The Mission of the Avatars: Lessons From Easter

Watch this inspiring Sunday Service talk with Nayaswami Jyotish, recorded at Ananda Village on Easter Sunday March 31, 2024.

The reading for this week from Swami Kriyananda's book "Rays of the One Light" is "Resurrection for Every Soul (Easter)".

Truth is one and eternal. Realize oneness with it in your deathless Self, within.

The following commentary is based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda.

In the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 20, we read the inspiring account of Jesus’ resurrection:

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord! . . .

Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in their midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

The resurrection of Jesus, doubted by many but affirmed by those who were close to him, was a miraculous event, though one not unique in history. For many great saints of other religions have appeared to their disciples after death. Sometimes their appearances have been, as that of Jesus was, in flesh-and-blood form, and not only in vision.

Paramhansa Yogananda relates in Autobiography of a Yogi the account of his guru Sri Yukteswar’s resurrection after his earthly passing. Miracles of this type are revealed only rarely to the masses, but accounts of them, related by men and women of reputed truthfulness, have inspired many devotees with faith in the reality of subtler-than-material states of existence.

Resurrection, Yogananda explained, means transformation, ultimately, from any lower state of being to a higher one. Worldly consciousness cannot imagine such transformation except in terms of, perhaps, an improvement of the present mess of potage with the addition of a new flavoring. Divine consciousness, however, is capable of taking the base metal of worldliness and transforming it into the spiritual gold of divine wisdom and love.

In keeping with this truth, the Bhagavad Gita, in the ninth Chapter, tells us:

Ah! ye who into this ill world are come – fleeting and false – set your faith fast on Me! Fix heart and thought on Me! Adore Me! Bring Offerings to Me! Make Me prostrations! Make Me your supremest joy! and, undivided, unto My rest your spirits shall be guided.

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Ananda is a worldwide movement to help individuals realize the joy of their own higher Self. Ananda is based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda and was founded by his direct disciple Swami Kriyananda in 1968. Learn more at https://ananda.org.
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