In the following paragraphs we will take a bird’s eye
view of the most important passages of the Passion story and briefly touch on some
elements that correspond with these levels of esoteric interpretation.
Entering Jerusalem
Jesus is the
enlightened one and is, in this sense, an inner realization of Light and Love. He is
master of the body, emotions and thoughts that serve him faithfully as if they were a pack
animal, like the ass on which he is seated. Riding an ass he enters Jerusalem -the symbol
for the sacred center of the heart-, receptive, as the gentle one. The shining presence of
the light of the soul raises the thoughts and feelings to an exalted state of
consciousness, expressed in the cheering crowds. The Divine Self is recognized and admired
as the ray of limitless Being.
The temple is the symbol of the universe in manifestation
and of the incarnated human being. When the light of the soul is present in this temple,
it is purified of personal tendencies and attachment to the physical plane. Healing occurs
when the connection with the light of the soul is made. The enlightened state of awareness
heals all imperfections and returns everything into the perfection of conscious divine
existence.
The Last Supper and the betrayal
The Lord the Sun
–the Cosmic Christ- reveals himself with the twelve signs of the zodiac. This inner
structure is also present in the human being. The twelve disciples represent this inner
structure.
The divine self can only become manifest by voluntarily
enwrapping itself in matter. The creative angels assist the pristine spirit to involve
into materiality.
However, matter provides huge resistance, as it cannot
know the divine indwelling being, which only the enlightened consciousness is able to do.
Hence matter exhibits its resistance against the light. This is powerlessness and
ignorance, expressed as betrayal against the spirit. In the story Judas symbolizes the
resistance offered by matter against the inflowing divine light essence.
When the divine light becomes active in a human being, all
the qualities that are present are activated - therefore also the egocentric aspects; this
allows the negative aspects to come to the surface.
The thirty pieces of silver Judas receives are symbolic of
the threefold reward that matter receives due to the incarnation of spirit in it.
At the Last Supper the words “This is my Body”
and “This is my Blood” are expressions dating from the Ancient Mysteries
from as far back as Atlantis. These mysteries, which came via India and Egypt, were also
known in the Middle East, amongst others by the Essene community. These are words
referring to the divine identification: “I am That”. “That” is
an expression indicating the all-supporting and ineffable One Life Principle. It is the
Unity of Being that manifests itself in the diversity of appearance.
The chalice is also a symbol of the causal body of the
human being, which is the vehicle of the higher self. Blood represents pure intuition, the
healer of all imperfection. The symbolism of the vine in the story is that of the
anthakarana, the awakened connection between the personality and soul using the
rainbow-bridge. The bread represents the divine spark, atma, the light of the divine sun
in the human being. In the symbolism of the last supper we see a conscious expression of
the complete self-realization and unification with the one life in which everything lives,
moves and has its being.
During the last supper, the Christ promises to forgo
eternal peace (nirvana) until each and every human divine spark (monad) has reached
complete realization of the Divine Self. In the esoteric tradition this is sometimes
referred to as the Buddha-promise, which promise expresses in a special way the duty and
function of a World Teacher.
Getsemane
A field of divergence
exists between the Christ –the World Teacher- who gives a new spiritual impulse to
the world and the initiated Jesus, who is the vehicle for the Christ Consciousness.
Jesus needs to free himself of his last karmic barriers
and remains, still present in his system, so that in him the fullness of the Christ can
express itself. The Easter story conveys this clearly. Getsemane means the place where the
oil is pressed. A press is the symbol of struggle and the pressure required until the
essence appears. The passage about Getsemane conveys this inner confrontation. A struggle
in consciousness; when the inner truth is recognized the old consciousness is converted by
the new: “Thy will be done”.
The three disciples depict the mental, astral and
etheric/physical parts of the personality that are under the control of the initiate. The
neophyte can only undergo the initiation alone. He leaves everything behind him; even the
inner parts of his personality and higher self and pursues his way completely alone. The
disciples cannot follow him, as they are not of the spiritual consciousness of the
initiate, so they fall asleep three times. The soul –the Son- directs itself to the
highest –the Father-, its monad or divine spark!
The emptying of the cup to the last drop symbolizes the
dissolution of the higher self. In the long run even the soul vanishes. Everything
dissolves and transforms into the Great Sacrifice in which the initiate unifies himself
with the universal sacrifice that sustains everything. The Son of Man is a reference to
the initiate who rises from his personal existence into divine existence. The Son of God
is a reference to the World Teacher or the Logos, which manifests itself as a divine
being. Being delivered into the hands of sinners is an image of spirit in tension with
matter. The soul –often referred to as the son- stands at the threshold of vanishing
and being completely assumed in the Father.
Taken as a Prisoner
How can an enlightened
one in a spiritual drama succumb to a group of people with weapons? This rather improbable
situation expresses an inner meaning. Perhaps, in the story, it is about an old piece of
karma that had to do with violence and suppression. Everything needs to be worked out
completely – the cup must be entirely empty before there is sufficient space for
something entirely new. Judas represents the part of the human being that denies, that
does not know and resists. It is the fact that he betrays himself that for him is the
heaviest burden. Later he repents and hangs himself.
The striking of the right ear portrays the elimination of
the rational mind. In another version of the story, Jesus heals the ear, indicating that
the rational mind is reconnected to divine knowledge. The intuition is then repaired.
Living by the sword means dying by the sword. Living by love implies the perfect sacrifice
of unification and freedom. The continual reference to old prophecies is a reference to
the timeless knowledge, the ancient wisdom and the Divine Plan in which spiritual
evolution is contained. In this manner is indicated that everything happens according to
divine law.
If we understand this story as cosmogenesis, as the birth
of a universe from the Logos, the great multitude that overpowers the Lord of Light may be
seen as the legions of elemental angels, the builders, who are on the involutionary path
of the Logos. They push, flatten and force spirit into the confines of matter. The Solar
Logos expresses himself thus in the material dimension.
The kiss is a symbol of the tight relationship between
spirit overshadowing and matter resisting, whereby an extreme friction occurs. This is the
case in the human being as well as in the universe.
The Crucifixion
The location of this
crucifixion drama is in the head of the human being – the place of the skull. The
whole story symbolizes a drama of consciousness. It is not so much the physical human
being that is crucified, but the spiritual human being who is transformed in consciousness
and becomes one with the Divine Self.
The transformation that is experienced is not only on the
outside but also on the inside. The pain and bitterness is expressed in the gall. Jesus is
however pure and free of karmic remains and does not drink the gall: He does not
experience the bitterness of this experience in his personality as it has been completely
transformed.
The cross is a symbol of the manifestation of spirit in
matter. The Self-sacrifice of the divine spirit is voluntary. It is in fact a loss of
infinite life that hides itself in the veil of illusion of temporal existence. The
crucifixion indicates the loss of freedom: The crucified one is first made to lie flat on
the ground so that the four-sided nails can fix him to the cross.
The clothing is distributed. This is symbolical of the
various spheres of manifestation. That they play dice for the various pieces of clothing
indicates an apparent randomness without divine order. The divine self is no longer known
under the veil of matter, it seems as if things occur at random, yet everything is
contained in the divine plan. Einstein once said: “God does not play dice”!
The bleeding heart is symbolical of the Logos, who
continually gives love and life with an open heart, also during manifestation and
self-sacrifice.
In the human being the higher self is crucified to thought
and emotion. When the higher is completely manifested and self-conscious, it knows itself
as a prisoner in matter.
The Death
In the specification of
the hours, six means connection and nine means regeneration and a new birth. The death
drama therefore indicates the new birth that occurs due to the connection of the opposites
spirit and matter. Darkness means ignorance. The human awareness cannot understand nor
view what is actually happening. It is the description of the ignorance about the ancient
initiatory mysteries that are given in this story.
The words “Why hast thou forsaken me”
could indicate the experience of utter loneliness when the neophyte hangs over the abyss
between detachment from the old –the personality and the individuality of the soul-
and the realization of the unity in the Divine Self. At that moment in time the soul
vanishes, whereby the spirit no longer exists in a veil but can manifest itself directly.
A second explanation of this sentence is: “How
thou dost glorify me” and indicates the merging with the One. It is the mystery
of the dewdrop merging with the ocean. Sometimes it is referred to as reaching the other
side.
Ridicule and contempt indicate the utmost ignorance of the
masses. This is emphasized (in the image of the vinegar) that for human awareness it is a
bitter ordeal to break all bonds between the personality and the soul. Calling loudly
shows the power of the will of the spirit.
That the veil of the temple tears implies that the
separation between the causal and personal human vanishes and spirit can penetrate
directly into awareness and the physical being. The veil is also rend from above to below
– a sign that it is the higher that brings about the vanishing of the separation at
this moment of victory. The result in the physical system is such that it trembles on its
foundations as in an earthquake.
The dead rising from the graves -something that simply is
not physically possible- is here also meant symbolically and refers to the spiritual
powers in man that were previously latent. Sleepers and the dead are often-used symbols in
the scriptures to denote “spiritual” life slumbering and as yet inactive in the
consciousness of the human being. These are now activated and they unfold themselves, they
rise from the grave of physical existence and appear in the healed system, the holy city.
The headman –the thinking-, seeing the wonder of the
crucifixion of the ego, and all the other personages –aspects of the human being- are
enlightened and behold the spirit.
Resurrection
The mysteries mark the
road from darkness to light, from death to immortality, from spiritual night to divine
dawn. The grave is the world and materialism. The stone in front of the entrance shows the
imprisonment of spirit in the grave of matter. However, when the stone has been rolled
away, the mystery of the spirit awakened in matter is shown.
The two angels with their wings directed towards each
other, one at either end of the grave, represent the spiritual Will and Intelligence of
the threefold divine Self. Jesus, who appears later, represents divine Wisdom. Together
they form the spiritual trinity.
The two angels can also be seen as the two kundalini
forces in the human being, the grave being the skull in which the divine fire awakens.
Also the ancient symbol of the caduceus –an image of the fully awakened kundalini
power- is often topped by the head of the kalahansa –the world swan- as the apex in
which the two serpents meet. The fully awakened kundalini is the spiritualization of the
human being. This lays aside the swathing –the sheath of illusion by matter- and
frees itself from the death of the physical form and leaves the grave.
The divine spirit first appears as the gardener, a symbol
of the controller of matter and the growth therein. It is only when Maria is touched as a
result of Jesus calling her mystical name, that she sees the mystery of the divine life
that has been raised from the death of physical illusion.
Maria Magdalene is the intuition that is enlightened by
beholding the divine Self. In her turn, she passes this vision on to the other aspects,
symbolized by the disciples. In this manner the awakened spirit works via the intuition on
the higher thought and the personality and enlightens the whole human being and humanity.
In this manner the various inner dimensions display the
story of human development. For the seeker for inner truth and unity, these scenes are
locations in a labyrinth of meditation, transformation, enlightenment and unification.
Each lights up when the consciousness directs the light of inner vision upon it.
Literature
Hodson, G. The
Christ Life from Nativity to Ascension, Theosophical Publishing House, Wheaton.
Hodson, G. The
Hidden Wisdom in the Holy Bible, Volume 1, Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar.
