[QUOTE=Surya Deva;84214] The high level of intellectual and intelligent conversations that use to happen here do not happen anymore.[/QUOTE]
I knew you would miss me. : o
Happy Holidays, everybody!
siva
[QUOTE=Chitta Control;84486]Jesus was no yogi. This is Christian propaganda, no more, no less. Why do people believe such nonsense?[/QUOTE]
What do Christians have to gain from this “nonsense:” emulating a yogi?
siva
I like to think of Jesus Christ as a yogi. This is one of the ways in which Jesus the archetype is made relevant to spiritual seekers in the modern day.
What does one mean by yoga? Do people believe that Jesus was doing hatha yoga asanas and chanting specific sanskrit mantras in the desert?
I believe that the yoga of Jesus was a form of “Raja Yoga” that arises naturally and spontaneously within those who become enlightened and are very Holy.
Wether or not Jesus existed as a human being is to me a secondary issue and it’s basically impossible to determine wether a possible historical Jesus was a “orthodox” jewish rabbi, a gnostic / essene, a muslim, an initiate into a secret order etc.
We will never be able to find out to what particular secterian group within judaism the human being Jesus would identify with.
There are hundreds and hundreds of Gospels of Jesus, many of whom are contradicting eachothers claims about the life and teachings of the historical Jesus.
The crucifiction of Jesus is confirmed by secondary sources (contemporary historians). But it’s possible that the historical person Jesus actually survived / never was crucified and travelled to India although there seems to be more evidence that Jesus was actually executed by the roman authorities.
I believe the narrative of “Jesus the yogi” serves as a testimony for the times in which we live. I think it’s a result of indian philosophy / dharma being incorporated into western societies. It would probably not work to transplate dharma as expressed in India 2013 into USA or EU 2013 because the societies and peoples are different, have different narratives, histories, role models etc.
Jesus being turned into a yogi instead of a “church hierarch” who founded a specific organisation outside of which all are condemned to eternal punishment is a positive development because naturally, a society who are accepting a new philosophy or religion would like to incorporate what is good about the philosophy and religion of their collective past.
The same process occurred when Rome was accepting christianity as a religion; the “church fathers” (the earliest influental philosophers who were followers of Jesus) incorporated what was good in the philosophy of their collective past, ie; Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Hermeticism etc.
Saint Basil said
Just as bees can take nectar from flowers, unlike other animals which limit themselves to enjoying their scent and colour, so also from these writings… one can draw some benefit for the spirit. We must use these books, following in all things the example of bees. They do not visit every flower without distinction, nor seek to remove all the nectar from the flowers on which they alight, but only draw from them what they need to make honey, and leave the rest. And if we are wise, we will take from those writings what is appropriate for us, and conform to the truth, ignoring the rest
If truth is permanent it does not matter where it is found. Still it must be the same.
All these are only labels and does not really matter nor can these labels bring truth. Better to drop all the labels not to create more wrong identification.