we must act; for: “A selfish faith leads not to light. There is no lonely pilgrim on the way to light. Men only gain the heights by helping others gain the heights.” Those who help others help themselves.

Love is not an emotion, it is a spiritual vision that begins to dawn as the individual enters the last stage of his evolution. Intense liking and strong affection are good, but they are not love, for love not only overreaches all feelings or instinctual response (which are based on ego), but it transmutes them into love. Love is the force that draws us into union–union with God and with all others, for all beings live rooted in God. As Swami Sivananda said: “Love begins with two and ends with One.” Helpfulness leads to love, and is the practical expression of love, for love is actual not theoretical. Saint John the Beloved tells us: “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.…God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (I John 4:8,16) In sum: “The steed that leads the way to spirit life is Love; is pure unselfish Love.”

6) The universal Love is child of Wisdom and of Will divine, and God has sent if forth to earth in flesh that man may know. The universal Love of which the sages speak is Christ. The greatest mystery of all times lies in the way that Christ lives in the heart. Christ cannot live in clammy dens of carnal things. The seven battles must be fought, the seven victories won before the carnal things, like fear, and self, emotions and desire, are put away. When this is done the Christ will take possession of the soul; the work is done, and man and God are one.

We say that God is Love, but in what way? This principle makes it clear. Love is not a virtue or even an abstract aspect of divinity; rather, Love is Christ the Son of God Who emanates from the Father-God and Mother-God. God is Love; Love is God–the Cosmic Christ.

The Father-God is Wisdom–infinite Consciousness; the Mother God is creative Will–infinite Power. Through their eternal union Universal Love, Christ the Son, emanates eternally. Those who ascend to Divine Consciousness first unite themselves with Christ Consciousness and thereby become Christs. The Love that is Christ then often sends them back to earth as Christs, as Sons of God, to show others the way to their destined Christhood. (“I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world” John 16:27, 28) God sends Christ to earth in the embodied consciousness of those Christed spirits who manifest in the world as beings that are simultaneously God and Man. Such a one was Jesus of Nazareth; but we must not confuse Jesus with the Infinite Christ–the common mistake of contemporary Christianity. Jesus is one with Christ, is a Christ; but He is not the Christ. Also the incarnation of various Christs is mentioned in the first sentence of this principle, its subject is the Eternal Christ, particularly His transformation of human beings into Christs. This is the real Christine Gospel whose announcing was the mission of Jesus the Christ as it has been of all sages throughout all ages.

The greatest mystery of all times lies in the way that Christ lives in the heart.

Certainly the dwelling of Christ in our heart is the greatest mystery of all times–of all phases of relative existence. Because we are one with God and Christ is God, He has dwelt in us–and we in Him–forever. But here the principle is speaking of that full and living advent of Christ throughout the total being of those who become Christed. How is it possible that the Infinite enters into the finite, making it infinite as well? He that is God by nature transforms the nature of the individual spirit and assumes it into Infinite Being without in any way changing its eternal status as finite. It becomes both finite and infinite, both relative and absolute. How this contradiction can come about is “the greatest mystery of all times.” Regarding this mystery revealed in Christ Jesus, Saint Paul wrote: “Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” (I Timothy 3:16) The same is also to be our experience. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” (I John 2:6) Since this is our destiny, what is hindering its accomplishment?

Christ cannot live in clammy dens of carnal things.

“Carnal” comes from sarkikos, “fleshly.” Sarkikos implies not only physical embodiment but a consciousness confined to the physical–turned toward temporality and away from eternity. Wherefore Saint Paul declares: “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Romans 8:7)

“Carnal things” are all things that are seen purely in their material nature (for when illumined the person sees those very things as spiritual), and are those thoughts, words, and deeds that affirm materiality and deny or conceal the spirit. They truly are “clammy dens” for they are like caves in the depths of the earth, cold and sterile and dark. Those who dwell therein hide from the Light that is Life, choosing the darkness that is death. (“Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved” John 3:19, 20) Into such wilful darkness the Light of Christ never shines.

The seven battles must be fought, the seven victories won…

“Seven indicates the perfection of evolution, the attainment of perfected (“clean”) consciousness.”

The number Seven appears in the Bible more than four hundred times. Seven is a sacred number in other religions as well, especially in Hinduism, which includes Yoga, the science of consciousness transformation. The seeming historical books of the Bible, including the Gospels, are profoundly symbolic. They are based on actual events, but their presentation is intended to teach the principles of esoteric truth through symbols. Seven is the number of spiritual perfection. Isaiah spoke of it in these words: “The light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days.” (Isaiah 30:26) For that reason in the account of Noah’s ark we find that he was to take seven of each kind of “clean” animal on the ark, but only two of the “not clean” animals. (“Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth” Genesis 7:2, 3) The animals represent the traits of our mind; the “clean” are those that tend toward and facilitate spiritual realization, and the “not clean” are those that either do not assist in our realization but actually work counter to it. In this instance Seven indicates the perfection of evolution, the attainment of perfected (“clean”) consciousness. On the other hand, Two represents the deluded (“unclean”) consciousness of duality.

The Ladder of Divine Ascent has seven rungs–the seven levels of relative consciousness ranging from the lowest to the highest. The “conquering” and consequent transcendence of each level (for even the highest must be transcended to attain Ultimate Consciousness) is most certainly a battle. “Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.” (Psalms 144:1. “He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms”–Psalms 18:34) “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Romans 8:37) “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” (I Corinthians 15:53,54)

“To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:7) “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna.” (Revelation 2:17) “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God.” (Revelation 3:12 )

“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne.” (Revelation 3:21 )

“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” (Revelation 21:7)

For a symbolic outline of the seven battle-victories see the accounts given in the book of Revelation regarding the seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven vials. These are three different ways of depicting those battle-victories. See also the seven tests passed by Jesus in Egypt as recorded in chapters forty-eight to fifty-five in the Aquarian Gospel.

…before the carnal things, like fear, and self, emotions and desire, are put away.

This list is extremely interesting, especially since they are intangibles, only psychological, yet they are called carnal–fleshly. How is this? Because they are produced as the fruits of physical, i.e. material, involvement and identity. So physicality (not simple physical embodiment) is their root. Each one needs examining.

Fear. “Twice blessed are the fearless,…thrice blessed are the fearless….” (Aquarian Gospel 75:5,6) Fear covers everything from outright fear to anxiety, worry, hesitation, and self-doubt. It comes from a conviction of weakness and incapability that arises from our not realizing our true nature and its permanent link with God. In essence, fear is doubt of God–and of our selves. It comes from inexperience and is not a sin or something for us to slap ourselves around over. Because we have been so long separated in our awareness from both the Divine and our own divine nature, we have not only forgotten the truth of our selves, we have even come to disbelieve it. Fear, then, is denial of ourselves and of God.

“And Jesus said, Of what are souls afraid? Fear is the chariot in which man rides to death; and when he finds himself within the chamber of the dead, he learns that he has been deceived; his chariot was a myth, and death a fancy child.” (Aquarian Gospel 52:15,16)

“When man comes to himself and comprehends the fact that he is son of God, and knows that in himself lies all the powers of God, he is a master mind and all the elements will hear his voice and gladly do his will. Two sturdy asses bind the will of man; their names are Fear and Unbelief. When these are caught and turned aside, the will of man will know no bounds; then man has but to speak and it is done.” (Aquarian Gospel 92:11,12)

“My little flock, fear not; it is your Father’s will that you shall rule the kingdom of the soul.” (Aquarian Gospel 112:2)

“Then Jesus said, Fear not, for I will be your boon companion all the way.” (Aquarian Gospel 175:19)

“You are not abandoned in your struggle for the crown of life. Your Father lives, and you shall live. God has a care for every living thing. He numbers stars, and suns, and moons; he numbers angels, men and every thing below; the birds, the flowers, the trees; the very petals of the rose he knows by name, and every one is numbered in his Book of Life; and every hair upon your head, and every drop of blood within your veins, he knows by number and by rhythm. He hears the birdling’s call, the cricket’s chirp, the glow worm’s song; and not a sparrow falls to earth without his knowledge and consent. A sparrow seems a thing of little worth; yea, five of them are worth two farthings in the market place, and yet God cares for every one of them. Will he not care much more for you who bear his image in your soul? Fear not to make confession of the Christ before the sons of men, and God will own you as his sons and daughters in the presence of the host of heaven.” (Aquarian Gospel 109:20-28)

Self. “There are two selfs; the higher and the lower self. The higher self is human spirit clothed with soul, made in the form of God. The lower self, the carnal self, the body of desires, is a reflection of the higher self, distorted by the murky ethers of the flesh. The lower self is an illusion, and will pass away; the higher self is God in man, and will not pass away. The lower self is the embodiment of truth reversed, and so is falsehood manifest. The higher self is justice, mercy, love and right; the lower self is what the higher self is not. The lower self breeds hatred, slander, lewdness, murders, theft, and everything that harms; the higher self is mother of the virtues and the harmonies of life. The lower self is rich in promises, but poor in blessedness and peace; it offers pleasure, joy and satisfying gains; but gives unrest and misery and death. It gives men apples that are lovely to the eye and pleasant to the smell; their cores are full of bitterness and gall. If you would ask me what to study I would say, yourselves; and when you will have studied them, and then would ask me what to study next, I would reply, yourselves. He who knows well his lower self, knows the illusions of the world, knows of the things that pass away; and he who knows his higher self, knows God; knows well the things that cannot pass away. Thrice blessed is the man who has made purity and love his very own; he has been ransomed from the perils of the lower self and is himself his higher self. The only devil from which men must be redeemed is self, the lower self. If man would find his devil he must look within; his name is self. If man would find his savior he must look within; and when the demon self has been dethroned the savior, Love, will be exalted to the throne of power.” (Aquarian Gospel 8:5-16,21,22)

These words of Jesus Himself are sufficient.

Emotions. The shortest verse in the Bible is: “Jesus wept;” (John 11:35) words that show Jesus as a person of deep feeling. Eight times in the Gospels Jesus is spoken of as feeling compassion. (Matthew 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 20:34. Mark 1:41; 6:34; 8:2. Luke 7:13) Saint Paul wrote: “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” And Saint Peter: “Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful.” (I Peter 3:8) Obviously, then, we are not exhorted to be emotionless, unfeeling automatons, “detached” from our fellow human beings.

“Low emotions are really self-oriented... they must have no part in our life.”

In this Principle “emotions” refers to selfish emotions or emotions based on ignorant misperceptions. They are explained in the Aquarian Gospel thusly: “Grief and selfish love, and hopes and fears are but reflexes from the lower self; what we sense are but small waves upon the rolling billows of a life. These all will pass away; they are unreal.” (Aquarian Gospel 54:21-23) Such “emotions are the sprays that rise from human loves, and hopes, and fears,” (Aquarian Gospel 54:25) they are not expressions of the spirit, of the love and compassion of God–which we must feel for all. Mistaken, ego-rooted emotions arise from our forgetfulness of God and compound that forgetfulness. Moreover, they delude us into thinking that we are feeling positive, spiritual emotions, so we never grow beyond them into the emotions we should be feeling. Low emotions are really self-oriented, including such feelings as anger, hatred, resentment, greed, and impatience. They must have no part in our life, for they prevent the right feelings from arising in us.

Desire. Here, too, an egocentric force is being spoken of. Jesus expressed desire that was positive, (“And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15) and so do all virtuous people, what to speak of the holy. If God did not desire our welfare the cosmos would not exist. What this Principle objects to is selfish craving and desire, for “the body of desires extols the selfish self.” (Aquarian Gospel 9:28)

When Jesus was reprimanded by the “good” for associating with “bad” people, His words explained this matter of negative desire: “The sin lies in the wish, in the desire, not in the act. You covet other people’s wealth; you look at charming forms, and deep within your hearts you lust for them. Deceit you practice every day, and wish for gold, for honor and for fame, just for your selfish selves. The man who covets is a thief, and she who lusts is courtesan. You who are none of these speak out.” (Aquarian Gospel 27:16-19)

“The letter of the law deals with the acts of man; the spirit of the law takes note of his desires.” (Aquarian Gospel 95:43)

“The letter of the law commands; you shall not kill; and he who kills must stand before the judgement seat. A person may desire to kill, yet if he does not kill he is not judged by law. The spirit of the law avers that he who shall desire to kill, or seeks revenge, is angry with a man without sufficient cause, must answer to the judge.” (Aquarian Gospel 97:5-7)

“Before the eyes of law a man to steal must take a thing that can be seen with eyes of flesh, without the knowledge or consent of him to whom the thing belongs. But, lo, I say that he who in his heart desires to possess that which is not his own, and would deprive the owner of the thing without his knowledge or consent, is in the sight of God, a thief. The things that men see not with eyes of flesh are of more worth than are the things that man can see. A man’s good name is worth a thousand mines of gold, and he who says a word or does a deed that injures or defames that name has taken what is not his own, and is a thief. Upon a table of the law we also read: Thou shalt not covet anything. To covet is an all-consuming wish to have what is not right for one to have. And such a wish, within the spirit of the law, is theft.” (Aquarian Gospel 98:17-23)

“The will is bridled by the flesh desires.” (Aquarian Gospel 107:31)

One of the most interesting verses in the Aquarian Gospel speaks of Saint Mary Magdalene as ““a courtesan who had been cured of her desire to sin.” (Aquarian Gospel 104:14)

When this is done the Christ will take possession of the soul; the work is done, and man and God are one.

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.” (Revelation 3:20 )

“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” (John 14:21)

“Jesus answered and said unto 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.” (John 14:23)

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:20-26)

“And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” (I Corinthians 15:28)

“One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:6)

7) A perfect man! To bring before the Triune God a being such as this was nature made. This consummation is the highest revelation of the mystery of life. When all the essences of carnal things have been transmuted into soul, and all the essences of soul have been returned to Holy Breath, and man is made a perfect God, the drama of Creation will conclude. And this is all.

The purpose of all “things” is the perfection of the individual; all creation is meant to be a ladder of ascent to the Creator. There is no greater miracle than the divinization of humanity–no, not even creation is greater, for it is a simple matter for God to create; but for man to attain divinity is a result of incalculable effort. God is always God, but for an individual spirit to achieve infinity is simply incomprehensible.

For centuries Christian mystics have spoken of three stages in our attainment of perfection: purgative, illuminative, and unitive. Through purgation “all the essences of carnal things [are] transmuted into soul.” Then “all the essences of soul [are] returned to Holy Breath,” assumed into the Light of the Holy Spirit. Finally, “man is made a perfect God”–no longer an image or likeness of God, but actually “god” though full participation in the Divine Nature. Then “the drama of Creation will conclude. And this is all.” Nothing more remains to occur, for perfect unity prevails.

And all the sages said, Amen.