Why Do We Celebrate Christmas?

What is the reason for the season?

Nayaswami Ananta: We celebrate Christmas really based on two factors. Of course, the Old Testament leads us toward Christmas with the promise of the Messiah, and all throughout the Old Testament this comes to Christmas. The winter solstice is right around Christmas. I have heard that the date of Christmas was moved or invented to echo the celebration of the Winter Solstice.

In the modern era, we [also] celebrate Christmas for two reasons. First, the world has come to mark Christmas as the birth of  Jesus Christ and so the satsang of Christmas is worldwide.  Yogananda celebrated Christmas on December 25.  [Second] it is the celebration of the consciousness promised in the Old Testament: that the consciousness of Divine Love, as embodied by Christ and his life as the avatar, is celebrated throughout the world. The ‘avatarship’ of Christ, the World Mission of Christ is played out in the Christmas story to such an amazingly symbolic and mystical portrait that it’s called The Greatest Story Ever Told.

Krishna by Yogeshvara, Deviant Art

I am sure that the Hindus would say the greatest story ever told was Srimad Bhagavatam and the story of Krishna — but the life of Christ – the story of Christmas, the inner meaning of Christmas, the difficulties that Mary and Joseph had in having the birth, having to travel for the census, no room in the inn, all the difficulties that we see symbolically of Christ consciousness – [that are] being born in us are covered in that story. So we celebrate Christmas because it’s an opportunity culturally for the world to embrace truths that are eternal and that are rooted in the mystical birth of the Christ Consciousness within us. It’s one of the few times that the world is celebrating something that the yogis and the disciples of the mystic Christ can overlap with [that of] Santa Claus and Christmas trees and “Joy to the World” and all those aspects. So it’s a perfect overlay of the world’s habits, cultural habits, and the mystical truths of the inner anatomy of the soul: the Christ Center, the love and purity of Christ, Christ Consciousness [and] the Aum as represented by Mother Mary giving birth to the Christ Consciousness. It’s really a wonderful convergence of culture and the mystical practices of yoga and inner communion.

What does ‘The Christ’ mean & what is Christ Consciousness?

Nayaswami Ananta: The Christ means the anointed one if you translate it from the Greek but the Christ is the consciousness that is the perfect reflection of the Father within creation. Jesus would say, ‘I and My Father are one’ and, of course, he was speaking the truth. Most people of his time and I’m afraid most people of our time would not understand what he was talking about. The Christ is the second part of the Trinity, both in Hinduism and in Christianity, the father is in him, the Sanskrit is Sat, Truth, the son is Tat, or that referring to the Christ Consciousness, and the third part of the Trinity is Aum or Holy Spirit. The Christ Consciousness is the consciousness that does pervade the universe but is exemplified by the life of Jesus, all the avatars, and all liberated beings – in that they express, not ego consciousness, not a separate, diluted, or divided consciousness, but the unitive consciousness of the Divine Father, and that is the Christ. Jesus, the man had the Christ Consciousness. So Christ was the title of Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus the Christ. He would share that (title) with Krishna, Buddha, and all the avatars, all the masters, and all… really, all enlightened beings who are liberated would be able to be living Christ(s).

The Christ Consciousness is accessible to all human beings. We all have chakras. We all have the potential to reflect the Christ Consciousness, live the Christ Consciousness, and realize the Christ Consciousness. As Rajarshi Janakananda said, there is no difference between one master and another master because they’ve attained the Christ Consciousness. It’s a very high state and so, it’s not unusual that Jesus was not understood when he said, “I and my Father are one.”

He was eventually tried and crucified for expressing that truth. It is, in fact, the truth. And the goal of our human existence is to lift our center, our consciousness, our awareness to the Christ Center, and to expand our hearts with Christ’s love so that we can see the world from the vantage point of Christ Consciousness. In that, we would see or do see Christ Consciousness in everyone—and the pervading nature as Aum pervading all the animals, the natural experiences, and seeing human behavior as ideally Christ Consciousness.

The Christ Consciousness: filtered by the ego, by desires, by the veil of materialism, and yet still originating in Christ Consciousness. We have a soul memory of the unitive consciousness of the Father and we are striving. We are drawn—we are making efforts to attain that and regain that in our lives.

Some people attempt (it) by accumulating wealth, accumulating worldly power, and by accumulating human love. But really, there is a memory of the father who encompasses eight aspects of perfection, divine love, divine power, divine peace, divine joy. These aspects we’re striving for because we remember them faintly but we do remain… remain striving for them, striving for the Christ Consciousness. When we see the life of Christ, the Buddha, Krishna, the other avatars and masters, we feel in our hearts that that is the reality that we’re seeking.

I’ll tell you one quick story. We went to a movie in Sacramento, California many years ago. A group of us went and it was a movie about Mother Teresa. It was in a movie theater. We paid our movie fee and we went in and watched a movie. The movie was about Mother Teresa, a documentary. And so, we all sat there. Everyone. It was a full house, sold out and everyone watched the movie, and then the movie was over and the lights went on. Everyone in the theater stood up and gave it a standing ovation because everyone recognizes the Christ Consciousness.

We could recognize it in this movie because Mother Teresa was channeling Christ Consciousness from her guru, Jesus Christ – her being a Christian nun. But there was no one in the theater: Mother Teresa was not there; none of the Sisters of her order were there. It was just an empty movie theater but everyone just stood up and gave it a standing ovation because everyone loves the Christ Consciousness – only they don’t know it as much as they need to.

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