I love studying theology and have been trying to interpret and understand a lot of them for a long time now. I read the blog about the allegory of Adam, Eve and the Garden of Eden story. But I was also curious about what the story of Jesus meant and how it connects to the beginning story?
Also I would love to know what skills I can use to help me better read and Interpret spiritual texts?
—Maya Day, United States
Dear Friend,
Members of Ananda are inspired by the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda. Yogananda (PY) termed his work in the West the Second Coming of Christ. This shows how important it was to him and the wish of those who sent him from India. PY’s purpose was to show how a deeper understanding of the life of Jesus Christ and some of the Bible teachings resonate with the deeper teachings of the East, especially as taught in the Bhagavad Gita and as interpreted by PY’s own lineage in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Thus I offer to you the writings of PY and also those of Ananda’s founder (who was trained and ordained by PY), Swami Kriyananda. Swami Kriyananda’s foremost book specific to this topic is “Revelations of Christ” (published by Crystal Clarity Publishers). I myself have just published the next version of that, “Once and Future Christ” (both are also on sellers like Amazon). {I’ll be offering a four-week online discussion/class beg’g Wednesday, October 18, 7 pm PDT). (www.AnandaWA.org) Both books touch on the questions you have asked. [Self Realization Fellowship has their books on this topic: a massive two-volume tome and an abridged version, the Yoga of Jesus.]
It could be said that God walked with Adam and Eve (metaphorically or otherwise) until their fateful decision and expulsion from the garden of God’s presence. Some reconciliation therefore is needed.
Jesus incarnated to declare himself a son of God, meaning that God’s consciousness takes human form for the upliftment of souls. Jesus is not, nor could ever be, the ONLY such incarnation because humanity needs recurring appearances to address the needs of people of a reminder of our destiny as children of God, made in His image. The message is always the same but the times and consciousness of the people will vary as to who has “ears to hear!” Many others have come down through the ages including but not limited to Buddha, Krishna, Rama and, for many of us, Yogananda in these times.
PY used the term Second Coming as a kind of ‘pun’. Yes, he, PY “came” to the West in the name and at the behest of Jesus, but more deeply and more universally the “second coming” of a Christ-like master is the awakening of the universal Christ consciousness in the heart of the devotee-disciple. This is the very purpose of the true guru or savior! Not to impress us with who he is but to remind us of who WE are and to do so by igniting the spark of that memory in our souls by a transmission of that spark soul-to soul.
Well, it’s a big subject but I hope this helps a little.
Blessings,
Nayaswami Hriman
