I have 3 question about Mary the Mother of Jesus
Did Mary know from the beginning the faith of Jesus ?
Was Mary highly evolved spiritual person or was she just a random woman God picked ?
And did she really stay a virgin all her life ?
—SK, World
Thank you for your question. Paramhansa Yogananda delves deeply into the teachings of Jesus Christ in his book, The Second Coming of Christ. I will answer your questions briefly here.
Mary knew from the beginning that she was carrying a very spiritual child, indeed the Messiah. This was made obvious from the start when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her. And her older cousin, Elizabeth, proclaimed it when she felt own child leap in her womb at the approach of the pregnant Mary. Elizabeth intuited that Mary was carrying the Messiah before Mary even breathed a word of it to her cousin. Mary the replied with this Song of Praise: The Magnificat.
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name….
Mary was a very evolved person. She would have to be in order to carry such a soul. The mothers of avatars, or great spiritual Masters, are often very advanced or even liberated souls.
You ask if she remained a virgin her whole life. The term Virgin Mary relates primarily to her state of virgin birth. It is not really our business if she remained a virgin her whole life. She could have stayed in an elevated state even if she conceived more children. But after having had such an extraordinary conception and child, it seems most likely she would remain a virgin.
This story about Ananda Moyi Ma from Chapter 45 in Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda, gives us a glimpse how a revered saint woman might remain a virgin her whole life, even while married.
The Bengali “Joy-Permeated” Mother
“It is beautiful here,” Ananda Moyi Ma said graciously as I led her into the main building. She seated herself with a childlike smile by my side. The closest of dear friends, she made one feel, yet an aura of remoteness was ever around herthe paradoxical isolation of Omnipresence.
“Please tell me something of your life.”
“Father knows all about it; why repeat it?” She evidently felt that the factual history of one short incarnation was beneath notice.
I laughed, gently repeating my question.
“Father, there is little to tell.” She spread her graceful hands in a deprecatory gesture. “My consciousness has never associated itself with this temporary body. Before I came on this earth, Father, ‘I was the same.’ As a little girl, ‘I was the same.’ I grew into womanhood, but still ‘I was the same.’ When the family in which I had been born made arrangements to have this body married, ‘I was the same.’ And when, passion-drunk, my husband came to me and murmured endearing words, lightly touching my body, he received a violent shock, as if struck by lightning, for even then ‘I was the same.’
“My husband knelt before me, folded his hands, and implored my pardon.
“‘Mother,’ he said, ‘because I have desecrated your bodily temple by touching it with the thought of lustnot knowing that within it dwelt not my wife but the Divine MotherI take this solemn vow: I shall be your disciple, a celibate follower, ever caring for you in silence as a servant, never speaking to anyone again as long as I live. May I thus atone for the sin I have today committed against you, my guru.’
“Even when I quietly accepted this proposal of my husband’s, ‘I was the same.’ And, Father, in front of you now, ‘I am the same.’ Ever afterward, though the dance of creation change around me in the hall of eternity, ‘I shall be the same.'”
Sometimes people point out that there are scattered references to Jesus having brothers. If they are truly siblings, they could have been conceived in circumstances such as were described by Paramhansa Yogananda regarding his own parents. However, there is another possibility. In India as well as in many parts of the middle east, it is very common for cousins to refer to each other as brother or sister. I believe this custom is common when families live close by to each other, so cousins have a relationship that sibling-like. I have had this come up many times in conversations when I talk to people from those lands. They might say, “Oh my brother told me…” And I respond that I thought that they were an only child, And the person will tell me that they are indeed an only child, and the “brother” is what we Americans would call a cousin. Thereafter, for my sake only, they would giggle and call him “my cousin-brother” for clarity. But simply calling him a cousin felt far too distant a relationship. As I said, this has happened several times with families from different countries.
I hope this answers your questions. You can learn more in this book, Revelations of Christ: Proclaimed by Paramhansa Yogananda, as presented by his disciple Swami Kriyananda.
Blessings,
Mary Kretzmann
