Path towards Mastery Life of the masters
I grew up as a Christian, I went to church twice on Sundays and once during the week. I sung in the choir, I taught Sunday school service and the works. But I always had the feeling that heaven was not my forte, I did not much like milk and honey, it was too sweet, and I did not fancy walking on streets of gold, I imagined that would not be very comfortable on a sunny day and I loved the sun. I found it however, very interesting to think of the mix of people who would be present in heaven. Everyone thought they were heaven bound and the other person was not. I simply assumed that everyone would be very surprised in the afterlife.
When I became more aware I tried to refrain from using the word “God,” because of how pervasive it had become, however habit kept bringing me back. When I referred to and thought of Jesus, it was usually with an apology at how we had misunderstood and misinterpreted his message.
So, I decided to have a look at the life of four great spiritual leaders or as they were called masters, looking briefly at their lives and the part that meditation played in bringing them to full realisation. I also looked to see who they claimed to be, in effect their I AM’s, the acts or miracles they performed while on earth and their beliefs about humanity or the people around them.
Join me on this exciting journey called Path Toward Mastery beginning with this simple look at the life of the masters where you will begin to remember and refresh your knowledge. You may even create a New Thought. You will have the opportunity to have your questions answered and to air you views on the lives of these great masters.
You can like my page (New Thought Movement UK) on Facebook, as I stream live right here on 11th February at 3pm GMT.
Jesus Jesus was born awake or enlightened. That means he was fully aware of his connection to divinity, God, he remembered who he was from the time his soul occupied his body. This is unlike what most of us do, which is, come into this world forgetting the essence of who and what we are. When Jesus was a boy he exhibited vast knowledge for his age. When Jesus turned thirty-three, he went into the wilderness to meditate, to come into full remembrance of all that he knew, to fully move into a state of being and to remember his soul’s purpose. He spent forty days and forty nights in meditation. During that time, he had to bring his body under subjection and strengthen it to withstand severe conditions, he had to destroy his ego, and he had to decide fully that his path was not one of wealth accumulation, but a spiritual path.
To achieve his goals in the wilderness, he did not resist, but simply and clearly, turned away from the temptation to feed his body, by turning stone into bread. He did so, by saying to his cells that they can live on the universal energy and not only the energy that was contained in bread and water. By that act his flesh was put under subjection. He was conscious that he could produce tremendous wealth if he desired, but in the wilderness, he made a conscious decision that his life would be more than the accumulation of wealth, but more about the fulfilment of purpose. He refused to give up his power in favour of quick wealth. He destroyed his ego, by refusing to perform miracles as a public display, even though he knew he could perform them. When Jesus came out of the wilderness his purpose was crystallised.
His purpose was to show humanity, the world, the works which could be performed by man, using the universal power, which flowed within every one of us.
The works he chose for his demonstration, included healing the sick, raising the dead, turning water into wine and walking on water. His show stopper was, leaving his body in full view of the public and returning to his body three days later.
Most of Jesus’s teachings were aimed at telling both his disciples and the world, that all the acts he could perform, they could perform them also. However, most could not get it, did not understand, or did not believe him. They did so mainly because, Jesus himself thought that they could not understand him, and went so far, as to state on many occasions, “They may hear, but not perceive.” This meant that even though people heard, they would not understand, even though they saw, they could not believe.
He also demonstrated his belief in the ignorance and lack of understanding of the masses, by using mainly parables in his teaching. A parable, is a fictitious story or analogy, used to illustrate a moral attitude or religious principle.
When Jesus thoughts became his reality, that is, when he was neither believed nor understood, he then put himself forward, in his I AM’s, indicating that if the people could not believe in themselves, if they could not find in themselves the universal power, he was willing to act as a go between. He therefore put this across as, “I am the way,” “I am the bread of life,” “I am the door for the sheep,” “I am the good Sheppard,” “I am the son of God,” “I am the vine,” and “I am in the father.”
Jesus’s life purpose was to demonstrate the heights that can be achieved by man, using the universal power of the creator, present in all of us. This he achieved masterfully. His thoughts that man could not comprehend what he was saying, perfectly created his reality, a reality we continue to exist in, even unto this day.
Gautama Buddha Buddha was born approximately five hundred and sixty-seven years before Christ. As many masters do, he was born fully awake, enlightened and with self-knowledge, but he quickly moved into forgetfulness as most of us do. It was said that when the Buddha was born he took two steps to the north and proclaimed, “this is my last birth, there will be no more births for me.” As Buddha moved into maturity he soon got the feeling that something was not right, that he had forgotten himself and had fallen asleep. He began trying to awaken himself. He tried self-denial. He denied himself food, almost to the point of starvation. He denied himself clothing, such that he walked around naked. He denied himself shelter by leaving his home and remaining out in the open for years. He gave up on these methods when they yielded little success on his path to enlightenment. He then sought to learn diverse types of meditation from various holy men. This also did not hasten his enlightenment. Finally, he decided to seek within, to undertake the journey to the self. He dared the universal power to deny him, as he meditated under a tree, called the Peepal tree, for forty days and forty nights. At the end of his Journey he took on the persona of the awaken one, because he believed that he had finally, achieved his goal of awakening. He then decided that his soul’s purpose was to aid others on this similar path to awakening.
All Buddha’s teachings concentrated on teaching people how to live a life that would hasten their enlightenment. He never proclaimed divinity, and believe that all of humanity could with self-discipline and meditation become enlightened, just as he was. He abhorred the performance of miracles and rarely performed them. It was said that most of the Buddha’s miracles were performed on a metaphysical realm, although he is known to have done a few earthly miracles, such as stilling a raging elephant with his little finger, parting the flood waters so he could walk on dry land and clearing up a dirty well to produce clean drinking water.
Buddha’s soul purpose was achieved and lives on through the Buddhist traditions of meditation, mastery of self and undertaking the journey towards enlightenment.
Mohammed Mohammad Albin Abdullah was born in Mecca Saudi Arabia approximately six hundred and ten years after the death of Christ. He lived briefly with his mother until she passed away, when he was six years old. He was then raised by his uncle and grandfather in Mecca, near the Kaaba, which contained three hundred and sixty-five statues, of the many deities worshiped by the people of Mecca. He lived a relatively normal, uneventful life, though a few people prophesied of future greatness for him. He became a caravan trader and was known for his fairness and honesty. At age twenty-five he married a wealthy forty-year-old business woman name Khadijah. In his adulthood, Mohammed adopted the practice of retreating to a cave for several days during the ninth month of the year for solitude, prayer and refreshing. When Mohammed was forty years old, he went on one of his retreats for prayer, solitude and refreshing. During that time, he heard a voice which proclaimed to be the Angel Gabriel. Mohammed was so frightened, that he run out of the cave thinking he was delusional. His wife convinced him he was not, so he continued to return to the cave to receive messages from the voice of Angel Gabriel. At some point the messages stopped, leaving Mohamed feeling that he may have offended heaven and the Angel. However, he received a final message, he would receive something even better than what he had received before and that he had to preach the messages, he had received. He was sceptical, he was unsure that he fully understood the message and he had doubts that he was worthy to be listened to.
Mohammed recalled the messages he had received, from memory, as he was not able to read, or write. He recited them and had them written down by a scribe. He then began to spread his message to the people. To get more people to listen to his words he began to chant his messages as poetry, marking the beginning of the Quran, and the way it is recited. Muhammed’s main purpose, which reverberated throughout his teachings, was that there was only one God, whose name was Allah, and that all people should worship that one God, whose name was Allah. Mohammed began to gather followers in Mecca, but face the opposition of the established rulers, who sort to take his life. He Fled with his family and followers, to a nearby city call Yathrib, a name later changed to Medina. This flight was called the hegira, it marks the start of the Muslim calendar, whereupon a new verse was added to the Quran. “Those who believe and made the hegira, those who gave their homes and helped, these are the protectors of one another”.
This marked a turning point in Muhammed’s life. He was then appointed to lead the city of Medina. His focus and teachings concentrated on reassuring his followers that they were the chosen ones and that they would be rewarded either on earth, or in the afterlife for following him and adopting the new faith. All those who did not adopt the belief that there was only one God, whose name was Allah, would be punished, either on earth or in the afterlife. Mohamed became a great war strategist, he spent most of his life as a prophet in battle against those who did not follow him. He won many battles, which were justified by adding new chapters to the Quran, in which Allah was said to have given permission to fight, because the unbelievers were wrong, so this justified armed conflict. Although many of the teachings in the Quran closely resembled teachings in the bible, then referred to as the Torah, and Muhammed himself usually sited Moses, Jesus and Abraham as predecessors, his purpose of making Allah the one God, meant that he had to move away from Judaism and Christianity. He accomplished this by having his followers in Medina turn towards Mecca instead of towards Jerusalem for prayer. Muhammed final and most profound act was the battle of Quraysh, during which, Muhammed returned to his home town of Mecca. The leaders of Mecca rather than fighting proclaimed that he, Mohammed, was speaking the truth. Muhammed then proceeded to destroy the three hundred and sixty-five Statues of deities, in the Kaaba, in Mecca. Even after this significant victory, Muhammed still had to use armed conflict in other to continue his purpose, of ensuring that Allah was known as the one true God.
Muhammed never claimed any divinity, but lived his life as a man, taking eleven wives after his first wife died. He then reduced the number of wives a Muslim man could have to four. He had many children. Muhammed said that he was a prophet and a disciple of God. There was very little reported of any miracles performed by Mohammed, save the feats performed during war.
After his death, he became well known as the prophet, and the Muslim religion began to spread around Asia and Africa. Many Muslims continue to work toward the fulfilment of Muhammad’s purpose, spreading the message that Allah, is the name of the one true God.
Hare Krishna Krishna was born about 3228 years before Christ. He was the reincarnation of the supreme being Vishnu, who was the second of the three main Hindu deities. Krishna’s soul purpose or Vishnu’s main reason for taking up a body, namely Krishna’s was to fulfil the promise to kill Krishna’s uncle karmsa. This was foretold at Krishna’s mothers wedding, “the eighth son of Karmsa’s sister will bring death upon karmsa.” In other to prevent the act from happening, Karmsa put his sister and her husband and his father the king, in prison and made a point to kill six of his sister’s sons as the prediction was that the eighth son would be the one to kill him. When Krishna was born however, he was exchanged for another baby and was not killed. Krishna then went to live with foster parents Nanda and Yasoda in Gokula. Krishna lived his entire life in the state of enlightenment. He was born as an avatar, one who is fully conscious of his divinity. He did not meditate, or had need to seek God. He lived as the embodiment of God. He performed many miracles which were reported more as fables and everyday occurrences in Krishna’s life. These included turning a basket of fruit offered to him by a vendor, into a basket of precious jewels for her, taming a serpent and defeating many demons. Krishna was not averse to taking life, as was apparent in his conversation with Arjuna, in the Bhargava Gita. This was because he knew and clearly stated, “death is simply a transition, and everyone reincarnates.” After fulfilling his purpose of killing karmsa, he aided many people into the afterlife, to hasten them being reborn into better karma, closer to enlightenment, having learned from the past life.
Krishna could take up any form at will and show himself in his Godly state to onlookers. Krishna never sort to preach, teach or spread any message, but spent most of his time in the enjoyment of life. He was a playful fun-loving God. He enjoyed dancing, singing, and playing musical instruments. He was often depicted doing such. He had eight principle wives and many children by them. He believed marriage to be a union of the souls. He also married Sixteen thousand one hundred maidens who had been abducted. This restored their names and enabled them to live respectable lives. After the battle between the Pandavas and the Kauravas in which Krishna assisted both sides, a curse was put on Krishna’s clan by the father of the losing side, Gandhari, who had lost one hundred sons in the battle. Krishna realising that his clan had become haughty and arrogant, agreed to the curse by simply saying, “so be it.” The curse stated that within thirty-six years Krishna’s entire lineage would die out. As it was said so it was done. Within thirty-six years all the members of Krishna’s lineage either died in battle, killed each other or left their bodies through yoga. Krishna himself died after he was shot in the foot by a hunter with an arrow. He was quick to reassure the hunter that he himself is the creator and decider of all events, so this was meant to happen. Krishna always took full responsibility for all acts which took place in the world.
Krishna and in effect Vishnu’s purpose was achieved. He founded no religion, but his way of life and belief has been adapted into the Hindu faith. It has a huge concentration on reciting mantras and practicing yoga. This is to remind the mind and body of its oneness with the divinity of the soul.
Joyce Louison – warrior of Light
New Thought Movement UK