The Atma Jyoti Blog

Today we begin posting extracts from Yogananda’s The Second Coming of Christ articles that originally appeared in East-West, Inner Culture, and Self-Realization magazines. Our purpose is to inspire you:

1. by the words of the great Master; and
2. to obtain and study the two-volume set of The Second Coming of Christ
   which contains all the material that was in the magazines plus a great deal more taken from various talks of Yoganandaji.

After fifty years of reading his expositions of the Gospels I can confidently say that I believe Yogananda understood the teachings of Jesus perfectly and has relayed them to us equally perfectly. “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46).
– Swami Nirmalananda Giri

Preface

These spiritual interpretations, received and interpreted through Christ Consciousness, are the methods which the Masters have taken to show the world the common, scientific platform of intuitive perception, where the Christian Bible, the Hindu Bhagavad Gita (Hindu Old and New Testaments), and true Scriptures of all true religions, can find unity. The Spiritual interpretation of the Christian Bible reveals and liberates the Truth hidden in the dark caves of theoretical and theological studies.

Jesus Christ was crucified once, but His Christian teaching has been, and is now being, crucified by ignorant people. The understanding and application of these intuitively perceived teachings are attempting to show how the Christ Consciousness of Jesus, free from theological crucifixion, can be brought back a second time into the souls of men.

These spiritual interpretations are born of intuition, and will be found to be universally true if they are meditated upon with intuitive perception.

The Universal Christ

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God” (John 1:12).

As a small cup cannot hold an ocean within it, no matter how willing it may be to do so, likewise the cup of material human consciousness cannot grasp the universal Christ Consciousness, no matter how desirous it is. But when the aspirant, by meditation, enlarges the caliber of his consciousness to Omniscience, he can hold the universal consciousness in all atoms (Christ Consciousness) within his own. This is what is meant by “received Him.” Thus, according to Jesus, all souls who can actually find their souls one with Christ Consciousness, by intuitive self-realization, can be called the “sons of God.”

All scriptures, such as the Bhagavad Gita, or the Hindu Bible, and the Christian Bible, have a threefold meaning. In other words, the Scriptures deal with the three factors of human beings, namely, the material, the mental, and the spiritual. Hence, all true scriptures have been so written that they serve to be beneficial to the body, mind, and soul of man. True scriptures are like the wells of divine waters, which can quench the threefold material, mental, and spiritual thirsts of man. In addition, the scriptures, in order to be worthwhile, should really help the businessman, the mental man, and the spiritual man. Although both the material and the psychological interpretations of the scriptures are necessary, it should be remembered that the scriptural authors undertook with great pains to point out to man that the spiritual interpretations are of supreme importance to him.

A materially or intellectually successful man may not be the truly scientifically successful man who makes a perfect success of life; whereas a spiritual man is the happy “all-round” man, who is healthy, intellectual, contented, and truly prosperous, with all-satisfying wisdom. Since by intuition the spiritual authors first sought to make man primarily spiritual, I give the spiritual interpretation with the psychological and material interpretations interwoven. These interpretations will help alike the spiritual aspirant, the intellectual man, and the businessman.

These intuitively perceived spiritual interpretations of the words spoken by Jesus Christ are to be studied every day conscientiously and meditated upon by true Christians and all true devotees of God.

Universal Christ Consciousness appeared in the vehicle of Jesus, and through meditation these intuitionally received interpretations of the Scriptures, the Christ Consciousness is coming a second time to manifest through the consciousness of every true devotee of God.

Next: The Divine Nature of Jesus, the Boy

Visit Amazon to purchase your copy of The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You (2 Volume Set) for continuous study.