Hi,
I have faith that the Lord Jesus Christ is God. I see that Yogananda has written a commentary on the Bible. I have it but have not read it all. The main belief of followers of Christ is that if you believe Christ was resurrected from the dead and that he is the son of God then you shall have eternal life. Does Yogananda write anything about this? Why would he not encourage people to believe in Christ and become free after death?
—Joe, USA
Dear Joe,
It is very good that you have faith that the Lord Jesus Christ is God, because it is true! But it is also important to remember that Jesus said (talking to all of us!) that “…you, too are Gods.” Jesus also said that “…everything I have done, you can do also.”
Jesus was and is a son of God, but so are we too, sons and daughters of God! We just have not fully realized (yet!) who and what we really are.
We all have eternal life — always have and always will have it, just as Jesus does. Physical death does not mark the end of our existence.
Jesus was a great Master as was Yogananda, Krishna, the Buddha, and as are many others. They found the way to overcome the need to keep reincarnating again and again in order to learn all needed lessons, and the way to merge back into oneness with God.
After they have achieved this freedom and final liberation, they come back to Earth, to show us how to do that also. It is our eventual destiny. But it can take a long time, so they offer teachings and techniques (and shortcuts!) to help us with this journey home.
Yogananda did write a quite a lot about Jesus, and about who he was/is, what his deeper teachings really mean, and so on. I’d strongly recommend that you read the Resurrection of Christ. I think it will answer all your questions.
Paramhansa Yogananda absolutely did encourage people to believe that Jesus Christ lived and taught, as he did also, how to attain the Christ Consciousness within themselves and how to attain complete freedom, liberation, and oneness with God.
And the good news is that you don’t have to wait for your death for this to happen. It’s yours now, if you want to find it through prayer and meditation.
