Om Sri Ganeshaya Namah!
Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya!
Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya!
Om Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya!

Namaste!

The Incarnation of Christ
by Swami Krishnananda

(Talk given on Christmas Eve, 1997)

There is a coming into being which is known as the birth of a human individual in this world. There is another kind of coming which is the descent of an Incarnation. Both are certain types of coming, but they are totally different in their structural pattern and the purpose for which they manifest themselves.

The human individual at the time of birth is wrenched out of the forces of nature, cut off from the vital powers of the cosmos, and cast into the wilderness of individual existence, with a centralised affirming ego called the personality consciousness. This is a human being coming into the world. But the Incarnation is a different thing altogether. It is not something cast out from the forces of nature, but a coagulated form, a concentrated essence, as it were, of the potentials of cosmic powers manifesting themselves on the earth plane for achieving a specific purpose.

The kind of Incarnation will be appropriate to the kind of mission with which it comes. In Christian theology it is held that the Incarnation can be only one. The Son of God, come as Jesus Christ, is heaven descending in its totality, once and for all. But Eastern traditions feel that the infinitude of the presence of God can manifest an infinitude of rays, as the sun does in the sky; and the intensity with which it manifests itself will depend upon the reason why it manifests itself.

The coming of Christ is the occasion of our sacred observance today. A great radiance congealed itself, descended from heaven, as it were, whereby the One whom we call the Father in heaven projected Himself upon this earth, into this world of humanity, with the entire force of God Himself, and the Incarnation lives veritably like God Himself. An Incarnation has no friends, has no relatives, has no belongings, has nothing to call its own. The Incarnation stands by itself as God stands by Himself. God does not require friends. He does not need relatives. He has nothing to call His own. He possesses only Himself.

The representation of such a God in this world is also a practically lonely individual. The word 'lonely' has to be used with great caution. It is spiritually alone to itself, and even socially it is alone. The Incarnation does not mix with people, though it redeems people. It sheds light on all people, and redresses their sorrows, without any implements in its hands. It has no instruments of action, the modus operandi of work being the Incarnation's personality itself, as the sun shining in the sky has no instruments of action. There are no kinds of apparatus that the sun employs in order to shine and to shed heat upon the earth. The very existence of the sun is identical with heat and light. So is the case with a divine Incarnation. Its existence itself is power. The power here is not an outcome of social approbation, as is the case with centres of political power. The authority which the Incarnation wields is not given by votes of people. It is given to it at the time of its coming.

When human beings are born, they do not manifest themselves as rich people, as powerful individuals. A child that is born is not powerful. It is as good as any other child. A king's child and a beggar's child have no distinction as far as their human nature is concerned. No child is born as a king; no child is born as a beggar. Social conditions determine their further developments and experiences. But in the case of an Incarnation, social conditions do not determine it. On the other hand, the reverse is the case. The Incarnation determines the social conditions around its personality.

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• Tenacity and Faith

Yours in the service of Gurudev,

Pannirselvam

BOOK SYNOPSIS

Life and Teachings of Lord Jesus
by Sri Swami Sivananda

Every year, millions of people all over the world celebrate the Holy Christmas. There are festivities and joyous celebrations, a lot of merry-making. People rejoice that Lord Jesus took birth in our midst about two thousand years ago.

It is certainly an event over which all humanity ought to be proud and jubilant. But it is essential, too, to realise that Lord Jesus had a message to deliver. He laid with his own life and blood, a path for mankind to tread. It is essential that mankind should, in the midst of the joyous celebration of the Holy Event of the Birth of Jesus, reflect on the glorious life of the Lord over His Message. For, in it lies the key to world peace and brotherhood.

Lord Jesus has come into this world of men in order to re-establish the true and the highest glory of God. In this book, the Life and Teachings of Lord Jesus are depicted in a lucid style.

For more information, please see: Life and Teachings of Lord Jesus

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D. I. N.: The Master called to Swami Saswathananda and said to him, “Sharma’s daughter wants four gallons of Ganges water. Get a tin, wash it well, fill it with pure Ganges water, seal it properly and deliver it to her at Prem Nagar in person.”

After a pause he enquired, “When will you do it?” “Tomorrow,” Swami Saswathananda replied in a low tone.

The Master smiled and said gently, “I want everything to be done immediately. Go to Prem Nagar now itself, deliver the water to her, return in the evening and report to me that you have delivered the tin.”

Swami Saswathananda agreed to do so and was about to leave when the Master called him back and handed some cashew nuts from his bag.

“This is ‘Nobel Prize’ for you!” he said.

Swami Saswathananda smilingly received the “Nobel Prize” and departed to carry out the instructions. At the evening Satsang he reported to the Master that the Ganges water had been delivered.

“The relevance of the teachings of Jesus is not merely the church nor merely the words of the Bible. The relevance of the teachings of Jesus is the fact that He is an ever-present Presence, that He is an eternal witness, a companion who walks by us, who lives with us and who notes every movement, every thought, within and without us. It is this presence of His divine personality that has outlived His own contemporary times and is powerfully present.” – Swami Chidananda

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