“Jesus knew his divine destiny and went to India to prepare himself to fulfill it (…) for India has specialized in religion since time immemorial.”
Paramahansa Yogananda
The following excerpt is from Paramahansa Yogananda’s book, The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within, A Revealing Commentary on the Original Teachings of Jesus, Volume 1, pages 104 and 105.
“The great message of Jesus Christ lives and thrives in the East and the West. The West has concentrated on perfecting man’s physical condition, and the East on developing his spiritual potentialities. Both East and West are one-sided. The East is not practical enough; but the West is too practical to be spiritually practical! That is why I advocate a harmonious union of the two; they need each other. Without spiritual idealism, materialistic pragmatism is the precursor of selfishness, sin, competition and wars. This is a lesson for the West to learn. And unless idealism is tempered with a practical character, there will be confusion, suffering and a lack of natural progress. This is the lesson for the East to learn.
The East can learn from the West, and the West can learn from the East. Is it not strange that, perhaps due to God’s secret plan, since the East needs material development, it has been invaded by the material civilization of the West? And since it needs spiritual equilibrium, the West has been quietly but surely “invaded” by Hindu philosophy – not to conquer lands, but souls, with the liberating power of divine realization. 15
We are all children of God, from our origin to eternity. Differences arise from prejudice, and prejudice is the fruit of ignorance. We should not proudly identify ourselves as American, Indian, Italian, or any other nationality, for that is merely an accident of birth. Above all, we should be proud that we are children of God, made in His image. Isn’t this the message of Christ?
Jesus the Christ is an excellent model for both East and West to follow. The divine seal of “son of God” is hidden in every soul. Jesus quoted the scriptures: “Ye are gods.”16 Take off your masks! Reveal yourselves as children of God—not through vain proclamations and memorized prayers, or through the display of intellectually formulated sermons designed to glorify God and win converts, but through action!
Identify not with intolerant fanaticism disguised as wisdom, but with Christ Consciousness. Identify with Universal Love, expressed in material and spiritual service to all; then you will know who Jesus Christ was and will be able to affirm in your souls that we are all one family, children of the One God.”
15 In 1932, Dr. W.Y. Evans-Wentz, a renowned writer and expert on comparative religions at Oxford University, wrote:
“Glorious are the spiritual legacies of Egypt, Greece and Rome, but even more glorious are the spiritual legacies which India is offering to the peoples of Europe and America through the mediation of her Sages of the East, of whom Swami Yogananda, the illustrious originator of the Yogoda (Self-Realization Fellowship) system, is but one in a long dynasty which extends uninterruptedly down to our time from the dim ages of prehistoric times. Swami came to the nations of the West to expound the supreme science of life which each of his dynastic predecessors has expounded, one after another, century after century.”
“It remained for this generation of enlightened sons of India to free the Christ born in the East from the prison in which the theologies of the West had kept him throughout the centuries; and to proclaim again, as he did, the ancient but ever renewed message of renunciation of the worldly and of altruism, revealing the One Path that leads to Self-realization, liberation and victory over the world, which all the founders of the great historical religions of humanity followed and revealed (…)”
16 John 10:34
These teachings, in the book referred to, were sent to explain the truth as Jesus intended it to be known to the world – not to bring a new Christianity, but to present the true teaching of Christ: how to become like Christ, how to resurrect the Eternal Christ within ourselves, and the self.
Paramahansa Yogananda
For those who wish to study this in more depth, consult the chapter entitled “The unknown years of Jesus’ life – stay in India”. This chapter or the entire book can be read on INTERNET ARQUIVE website here
