Jesus
of Nazareth and the Christ are not one and the same person. This
is one of the most difficult claims for many Christians to accept
in connection with Maitreya, the World Teacher, and it therefore
needs some further explanation.
In
fact, the title Christ does not refer to an individual at all.
It is the name of a function in the Hierarchy of Masters of Wisdom,
that group of advanced beings who guide the evolution of humanity
from behind the scenes. Whoever stands at the head of this Hierarchy
automatically becomes the World Teacher, known in the East as
the Bodhisattva, during the term of His office. Maitreya, who
embodies the energy we call the Christ Principle, has held that
office for over two millennia, and in Palestine He manifested
Himself as the Christ to inaugurate the Age of Pisces, then beginning.
The
method He used is called spiritual overshadowing, that is, His
consciousness informed and guided the actions and teachings of
His disciple Jesus. It was, therefore, the consciousness of the
Christ, Maitreya, which was seen and experienced by those around
Jesus.
In
reality Jesus was a fourth-degree initiate and one of the older
disciples of the Masters of Wisdom. He appeared before in biblical
times as Joshua, the son of Nun, then as Isaiah, and again as
Joshua in the book of Zachariah. In Palestine he made the great
sacrifice of allowing himself to be used by Maitreya to fulfill
His mission during the three years following the baptism in the
River Jordan.
During
his life, Jesus also symbolically enacted the five initiations
which lead one to Mastership. The experience on the cross was
the enactment of the 4th initiation for Jesus (his birth, the
baptism, and the transfiguration on the mount symbolize the first
three), while at the same time Maitreya underwent a higher
initiation.
The
events from Jesus' life and his words have been greatly misinterpreted
due to this little-understood connection between his work and
that of Maitreya the Christ. This has given rise to the age-old
theological point of contention - namely, whether Jesus was God
or man, or perhaps both together. The answer is that Jesus was
a man who, as a result of the process of evolution, became a Son
of God - as does everyone eventually. Others had gone before him
on that path and many have taken it since.
Christians
who are of the opinion that it is not given to anyone to try and
emulate Jesus' accomplishment (who, as far as they are concerned,
is God or, at least, His only Son) are contradicted by his
own words:
Become perfect even as the Father in Heaven is perfect. and
Greater things than I have done shall you do. Jesus' death
was the fulfillment of the task for that life, and it was Maitreya
who resurrected the body from the tomb (as a symbol for the 5th
initiation, just as the ascension was symbolic of the 6th initiation).
This
presentation of ancient occult knowledge in symbolic form is one
of the methods which the Spiritual Hierarchy uses to teach humanity,
and to convey knowledge to those who have ears to hear and eyes
to see. In the lives of the Buddha, Mithra and Krishna, similar
symbolic events can also be found. The famed labors of Hercules,
too, are nothing less than part of the initiation process expressed
in symbolic form.
The
disciple Jesus of 2,000 years ago has by now become one of the
most senior Masters in the Hierarchy: the Master Jesus. He reached
His state of perfection in the course of His next life as Apollonius
of Tyana. Many of those who followed Him during His life as Jesus
were still alive during this subsequent incarnation - and many
of them became convinced that Jesus had reappeared in their midst.
It was Apollonius who undertook a journey to India which became
the basis for the story, which many believe, that Jesus did not
die on the cross but went to India and died in Kashmir, having
lived to a venerable old age.
The
Master Jesus has been incarnate in a Syrian body for about 640
years. He is described in Initiation, Human and Solar by Alice
A. Bailey as follows: He is rather a martial figure, a disciplinarian
and a man of iron rule and will. He is tall and spare with rather
a long thin face, black hair, pale complexion, and piercing blue
eyes. In the Hierarchy He is described as the Great Leader, the
General and the Wise Executive. No one is so closely in touch
with the people who stand for all that is best in the Christian
teachings and no-one is so well aware of the needs of the present
moment.
During
most of this time He has lived mainly in Palestine. Since 1984,
however, He has lived in Rome. The intention is that He will try
to raise the Christian churches out of their state of crystallization
and rivalry and, if invited to do so, to lead a newly united church.
By doing so He hopes to resolve the many contradictions and misunderstandings
which have arisen during the course of the centuries about His
historic role and the teachings which He then disseminated as
a vehicle for Maitreya. With the emergence of Maitreya, the Master
Jesus is playing a major role for the second time, as also are
the Apostles Peter and John.
Two
thousand years ago they were third-degree initiates; now they
have been entrusted with a significant aspect of completing the
Plan as the Master Morya, and the Master who will succeed Maitreya
as the Christ during the next era (in about 2,500 years), Koot
Hoomi. This open collaboration, which will be visible to all,
will end any lingering doubts concerning the true relationship
between Maitreya the Christ and His disciple, the Master Jesus.
Thus
the seemingly paradoxical claim that Jesus and the Christ are
not the same person, in the literal sense of the word, is more
reasonable than it would appear. Those Christians who find it
difficult to accept that 'their' teacher is not the highest leader
of all humanity may, however, take solace in a second paradox:
Jesus and Maitreya the Christ were (and are) one, in the sense
that They, each on His own level, work together in perfect concord
to further the Divine Plan.
Reprinted
with the kind permission of Share International Magazine.
