King of a Fallen Dynasty: Jesus

It should help to discern which christs are about.

Great titles at times stand on shaky legs. And it also shows up that not everyone that is labelled 'king' is one, for some persons like to adorn themselves and their families or lines with great-sounding titles. Others may have such sluggish titles thrust on them.

You may wonder what Jesus and his followers were arguing about when they insisted he was the "king of Jews", a messiah. As if that thing was something of worth. The first king of Jews was found among the baggage and later went insane. The king that succeeded him, had a soldier killed by stealth to have his wife. And the third king of Jews was told his dynasty would fall asunder, which it did. Basically, too, that the king of Jews would be a bad guy on top of the others in the society, was the massively ignored warning of a judge Samuel. [1 Samuel 8 etc.]

And if you are God's Son by a sort of angel, you can't win the claim of being of the line of David by another, for somehow confidence tends to get blocked then . . .

Now you have been ushered in to this: There are words not to be trusted, and some of them are found in the gospels. As for ourselves, we may try to rely more on ourselves than great-sounding titles with goof support, and get more trustworthy than frauds.

The Term

Christian theology focuses on the nature of Jesus as "the christ", whereas esoteric Christian traditions and gnosticism discern between the person Jesus and a christ state that suffuses some.

Several Hindu yogis use "christ" to denote a state of mind that can eventually be reached in transcendental realms, but anchor it somewhat differently: some to Krishna, others to Chit and similar. Paramahansa Yogananda often writes about a "Christ Consciousness" interchangeably with "Krishna Consciousness".

The title "Christ" is also found in India - it was perhaps given to Jesus there - in the word "Krishna ' which sometimes I purposely spell "Christna" to show the correlation. "Christ" and "Krishna" are titles signifying divinity . . . To understand what Christ Consciousness means, consider the contrast between your consciousness and that of a little ant. [Editor's note: Blue is also the color of the Christ Consciousness when epitomized in the spiritual eye as a circle of dark blue light surrounding the star] . . . Christ Consciousness [is] the Intelligence of God omnipresent in creation . . . The wonders of God's creation cannot be discovered by a cow" [Ak 286-87, passim]

The guru-invented word 'Christna' shows only a false correlation. The term Christ Consciousness does not originate with Yogananda.

❖ Different churches and traditions and religions put their own spins on "christ". The king of Jews (Messiah) as a descendant of David became history as a result of Solomon ruining that dynasty, says the Old Testament. There should be no real need to keep to the term, if so.

Four Hindu Christs, Allegedly

It was primarily Jesus' outrageous claims that caused him to be viewed as a blasphemer or crackpot to be executed by the authorities. In Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) they reckon with many christs. The term 'Christ' is a peculiar item, stemming from "oil-anointed", ie, king of Jews. It took on added meaning as Christianity went by, and gurus have found it fit to name their own gurus christs too, and the guru Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) is among those. He writes of:

• Unknown: referred to as Babaji in America. - "Babaji ... Yogi-Christ of modern India". [Pa 305 and opp. 304] - "Babaji ... deathless guru". [Pa 346] - [Yogananda on Babaji and Christ:] "... these two fully illumined masters ... one without a body". [Pa 307]
• Known: Shyama Charan Devi Sharman Lahiri (Lahiri Baba, Lahiri Mahasaya) (1828-95) - Yogananda: "Prophets like Christ and Lahiri Mahasaya". [Pa 283n]. Also: "Lahiri Mahasaya ... and many other Yogi-Christs had blessed the soil." [Pa 95]
• Better-known: Yukteswar (1855-1936) - Yogananda: "Yukteswar, a modern Yogi-Christ". [Pa 194]
• Others, including the carnal father of Paramahansa Yogananda, who got quite a following in the West.

Other Christs of Yogananda

As you find documented, Yogananda calls his guru Yukteswar Christlike. In an article from 1937 - "Yogavatar Shyama Lahiri Mahasaya's Ladder of Self-Realization, for Salvation for All". Inner Culture, March 1937 - he says that Shyama Lahiri (Lahiri Mahasaya) raised many Christs and Yukteswar is praised as "the greatest disciple" among such Christs:

The Guru-preceptor of Sri Yukteswarji . . . was a super-man . . . the Yogavatar of India, the incarnation of God who . . . showed others how, by following [his] methods of meditation, they could bring about a sure, scientific union (Yoga) with God . . .

. Sh[y]ama Charan Lahiri Mahasaya, by his exemplary life, created many Christs and gave the step-by-step methods of Self-Realization (the Ladder of Self-Realization) which enable all to climb to the high abode of complete freedom. Lahiri Mahasaya . . . could perform all the miracles of Jesus Christ."

Yogananda also writes:

Yogavatar Lahiri Mahasaya created the following Christlike souls, some of them really possessing the highest Christ-consciousness:

1. My Master, Swami Sri Yukteswarji . . . with Christlike miraculous powers.

2. Bindya Bhakat of Benares . . .

3. Swami Pranabananda, who could materialize or dematerialize his body, a feat actually witnessed by myself.

4. Ram Gopal Babu of Ranbajpur, a great yogi, who meditated forty years in a cave for eighteen hours a day.

5. Bhupen Sanyal, a great teacher . . .

6. Swami Kebalananda Shastri Mahasaya, a Yogi of rare quality.

7. Swami Keshabananda, a man of great renunciation.

8. Sri Bhagavati Charan, my earthly father, very high in morality and Self-Realization.

9. Abinash Babu.

Lahiri Mahasaya's teaching is the Second Coming of Christ . . . in actuality. [Notes 1 and 2]

SRF goes on and spreads these ideas in the track of Yogananda

At a riverside religious festival (fair) at Allahabad in 1894 Yukteswar met a stranger who called him swami (monk) and told him to write a book. Yukteswar replied, "I am not a man of erudition in the shastras [scriptures]." Yukteswar was not a swami at the time either.

Yukteswar wrote the book. There is critique on it on-site.

Today SRF, in the footsteps of his disciple Param(a)hansa Yogananda, propagates their faith that Yukteswar is a Christ and even suited to the title Jnanavatar, ie. 'divine wisdom incarnated', "a master in every way", "one whose words oblige the cosmos , someone of "unerring spiritual insight" [Pa 499-501; Ak 99, Pa, ch. 17 etc.; Hos v].

Now you can look up to study Yogananda's 'Christ marketing' more in detail. One more facet of it: Yukteswar advised his departing disciple Yogananda that Yukteswar's book The Holy Science should be the basis of Yogananda's mission. And Yogananda did that only haltingly after some time, it may be added. [More]

Messiah, "Oil-Anointed One", ie King, Was Translated into Christ

The kings of Israel and Judea are told of in 1 and 2 Kings. There were two warring royal houses, one stemming from David, and another from Jeroboam. David's grandson, Rehoboam, king over just two tribes, warred against Jeroboam, king over ten tribes.

The Maccabees from the Tribe of Levi established a monarchy of their own in Judea. It was not connected to the Davidic line.

The Jewish view, however, is that the line of David was preserved even though no kings such as David and his immediate descendants were alive. It was from such a supposed Davidic line the gospel writers tried to claim descent on behalf of Jesus. The future Jewish Messiah is expected to be from the "Davidic line".

The term 'Messiah' in the sense of "king of God's people" is from 1 Samuel, where Samuel pours oil over the head of a Saul, who is then "the oil-anointed one", that is, the king that the people wanted, but who would not be good for them, on God's word. But they would have to stick with him for long. "You will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day." [1 Sam 8:18].

After some decades the Lord discarded King Saul as useless or worse, and shepherding, Bathsheba-whoring and husband-killing David took over. His son, Solomon with a thousand wives and concubines, took to idolatry and ruined the kingship, the Old Testament tells.

Jesus (Mshikha Jeshua) implies he himself was greater in wisdom even though the Lord had said to Solomon there would be none wiser - [Luke 11:31]

You may discover nuances to these abstracts. For example, the Hebrew custom of pouring oil over the heads of some people, was instituted as early as in Exodus 29:7-9, where it is told, "Take the anointing oil and anoint him [Aaron] by pouring it on his head. Bring his sons and dress them in tunics and put headbands on them. Then tie sashes on Aaron and his sons. The priesthood is theirs by a lasting ordinance. [Exod 29:9]". However, this "waste of good oil" was part of a ritual for priests, not kings. The first Hebrew king was Saul, who got oil poured over him in 1 Samuel 10, and not earlier.

Interestingly, the "lasting ordinance" of Aaron and his sons fell dead, just as the ritual practice that included "the goat of removal". That innocent animal was one of two that were to be selected yearly to atone for all the yearly sins of Israel. Yes, we are facing one more "lasting ordinance" that Jesus and followers fully ignored, and his Father too. [Lev 16:8-10]

Aaron and his sons were replaced by Levites. Have you wondered why or when the Levites got that great honour among Hebrews? Each Levite started killing his brother and friend and neighbour. About three thousand of them. Then Moses said, "The Lord . . he has blessed you this day." [Exod 32:27-29] They became priests after ruthless killing.

"Run boy! Run for your life!" [Sir Alfred Hitchcock calling out of his car window on seeing a Catholic priest laying his hand on the shoulder of a boy.]

Back to Solomon, the so-called wise guy: He said, "King Solomon will be blessed, and David's throne will remain secure before the Lord forever." [1 Kgs 2:45]. Well, it went to pieces anyhow. But before that, God said to Solomon (in a dream): "I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. [1 Kgs 3:12] - Compare the "someone-greater-than-Solomon-is here" sayings of Jesus against his Father's previous word.

Mind the unreasonable Hebrew boasts of their own king: "God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. [Bah!] He spoke three thousand proverbs . . . He described plant life [But did he do it well?] Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom. [All nations? There is no record of people from New Guinea or America visiting him.] [1 Kgs 4:29-33, passim]"

They overdo it.

Here is more about the house of David and their God: Solomon got built a temple and said, "The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever." [1 Kgs 8:12-3]

And the temple was demolished.

Also, in previous bible passages God instituted a ceremony with lamps burning near the opening of a specially made tent of goatskin. It was to be another "lasting ordinance" that came to nothing. Poof. [Exod 27:21; Cf. 28:42; 29:9 etc, etc.]

AWAKE a little: The Bible shows God's words in the Bible are not taken seriously, many God-promises and ordinances have come to nothing. There are conflicting tales. Hope not to be taken in. [cf. 1 Kgs 8:18]

Solomon went on: "Now Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, "You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to walk before me as you have done." [1 Kgs 8:25]

There was much that failed in Judaism. Compare:

"Dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you." [1 Kgs 8:27] "Hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does . . . (you alone know the hearts of all men), so that they will fear you all the time . . . [1 Kgs 8:39-40]

Jesus was called a Christ - that is, he or his followers or both aspired to the title of Messiah, king of Jews. But Jesus was not qualified: Mary had him by an angel, not by anyone in the bloodline of David, the bible tells, and yet gives a fake ancestry line in Matthew 1. The New Testament begins with it. The word "Well begun is halfway ended" does not apply here.

In the New Testament letters, notably Hebrews, the meanings of 'Messiah' are expanded toward the cosmos. But "It is safest sailing within reach of shore [Ap 522]." Adding, "There are many sorts of rogues." "Blind belief takes its toll; it is different with proficiency."

Final Words

It makes sense to stick to the most rewarding concepts available, provided there is truth in them. Yogananda teaches you can become a Christ by advanced yoga methods, whereas Catholic Christianity at least is against it and opposes such a view. [Father Matheo]

You see that many compete to be associated with the prestige put into the concept "Christ" by uncounted numbers of goofs.

❖ You may ask yourself how you can possess something of true worth, affirm that good, and spread it. Krishna of the Bhagavad Gita allows having true and good wealth, artha. Jesus does not. He dictates you to get poor and non-assertive against bullies and robbers. It is in the Bible. Poor followers make a poor king.