The general resurrection occurs just before the final judgment and ... takes in many nations
"When Ezra provides a list of famous biblical characters (Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, and Hezekiah) who made successful intercessory prayers on behalf of the ungodly, he is told that the day of judgment is different since it represents 'the end of this age and the beginning of the immortal age to come' (7,113). The last judgment is definitive: 'Therefore no one will then be able to have mercy on him who has been condemned in the judgment, or to harm him who is victorious' (7,115).”- Festschrift J. Lambrecht
"In 7,102 Ezra asks Uriel 'whether on the day of judgment the righteous will be able to interceded for the ungodly or entreat the Most High for them' (7,102). He is told that 'the day of judgment is decisive' and that 'no one shall ever pray for another on that day' (7,103-104). When Ezra provides a list of famous biblical characters (Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, and Hezekiah) who made successful intercessory prayers on behalf of the ungodly, he is told that the day of judgment is different since it represents 'the end of this age and the beginning of the immortal age to come' (7,113). The last judgment is definitive: 'Therefore no one will then be able to have mercy on him who has been condemned in the judgment, or to harm him who is victorious" (7,115).
The themes of no repentance and no intercession also appears in various contexts in the Gnostic Gospels. The parable about constant vigilance in the face of the coming kingdom of God (see Mt 24,36- 25,30; Mk 13,34-37; Lk 17,22-37; 21,29-36) call for repentance in the present before the arrival of the day of judgment (as in 2 Bar 85,12; and 4 Ezra 7,82; 9,12). The parable of Lazarus and the rich man in Lk 16,19-31 denies (as in LAB 33,2-5) that the dead can repent and change things for themselves (see Lk 16,26), and that the dead can interceded for the living (see Lk 16,27-31). And the judgment scene in Mt 25,31-46 indicates that the results of the last judgment will be definitive (as in 4 Ezra 7,102-115) despite the protests of those who are condemned ("When did we see you...?)...
In LAB 3,10 the resurrection is part of the sequence of end-time events that precede the last judgment and the new creation: "And I [God] will bring the dead to life and raise up those who are sleeping from the earth. 'The resurrection of the dead is necessary for the last judgment to proceed. With regard to the death of Moses, LAB 19,12-13 seems to refer to two resurrections. In the first instance (19,12) God promises to 'raise up you [Moses] and your fathers from the land of Egypt in which you sleep and you will come together and dwell in the immortal dwelling place that is not subject to time'. Then at the end-time (19,13) God promises 'to raise up you who are sleeping in order that all who can live may dwell in the place of sanctification I showed you'. In LAB 25,7 Kenaz uses the combination of resurrection and judgment as a motivation for proper behavior at present: 'And who knows that if you tell the truth to us, even if you die now, nevertheless God will have mercy on you when he will resurrect that dead?'.
According to 4 Erza 7,32, the resurrection will involve the reunion of the body and the soul: 'And the earth shall give up those who are asleep in it, and the chambers shall give up the souls which have been committed to them'. And the resurrection will include whole nations: 'Then the Most High will say to the nations that have been raised from the dead...' (7,37). In fact, the general resurrection will be the occasion for the nations to recognize the error of their ways in failing to serve the Most High and keep his commandments...
These three first-century Palestinian Jewish texts situate the resurrection of the dead in the complex of end-times events. The general resurrection occurs just before the final judgment and the meting out of rewards and punishments. It involves the reunion of body and soul, which at the moment of death had been separated. And it takes in 'many nations'...
Those who have been declared righteous and wise at the last judgment will enjoy an excellence 'greater than that of angels' (51,12; see 1 Cor 6,1-4; 1 Pet 1,12). They will not grow older (51,9) and will not endure any more suffering ("saved from this world of affliction... put down the burden of anguishes" 51,14). They will be 'like angels and equal to the stars' (51,10; see Dan 12,3). In fact, they will no longer be confined to one form or shape but able to change into any form they wish: 'from beauty to loveliness, and from light to the splendor of glory' (51,10). And they will be able to travel anywhere in Paradise and to see the splendor of the heavenly court where the 'living beings' (see Rev 6,4; 7,11) and 'all the hosts of angels' dwell (51,11).”
Festschrift J. Lambrecht, Resurrection in the New Testament: Festschrift J. Lambrecht,
Peeters (October 2002) pp. 28-31
The Resurrection of the dead
Chapter Nineteen—And I look for the resurrection of the dead. And the life of the age to come. Amen.
At last we have arrived at the crucial subject of resurrection.
The Goal of Human Life
What is the goal of the human being? Saint Clement of Alexandria and
Origen, his great pupil, divided Christians into two types: the
somatics, the "fleshly", and the pneumatics, the "spiritual.” The
classification still holds today, though it may sound a bit snobbish.
The fleshly say that the goal of the human being is to live forever
in a perfect human body in a happy realm like the Elysian Fields of
the ancient Greeks and Romans (who forced this concept, along with
that of everlasting damnation, into Christianity after
the "conversion" of Constantine). There, they say, Jesus will be seen
seated upon a throne and be praised by "The saved" through endless
ages.
The spiritual, on the other hand, say that our goal is to transcend
the human condition altogether, rise to the Paradise level, evolve
from there to the angelic state, and keep on evolving until we are
united with God, becoming light in God's Light, passing beyond all
name and form and living God's own life—to be god with God. We and
God shall be ONE forever without possibility of separation or falling
away.1
The Great Gulf
There shall always be a great gulf between those for whom God is an
object to be perceived with "spiritualized" senses (but who never do
so perceive) and the mystics who directly and subjectively perceive
God within their spirits as part of their own life.
Christ came to deliver us from the world. He said that He had
overcome the world,2 and thereby was enabling us to reascend to
Paradise where He would Himself receive us.3 This is the true Gospel
of Christ. The goal is spiritual, not material. Indeed it cannot be
otherwise, however much we might desire a material embodiment, for
the Scriptures clearly state: "All the host of heaven shall be
dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a
scroll.”4 "The heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the
elements will melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up.”5 Saint Peter goes on to exhort
us to shape our lives according to an acute awareness of the divinely-
ordained dissolution of the entire creation.6 Everything will be
melted down into the vast, original cosmic soup. Any other teaching
is simply not Christian.
Saint Gregory Of Nyssa
When the wording of the Creed was finalized, Saint Gregory of Nyssa,
one of the greatest mystics of the Church, almost single-handedly
settled what it would be. The original Nicene Creed said nothing at
all about any kind of "resurrection.” Fortunately, through the
influence of Saint Gregory, the expression "resurrection of the
body," which had been put into earlier professions of faith by the
fleshly-minded, was changed to: "I look for the resurrection of the
dead.”
The Dead
But what exactly does it mean to be "dead"? The Lord Jesus
said: "This is eternal life: to know"—not to go to heaven and play on
harps forever, but to know God. In other words, "life" is knowing, it
is being conscious. To be dead, on the other hand, is to be
unconscious. And the life which Christ came to bestow on us is the
consciousness of God which comes from our perfect union with Him, in
which we are no longer two but one. Until then we are dead, whether
on the earth or in the invisible worlds. And our bodies are tombs in
which our spirits lie asleep, awaiting the glory of spiritual
resurrection.
The "Christianity" of the flesh cannot impart the life of the spirit
and awaken in us the direct consciousness of spirit in union with
Spirit, so it promises us our body, instead. It tells us that the
body is to be resurrected to live forever, mistaking resuscitation
for resurrection.
Resurrection—Anastasis
The Greek term translated "resurrection" is anastasis, which
literally means "standing up" in the sense of rising up. This
particular term was used by the New Testament authors because of the
question in Ecclesiastes 3:21: "Who knoweth the spirit of man that
goeth upward?” That is, when the body dies it falls to earth and
becomes one with the earth, whereas the spirit, if unhampered, rises
upward to subtler worlds, usually to prepare for further earthly
incarnations.
It is stated in the Gospels that the Sadducees did not believe in the
resurrection, but that the Pharisees did. This is not referring to a
future condition of the body but to the question of the immortality
of the spirit. The Sadducees taught that physical death terminated
the existence of the individual person—nothing remained to live on.
The Pharisees, however, taught that when the body "died" the spirit
arose, "stood up," out of the body and went before God for judgment.
And that is all it meant. Only in latter times did the fleshly ones
come up with the idea that we will all rise out of the grave in our
bodies at the end of time and be physical beings for eternity—for
ever and ever throughout the ages.
At the time the wording of the Creed was settled, the fleshly
believed in the resurrection of the body and the spiritual believed
in resurrection from the body. They are not the same!
True Resurrection
The "standing up of the dead," the rising of the dead, is the
breaking of the bonds of time and space, becoming freed from the
prison of ego and alive to our true nature as spirit and to our
eternal relationship to Christ. For Christianity is not a religion
only, it is a state of consciousness. As Saint Paul says: "Awake thou
that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee
light.”7
This is Saint Paul's concept of the resurrection. When he talks
elsewhere about the trumpet sounding and the dead rising,8 he is
speaking of mystical experiences. So also are the descriptions in the
book of Revelation of "things which must shortly come to pass.”9 This
very phrase shows that the Evangelist was not speaking of long-range
world prophecies, although many exoterics with their "prophecy
charts" try to prove that virtually none of Revelation has been
fulfilled after nearly two thousand years, but that it is all going
to come about in the future as political predictions—not even dealing
with religion. The totally humanistic, material, and political nature
of their interpretations reflect their fleshly consciousness—a
consciousness at variance with that of Saint John. The Bible must be
read with the eyes of the spirit, not with the eyes of the flesh.
The "End"
We also have descriptions given by the Lord Jesus about the "coming"
of the Son of Man in glory when the Apostles asked: "What shall be
the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”10 The Greek
term translated "World" is actually "Age"—aeon. Aeon has a double
meaning: a great span of time and a level of creation. This is
referred to in the Creed by "The life of the age to come.” Here aeon
means a realm of existence. According to original Christian
cosmology, God has emanated many aeons in which intelligent beings
dwell according to their state of evolution. Referring to this the
Lord said: "In my Father's house are many mansions.” Metaphysicians
speak of the "earth plane," the "Astral plane," etc., which is also
correct.
Therefore the disciples were asking about when their sojourn in this
aeon would come to an end and they would rise (resurrect) to Paradise
from which Adam fell, leaving material bondage behind forever.11 They
wanted to know what the signs were which indicated their attainment
of the great freedom from earthly birth and death. The answer the
Lord gives them is, like that of Revelation, a symbolic description
of the transmutation of the human to the divine. It has absolutely
nothing to do with the history or the future of the world. This is
made clear by His statement: "Verily I say unto you, There be some
standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son
of man coming in his kingdom.” All those who heard His words have
certainly died, so we can only conclude that Jesus was either wrong
or that He was not making a prediction of an external coming to an
external world. (There is a theory that Saint John the beloved
Apostle never died and is still on the earth somewhere, but he
himself denied this.12)
The only sensible conclusion is that the Lord was speaking
mystically. This is further reinforced by His saying: "Verily I say
unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be
fulfilled.”13 He confirmed that He was not speaking of an
external "coming" when He said: "Then if any man shall say unto you,
Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.”14 Yet such nonsense is
being spoken today, and the fleshly flock to hear it and chew their
nails worrying over "The Antichrist" and "The Beast" instead of
working out their salvation.
The "Coming" Of Christ
"Coming" is a translation of the word parousia, which really
means "presence.” There are two "presences" of Jesus Christ. The
first Presence is external in the form of His physical, incarnate
presence in the world, two thousand years ago, and His second
Presence is His appearing in the depths of the individual spirit when
He becomes one with it. The entire purpose of His first Presence
was/is to accomplish this second Presence within us. And this is what
it is to be "resurrected unto life.” For this reason it is essential
to understand that being alive is the condition of being "god with
God," and to be anything else is to be dead. Thus, St. Paul refers to
those who are striving to attain true resurrection as "All them that
love his appearing.”15 The truly wise seek after union with God with
a loving heart, yearning to live in and unto God alone. That is
salvation, the goal of all conscious beings.
Enlightenment
The resurrection of the dead is the enlightenment of the spirit and
its consequent freedom from the bondage of death and sin—which are
conditions, not acts. The sensory and intellectual experiences which
we consider "life" are actually the barrier, the painted curtain
between us and real life. But we can arise from this like the
Prodigal Son and go back to the Father through the processes which
Christ and the Apostles gave us. This is particularly true of
meditation, for when we silence the senses, mind, and intellect—not
by controlling them, but by transcending them and going beyond them—
we will discover Christ and His Father already present within us.16
When we go beyond the false "knowing" of the mind we can enter into
the real knowing of the spirit. Then we can say: "I found Him Whom my
soul loveth.”17
Deification
Resurrection of the dead is deification (theosis), attaining to
divinity. By this we do not mean that we become the Lord Himself, the
Source of life, but rather that we are reestablished in our original
status as parts or "rays" of His divine life. This is of course a
great mystery—the same as that of the Incarnation. It is totally
inconceivable as to how we can be a part of God Who is a perfectly
unitary Being without parts (through existing in Trinity!). Yet it is
so according to the Scriptures and the witness of two millennia of
saints. That we are meant to be "gods with God," the Lord Jesus made
clear to His adversaries—who objected to His affirmation of His own
deification—when He quoted: "I have said, Ye are gods.”18
The Lord wept at the tomb of Lazarus19 because He was Adam, the
Father of the human race in this creation cycle, who by his
transgression had brought death to Lazarus and us all.20 Therefore He
wept over the entire human race which He had plunged into death.
Beholding the results of His own disobedience, grief overwhelmed Him.
Not for Him was the false comfort of: "Well, it must be the will of
God.” He knew that indeed it was not the will of God but His own
disobedient will that had brought death into the world. It was an
awesome realization, terrible to His spirit.
A Significant Word
It is significant that the Creed does not say: "I believe in the
resurrection of the dead," but: "I look for" it. It is not enough to
believe the propositions of the Creed. We must reach forward to the
practical realization and demonstration of them in our own
lives.21 "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus," 22 said Saint Paul. To look for the
resurrection of the dead is to desire and strive for our resurrection
in—and into—Christ. Such a resurrection is a restoration back into
Paradise, as He told the Apostles: "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.”23
And He promised the thief: "Today shalt thou be with me in
paradise.”24 It is a resurrection unto life, free forever from birth
and death and the bonds of limited physical embodiment, which was but
a stage in the process of our return to God.
How?
This is possible only through Christ, Who assured His disciples: "I
have overcome the world.”25 That is, He had conquered the power of
the world which had bound human beings perpetually to the cycle of
recurrent birth and death. Just as a planet keeps its moons circling
around it through the pull of its gravitation, so the earth kept the
spirits of all beings trapped in its orbit, subject to constant
return through the law of "sowing and reaping," 26 which is called
midah keneged midah ("measure for measure") in Judaism and karma by
the Hindus and Buddhists.
Christ broke the bonds of "death," of continual imprisonment in human
embodiment, and gave us the power to do the same. He did not do it
for us, but instead stated: "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar
in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.”27 That is, if
we receive Him into the depths of our being He shall empower us to
break the spiritual gravity of earth and earthly consciousness so
that we shall no longer "go out" from before the face of God through
reincarnation. Even clearer: "To him that overcometh will I grant to
sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down
with my Father in his throne.” We, too, must in our own flesh
conquer "The body of sin"28 which is ignorance and evil. This cannot
be done on our own, of course, but must be done through Christ—
specifically through the inner life imparted and sustained by
meditation. But if we shall so do, then we shall sit with Him in His
throne.
The Throne Of Christ
In oriental countries kings did not sit on gilded chairs as in the
West, but sat cross-legged on thrones that were shallow, topless
boxes of gold or silver with cushions and ornate backs. Usually they
were quite large and could accommodate more than one person. If a
king wished to strongly affirm the succession to the throne he would
have his heir sit with him in the throne as he conducted state
business. This is why the original Greek says: "In My throne.” And
the throne of Christ is His Divinity, His own status and being as the
Only-begotten of the Father.
We shall literally participate in the omnipresence, omniscience, and
omnipotence of Jesus Christ. We, too, shall be Christs, as our
name "Christian" implies. And "Then cometh the end, when he shall
have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father;...that God may
be all in all.”29 That is, we shall transcend even the state of
Christhood and pass into the state of Godhood, a state of ineffable
non-duality in which God will be ALL, and "In all" of us, as well.
There shall be perfect union, eternal unity, without annihilation of
our existence. In one sense, there shall be God alone, and in another
sense, "so shall we ever be with the Lord.”30
Certainly this state is not to be confused with the concept
of "unity" set forth in contemporary monistic philosophy wherein the
individual ceases to exist at all, but undergoes a total merging and
cessation of individuality, the individuality having supposedly never
been anything more than an illusion. In Christian mysticism we say
that the experience of separation from God is an illusion,31 but our
existence as individual consciousnesses within the Bosom of the
Father has been from eternity in a way that can only be recognized as
a mystery to our earthbound understandings. But in eternity, back in
our Source, we shall know as we are known,32 with the totality of
knowledge and being.
We can see from all this that the ultimate meaning of "The
resurrection from the dead" is our reascension to Divinity. And it is
possible even in this life. "Behold, now is the accepted time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.”33
The Final Phrase
The final phrase of the Creed is: "And the life of the age to come.”
We have already discussed the correct meaning of aeon, which is
translated "Age," as a realm of existence. And we have already seen
that in the Creed the term "life" means consciousness, the essential
state of being. When we resurrect from the dead, when our
consciousness is awakened by being illumined by Christ, we are
enabled to arise from the earthly aeon into the aeon of Paradise,
whose true life is that of conscious consciousness—that is, full self-
awareness of ourselves as individual, immortal, spiritual entities.
Higher Understanding
But there is a higher level, "The Aeon of aeons," from Which all
aeons have emanated and Which is God Himself. We also call this state
of being "Eternity," which is not time without end, but rather is the
actual Being of God. This is the Aeon Whose Life we must aspire
toward, even after regaining Paradise. In the seventeenth chapter of
Saint John, the Lord Jesus reveals the possibility of this higher,
divine life when He says: "And this is life eternal, that they might
know thee the only true God.”
Eternal life, "The life of the age to come," is not an introverted
consciousness confined to awareness of our individual existence as a
seemingly separate entity from God—which is a delusion—but it is
awareness of God, within Whom we have our being.34 More: it is
intimate knowing of God in the Biblical sense of thorough knowledge
through total union with Him.
We shall not just know ourselves, we shall know God as the Self of
our self through active, conscious participation in the infinite Life
of the Divine. As the wave lives in the ocean and has no existence
apart from the ocean, so shall we be. Now the wave can neither
say: "I am different from the ocean, separate and independent,
another entity altogether," nor can it say: "I am myself the ocean,"
in the sense of the totality. But it can indeed say: "I am a part of
the ocean from which I draw my existence, and with which I am
essentially and irrevocably one.”
A Clarification
The great non-dual philosopher of India, Adi Shankaracharya, wrote in
one of his hymns: "O Lord, though in essence there is no difference
between us, I cannot say that Thou belongest to me. Rather, I belong
to Thee. For the wave cannot say: 'I am the ocean.' But the ocean can
say: 'I am the wave.'" In this way God can say: "There is none else
beside Me," 35 and yet not deny our existence which is encompassed by
His Existence. Such a truth can only be a mystery until we ascend to
that state where we shall know as we are known. In the depths of our
own beings we shall behold God Who beholds us in the depths of His
Being. We shall be at the heart of God, and God shall be at the heart
of us in unending vision. "My beloved is mine, and I am his.”36 Or,
even more correctly: "My beloved is me, and I am Him.”
A Greater Goal
Though the Lord Jesus did indeed open Paradise to us, He has prepared
an even higher place for us—His throne of divinity which we have
already discussed. Our final resting place at the end of our
pilgrimage of traversing all the levels of Being and Consciousness
(aeons) that exist, shall be in the Bosom of the Father—nothing less.
For He told the Apostles: "Where I am, there ye may be also.”37 He
did not say: "Where I shall be," but "Where I am.” And where was
that? In the Bosom of the Father from eternity.38 Having ascended
back to the Divine Origin, making Himself "The firstfruits of them
that slept," 39 the "firstborn from the dead," 40 He returned to awaken
us, to resurrect us into His own Life which was also ours by nature
through divine grace.
The Christian Gnosis looks not to the fleeting, illusory life of this
world, "for the fashion of this world passeth away.”41 Actually, the
word translated "fashion" here is schema, which in this context means
its English derivative "scene"—as in a play. A literal translation of
the verse is: "For the scene of this world is passing by," in the
sense that a scene in a play is at every moment "going on,"
evaporating into the ether, having no abiding substance. For this
reason the Christian watches and waits for the Master's appearing,
keeping his lamp trimmed and burning, possessing his soul in
patience.42
Just as we cannot enter the ocean at whim and walk around on the
ocean floor breathing water, so we cannot enter into "The life of the
age to come" without preparation. While yet in this world we must
accustom ourselves to the ways of Paradise and Eternity. Even in this
life, we must be transmuted through our continuous practice of
meditation. Although we utilize some external means, that transmutation must be a fundamentally interior process, for "The kingdom of God is within.”43 So also, then, must be "The life of the age to come.”
Through meditation, especially, we learn to live both in this world
of time-space and in eternity, which transcends time and space. This
was the purpose of the Incarnation. In Christ Jesus time and eternity
were fused, and we become assumed unto Him and begin to live as He
lived, eventually becoming exactly What He was. Do we remain
ourselves, then? In truth, there is no other way to be ourselves than
this. This is why the Lord Jesus said that only if we would "lose"
our life would we be able to"find"It.44 For outside of God we have
no life.
The Last Word
We always conclude a recitation of the Creed with "Amen," a Hebrew
term meaning both "This is true" and "so be it.” By using this word
in its first meaning we seal the Creed with our declaration that it
is indeed true for us, that our repetition has not been mindless
rote.
But the second meaning opens a new vista for us. Since everything
stated in the Creed is an established fact, rather than a hope or
speculation of the future, why would we say: "so be it," as though it
were something yet to be fulfilled? Here, too, we have a dual
meaning. First, we express our aspiration that one day it may be so
to us, that we shall truly know all the propositions of the Creed as
true through our own direct spiritual experience. The second meaning
is more profound, expressing the hope that the propositions of the
Creed may be realized and manifested within us, the microcosm, as
they are within the universal macrocosm. Let us briefly consider the
Creedal statements in this context.
The Interior Creed
By reciting the Creed with full intent I affirm my aspiration that
one day I shall fully know both who and what this "I" is which has
been called to "Believe.” That is, may I come to full self-knowledge
in the "one God" Whom I shall know as the "maker" of all within me,
both "of heaven and earth, and of all things" which comprise my
being, both the "visible and invisible.”
May this awakening come through my perfect communion with the "one
Lord, Jesus Christ" Who effects my union with "The Only-begotten Son
of God," just as He Himself is one with the Only-begotten, revealing
to me that we were both "Begotten of the Father before all ages," and
are therefore His alone, eternal and immortal. That I myself, as is
He, am "light from Light, true God from true God.” I, too, am part of
the Father's transcendent Being, and therefore "Begotten not made,
being of one substance with the Father.” And, reflecting the power of
the Father, there is no other force but my own will "By whom all
things were made" in my unfolding life.
Since I am now trapped in the illusion of human existence, the
forgotten knowledge of my own self as the Light of the World, the
Christ of God, must be "Born again"45 in me "By the Holy Spirit" to
effect my salvation. Not without struggle, without "crucifixion,"
suffering, and "Burial" can this be done. But, when the process is
completed I shall in truth "rise again and ascend into heaven,"
taking my rightful place on the divine "right hand" from which I
shall indeed, with Christ Jesus, be revealed from the heaven of
illumined consciousness, purifying myself as He is pure through my
empowerment "to judge the living and the dead" within my own being.
Having done so, I shall enter into the "kingdom" which shall have "no
end.”
All this transmutation shall take place through the divine alchemy
of "The Holy Spirit, the Lady and Giver of Life," Who, by me in my
inmost being, "together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and
glorified," so that She "Who spoke by the prophets" may live and
speak in me, as the Lord Jesus promised.46 Through Her I am made a
living stone47 in the "one holy, catholic and apostolic Church," and
enabled to be one, no longer at variance with myself and God, holy in
my thought, will, and life, and catholic (kata holos), containing the
whole of the divine life as my own.
Thereby I am enabled to attain the "one baptism for the remission of
sins" which is an unreserved plunging (baptizo) into the boundless
ocean of God's Light so that, dead forever unto ignorance and its
product, sin,48 I may rise unto "The resurrection of the dead" and be
established forever in God Who is Himself the Spirit of my
spirit "And the life of the age to come.”
"Amen!"
And now our esoteric consideration of the Creed is ended. As the
Apostles have counseled us in their Constitutions: "Meditate on these
things, brethren, and the Lord be with you upon earth and in the
kingdom of His Father, Who both sent Him and hath delivered us by Him
from the bondage of corruption into His glorious liberty, and hath
promised life to those who through Him have believed in the God of
the whole world. Amen.”
The Resurrection of the dead - by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
1)"Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed
remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (I
John 3:9)
2) John 16:33; Revelation 3:21
3) John 14:3
4) Isaiah 34:4
5) II Peter 3:10
6)"Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner
of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.”
(II Peter 3:11)
7) Ephesians 5:14
8) I Corinthians 15:52; I Thessalonians 4:16
9) Revelation 1:1
10) Matthew 24:3
11) Robe of Light considers these matters in detail.
12)"Peter seeing him [Saint John] saith to Jesus, Lord, and what
shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till
I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. Then went this saying
abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet
Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he
tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” (John 21:21-23)
13) Matthew 24:34
14) Matthew 24:23
15) II Timothy 4:8
16)"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)
17) Song of Solomon 3:4
18) Psalm 82:6,7
19) John 11:35
20) See Robe of Light.
21) Matthew 11:12; I Timothy 6:12,19
22) Philippians 3:14
23) John 14:2,3
24) Luke 23:43
25) John 16:33
26) Galatians 6:7
27) Revelation 3:12
28) Romans 6:6
29) I Corinthians 15:24,28
30) I Thessalonians 4:17
31)"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from
thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make
my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the
morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there
shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say,
Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light
about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night
shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to
thee.” (Psalm 139:7-12)
32)"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:
now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
(I Corinthians 13:12)
33) II Corinthians 6:2
34)"God...giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;...and hath
determined...that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel
after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of
your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” (Acts 17:24-
28)
35) Isaiah 47:8,10
36) Song of Solomon 2:16
37) John 14:3
38)"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” (John 1:18)
39) I Corinthians 15:20
40) Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5
41) I Corinthians 7:31
42) Luke 21:19
43) Luke 17:21
44) Luke 17:33
45) John 3:3. Another meaning is: "Born from above.”
46)"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.” (John 14:17)
47)"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an
holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ.” (I Peter 2:5)
48)"How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”
(Romans 6:2)
III. The Apocalypse
All Muslims acknowledge that God is the only one who knows the future. But they also agree that he has offered us a peek at it, in the Koran and in narrations of the Prophet. The Islamic State differs from nearly every other current jihadist movement in believing that it is written into God's script as a central character. It is in this casting that the Islamic State is most boldly distinctive from its predecessors, and clearest in the religious nature of its mission.
In broad strokes, al-Qaeda acts like an underground political movement, with worldly goals in sight at all times—the expulsion of non-Muslims from the Arabian peninsula, the abolishment of the state of Israel, the end of support for dictatorships in Muslim lands. The Islamic State has its share of worldly concerns (including, in the places it controls, collecting garbage and keeping the water running), but the End of Days is a leitmotif of its propaganda. Bin Laden rarely mentioned the apocalypse, and when he did, he seemed to presume that he would be long dead when the glorious moment of divine comeuppance finally arrived. "Bin Laden and Zawahiri are from elite Sunni families who look down on this kind of speculation and think it's something the masses engage in," says Will McCants of the Brookings Institution, who is writing a book about the Islamic State's apocalyptic thought.
During the last years of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the Islamic State's immediate founding fathers, by contrast, saw signs of the end times everywhere. They were anticipating, within a year, the arrival of the Mahdi—a messianic figure destined to lead the Muslims to victory before the end of the world. McCants says a prominent Islamist in Iraq approached bin Laden in 2008 to warn him that the group was being led by millenarians who were "talking all the time about the Mahdi and making strategic decisions" based on when they thought the Mahdi was going to arrive. "Al-Qaeda had to write to [these leaders] to say 'Cut it out.'?”
For certain true believers—the kind who long for epic good-versus-evil battles—visions of apocalyptic bloodbaths fulfill a deep psychological need. Of the Islamic State supporters I met, Musa Cerantonio, the Australian, expressed the deepest interest in the apocalypse and how the remaining days of the Islamic State—and the world—might look. Parts of that prediction are original to him, and do not yet have the status of doctrine. But other parts are based on mainstream Sunni sources and appear all over the Islamic State's propaganda. These include the belief that there will be only 12 legitimate caliphs, and Baghdadi is the eighth; that the armies of Rome will mass to meet the armies of Islam in northern Syria; and that Islam's final showdown with an anti-Messiah will occur in Jerusalem after a period of renewed Islamic conquest.
The Islamic State has attached great importance to the Syrian city of Dabiq, near Aleppo. It named its propaganda magazine after the town, and celebrated madly when (at great cost) it conquered Dabiq's strategically unimportant plains. It is here, the Prophet reportedly said, that the armies of Rome will set up their camp. The armies of Islam will meet them, and Dabiq will be Rome's Waterloo or its Antietam.
"Dabiq is basically all farmland," one Islamic State supporter recently tweeted. "You could imagine large battles taking place there.” The Islamic State's propagandists drool with anticipation of this event, and constantly imply that it will come soon. The state's magazine quotes Zarqawi as saying, "The spark has been lit here in Iraq, and its heat will continue to intensify ... until it burns the crusader armies in Dabiq.” A recent propaganda video shows clips from Hollywood war movies set in medieval times—perhaps because many of the prophecies specify that the armies will be on horseback or carrying ancient weapons.
Now that it has taken Dabiq, the Islamic State awaits the arrival of an enemy army there, whose defeat will initiate the countdown to the apocalypse. Western media frequently miss references to Dabiq in the Islamic State's videos, and focus instead on lurid scenes of beheading. "Here we are, burying the first American crusader in Dabiq, eagerly waiting for the remainder of your armies to arrive," said a masked executioner in a November video, showing the severed head of Peter (Abdul Rahman) Kassig, the aid worker who'd been held captive for more than a year. During fighting in Iraq in December, after mujahideen (perhaps inaccurately) reported having seen American soldiers in battle, Islamic State Twitter accounts erupted in spasms of pleasure, like overenthusiastic hosts or hostesses upon the arrival of the first guests at a party.
The Prophetic narration that foretells the Dabiq battle refers to the enemy as Rome. Who "Rome" is, now that the pope has no army, remains a matter of debate. But Cerantonio makes a case that Rome meant the Eastern Roman empire, which had its capital in what is now Istanbul. We should think of Rome as the Republic of Turkey—the same republic that ended the last self-identified caliphate, 90 years ago. Other Islamic State sources suggest that Rome might mean any infidel army, and the Americans will do nicely.
After mujahideen reported having seen American soldiers in battle, Islamic State Twitter accounts erupted in spasms of pleasure, like overenthusiastic hosts upon the arrival of the first guests at a party.
After its battle in Dabiq, Cerantonio said, the caliphate will expand and sack Istanbul. Some believe it will then cover the entire Earth, but Cerantonio suggested its tide may never reach beyond the Bosporus. An anti-Messiah, known in Muslim apocalyptic literature as Dajjal, will come from the Khorasan region of eastern Iran and kill a vast number of the caliphate's fighters, until just 5,000 remain, cornered in Jerusalem. Just as Dajjal prepares to finish them off, Jesus—the second-most-revered prophet in Islam—will return to Earth, spear Dajjal, and lead the Muslims to victory.
"Only God knows" whether the Islamic State's armies are the ones foretold, Cerantonio said. But he is hopeful. "The Prophet said that one sign of the imminent arrival of the End of Days is that people will for a long while stop talking about the End of Days," he said. "If you go to the mosques now, you'll find the preachers are silent about this subject.” On this theory, even setbacks dealt to the Islamic State mean nothing, since God has preordained the near-destruction of his people anyway. The Islamic State has its best and worst days ahead of it.”
The Atlantic, March 2015 issue
.jpg "The Great Adi Shakti Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi")
The Messiah-Paraclete “In between Jesus Christ and His destroying incarnation of Mahavishnu, called as Kalki, there is a time given to human beings to rectify themselves, for them to enter into the Kingdom of God, which in the Bible is called as Last Judgment. That you'll be judged, all of you, will be judged on this earth. The population of the world is the maximum, they say, because all those—practically all those who had aspirations to enter into the Kingdom of God—are born in the modern times and are going to be born very soon.
This is the most important time, because Sahaja Yoga is the Last Judgment. It is fantastic to hear this but that's the fact and it's the Truth. Though you can understand that Mother's Love makes it very easy for you to get to your Realization and that the whole story of Last Judgment—which looks such a horrifying experience—has been made very beautiful and very tender and delicate, and does not disturb you.
But this is the Last Judgment, I tell you, and you all are going to be judged through Sahaja Yoga whether you can enter into the Kingdom of God or not.”
The Adi Shakti Shri Mataji
Relationship between Kundalini and Shri Kalki (8th Navaratri night)
Bombay, India—September 28, 1979
"So many people in this world, how many are realized? Very few you will find. And today it is great naad (sound) of Kali Yuga there are so many animals today; the animals without tails.
But in this Kali Yuga itself, in this dirty mud, a great work has to be accomplished. You know it is happening. In this time, you must take as much as you can. Otherwise you will be thrown out of this evolutionary process. That time is not far away I told about it in 1979; that till 1979 this work has to be done and by the year 1999 Satya Yuga* will get fully matured.
Now it depends on your wisdom, otherwise Kali Yuga will also flourish because of you only. If you people won't like to work it out then the responsibility of destruction will be on your head.”
The Adi Shakti Shri Mataji
Keep the attention on your Self
Bombay, India—December 21, 1975
*The conjunction of two yugas [Kali Yuga and Satya Yuga]
"This non-profit website—which went online exactly on 1-1-2000, the beginning of the New Millennium—is thus for the human race to examine the revelations, miracles, knowledge, truths and prophecies of the Spirit-Paraclete and Her incarnation Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, about the Kingdom of Spirit and the Resurrection.” www.adishakti.org homepage
“The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in Glory. Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its coming. Then through his Son Jesus Christ he will pronounce the final word on all history. We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of salvation and understand the marvelous ways by which his Providence led everything towards its final end. The Last Judgment will reveal that God's justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by his creatures and that God's love is stronger than death. (626)
The message of the Last Judgment calls men to conversion while God is still giving them 'the acceptable time,... the day of salvation.' (627) It inspires a holy fear of God and commits them to the justice of the Kingdom of God.”(626. Cf. Song 8:6; 627. 2 Cor 6:2.)
J. C. Ratzinger, Catechism of the Catholic Church
U.S.C.C. Inc., 1994 p. 272.
"Shri Mataji's mission is to save as many souls as she can.”
"Shri Mataji claims to be able to fully awaken the kundalini of others almost instantly. The process traditionally involves strenuous efforts, is difficult and is only achieved after many years of practice (Krishna, 1971). The speed she offers is possible, she says, because she is the Adi Shakti (Sajaja Yoga 1988, 8). Once awakened, either by Shri Mataji or her followers, the kundalini rises through the chakras until it pierces the topmost chakra, the Sahastra, and emerges at the fontanel area at the top of the head. During its ascent, the individual may feel tremendous heat. This, says Shri Mataji, is due to the kundalini burning off impurities in the chakras as it rises. However, once it has fully ascended, participants feel a Cool Breeze on the palms of their hands or above their heads, and sometimes more generally:
This happening of Kundalini Awakening and ultimate union with a higher consciousness are described by a Sanskrit word 'Sahaja'. This means literally born with or spontaneous.. This Cool Breeze is the one which is manifested by the all-pervading power of Divine Love. (Sharma 1993, 55)...
The benefits of an activated kundalini are said to include increasing good health and relief from stress (Sharma 1993, 57; Rai 1993, 46; Spiro 1993), a feeling of well-being, a more balanced outlook on life, the adoption of a more moderate lifestyle and the spontaneous abandonment of bad habits, such as swearing, fits of temper and addiction. A tract which is attributed to 'the Sahaja Yogis of the world' describes other qualities which are characteristically associated with devotees of Shri Mataji as a result of 'realisation'...
Shri Mataji is presented as a saviour who provides the ark of Sahaja Yoga for all those who would escape the evils of the world, and even its destruction. In Indian mythology, it is the god Vishnu who incarnates for the tenth time as Sri Kalki and destroys the wicked in the Kali Yuga. A new age will then commence 'with men of purity and brightness, over whom Vishnu will reign forever' (Walker, 1968: 512). In the Sahaja Yoga cosmology, however, Sri Mataji has taken over this role:
He (Vishnu) has already awakened ... [and] has come in the form of HH Mataji. Hence, in all truth, and for all practical purposes, HH Mataji is Sri Kalki. She is our hope. She is the Deliverer. She is salvation. She is the destination. No one else should be hoped for.
(de Kabermatten 1979, 173).
Sahaja Yoga is presented as a final 'salvaging operation before the last sorting out' (ibid., 239). Thus Shri Mataji's mission is to save as many souls as she can.”
Judith Coney, Sahaja Yoga
RoutledgeCurzon; 1 edition (May 24 1999), pp. 31-6
Kalki
"In Hinduism, Kalki (Devanagari [] also rendered by some as Kalkin and Kalki) is the tenth and final Maha Avatar (great incarnation) of Vishnu who will bring to an end the present age of darkness and destruction known as Kali Yuga. He will establish a new era based on truth, righteousness, humanism and goodness, called Satya Yuga. The name Kalki is often a metaphor for eternity or time. The origins of the name probably lie in the Sanskrit word 'kalka' which refers to mud, dirt, filth, or foulness and hence denotes the 'destroyer of foulness,' 'destroyer of confusion,' 'destroyer of darkness,' or 'annihilator of ignorance.' Other similar and divergent interpretations based on varying etymological derivations from Sanskrit - including one simply meaning 'White Horse' - have been made.
In the Buddhist Kalachakra tradition, some 25 rulers of the legendary Shambhala Kingdom have the title of Kalki, Kulika or Kalki-king.
The prophecy and its origins
One of the earliest mentions of Kalki is in the Vishnu Purana, which is dated generally to be after the Gupta Empire around the 7th century A.D. In the Hindu Trimurti, Vishnu is the preserver and sustainer of life, balancing the processes of creation and destruction. Kalki is also mentioned in another of the 18 major Puranas, the Agni Purana. Agni is the god of fire in the Hindu pantheon, and symbolically represents the spiritual fire of life and the processes of transformation. It is one of the earliest works declaring Gautama Buddha to have been a manifestation of Vishnu, and seems to draw upon the Vishnu Purana in its mention of Kalki. A later work, the Kalki Purana, a minor Purana, is an extensive exposition of expectations and predictions of when, where, and why it is said he will come, and what he is expected to do. A few other minor Purana also mention him.
The Agni Purana explains that when the evil men who pose as kings begin to feed on human beings and try to destroy the righteous, Kalki, as the son of Vishnuyasha, and Yajnavalkya as his priest and teacher, will destroy these evil men with His weapons. He will establish moral law in the form of the fourfold varnas, or the suitable organization of society in four classes. After that people will return to the path of righteousness. (16.7-9) The Agni Purana also relates that Hari, after giving up the form of Kalki, will go to heaven. Then the Krita or Satya Yuga will return as before. (16.10)
The Vishnu Purana also explains that, 'When the practices taught in the Vedas and institutes of law have nearly ceased, and the close of the Kali age> shall be nigh, a portion of that divine being who exists of His own spiritual nature, and who is the beginning and end, and who comprehends all things, shall descend upon earth. He will be born in the family of Vishnuyasha, an eminent brahmana of Shambhala village, as Kalki, endowed with eight superhuman faculties. By His irresistible might he will destroy all the mlecchas (Barbarians) and thieves, and all whose minds are devoted to iniquity. He will reestablish righteousness upon earth, and the minds of those who live at the end of the Kali age shall be awakened, and shall be as clear as crystal. The men who are thus changed by virtue of that peculiar time shall be as the seeds of human beings, and shall give birth to a race who will follow the laws of the Krita age or Satya Yuga, the age of purity. As it is said, 'When the sun and moon, and the lunar asterism Tishya, and the planet Jupiter, are in one mansion, the Krita age shall return.' (Book Four, Chapter 24)
The Padma Purana relates that Lord Kalki will end the age of Kali and will kill all the wicked mlecchas and, thus, destroy the bad condition of the world. He will gather all of the distinguished brahmanas and will propound the highest truth. He will know all the ways of life that have perished and will remove the prolonged hunger of the genuine brahmanas and the pious. He will be the only ruler of the world that cannot be controlled, and will be the banner of victory and adorable to the world. (6.71.279-282)
The Bhagavata Purana states, 'At the end of Kali Yuga, when there exist no topics on the subject of God, even at the residences of so-called saints and respectable gentlemen , and when the power of government is transferred to the hands of ministers elected from the evil men, and when nothing is known of the techniques of sacrifice, even by word, at that time the Lord will appear as the supreme chastiser. (2.7.38) It further describes Lord Kalki's activities as follows: 'Lord Kalki, the Lord of the universe, will mount His swift white horse Devadatta and, sword in hand, travel over the earth exhibiting His eight mystic opulences and eight special qualities of Godhead. Displaying His unequaled effulgence and riding with great speed, He will kill by the millions those thieves who have dared dress as kings.' (12.2.19-20)"
Wikipedia (Retrieved March 08, 2012)
“So today is the day of telling you about the danger of playing with the Divine. So far people have been taking them for granted. They have tortured people like Christ, tortured great saints; all the time human beings have been torturing and I have been warning in every lecture practically that don't try that trick today because Kalki is already on. And don't try to trouble anybody who is a saintly person, who is a good person. Be careful about it because Kalki is on and once this Power comes on you, you would not know how to hide yourself. Not only those who are Sahaja Yogis but this I am telling to the whole world today: Be careful! Do not try to harm others. Do not try to take advantage of others and do not try to show off your own power.”
The Adi Shakti Shri Mataji
Kundalini And Kalki Shakti, Bombay, India—September 28, 1979
Kalki Avatar, the Coming Prophet by Swami Amar Jyoti
THE PROPHETS ARE A DIRECT DESCENT OF THE LORD on earth, Incarnations of the Divine. They come to set things right, to harmonize, balance and uplift, to make righteousness and truth prevail. Each time the Prophets come, They are harbingers of a new age. They come at the juncture when one age is closing and another is beginning. A Prophet is not only one who makes prophecies, such as Nostradamus, although in English that is a usage of the term. Jesus, Buddha and Krishna are all Prophets, but They did not come only to make prophecies. Far beyond that. The more accurate word is Avatar, which comes from the Sanskrit avatirna: 'manifest/descent from the Lord.' As Sri Krishna revealed to His disciple Arjuna five thousand years ago, recorded in the Bhagavad Gita:
Whenever there is degradation of Dharma (virtue/righteousness)
O Bharata, and growth of adharma (wickedness/unrighteousness) Then I embody Myself
For the protection of the good (virtuous)
For the destruction of the wicked (evil)
To establish Dharma
I take forth a body in Age after Age
Bhagavad Gita IV: 7-8
HOW DOES THE SUPREME LORD WORK THROUGH HIS PROPHETS to establish or restore balance and harmony, without which the creation would not function? Does He leave His abode and come, or does He send His emissary or Son? How does He take the shape of Spirit embodied as a Prophet? What is this phenomenon? Who is the Son of God? Who is Vishnu and Who is Krishna? Who is the Father in heaven and Who is Jesus? Who is the Buddha and Who the Bodhisattva? How does this marriage of the Spirit and mind take place? The answer is not new except in context: God is omnipotent. He can assume any form. Wherever He takes form, He does not have to leave there. He can take an infinite number of forms, simultaneously.
Yogis have proved this, appearing in several places while never leaving the place where they are. If a yogi can exist in different bodies at various places simultaneously, then just magnify that for the Lord—His powers are infinite. Those who are conversant with Krishna's Ras Lila know that He danced with each gopi, or milkmaid, simultaneously, and each gopi saw and felt Krishna is with me. It may sound allegorical but yogically it has been proven.
God assumes form in a particular dimension and combination of elements, such as on Earth, without leaving His eternal abode. He can do this simultaneously in billions and billions of forms, in the twinkling of an eye. If this were not true, how could God be in everyone? He has already "Become" everything. That is God's omnipotence and omnipresence. We can easily understand from this how the Kingdom of God is within everyone, how God is in everyone, Spirit is in everyone. He comes as the Avatar and manifests the force or power according to the mission of the age.
It does not have to be only one Son—do not limit God. At different times and places He incarnates differently. Therefore it is useless to compare one Prophet with another. Comparison is our human folly. We want to compare and think ourselves great enough to judge the Prophets when we cannot even remove our own headache. We twinkle too much. When you repeat the name of God or the Prophets, be humble.
WHEN DHARMA—LAW, JUSTICE, RIGHTEOUSNESS, GOODNESS—declines below a minimum level and it is beyond the sages, holy people or yogis to raise the consciousness and purify the Earth, then God incarnates to take care of His children. He comes with special powers and bounties, among which are prosperity, beauty, strength, wisdom and justice. According to the Vedic scriptures, human or Earth evolution forms cycles of approximately twenty-five thousand years. God incarnates in each cycle, about every two thousand five hundred years. In the present cycle Lord Vishnu has taken nine Incarnations or Avatars, among whom are Rama and Krishna. Buddha, the ninth and last Incarnation, lived around twenty-five hundred years ago. The Prophet of a particular age may come as peaceful and nonviolent, or as a warrior to vanquish evil—whatever we have asked for or the situation demands. To Him, violence and nonviolence are not opposites but a means to uphold and uplift humanity and consciousness; Dharma transcends both violence and nonviolence. At any cost Dharma must prevail; justice will be done; humanity has to be uplifted. In each age, the Prophet knows best what methods are required to reach us to the next evolution.
Kalki, as per the scriptures, is the tenth Incarnation. The name Kalki means literally, 'of iron' or 'machine.' It does not imply that He is a robot made of metal, but that His birth is in the age of iron or machines. The Vedic scriptures describe time in a cycle of four ages or yugas: the Golden Age, Silver Age, Copper Age and Iron Age. Our present age is the Iron Age, therefore Kalki is the Avatar of this iron or machine age. There are varying opinions about the time of Kalki's coming. Some interpretations say that it is very near. Others say He has come already. These are not mere opinions but commentaries by great scholars and pundits. The Kali Yuga has been described as a time of adharma—injustice, unrighteousness, untruth. If we accept some calculations, we have not even reached the lowest point of this age. If that is so, imagine what it will be at its worst!
The scriptures have described Kalki coming 'as a blazing Light' when He descends from heaven; the Second Coming of Jesus is similarly described. There are parallel beliefs about the coming World Prophet in various other faiths as well. Kalki is described as coming on a white horse with sword in hand. Though in today's world of bombs and lasers, a sword seems outdated, the Second Advent of Jesus is similarly predicted to appear on a white horse carrying a sword. Buddha is described a little differently. The Prophet will have a halo of light around Him. This has been taken by some to be the aura, but auras everyone has; not everyone has a halo. Everyone is potentially Divine but the Prophets are already manifestations of the Divine.
So either there are three Prophets coming together—because the job is very serious and one Prophet will not be able to do it all (!)—or the three are One, whatever name or label we give. Their way will be terrible in any case, what in the Bible is called Armageddon. According to the predictions, Christ will come and fight the anti-Christ and his forces. He will not be nonviolent. Whatever the manifestation may be, this is a time of great change, a quantum leap—that we cannot dispute. Only the timing we do not know for sure.
ULTIMATELY HE WILL BE VICTORIOUS OVER EVIL. The mission of each Prophet is the same: to uphold righteousness, to save the virtuous and demolish evil. If previously a Prophet incarnated as forgiving and suffering, like Buddha and Jesus, that does not mean that He will come the same way next time. Even if the Prophets could repeat the same drama in different details for the same purpose, this present time is such, that not only is humanity in need of uplifting, but also the Earth's evolution awaits God's intervention. The planet itself is transforming into a higher dimension, so the Prophet's mission has to be different. Much of what will occur will be on the astral levels because the next dimensions, the fourth and fifth, are subtler than our present gross third dimension.
There is no doubt that Kalki will come and save the virtuous. He may demolish the evildoers—not every common one but those who are real devils. Were He to be compassionate or forgiving of them, they would become more wicked. It reminds me of the story in the Bible of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham was a man of God. When he heard that the angels were going to destroy the city, he had pity and compassion for the people. He prayed, Lord, there are some good people there. Will You destroy the whole city and everybody in it because of some villains there? What if there are fifty good people? Will You still destroy the city? And God said, If there are fifty good people, I won't destroy the city. Then Abraham got more pitying and asked, What if there are fifty minus five, forty-five good people? Then will You destroy the city? God said If there are forty-five good people, I will not destroy the city. It is human nature that when God relents and yields, we ask for more. So Abraham said, What if there are only forty good people? In this way it came down to thirty, twenty-five, then twenty.
At this point Abraham felt self-conscious. He said, God, I have been really insolent to You and taking too much advantage of Your leniency, but one last question. God said, What is it? Abraham asked, What if there are only ten good people? God promised, If there are ten good people, I will not destroy the city. But there were only four good people: Lot, his wife, and two daughters. Two angels entered the city and were guests of Lot; right there and then the people's wickedness came out against them. Lot's family got scared but the angels blinded everyone and told Lot, Abscond from this city safely. No one will see you. And eventually the city was destroyed. There are many wicked people on Earth and they will come out more so as time goes by. It will not be hidden anymore.
WHEN THE PROPHETS COME They trigger or accelerate karmas. Then whatever is inside a person will expose, either good or bad. That which was previously suppressed or hidden is exposed. In Krishna's days, He brought out both the virtuous and the evil, exposing people as they had never been known before. Krishna knew each soul already and so will Kalki. The Prophets create situations—time, place and opportunity—which bring forth both the angelic as well as the devilish.
During Rama's age, Manthara was a maidservant, supposedly a good lady, serving Rama's stepmother. But given the right circumstances, Manthara came out wicked and became the cause of Rama's exile. Therefore, according to Vedanta, we never take for granted: good as good, or bad as bad, absolutely. We wait for exposure or unfoldment. That is the way of the lila or play—to let it unfold by its own natural laws rather than condemn someone ahead of time. Their coming and Presence alone triggers exposure. In every Incarnation this is a fact.
Jesus' disciples appeared to be all good people. They followed Him and gave up everything. How many of them proved to be really steadfast? Probably a few, including the two Marys—Mary Magdalene and His mother. Nearly everyone else faltered—the cock crowing three times, the thirty pieces of silver, etcetera. The Prophet knows but He may not expose or declare until the right time comes. Those who are afraid of being exposed, once they are, turn evil, reviling, revengeful, inimical, negative and so on. Before that they carry on very well: courteous, honest. Exposure is the test. Whatever the Avatars do, we know that it will not be easy. If it were easy, They would not need to come.
Why does God do all this? One very simple word—whether you are Hindu, Christian or Buddhist—because He loves us. He does"horrible"things if that is the only way we leave open. We force Him to do that when we give no other choice. The only alternative is to not do anything, but would God allow adharma—unrighteousness—to triumph over Dharma—righteousness? That would be the end of the creation!
Very commonly we hear and read, God loves you, which is true, but from the Vedic point of view, it is written that God loves us so much that in every age He comes on Earth to take care of us. If He did not love us, He would not bother to come and save us. Not only does God love us—God is Love. What does this mean in relation to the Prophets? They really love us—but They do not harp on it.
ALL LIFE ON EARTH—HUMAN, ANIMAL, TREES AND PLANTS—responds to the vibrations of love. We have seen that plants grow better when we lovingly tend them; animals respond to us better if we have love and harmlessness in our hearts. If we were truly loving, we would not invite destruction. When you come to love, pure love, you will easily see why everyone, whether in family life, social life or ashram life, is hankering after love. That is the only tangible thing. Try to do spiritual practices for thirty or fifty years without feelings—it will go nowhere, like bullocks with blinders going 'round and 'round a mill grinding seeds; in the evening they are in the same spot where they started; no progress.
You have to truly love and serve the Lord with a very pure heart, not in competition with someone else or jealousy or prejudice against other cultures and religions. You cannot get near heaven or God that way. Your love has to unite with God's Love. What is more consoling and satisfying than love? If you are trying to serve the Lord to impress Him, you are doomed. Even Lucifer demanded from God that he had been near and had every right to be near. But Lucifer had lost the way and became egotistical, selfish and ambitious. Love is not a matter of rights.
We do need love; and are hungry after it. That is the only language we actually understand. God accepts love only when it comes from purity of heart. If He comes on a white horse with a sword and throws fire and brimstone, what other option does He have? Some are afraid to read or hear about such things, but what if we leave God no other choice? We seldom think about that. We do not realize what ego has become: stubborn, demanding, willful, selfish. We have difficulty in loving very purely, unconditionally, as if, by loving the Lord unconditionally, we become nothing. This struggle goes on. Therefore I consider His coming in a destructive aspect to be a blessing in disguise, His mercy. God sees our deeds and our hearts, but mainly the heart. Whatever is based upon ego separation is the greatest and worst sin. That is blindness, which is exactly what ego is.
Humility softens us, purifies us and takes us out of these stubborn ruts. It is an indispensable prerequisite to reach the chamber of love. The meek shall inherit the Earth. True humility purifies the heart. Those who are proud, arrogant, willful, ambitious, competitive, jealous and untruthful cannot love the Lord, even if they profess to. They eventually prove to be revengeful betrayers. Why? Because they were not truly humble in the first place! They may have looked good simply because they were yet to be exposed. They did not love the Lord or their Master, they cared only for themselves.
Today it is a common 'philosophy' that unless you love yourself, you cannot love others. Quite the reverse. If it were the True Self, that would be different, but those who proclaim this mean to love themselves: their ego and mind. That is the travesty or perversion of this age, the Kali Yuga—boosting the ego. The only language through which we can unite with the Lord/True Self is love, and that is the meaning of unconditional love. Every other love is conditioned and therefore selfish, possessive, attached, which brings in insecurity and weakness.
Kalki will help us. The Second Advent of Christ will help us. That is what the Prophets come for; that is Their work. Allow Them to do it. Stand by Them. Those who stand by God are devotees. Krishna openly said: I have come to save my devotees. It was not partiality; He came to save the virtuous. So if you want God's manifestation or birth on Earth, if you want to be His instrument, you have to be pure-hearted.
That ego-demolishing or humbling is what makes you wise. It is genuine love that God sees, in which ego is non-existent, or at least humbled. If you have that, the Prophet is with you. Distinguish between true goodness and so-called goodness. When Jesus sat at the last supper and exposed his own disciples, they all shuddered, fearing what He might say. Some would deny Him. Some would betray Him. Others would leave Him. Had He said more, perhaps only a few would have remained.
WHO WILL STAND BY THE COMING AVATAR? IT WILL BE MULTITUDES. He cannot do His work alone. It will be a colossal destruction. The real test is when we are put against the wall, tight-cornered. Then our true nature comes out. Do you think, therefore, that the coming Prophet cannot distinguish? Many surprises may follow; you may be alarmed.
A wound or sickness must be exposed by a doctor so it can be healed. Hiding the disease from the doctor will not help. You may not welcome exposure but accept it with humility if it is true. Then God will clear it and clean it. This the language of love: He means good even when it is painful. When a doctor operates, it is very painful, but then he puts on a balm to heal you. God and Gurus do the same: They may seem hurtful at times but then They put a balm on the injury, curing it nicely—if you humbly allow Them.
Have faith. He will take care of your salvation. Live for God's sake; eat for God's sake; look after your family for God's sake; earn money for God's sake; be charitable for God's sake; use your talents for God's sake; sing for God's sake. If you are fearful, your love is deficient. He does not like us to fear Him. When you purely, fully love Him, you will be free from all anxiety, fear, worry and doubt. Instead of focusing on your deficiencies, just love the Lord. There is nothing greater than that.
Edited from the Satsangs: Kalki Avatar, the Coming Prophet
www.cgsun.psych.arizona.edu/jforster/KalkiAvatar.htm
“The destroying Powers of Kalki ... is sharpest of all... Krishna's Powers are given to Him which are only Hanana Shakti; Brahmadeva's Powers which are only Hanana Shakti are given to Him; Shiva's Powers which are just Hanana Shakti ... is given to Him. Then Bhairava Shakti which is also ... the symbol of killing ... And also Ganesha's Paresha and also Hanumana's ... which are going to destroy are given to Him. All Buddha's forgiveness and Mahavira's ahimsa is going to turn upside down. All these eleven Powers are going to come on top of us when we will be finished with Sahaja Yoga, when we will be absolutely sorted out, and the Last Killing will be done by Him.”
The Adi Shakti Shri Mataji
Kundalini And Kalki Shakti, Bombay, India—September 28, 1979
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi
The Paraclete Shri Mataji Self-Knowledge For Resurrection
Easter Puja, Calcutta, India — March 14, 1995
"But these are special time, the Blossom Time. They call it the Last Judgment, you can call it the Resurrection Time, you can call it the Qiyamah, they call it in Koran. It is said that people will come out of their graves and will get their Resurrection. I mean what is left to the graves is nothing but a few stones and a few bones. No, all these souls which are dead will take their birth, take human body and take their Realization in these special times. This is a sensible thing to say and is also happening.”
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
"There are lots of myths in the Bible and one of them is that at the Time of Resurrection your bodies will come out of the graves. This is not only for Christians, but also for the Muslims and Jews. Think of this - What remains in the grave after many years? Only a few bones. And if these bones came out how can you give them Realization? Think of it. It is a big myth. Not possible logically. In Nal Damyanti Akhyan they have clearly given that when the Kalyug will come, all these seekers who are seeking in the hills and mountains will be born again, and they will be given their Self- Realization! Their Kundalinis will be awakened and that is logical, because that is what we are doing today.”
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
"But the Muslims do not want to talk about Resurrection (Al Qadr: The Night of Power) at all because they want to frighten people with the Doomsday (Al Qariah: Day of Noise and Clamor). They don't want to talk about the Resurrection Time which is going to come, which is the intermediary time, because they want to use the time which will frighten people by saying that: 'Now your Doomsday is coming! Now your Doomsday is coming!'"
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
"There is a very big chapter on Resurrection, but the fundamentalists don't want to look at it. They believe their religion is the best. But what would it has done to anyone? It is so much misinterpreted... so much misinterpreted.”
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
"And even in Koran, Mohamed Sahab says that all the Heavens lie at the Lotus Feet of The Mother. Among them, among Muslims there are Sufis who are realized souls and also accepted in the society. The other day I met somebody in Paris, a very high person in the Islamic world and he accepted Sahaja Yoga. He said it is described in Koran that there has to be Qiyamah, the Resurrection - we believe in Resurrection. Also it is for Christians or Hindus, everybody, they have to be resurrected to a higher state. It is just for money and power are some people who are trying to mislead others, keeping them away from Resurrection. I must say they are committing the greatest sin against the Holy Ghost.”
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
"Today, Sahaja Yoga has reached the state of Mahayoga, which is en- masse evolution manifested through it. It is this day's Yuga Dharma. It is the way the Last Judgment is taking place. Announce it to all the seekers of truth, to all the nations of the world, so that nobody misses the blessings of the Divine to achieve their meaning, their absolute, their spirit.”
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
"The main thing that one has to understand is that the time has come for you to get all that is promised in the scriptures, not only in the Bible but all the scriptures of the world. The time has come today that you have to become a Christian, a Brahmin, a Pir, through your Kundalini awakening only. There is no other way. And that your Last Judgment is also now.”
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
"These are the times described in the Holy Bible as the Last Judgment and in the Koran as Qiyamah — the Resurrection Time. Astrologically it also called the Age of Aquarius, the Time of Rebirth and of great spiritual development on the Earth.”
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
"It is very hard to believe that we can become the Spirit. This is one of the big myths of Modern Times and many a times when I speak about becoming the Spirit people say that," How can you say like that?”How can it be that easy?” But it is a living process of our evolution and if it is done by the Power of a living God, then it has to be very simple, has to be very easy... Today that Time has come. That Time has come. The Time of Judgment has come and at this Time we have to see that we'll be judging ourselves; but not by some sort of an authority, but by something which is within us which we call as the Kundalini, is placed in the triangular bone called as sacrum. Just see, Greeks knew about it. That's why they call the bone as sacrum. But what is this bone in the biblical understanding - it is the reflection of the Holy Ghost (Ruh).”
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
"But in a way is good because this is Last Judgment. If by marriage, by temptations, by wrong doings, by conditionings if you have to go out, you have to go out. I must tell you that also there's very little place in the Kingdom of God. Unless and until you prove to be good Sahaja Yogis, there is no place for you. For mediocre there is no place. You have to serious, deep, seeking, dedicated Sahaja Yogis otherwise you have no place.”
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
"So this is the Last Judgment and you will be judged for everything that you do for Sahaja Yoga. One has to be very careful as to how you behave, what is your attitude is and how you should change.”
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
"It is shocking to see where people are going-just towards hell directly. For a mother it is a thing of great concern. How to stop this fall? How to get them out of it? How to make them understand what is their worth, their value? You should not take human life for granted. It is a very precious life which was created out of many processes. It was created with great difficulty. Don't forget that you have to become the Spirit without which your life is a waste. Nay, the whole creation is just a waste because you are the highest in creation. You are the epitome of that creation.”
The Paraclete Shri Mataji
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