Did you ever ask
yourself, why Christmas is celebrated in many countries on December 25th.
Roman Catholics
and Anglicans celebrate Midnight Mass and the Lutherans of Germany and
Scandinavia traditionally celebrate on Christmas Eve on the 24th.
We don’t know the
exact date when Jesus was born, most people choose December 25 to celebrate
this occasion.
So let us take a
look into history.
We do know that
as long as civilizations existed, there were holidays, times set aside for the
celebration of gods or seasons. Some holidays were held at specific times, like
the festival of spring ushering in the return of life.
There were the
harvest festivals and those in mid winter. Mid winter festivals were always popular,
it was cold and dark and there was little to do outside. People wanted a break
and some stimulation. They decorated their homes and around the house to break
up the dreary months of winter. Today we see similarities in decorated windows
and doors.
I the past there
were other reasons associate with these festivals. Winter was known as a time
of famine. There was not enough feed for excess life stock, so some of it had
to be slaughtered. This provided an opportunity for people to get together and share in
the feast.
Another reason for
celebration was the winter solstice, bringing with it the gradual start of
longer days.
Around this time
there was also an ancient Roman festival in honor of the deity Saturn held on
December 17 of the Julian calendar that later expanded with festivities through
December 23.
The holiday was
celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn in the Roman forum followed
by a public banquet, and gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere
that overturned Roman social norms: gambling was permitted, and masters
provided table service for their slaves.
The first
recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in 336AD,
during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine. A few years later, Pope
Julius I officially declared, hat the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the
25th December.
So let us
remember, that when making the exchange of presents the primary reason to
celebrate the birth of Jesus, we do the same thing as the Romans did almost
2000 years ago.
But today, we
have come together in remembrance of the birth of Jesus the Christ, the
embodiment of love and forgiveness.
Jesus showed us
that the heart can be purified through the love of God.
When we look at
history, it shows us that cultures move in waves. They rise and they fall.
When cultures
fall, which is often the result of wrong living; people are looking for answers
outside themselves instead of into their own lives.
In the yoga traditions
we read, that whenever the spiritual life, truth and righteousness of nations
have been neglected or forgotten, God incarnates in the form of a person to
re-light the flame of spirituality in the hearts men.
In the Bhagavad
Gita we read:
Whenever goodness
grows weak,
When evil
increases,
I make myself a
body.
In every age I
come back
To deliver the
holy,
To destroy the
sin of the sinner, and
Establish
righteousness.
God came to earth
in the form of Krishna, Buddha and Jesus.
Each of them had
a distinct message for humanity.
Jesus came at a
critical time in history. It was a time, when the world was in need for
spiritual hope and regeneration.
His message was
not to form diverse churches, by each church claiming him as their own.
His was a universal
message of unity, and brotherly love, of forgiveness, compassion, renunciation,
equality, and supreme love for God.
His message is
one of the grandest ever given.
He reminded us
that it is written in the scriptures, “know ye not that ye are gods”, children
of the most high.
St. John
expressed the spirit of Christ’s teaching when he said:
“But as many as receive him (the Christ
Consciousness, or God’s intelligence that is present in all of creation and was
manifested in Jesus), to them gave he powers to become the sons of God.”
John 1:12
This is a message
of hope for all, the down trodden, the poor and the sick, it is a message for
all of humanity.
Jesus himself
spoke of the omnipresent Christ Consciousness when he said,
“Are not two
sparrows sold for a farthing or penny? And not one of them shall fall from the
ground without (the sight of) your father.
Mathew
10:29
This shows us,
that God’s consciousness or Spirit is everywhere. His body represents the
entire cosmos.
We can feel His
omnipresent consciousness in our hearts as this great spiritual vibration; we
call love, a love that embraces everything in creation.
We can also
experience the Christ Consciousness; God’s creative, intelligent in creation.
Jesus was one
with Christ Consciousness and when we experience this creative, intelligent force
in our lives, we are one in Christ.
We may ask how,
how can we feel this consciousness?
Our whole being
will be filled with love and light. Jesus said:” I am the light of the world”.
When we are one with his light, we are one with Christ.
From Jesus we
learn that the purpose of religion is to expand human consciousness and unite
it with the omnipresent Christ Consciousness in all of creation.
A core message of
Jesus which is seldom spoken of and also much miss-understood was about God’s
kingdom.
Jesus proclaimed:”Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and all thing will be given
unto you.”
Matthew
6:33
The only prayer
he is known to have given to his disciples was:”Thy Kingdom come, on earth as
it is in heaven.”
Many times he
spoke of the Kingdom of the Heavenly Father and the way to attain it.
“Except a man be
born again of Water and Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.”
John 3:5
“Strive to enter
the straight gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall
not be able.”
Luke13:24
No man has
ascended unto heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man
which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the son of man be lifted up.
Mark 9:47
I am the door. If
anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
John 10:9
I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 14:6
What we need to
realize is, that the kingdom of God does not come through sensory observation;
neither can it be found by those who say: Behold it is here and there or
somewhere in the clouds.
The kingdom is
within and we will find it hidden behind our material consciousness.
Many people think
of heaven as a physical location. A point in space, above the stars, others
interpret Jesus’ statement about the coming of the kingdom of God by referring
to the coming of a Messiah to establish the rule over a divine kingdom on
earth.
The kingdom of
God and the kingdom of heaven consist of the transcendental Cosmic
Consciousness (the Absolute transcendental Spirit existing beyond creation, God
the Father) and the causal and astral realms of vibratory creation that are
much finer and more harmonized with God’s will, than the physical vibrations
that form the planets, the air and the earthly surroundings.
The material
objects that we perceive, originate and exist beyond our senses. Their origin
lies in cosmic consciousness, hidden behind the layers of matter, physical,
subtle energy and thought.
The kingdom of
God is not separate from the kingdom of matter, but is within it, pervading it
in subtle form, both as its origin and its sustainer.
This is why Jesus
said, it is futile to look for heaven with material consciousness, identified
with bodily sensations and pleasures of earthly comfort.
In the kingdom of
matter and body consciousness we find disease and mental and physical suffering;
but turning within, to our inner kingdom, we find the comforter or the Holy
Spirit manifesting in the subtle cerebrospinal centers of spiritual
consciousness.
Being aware of
these spinal cerebral centers and their significance, we can determine where we
are on the spiritual path and accordingly deepen our awakening toward Self
realization and God realization.
When we are
carried along the stream of the outgoing material consciousness, we experience
earthly attachment and the limitations of the body.
Yet when we
follow the inward stream of meditation we can attain the kingdom of God.
Jesus taught that
we need to expand our consciousness from ordinary consciousness to Universal
Christ Consciousness (the projected consciousness of God immanent in all of
creation. In Christian terms, it is the “only begotten son,” the only pure
reflection in creation of God the Father,) and then to God Consciousness by
following the inward flowing stream of consciousness by meditating on AUM to
reach the blissful Kingdom of God that exists behind the obstruction of the
physical body to experience Oneness with the God of all.
The message of
Jesus embraces all levels of Existence, all levels of Consciousness, leading to
Eternal Bliss.
Leading a God
centered life, leads us to know God. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and
ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
KJB Matthew 7:7
Jesus did not go
through his earthly ministry and suffering to primarily provide discussion
material for church ceremonies. His mission was to uplift the consciousness of
the people.
Let Christ be
born anew in us and let us carry PEACE AND JOY the true message of Christmas
wherever we go
Let us open our
inner eyes of soul wisdom and behold the omnipresent Light of God. Within this
Light is the consciousness of Christ, the "Son" or pure reflection of
God present everywhere in the universe. This Christ Consciousness, the Infinite
Christ, which was in Jesus, is God's intelligence and love shining on our souls,
urging us to look at this Light within and we shall see all ignorance and
diversities vanish.
To him who has
opened his inner eye, everything is One.
May God’s
Blessings Guide us on our ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment