The Resurrection and the Ascension (Chapter 4)

                           butterflycopy.jpg purple butterfly

                                 

The butterfly provides us with a magnificent example of how symbolically one can be transformed from a caterpillar, bound to the earth like a mortal being, to a butterfly free to fly up into the heavens like an Immortal Being.

artwork by Amoraea Dreamseed

The Resurrection and the Ascension are all about reuniting our lower selves with our Higher Selves. Regarding the process of Self Realization the Eckankar scriptures teach: Not until the lower self has been absorbed into the Higher Self can the illusion of personality be broken. …It is thus that the human is raised to the divine Self. (Shariyat-Ki-SUGMAD Vol. 2:90) In his book The Tiger's Fang (p65) Paul Twitchell describes the process of Self Realization: When you see Sat Nam [the Sikh Religion’s God of the Soul Plane] you cry out, “I am He,” or “I am God.” You merge your identity into the Supreme Reality of God.

The Tibetan Eck Master Rebazar Tarzs, who is apparently over five hundred years of age, teaches: The Lord Jesus was Resurrected. …The star of Bethlehem was the signal to all people that a Savior had been born. …Jesus showed the world that death could be overcome. …When the Lord sent a Divine Son into the world, He did so to prove that man can overcome death also as Jesus did; and when the Divine Son goes through the process of death… the whole universe goes through the process of regeneration. Whatever a great Soul like Jesus does upon this earth affects mankind throughout the whole life of the earth. …So I tell ye that AS LONG AS THERE IS A NECESSITY IN THY LIFE FOR BIRTH THERE WILL BE A NECESSITY FOR RESURRECTION. WHEN SOULS EVOLVE TO THIS POINT, THEY ARE FREE FROM THE WHEEL OF LIFE AND NO LONGER NEED TO INCARNATE UPON THE EARTH, and the necessity for either birth or death is done away with. (Stranger by the River by Paul Twitchell p125-128) In the book Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East by Baird T. Spalding (Vol. 2:100) a Master teaches: The Goal of every life should be the Resurrection rather than the crucifixion.

                                                                              Kabir

Another Master, apart from Jesus, who apparently Resurrected His physical body from the dead, was Kabir. He was a 16th century religious leader who combined facets of the Muslim and Hindu religions. After His death in 1518, His followers were divided over whether to cremate His body, which Hindus favour but Muslims oppose. Kabir is said to have appeared to stop the controversy. When He directed them to draw back the cloth placed over His body, they found only flowers underneath. His Hindu followers burned half the flowers and the Muslims buried the other half. There is evidence of a growing set of legends that grew up among His followers. These include a miraculous birth, miracles performed during His life and appearances to His disciples after his death.

There is also a more recent account by Paramhansa Yogananda of his Master Sri Yukteswar’s Resurrection in 1936: Sitting on my bed in the Bombay hotel at three o’clock in the afternoon of June 19, 1936… I was roused from my meditation by a beatific light. Before my open and astonished eyes, the whole room was transformed into a strange world, the sunlight transmuted into supernal splendor. Waves of rapture engulfed me as I beheld the flesh and blood form of Sri Yukteswar! “My son!” Master spoke tenderly, on his face an angel-bewitching smile. For the first time in my life I did not kneel at his feet in greeting but instantly advanced to gather him hungrily in my arms… “But is it you, Master, the same Lion of God? Are you wearing a body like the one I buried beneath the cruel Puri sands?” “Yes, my child, I am the same. This is a flesh and blood body. Though I see it as ethereal, to your sight it is physical. From the cosmic atoms I created an entirely new body, exactly like that cosmic-dream physical body which you laid beneath the dream-sands at Puri in your dream-world. …I leave you now, beloved one!” At these words I felt Master melting away within my encircling arms. …I was not the only one privileged to behold the Resurrected Guru. One of Sri Yukteswar’s chelas was an aged woman, affectionately known as Ma (Mother), whose home was close to the Puri hermitage. Master had often stopped to chat with her during his morning walk. On the evening of March 16, 1936, Ma arrived at the ashram and asked to see her guru. “Why, Master died a week ago!” Swami Sebananda, now in charge of the Puri hermitage, looked at her sadly. “That’s impossible!” She smiled a little. “Perhaps you are just trying to protect the guru from insistent visitors?” “No.” Sebananda recounted details of the burial. “Come,” he said, “I will take you to the front garden to Sri Yukteswarji’s grave.” Ma shook her head. “There is no grave for him! This morning at ten o’clock he passed in his usual walk before my door! I talked to him for several minutes in the bright outdoors. “‘Come this evening to the ashram,’ he said. “I am here! Blessings pour on this old gray head! The deathless guru wanted me to understand in what transcendent body he had visited me this morning!” The astounded Sebananda knelt before her. “Ma,” he said, “what a weight of grief you lift from my heart! He is risen!” (Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda Chapter 43)

The Ascended Master Saint Germain

Jesus is the most well known Ascended Master in the Western world but there are many others including Saint Germain Who has built on the Spiritual Foundation Jesus established 2000 years ago. Thus through the teachings of Saint Germain we now have the Fulness of the Gospel which includes exactly how these Masters were able to gain the Resurrection and the Ascension. Even the Saints of the churches, many of which have made the Ascension, had the understanding of the “I AM” privately or secretly and they had to know the Ascended Beings in order to reach the Ascension and become a Sainted Being. That is an Inner Law which none can break. In Jesus’ day these Secret Teachings were usually only taught in the Retreats of the Ascended Masters which were difficult to access. Therefore we are blessed indeed to have such easy access in this day and age to their Teachings.

The Beloved Elohim of Peace teaches us that; "Those in the past who have attained the Ascension, came into Our Great Peace through Intense Devotion to God as they called It! When their devotion opened the Door to Illumination, the Explanation of the "Mighty I AM Presence" had to be given! When they understood It, then they became the Flame of Peace to the rest of Life everywhere! When the Mighty Master Jesus said, "My Peace  I give unto you," It was because He had drawn That Peace from His Own "I AM Presence" and from Us! ('The Voice  of the I AM' 1951 February p21)