Part 57 (1/2)
”Thus it becohteousness” {FN35-1} In these words to John the Baptist, and in asking John to baptize hiuru
From a reverent study of the Bible from an Oriental viewpoint, {FN35-2} and from intuitional perception, I auru of Christ There are nues in the Bible which infer that John and Jesus in their last incarnations were, respectively, Elijah and his disciple Elisha (These are the spellings in the Old Testament The Greek translators spelled the names as Elias and Eliseus; they reappear in the New Testaed forms)
The very end of the Old Testament is a prediction of the reincarnation of Elijah and Elisha: ”Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coreat and dreadful day of the Lord”
{FN35-3} Thus John (Elijah), sent ”before the cohtly earlier to serve as a herald for Christ
An angel appeared to Zacharias the father to testify that his co son John would be no other than Elijah (Elias)
”But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name JohnAnd many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God And he shall go before him {FN35-4} IN THE SPIRIT AND POWER OF ELIAS, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” {FN35-5} Jesus twice unequivocally identified Elijah (Elias) as John: ”Elias is come already, and they knew him notThen the disciples understood that he spake unto theain, Christ says: ”For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come” {FN35-7} When John denied that he was Elias (Elijah), {FN35-8} he er in the outward elevation of Elijah the great guru In his forlory and his spiritual wealth to his disciple Elisha ”And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon : nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto theeAnd he took the MANTLE of Elijah that fell from him” {FN35-9}
The roles becaer needed to be the ostensible guru of Elisha-Jesus, now perfected in divine realization
When Christ was transfigured on the uru Elias, with Moses, whoain, in his hour of extremity on the cross, Jesus cried out the divine name: ”ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for EliasLet us see whether Elias will couru and disciple that existed between John and Jesus was present also for Babaji and Lahiri Mahasaya With tender solicitude the deathless guru swam the Lethean waters that swirled between the last two lives of his chela, and guided the successive steps taken by the child and then by the man Lahiri Mahasaya
It was not until the disciple had reached his thirty-third year that Babaji deemed the time to be ripe to openly reestablish the never-severed link Then, after their briefnear Ranikhet, the selfless master banished his dearly-beloved disciple fro him for an outorld mission
”My son, I shall come whenever you need me” What mortal lover can bestow that infinite proreat spiritual renaissance began to flow frorance of flowers cannot be suppressed, so Lahiri Mahasaya, quietly living as an ideal householder, could not hide his innate glory Slowly, froht the divine nectar of the liberated lish office superintendent was one of the first to notice a strange transcendental change in his ely called ”Ecstatic Babu”
”Sir, you seem sad What is the trouble?” Lahiri Mahasayato his eland is critically ill I aet you some word about her” Lahiri Mahasaya left the room and sat for a short tily
”Your wife is ii quoted some parts of the missive
”Ecstatic Babu, I already know that you are no ordinary man Yet I am unable to believe that, at will, you can banish time and space!”
The promised letter finally arrived The astounded superintendent found that it contained not only the good news of his wife's recovery, but also the same phrases which, weeks earlier, Lahiri Mahasaya had repeated
The wife came to India some months later She visited the office, where Lahiri Mahasaya was quietly sitting at his desk The woman approached him reverently
”Sir,” she said, ”it was your foro by my sickbed in London At that moment I was co ocean voyage to India”
Day after day, one or two devotees besought the subliuru for KRIYA initiation In addition to these spiritual duties, and to those of his business and fareat anized rowth of a large high school in the Bengalitola section of Benares His regular discourses on the scriptures caerly attended by many truth-seekers
By these ht to answer the co one's business and social duties, where is the time for devotional reat householder-guru beca hearts Earning only a modest salary, thrifty, unostentatious, accessible to all, the master carried on naturally and happily in the path of worldly life
Though ensconced in the seat of the Supreme One, Lahiri Mahasaya showed reverence to allmerits When his devotees saluted him, he bowed in turn to them
With a childlike humility, the master often touched the feet of others, but seldoh such obeisance toward the guru is an ancient Oriental custonificant feature of Lahiri Mahasaya's life was his gift of KRIYA initiation to those of every faith Not Hindus only, but Mosle his foremost disciples Monists and dualists, those of all faiths or of no established faith, were iuru One of his highly advanced chelas was Abdul Gufoor Khan, a Mohae on the part of Lahiri Mahasaya that, although a high-caste Brahotry of his time Those from every walk of life found shelter under the s Like all God-inspired prophets, Lahiri Mahasaya gave new hope to the outcastes and down-trodden of society
”Always res to you Reflect that so in this world-so uru told his disciples ”Prepare yourself for the co in the balloon of God-perception