(Here's
3 MORE passages for you, Dondi, if you look carefully ...
)
Thank you, cyberpi, for pointing out the similarity between Reincarnation and the Resurrection.
We can observe, any of us, that all Life is cyclical, and this applies to the Spirit just as to the physical world. I was not familiar with the passage you mention,
John 3:13, but I am well aware of the additional overwhelming
evidence that Christ Jesus taught Reincarnation
openly, and unequivocably ... and that it
was in fact a teaching accepted by many an early Christian.
Witness,
for example, the following admonition, as Jesus expresses his
shock over Nicodemus' ignorance:
"Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?" - John 3:10
We also know that Jesus cast light on John the Baptist's prior incarnation as
Elijah, when He confirmed for the disciples that the old prophecy had already been fulfilled ... and that they had missed the connection entirely. How the Bible-wranglers do
love to dispute on this point, yet
how clear it is that Jesus is making the connection between two incarnations of ONE Soul.
Many esotericists are familiar with THREE of Jesus'
own prior incarnations, beginning with Joshua, Son of Nun, who succeeded Moses ... and ending with Joshua from the Book of Zechariah (appearing as Jeshua, during the time of Ezra, in between). Appollonius of Tyana, a figure with
striking similiarities to Jesus of Nazareth, is also believed to have been Jesus'
own immediate reincarnation, following the Resurrection. This puts him into a category not unlike the Eastern tradition of Bodhisattvas, who reincarnate
voluntarily to "help alleviate the sufferings of the world." And esotericists also sometimes understand Jesus as a
`Lord of Compassion' in his
Current incarnation (Syrian) ... whereas others Adepts are usually spoken of as
`Masters of the Wisdom' (similar, but not quite the same).
The Christ Himself, the Eldest Brother of Humanity, is believed by many to have been Sri Krishna, of Hinduism, and also to have appeared in a lesser-known incarnation ... which will not likely be recorded in any history books. Several centuries after overshadowing His disciple Jesus, it can be ascertained that the Christ was able to take up the
etheric body (physical vital soul, or
nephesh) of St. Patrick, presumably because of the exceeding purity and careful preparation of the latter. This amounts to
reincarnation of a sort, because it marks the
closest degree to which Christ has been able to DIRECTLY incarnate within Humanity, as an Individuality.
A more recent effort was made to overshadow the Indian disciple
Jiddu Krishnamurti, in the 1920s, but this was only partially successful. Many,
many thousands of esotericists fully expect Christ's physical Reappearance ~2025AD ... and I should
sure like to think that we will have moved beyond petty disputes over "whose religion" is the biggest (wait wait wait, that's
penis, my bad), or
"who's got the most money - err, I mean, adherents," etc. etc. etc.
And let us also not forget the
very clear indication of
Revelation 3:12, wherein it is written:
"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out"
Now in the spirit of free inquiry, of free will, and in the nature of the type of education which Christ Jesus exemplified and embodied, we are all free - every single one of us - to ponder the doctrine of rebirth, and to accept it or reject it as we see fit.
I have utmost faith that in good time, it will be demonstrated through
ordinary empirical science that there is a Soul, and that it is this Immortal Soul
which does reincarnate. Certainly there have been some erroneous teachings, probably within
every religion, as to the precise details and workings of Rebirth. But relative to the current discussion, even just to come to some measure of agreement, or acceptance, that Rebirth is a Universal Law ... would be a step forward. And this, of course, is a matter of individual recognition and acceptance, when
& only when the overwhelming weight of evidence swings our opinion in that direction.
I wanted to stop there, but it might be worth mentioning a couple more things.
One, is that the Buddhists,
Vajradhara here at C-R as a prime example, but plenty of others who express an interest in Buddhist philosophy or who have chosen Buddhism as their path, will dispute (by way of affirmation) the doctrine of
anatman (or `no-soul') just as vigorously as the Christian fundamentalist will dispute (by way of contesting) the doctrine of Rebirth. Why is this so?
Is it not, when we really consider it, for the
best of all possible reasons? Giving the Buddhist, or the Fundamentalist Christian the doubt,
is it not precisely because each sincerely believes that His Master did NOT teach that doctrine which is being attributed to Him? While the Christ
is understood, on the one hand, to have taught Resurrection ... do not most Christians dispute Rebirth
just because they THINK Christ
did not teach it? And will not the good Buddhist affirm the doctrine of
anatman, exactly because he is certain that the Buddha taught
NO Soul, while - quite naturally - the Buddha
did teach Rebirth, as well as the existence of
SOMEthing (Consciousness, perhaps) which
must be able to experience Nirvana!
So you see, I think the hangups we have, are in most cases due primarily to a matter of
tradition, and of
what we have been TAUGHT to believe, and to accept as PRESUMABLY what x, y or z Great Teacher is SAID to have preached or taught. And on that grounds alone, I would affirm: You should not believe in a thing
simply because some Great One tells you it is so,
even if this is your life-sworn Master, and EVEN IF you know that
"His or Her words are Gospel." This is the WRONG reason entirely to accept a doctrine, and if you swallow it whole,
it's your own darn fault for getting the bellyache!
Let's drive the point entirely home with a good example from the Theosophical teachings. Much investigation was done, I think by Leadbeater, Jinarajadasa, Arundale, maybe Besant, and others, which eventually led to indications being made as to
just how long a given Soul might spend in
Devachan, or the Heaven-world - where we go between incarnations. All this is well & good, and was surely done in the spirit of science and earnest investigation ... and the hope was to show people that these things
CAN be studied, and understood, if not nearly as fully as shall one day be possible (when Humanity is further enlightened).
But how
accurate, and how
helpful, was all this work to show
just how long a given Soul would spend between births ... or even to illustrate
exactly what Devachan would be like? Consider the following indication from one of the Theosophical Masters,
the Tibetan, writing via Alice Bailey. The quote is lengthy, but a good point is made:
The occultists of the world, through the theosophical societies and other occult bodies, so-called, have greatly damaged the presentation of the truth anent reincarnation through the unnecessary, unimportant, inaccurate and purely speculative details which they give out as truths anent the processes of death and the circumstances of man after death. These details are largely dependent upon the clairvoyant vision of astral psychics of prominence in the Theosophical Society. Yet in the Scriptures of the world these details are not given, and H.P.B. in The Secret Doctrine gave none. An instance of this inaccurate and foolish attempt to throw light upon the theory of rebirth can be seen in the time limits imposed upon departed human souls between incarnations on the physical plane and the return to physical rebirth—so many years of absence are proclaimed, dependent upon the age of the departed soul and its place upon the ladder of evolution. If, we are told, the soul is very advanced, absence from the physical plane is prolonged, whereas the reverse is the case. Advanced souls and those whose intellectual capacity is rapidly developing come back with great rapidity, owing to their sensitive response to the pull of obligations, interests and responsibilities already established upon the physical plane. People are apt to forget that time is the sequence of events and of states of [Page 404] consciousness as registered by the physical brain. Where no physical brain exists, what humanity understands by time is nonexistent. The removal of the barriers of the form, stage by stage, brings an increasing realisation of the Eternal Now. In the case of those who have passed through the door of death and who still continue to think in terms of time, it is due to glamour and to the persistence of a powerful thoughtform. It indicates polarisation upon the astral plane; this is the plane upon which leading Theosophical writers and psychics have worked, and upon which they have based their writings. They are quite sincere in what they say, but omit to recognise the illusory nature of all findings based on astral clairvoyance. --Esoteric Healing, by Alice Bailey
namaskar,
~andrew
