Sunday, December 7, 2014

Early Nazarene / Essene writings

The dead sea scrolls, which included the gospel of thomas, are from the group the Essenes or Nazarenes (from the city where they set up) from ES meaning spirit. They were ascetics who lived in communal shared life, and they are also interesting not only as being the spiritual group of jews that Jesus came from, but also QumRan, the settlement nearby where the scrolls were found.

Here are some comments, a bit winding, on the gospel of thomas and beliefs. One interesting belief of the essenes is that women held as high position as men.

--
51 His disciples asked Yeshu: When will begin the repose of the dead? Andwhen will the new world appear? He answered: The sanctuary you expect ishere, Although you cannot recognize it.
Unlike Judaism and Christianity,Nazoreanism teaches a personal and internal interpretation of scripturesand teachings. Outward geo-political events are considered inconsequentialto the internal war, resurrection and judgement that must personally happento each individual.
52 His disciples commented: 24 prophets spoke in Israel. All referred to you.Yeshu replied: You have neglected the one who lives in your presence, inorder to talk about the dead.
These would have been Jewish converts to Nazoreanism,of which there were many in Yeshu's day. Even Miryai was a convert to Naziruthaform the sect which the Nazorean's associated with death. The 24 Jewishprophets are not prophets of life, but of death and a lower god of deathwho demanded sacrifice and slaughter to be done in his supposedly holyname. Many of the Old testament prophets are based, according to Nazoreantradition, on true Nazorean prophets. The similarity in names is confusinghowever. The true Nazorean prophet Liliukh is re-invented in the TavishBible as the bloodthirsty Elijah who slays other priests and offers burntanimal sacrifice. The true Liliukh/Elijah would never slaughter either humanor beast. Hence goes the general re-invention by the Jewish writers. Yeshucalls all these dead ones and points the minds of his male and female Jewishconverts to the true Apostles and Messengers of light whose words are preservedby the Nazorean scrolls. In Yeshu's reality, these Jewish prophets weredead even when they were alive. Only prophets of the Great Life have truelife. This is expressed in the beginning of our Gospel of Philip whichreads: "Those who inherit the dead are themselves dead, and they inheritthe dead. Those who inherit the living are alive, and they inherit boththe living and the dead. The dead do not inherit anything. For how willthe dead inherit? When the dead inherits the living, he shall not die butrather the dead shall instead live. A non-Nazorean does not die, for hehas never lived so that he could die. Whoever has trusted the truth isalive— and this-one is in danger of dying, for he is alive since the daythat the Christ came."
53 His disciples asked: Is circumcision of use? He said: if it were useful,your father would of begotten you circumcised out of your mother.But the real circumcision of the Spirit has always been useful and nothingbut useful.
Nazoreans never cut theflesh off their children's genitalia. This was a barbaric Jewish custom. Modern Mandaeans have preservedthe legend that neither Yeshu or Yohanna were ever circumcised: "But ProphetMoses never suffered himself to be circumcised, neither did the prophetJesus, for Jesus was of our sect, and they do not allow mutilations". - from Mandaeans of Iraq & Iran, pg 260
54 Blessed are the poor, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
This means, Blessedare the monastics who have renounced personal possessions and utilize onlycommunal monastic goods for their survival, these begin to glimpse theperfect society where personal property is non existent. Echoes of thisNazorean lifestyle found there way into the imperfect Book of Acts of theBible where it says that the early believers had all things in common,and none possessed anything of their own.
55 Yeshu said: One who does not hate Father and Mother cannot be my disciple,as he who does not hate brother and sister, and take up his cross as Idid, cannot ever become worthy of me.
This apparent harshnessof this saying is balanced by another saying in this same collection. Verse101 says: "One who does not hate his father and his mother as I do cannotbe my disciple, and who does not love his mother and father as I do, cannotbe my disciple. for my mother killed me, but my true mother has givenme life." The original word for Cross here was probably Saliba. Thisword implies difficulties, trials, and personal problems requiring characterand strength to overcome. It does not mean to don a crucifix, althoughthis is not forbidden to Nazoreans, especially on the fast day. The NazoreanCrucifix like emblem is the ankh. Coptic Christians in the Egyptian areawere fond of this symbol as well and used it in place of the Roman cross.For Jewish converts, it was necessary that they break off considerablecontact with their unconverted Jewish siblings and concentrate on collectingZiwa and Noorah light behind the stauros veils of the Order. It is forbiddenin Nazoreanism to hate anything or anyone outside of ourselves, even evil.But Nazoreans are required to distance themselves from that evil lest theybe tainted and tarnished in their evolution toward godliness. The old internalresidues of evil, inherited with the flesh from imperfect ancestors andsiblings, must be hated by struggling Nazoreans. This hatred is not meantto overflow to the real people outside, only the archetypal old relativeswithin that hold one back and retard forward progress.
56 One who has known the world has found a corpse, and the world is unworthyof that one who has found a corpse.
The world is dead despitethe fact that seeds of the Living Soul are entrapped within its elementsand within many of its inhabitants. Yet these living residues are not partof the world, only captured by it. The world-knower separates what is trueto the nature of the world from what is alien to it. As alien and stranger,the son or daughter of Life recollects these residues, consolidates themwithin their own selves, wages war with the material residue, and arisestriumphant into light realms above.
57 The Kingdom of the Father is like a farmer who possessed good seed. Onenight, his enemy sowed Tares among the seed, but the farmer refused topull up the tares, saying: You may uproot wheat as well. On the harvestday, the tares will appear, be uprooted and burned.
The queendom of theEverlasting Mother is like a bag of goodly seed that rolled down a highmountain into a dark valley and spilled forth, mixing with inferior weeds.Farmers are sent down to the valley and are charged with the slow processof purifying various stains of grain that have crossbred with inferiorseed. Eventually the original strain of seed is restored and the farmerscarry it back up the slopes of Carmel to the sunlit paradisiacalvalleys above. To the surprise of all it is found to be of better qualitythan the original seed which was lost.
58 Blessedis the one who has suffered, for that one has truly discovered life.
The Nazorean Path entailsdisciplines - fasting, vows of silence, denial of lower desires and indulgences.Only through overcoming the flesh and its desires can one become trulyfree. An Arabic translation from Aramaic by al- Ghazali in 1111 has Yeshusaying: "O disciples, make your stomach hungry in order that your heartssee your Lord." And "O disciples, make your life hungry and uncover yourbodies in order that your heart may see your Lord." ; and "My breadis hunger, my banner fear, my clothes are wool, and my prayer in winteris at sun rise, and my lamp is the moon. My ride is my legs, my food andfruit whatever the earth produces. I spend the night and have nothing,I awake in the morning and have nothing, and there is no one upon earthmore richer than I."
59 Look to the Living One as long as you live, lest you die, Then search forThem, and fail.
The Great Life is Amin-Hiya,the Hidden Living Ones. This deity of the Nazoreans is the one which sentthe Living Yeshu to collect the Living Seed for transport back up to heaven.
60 A Samaritan was bearing a lamb towards Judea . Yeshuasked his disciples why he wanted the animal. They replied that he wishedto kill it and to eat it. He replied: As long as it is alive, he will noteat it. One can only once it is dead. There is no other way, they said.He answered: You too are seeking rest in order to avoid becoming corpses,and ripe for being eaten.
There were Essene Samaritans, but apparently thisSamaritan was taking a lamb toward the Jewish slaughter house. This wouldhave been an appalling site to vegan Nazoreans which begged comment fromtheir Rabai. Yeshu used this occasion to remind his Priest and Priestessesin training that the Jews and all of the world were part of that whichis spiritually dead, and only they who adopt themselves into the Familyof the Great Life are truly alive. Great Life have true life. Asour Gospel of Philip says: "A non-Nazorean does not die, for he has neverlived so that he could die. Whoever has trusted the truth is alive— andthis-one is in danger of dying, for he is alive since the day that theChrist came."
61 Two share one bed. One shall live, and the other die. Salome challengedhim, Who are you? Did you mount my bed, and eat from my table? Yeshu addressedher: I am an equal. I have been giving things belonging to my father. Salomereplied, I am your disciple. And Yeshu responded: When a man is growingequal, he shall be suffused with light, but when he is growing apart, heshall be consumed with darkness.
Salome, along with Miryai,was a spouse of Yeshu. Among the major Nazorean Apostles of Light thereare many instances of multiple marriage partners. Zardoz (Zarathustra)had three wives, Sidhartha Buddha had many before he retired to the forestto contemplate, Yohanna (John Baptist) was married to two woman named Anhar& Qinta, and Yeshu (Jesus) was said to have been married to Miryai(Mary Magdalene) among others. There is no such thing in Nazoreanism asa celibate Angel, God, or Redeemer. A Nazorean oral tradition states: "Ifa man has no wife, there will be no paradise for him hereafter and no paradiseon earth".(from Mandaeans of Iraq &Iran, pg 59). It is also an ancient Nazorean custom for those in the Priesthoodto have more than one mate: "A man may marry as many wives as his meansallow..."(from Mandaeans of Iraq & Iran, pg 59). E.S. Droweralso observed that among modern Mandaean remnants of the ancient Nazoreans,around 1935, multiple marriage was still quite common. She states: "I havenoticed, however, that most priests have had at one time two or more wives." (from Mandaeans of Iraq & Iran, pg 59).
62 Yeshu said: I reveal my secrets to those deserving of them. Do not letyour left hand know what your right is doing.
In the first chapter ofthe GinzaRaba, and ancient Aramaic text of our Order, we read: Isay to you, my chosen, to you my believers in my teachings: Give alms tothe poor and be to the blind a guide. When you give alms, my chosen, somention it not. When you mention it once, so repeat it not. Offer you withyour right hand, so tell it not to your left. Offer with your left hand,so say it not to your right. One who testifies of their alms giving hassuch nullified and not credited to them. One who donates alms and aboundsin good works, but then ceases to donate alms, falls into the unquenchablefire until its sins are cancelled and all its misdoings are nullified.In the Ginza we also have: "O you believer who has become perfect. Saynothing that you do not know of have not had disclosed to you. Becausenobody is given to reveal the hidden things of the Golden, Vast andLofty who has not known and perceived them completely."
63 A rich man owned a great fortune, and determined to employ it so as tosow, reap, plant, and fill his barns with fruit, that he may lack nothing.That very night, he died. One who has ears to hear let him hear.
Nazoreans must collect,but not material possessions or seed. Rather, students of Nazirutha arecommissioned to help gather in the scattered and fragmented Living Soulof Yeshu and Miryai that lies hidden in vegan foods. These are eaten, transmuted,and their living essence collected about the Pearl soul.
64 Having prepared a banquet, a host sent his servant to summon the guest.He went to the first and said: My master has invited you. Some merchantswho are in my debt are visiting me tonight. I have to advise them. I amsorry I can not come. He visited another and said: My master has sent aninvitation to you. That one replied: I have bought a house, and made anappointment for today. I have no time. He went to another and offered:My master has invited you. He was told: My friend is getting married, andI am organizing a dinner to celebrate. I can not come I must be excused.Then he approached another and said: My master invited you. He was answered:I have just bought an estate, and am about to collect the rents. I shallnot be able to come. The servant returned to his master, and reported:All those you invited are unable to come. The master responded: Go outinto the streets; bring in all you find to partake of the banquet. Merchantsand dealers shall not enter the abode of my father.
Very few souls are readyto embrace the Call of Life. The distractions of earthly existence aredesigned to keep one from opening up to what is beyond. As our Ginza says:‘Ruha and the planets began to forge plans and said: “We will entrap Adamand catch him and detain him with us in the earth-sphere. When he eatsand drinks, we will entrap the world. We will practice embracing in theworld and found a community in the world. We will entrap him with hornsand flutes, so that he may not break away from us . . We will seduce thetribe of Life and cut it off with us in the world . . .”
65 A virtuous man owned a vineyard which he gave to farmers to be tilled,having agreed to receive the fruit from them. He sent his servant to collectthe fruits, and he was seized, beaten and almost killed. The servant returned,and told his master of this. Perhaps they did not recognize him, thoughtthe master. So he sent another servant. The farmers beat him too. Thenthe man sent his son thinking they will respect my son. The farmers knewthat he was the heir, and they seized and killed him. One who has earsto hear let him hear.
True Apostles of Lightare instantly recognized as threats by the leaders of earthly religiousorganizations and by ruling archons in the lower heavens. These fearfulleaders immediately begin campaigns to weaken or destroy the reputation,and even life, of these Messengers of the Great Life. We see this factreflected in how the Jewish religious leaders, all supposedly pious men,reacted to Yeshu and Miryai: "We will slay them and make Miryai scornedin Jerusalem. A stake (cross) will we set up for the man who hasruined Miryai and led her away. There shall be no day in the world whena stranger (Gnostic) enters Jerusalem." When the Stranger of Lifearriveth, the citizens of darkness tremble and seek his destruction, butthe true Apostles of Light counter with weapons of truth. Never do theyphysically retaliate with literal weapons, but always they meet both physicaland philosophical attacks with words of compassion and wisdom.
66 Show me the stone, which the builders rejected. It is the head of the corner.
Yeshu and Miryai are thefoundation stones of the Nazorean Temple. The Jesus and Mary of mainlineChristianity are not real stones, not authentic portrayals of the GnosticChrists. They have rejected the true Yeshu and replaced him with theirown fabrication.
67 One who knows the All and does not know himself has missed everything.
Yeshu is, above all, ateacher of self Gnosis. Self understanding is the principle focus of Naziruthianinitiation. One who is ignorant and not in control of their deeper drivesis not fully alive.
68 You are blessed, when men beat you, and persecute you for they shall findno place still standing where they have tormented you.
A sincere loving Nazoreanneed not be confused or surprised at the level of animosity levelled againstthem just for being who they are. They are strangers who inhabit the realmof another. They should not expect acceptance or kindness, although theyare mandated to be ever wise and compassionate in their response to evil.
69 Blessed are they who have been persecuted in their hearts. They have knownthe father in truth. Blessed are the hungry, for that one who desires willbe satisfied.
Yeshu warns his disciplesagain and again that the Way will be hard due to the animosity that theirlight and love will stir up. A Nazorean who love the status, acceptanceand luxuries of the world will not make it to the end of their trial, forthe level of sincerity is matched by an equal level of disturbance andresentment.
70 When you produce this within, what you have will save you. What you donot have within will kill you.
Yeshu and Miryai's lightshall transform and immunize us. In the Ginza we read: "When you, my chosen,listen to my sayings, when you do what I command, then shall I bestow uponyou our Ziwa-Brilliance in abundance and N’hura-Light in endlessness. You shall abide gloriously in the House of Life, even as the Uthra-Buddhasof light are glorious in that Light World."
71 Yeshu said: I shall destroy this house, and nobody will be able to restoreit.
The middle time shall cometo an end and the light shall again be separated from the darkness. ThisUniversal structure shall be folded up upon itself, and the light extractingmachine established by the Mother of Life shall cease its work and eachshall cleave unto their own.
72 A man requested: Tell my brothers to divide my fathers things with me.He replied: Who made me a divider? Turning to his disciples, he said: DoI divide things up?
Yeshu and Miryai representconsolidation, merger and union. Not only do they represent the eternallove union between man and woman, but they also represent the common ownershipof goods that is customary in a monastery society. The idea of personalpossessions is alien to what Yeshu and Miryai stand for. Personal possessionsare allowed to their lay followers, but such are constantly encouragedto simplify those possessions and to wean themselves from psychologicaldependence on them. The stage where one consecrates all personal possessionsto a monastery is one of the most blessed milestones in the life of aninitiate. Those unable to do so will forever reincarnate back to this dividedup world. The Gospel of Philip says: The saints are served by evil powers,for they are blinded by the Holy Spirit into thinking that they are servingan (ordinary) man whenever they do so for the saints. Because of this,a disciple asked the Lord one day for something of this world. He saidto him, "Ask your mother, and she will give you of the things which areanother's."
73 The harvest is great, but the laborers are few. Ask the Lord to send Laborersto the harvest.
We find this principleechoed in the Shura Rule for Monastics and Oblates. In the prologue weread: "It Is Time For Thee To Work, O Hidden Living Ones, For They HaveMade Void Thy Law. Our Days Grow Short, The Master Calls, The Harvest HasBeen Abandoned. The Reapers Of The Field Are Few, They Have Strayed FarFrom The True Vine Who Is Our Mashiha.
74 Look there are many people around the well, but there is nobody withinthe well.
The Well is Miryai, the Wellspring of holiness.In the Rahmia hymns we read: "And praise the Wellspring and Datepalm. FromWhom the Father of 'uthras came into being."
75 There are many at the door. But only the solitary ones shall enter theBridal Chamber.
Eternal Union between andenlightened wise woman full of Noorah and an enlightened compassionateman full of Ziwa pathes the way for transcendence from duality.
76 The Kingdom of the Father is like a merchant, who found a pearl to addon to his possessions. Being a clever merchant, he sold his other possessions,and bought himself the pearl alone. Seek like him the treasure which doesnot fade, in the place where no moths enter to consume, and no worms tocorrupt.
In the ancient Hymn ofthe Pearl found in the Acts of Thomas we read: "From Thy Father, The RoyalOne Of Royal Ones, And Thy Mother, The Mistress Of The East, And From ThySibling, Our Second In Authority, To Thee Our Heir, Who Art In Egypt, Greeting!Call To Mind That Thou Art An Heir Of Royalty! See The Slavery, WhomThou Servest! Remember The Pearl, For Which Thou Was Sent To Egypt! ThinkOf Thy Robe, And Remember Thy Splendid Toga, Which Thou Shalt Wear AndWith Which Thou Shalt Be Adorned, When Thy Name Hath Been Read Out In TheList Of The Valiant. And Thy Sibling, Our Viceroy,Thou Shalt Be In Our Domain, My Letter Is A Letter, Which The Royal OnesSealed With Their Own Right Hands, To Keep It From The Wicked Ones, TheChildren Of Babel, And From The Savage Demons Of Sarbug. It Flew In TheLikeness Of An Eagle, The Royal One Of All Birds; It Flew And AlightedBeside Me, And Became All Speech. At Its Voice And The Sound Of Its Rustling,I Started And Arose From My Sleep. I Took It Up And Kissed It, And I BeganAnd Read It; And According To What Was Traced On My Heart Were The WordsOf My Letter. I Remembered That I Was An Heir Of Royal Parents, And MyNoble Birth Asserted Itself. I Remembered The Pearl, For Which I Had BeenSent To Egypt, And I Began To Charm It, The Terrible Loud Breathing Serpent.I Hushed It Asleep And Lulled It Into Slumber, For My Parent's Name I NamedOver It, And The Name Of Our Second In Power, And The Name Of My Mother,The Queen Of The East. And I Snatched Away The Pearl, And Turned To GoBack To My Parent's House. And Their Filthy And Unclean Garment I StrippedOff, And Left It In Their Country; And I Took My Way Straight To Come ToThe Light Of Our Home In The East."
77 Yeshu said:I am the Light That is above them all. I am the All. The all came fromme, and the all has returned to me. Split wood and I am there. Raise astone and you will find me.
Yeshu speaks here of the Living Soul scatteredin the fields of dark matter. In the Manichaean texts of our Order we readof how Yeshu is under every stone: “Thereupon Adam examined himself andrealized whence he-came; and Yeshu showed him the Fathers on high and hisown Self in everything, thrown into the teeth of leopards and elephants,swallowed by the greedy and chewed by the gluttonous, eaten by dogs- mixedand imprisoned in all that is, and bound in the stench of Darkness.” Aftershowing Adam how the Living Soul is spread invisibly throughout the materialworlds, Yeshu shows Adam how to partake of the Tree of Life, which is theChrist Light existent in wholesome plant foods. Adam realizes the originsof his fleshy body and weeps, saying: “Then (Yeshu) raised him and madehim taste of the Tree of Life and thereupon Adam looked and wept, he mightilylifted up his voice like a raging lion, saying: "Woe, woe to the makerof my body, and to the binder of my Soul, and to the Rebels who have enslavedme!"
78 Why have you come into the field? To see a reed tremble in the wind? Toobserve a man wearing soft cloth? Your kings and great men all wear softcloths and yet they cannot see the truth.
John the Baptist did notwear a hair shirt and a leather garment like it is said in the New Testament.This was an attempt by the anonymous authors fo those propaganda textsto portray John as Elijah. Yohanna wore white rasta clothings made fromplant sources. The Al-Ghazali collection of Yeshu sayings records: "O youwho demand the world in order to do righteous with it -- leaving the worldis more righteous for you."
79 A woman from the crowd addressed him: Blessed is the womb that gave youbirth and the women who nursed you. He answered: Blessed are those whoheard the Word of the Father and maintained it in truth, for the day willcome when you will say blessed is the womb which has not conceived, andthe woman who has not nursed.
Yeshu is careful to avoidthe hero worship mentality that eventually permeated Pauline Christianity,taking from them their personal sense of responsibility and their dutyto work out their own perfection. Like Buddhism, Nazoreanism teaches personalresponsibility, not vicarious salvation. Each must strive for enlightenment.Proportionate to their own effort, so shall the heavens assist them withgrace. The born again Christian idea that you can confess the name of Jesusand be saved is totally false. Yeshu came to outline a strict regimentof spiritual discipline and study that was meant to culminate in enlightenmentafter many many years, or even lifetimes, of intense practice.
80 One who has known the world has found the body, but he who has found thebody, is too great for the world.
The world is a corpse.It, and all its institutions, are expressions of animated death. Its zombielike half-life is death compared to the vital vast Living Ones and theirrealms above. The worlds true nature eludes most. This is why eastern tantricspractice chod meditation in graveyards - it discloses the death essenceof this world.
81 One who is rich can become a king. One who has power can do without.
The Al-Ghazali collectionof Yeshu sayings records: "Yeshu was asked: 'Teach us one science by which Allah will love us.' He replied: 'Hate the world, then Allah willlove you.'" Yeshu stands among us; he winks at us secretly and says, "Repent,so that I may forgive you your sins". -Manichaean fragment ofYeshu's words.
82 One who is close to me is close to fire: One who is far from me is distantfrom the kingdom.
One should stand near,but not in the fire of the law lest it burn them. Yeshu said: "Come andstand beside me and you shall not be burned." - Ginza,Yeshu(Yeshu)
83 Images Appeared to man, and the Light within is hidden in the image ofthe Fathers Light. One will reveal Himself, and his image hidden by light.
In Philip we read: TheLord did everything in a mystery, a baptism and a chrism and a eucharistand a redemption and a bridal chamber. He said, "I came to make the thingsbelow like the things above, and the things outside like those inside.I came to unite them in the place here through types and images.
84 When you see your likeness, you are happy, but when you see your imagesrising before you without subsiding or approaching, how long can you standthat?
"Blessed is the one who knows her own soul. -Manichaeanfragment of Yeshu's words. The stories of a physical resurrection, foundin the New testament portion of the Pauline Bible, are not the originalresurrection truths taught by Miryai Mashiha after the death of Yeshu.Originally, resurrection was taught as a purely spiritual resurrection.According to early Nazorean beliefs, the outer fleshy covering was onlya temporary expediency which was no longer needed after death. If a physicalenvelope, made from the elements of this earth, were needed again one wouldsimply reincarnate to a new set of earthly parents. Spiritual ascensionupward into higher heavens requires a perfected spiritual body made fromthe elements of that spiritual world, not elements of this world. The physicalcomponents of earthly bodies are only needed when indwelling in thisworld.
85 The first man emerged from a great power and great wealth, and was stillunworthy of you. Had he been worthy, he would not of experienced death.
The Manichaean fragmentspreserve this: "Yeshu-Ziwa (Jesus the Radiant) approached Adam the Innocent,and awoke him from the sleep of death, so that he might be rescued fromthe Mighty Demoness; and like a righteous man who meets a man possessedby a mighty demon and quietens him by his art, so too was Adam when thatBeloved had found him sunk in the deep sleep. So he woke him, took holdof him; and shook him (K. 317: 15 21). Then Yeshu. . . spoke to the 'childwho was Adam, and made clear to him the Gardens and the Gods, and Helland the demons, and the earth and sky, and the Sun and Moon."
86 Foxes have their lairs, and birds their nests. But the son of man has noplace to lay down his head, and rest.
The Al-Ghazali collectionof Yeshu sayings records: "It is written in the original, unaltered Bible:'Do not seek the knowledge of that which you do not know until you practicethat which you know.'"
87 Wretched is the body dependent upon the body, and wretched is the souldependent upon them both.
In the Gospel of Philip from the Nag we are told:No one will hide a large valuable object in something large, but many atime one has tossed countless thousands into a thing worth a penny. Comparethe soul. It is a precious thing and it came to be in a contemptible body.Some are afraid lest they rise naked. Because of this they wish to risein the flesh, and they do not know that it is those who wear the fleshwho are naked.
88 Yeshu said: The angels and the prophets shall visit you, and give you whatis yours. For your part, give them what you have in your hand and ask yourselveswhen they will come to take what is theirs.
One should not think thatYeshu talks here of the Jewish Prophets. The Nazoreans had their own seriesof Messengers. All priesthood keys of past dispensations are here promisedto the Amun-il Order of early vegan pacifist Christianity.
89 Why do you wash the surface of the chalice? Do you not understand thatthe man who made the outside also created the inside?
Nazirutha is a Path ofinward purity and transformation. It demands character change, motivationexamination, and careful scrutiny of every desire and intent. Outward conformityto practices is a waste of time if not accompanied by deep seated alterationof the ego.
90 Come to me for my yoke is light, my rule is mild and you shall find repose.
Yeshu is accused by modernMandaean remnants of the Dosithians of making too many changes in the NazoreanWay, making it too easy to follow. Yeshu did indeed remove from the Waysome encrusted and unnecessary rules that invariably attach themselvesto a sect over time, like barnacles to a ship of the sea.
91 They said to him: Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you. Hereplied: You are testing the face of Heaven and Earth and have not recognizedthe man before you. You do not even know how to test this moment.
Yeshu did say the followingin the Ginza: He says: ' I am Alaha (God), and the Son of Alaha (God).I have been sent here by my Father'. And he further says to you: 'I amthe first Messenger, I am Hibil-Ziwa, I have come from the heights."GR,p50
92 Yeshu said: Seek and you shall find. What you have asked me recently. Idid not tell you then. I want to tell you now, when you are not askingme.
All truth is availableto those willing to do what it takes to discover it. If the Gnosis is notpresently available among the earthly Family of Peace, then the heavenswill reveal it afresh when sufficient faith and focus are directed towardits discovery. The heavens are bound in many ways, and do not interferewith out level of understanding unless we ourselves petition them to enlightenus further. They have no desire to reveal more truth to us than we canhandle, for we are held responsible for how we use the truths which wepossess.
93 Do not give the sacred to dogs, lest it be cast on the compost pile. Donot cast pearls before swine, lest they destroy them.
The most important mattersare often considered the most trivial by those who are not ready to dealwith them. Many curious souls seek information without really wanting tobe true to it. Yeshu warns us of the insincere whose pretense causes contention.
94 One who seeks shall find and the doors will be opened to him. Who knocks.
The Ginza tells us: "No one has measured the power of the vast High Deities, no one has containedThem, no one targeted Them, and all power in the worlds is from Them. Theyare the High Light Rulers who with ancient benedictions are blessed, fromthe beginning to all eternity, the first of all originators, the creatorsof all forms, the pattern that gives meaning to all things, within whichis saving wisdom that is hidden and not revealed.They are the High LightRulers, the Sovereign of all Light Worlds, the head over all Uthra-Buddhas,the Deities over all, the Royals of all Royals, the Great Sovereigns overall kings. Their brilliance changest not, and Their light falls not away,beauty, brilliance and glory, are They are not condescending. Life beyondlife, brilliance beyond brilliance, light beyond light. In Them is notfound any lacking or fault. They are the Light in which there isno darkness, the Living Ones who die not, the good bereft of any bad, themerciful with no sedition or anger, the gentle with neither poison or bitterness.They abide in the exalted north, creating overflowing beauty and beingthe source of all luminosity, the Parents of all Uthra-Buddhas. 95 If you have money, do not lend it out at interest but give it to him whocan not repay it. He Apostle Yohanna theBaptist warns us also: Everyone one charges interest and compound intereston gold and silver will be found on those mountains, which are dark mountains.Everyone who loves gold and silver and that does not do good with it, adouble death will they die and are imprisoned. 96 The Kingdom of Heaven is like a woman who takes a little leaven, puts itin dough, and makes large loaves. One who has ears to hear, let him hear. When the darkness attackedthe Light Land the only defence was one of self sacrifice. The Primal Pairsurrendered their light and their souls, were swallowed up by darkness,and like leaven began to rise the loaf of the world. Many light beingsdescended in the Primal Pairs wake, each as a grain of wheat destined tobe crushed by the millstone of the world. Our Pearl nature has grown inexperience and depth as we spent aeons of time as fallen grains from heaven.Eventually the bread of Life is sufficiently risen by the ziwa-noorah leavenof Yeshu-Miryai so that we, as individual grains now bound as one in theloaf of life, can return to the courts on high. Only as unified grainscan we return. Alone we are lost. 97 The Kingdomof Heaven is like a women carrying a jug full of meal on a long journey.When the handle broke, the meal streamed out behind her, so that she nevernoticed anything was wrong until arriving home, she sat down the jug anddiscovered it was empty. The meaning of this parabledescribes the first phase of the fall and redemption of humankind. Firstthere is the descent from the perfect worlds inaugurated by Miryai, thefirst to descend. Each Pearl is like a grain fallen from her jug. For thousandsof lifetimes we sprout, live, bear fruit, and die. Individual grains crosspollinate and mix genetic strains. Slowly the Apostles of Light and Callof Life re-gathers each grain, purifies its contaminated nature, and offersit on the altar of life to be Bread of Heaven. As the Living Parents offeredus, their seed, to the world for edification, so does the person of lightin this world, raising up seed and sending them forth to grow, learn, andovercome the world. 98 The Kingdom of heaven is like a man who wished to assassinate a noble.He drew his sword at home, and struck it against the wall, to test whetherhis hand were strong enough. Then he went out and killed the noble. When one departs theirflesh, they must be prepared to pass through the hostile Mrum, or the layersof iron over the earth where the archons seek to constrain the light born.Passage past them is only possible if one has first drawn the sword andkilled their residue of influence within ones own being. The Napsha instinctualsoul must be purified and made subservient to the Ruha and Nishimta. TheNazorean spiritual program is designed to do this. Foolish is the one whoattempts such on their own. The ageless wisdom of Manda dHiya is the keyto accomplishing this within. 99 The Disciples said to him: Your brothers and your mother are outside. Heanswered: Those who perform the will of my Father are my brothers and mother.They are the ones who will enter My Fathers Kingdom. Gospel of Philip says:Truth is the mother, knowledge the father. Those who think that sinningdoes not apply to them are called "free" by the world. Earthly geneticsgive way to a spiritual re-ordering as one is adopted into the lineagesof light. All monastics have the shkinta Amma and Abba as their new spiritualmother and father. The Lord answered, "Whatever is born of Truth doesn'tdie. Whatever is born of a woman will."Dialogue of the Savior Fromthe Nag Hammadi Library, dated to the late first century. 100 They showed Yeshu a gold coin and said: Caesars men wanted tribute fromus. He replied: Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and render untoGod, what belongs to God, and give me what is mine. Fools hope to take theirearthly flesh to heaven with them. This is not possible. It belongs tothe world. Not even in a regenerated resurrected state will it be takenheavenward. Yeshu never arose in his physical body. "What is the good (oferecting a tomb)? The body is dirt and rubbish when once the soul has leftit!" - from Mandaeans of Iraq & Iran, pg 184 "Awake, brethren,chosen ones, on this day of spiritual salvation, the 14th of the monthof Mihr, when Jesus, the Son of God, entered into parinirvana.". - ParthianManichaean fragment M104 from Turfan 101 One who does not hate his father and his mother as I do cannot be my disciple,and who does not love his mother and father as I do, cannot be my disciple.for my mother killed me, but my true mother has given me life. One cannot serve two masters,or honor two distinctly different bloodlines. Once initiated and sealedinto a lineage of light, one must honor the spiritual parents who willlead one forward in Nazirutha. Old blood relatives should be loved andhonored to a degree, but the worldly paths they represent are to be abhorredand forsaken. 102 Woe to the Pharisees. They resemble a dog in a manger, who neither eats,nor allows the oxen to eat. Al-Ghazali in 1111 hasYeshu saying: "The example of he who learns knowledge and does not practiceit is like the example of a woman who committed adultery in secret, thenbecame pregnant. And when her pregnancy became apparent she became ashamed.Such is he who does not practice his knowledge. Allah will make him ashamedon the Day of Resurrection in front of the assembly." Al-Ghazali also records:"Yeshu, peace be upon him, said concerning the scholars of evil: 'He islikened unto a rock which has fallen into the mouth of a valley, it neitherabsorbs water, nor does it let the water flow to the plants. And an exampleof the scholars of evil is like a stagnant ditch, its appearance is likebrick, and it smells foul. And they are like tombs, their appearance isinhabited yet in its inside are the bones of the dead." 103 Blessed is one who knows the time of the robbers arrival, for one can rise,collect oneself, and gird ones loins in preparation. As Vajrayana Buddhists,Nazoreans should expend a great deal of time and effort preparing for death. They should become proficientand navigating in those spiritual bardo realms that surround one afterthe flesh is dissolved. To gird ones loins is to practice the body locksand breath work that causes the leviathan light to ascend from the baseof the spine. As it is transformed and purified in the higher centers,so the Napsha instincts are transformed into true will. 104 They said: Come. Let us pray today and fast. Yeshu said: What sin haveI committed? What have I failed to do? When the bridegroom departs fromthe bridal chamber, then you can fast and pray. There are different formsof prayer and fasting. Yeshu here addresses the mourning type of fast andpray that supplicates for help in time of need. Ancient monastic traditionpreserves the tradition of praying standing up during Paschaltide, whereasin other seasons one does not. This is meant to show reverence to thissymbolic time of the resurrection when Yeshu and Miryai are with the elect.Yeshu's presence is always a time of rejoicing and learning and shouldnever be a time of mourning. There was no need to look elsewhere when thesource was before them. Yeshu prophecies that the times of mourning andfasting shall come soon enough when he is taken from them. 105 One who knows his father and his mother shall be called a bastard. To embrace Abba and AmmaAmin with all of ones heart is to alienate oneself from the powers thatbe in this world and its heavens. One shall be disinherited, hated, andcalled fatherless by those who worship death in all of its varied formsand disguises. 106 When you make the two one, you will become Sons of Man, and if you orderthe mountain to move, it will move. When the male is with thefemale, neither male nor female, when the Ruha is with the Nishimta, neitherRuha nor Nishimta, then will one be one with Bar-Anush, and become SonsAmin, Bar-Amin, or the sons and daughters of Amin-Hiya above. 107 The kingdom is like a shepherd, who owned a hundred sheep, the largestof which went astray. He left the 99, in search of the one until he foundit. After all his trouble, he said to the sheep: I love you more than the99. In chapter 13 and 14 ofthe Gnostic New testament Yeshu expands upon this shepherded sheep relationship.He begins by declaring: "A Shepherd am I who loves his sheep; I watch oversheep and lambs." To the sheep in my care do I call. . . I play the fluteto them; I get them to hear, so that they come unto me. To them I playon my flute, and beat on my tambourine, leading them forth to the water.I call to them: My little sheep, little sheep, come! Rise up at my call,come, rise at my call; then will you escape the cloud-dragons! Come, comeunto me, I am a shepherd whose ship is soon coming. My ship of glory iscoming; and I come with it, and bring my sheep and lambs aboard it. Every one who gives ear tomy Call and gives heed unto my voice, and who turns their gaze unto me,of that one I take hold with my hands and bring them unto me aboard myship." 108 Whoever drinks from my mouth shall become like him. For him, the hiddenwill be revealed. Yeshu and Miryai bringwith them the waters of life, the mia-hiya, that purify the elect and preparethem to be woven into the great tapestry of life. They were commanded tomix such into the fabric of the world in the beginning: Go, step down intothe darkness and the mystery and shape it, solidify the earth, securethe expanse above and form therein the stars. Loan brilliance to the sun,brightness to the moons and shimmer to all the stars. Loan flavor to thewater and brilliance to the fire. . . . Living Water take and mix withthe rain water. With the scent of living water shall the whole earth beseen." (Ginza) 109 The kingdom is like one who is ignorant of the treasure hidden in a field.When that one dies that one leaves it to their son who sells it. Beingaware also of the treasure within. The buyer will come, discover the treasurewhile plowing, and lend out money at interest. Hidden within every Pearlis a hidden Nishimta soul-spirit which lies dormant and awaiting awakening.It is discovered by spiritual disciplines. The Plow of Truth is Miryai.Her ways must turn over and prepare our inner selves for revelation ofour true eternal nature. 110 One who has found the world and riches, should then deny the world. The Al-Ghazali collectionof Yeshu sayings records: "The example of whosoever demands the world islike those who drink sea water. The more he drinks the more his thirstincreases until it kills him." The Al-Ghazali collection also has Yeshusaying: "In money there are three diseases: That a person derives it froman illegal source. If he derives it from a legal source but puts it inan illegal place. Then he was asked: 'What if he puts it in a legal place?'He replied: 'It makes him too busy to think of Allah.'" Al-Ghazali alsohas Yeshu declaring: "Do not hang jewellery around the necks of pigs. Surely,wisdom is better than jewellery. Whosoever hates it -- he is worse thanpigs." In a Nag scroll of our Order we read: The Lord said, "Those thatseek for eternal life will know all things. This knowledge is universalcurrency - far superior to gold and silver - those perishables that havemislead so many." Dialogue of the Savior From the Nag Hammadi Library, dated to the late first century. 111 The heavens will be rolled back, and the earth unfurled before your eyes.The Living One out of The Living One sees neither death nor fear, for Yeshusays the world is unworthy of the one who discovers themselves. This revelation of theunderlining reality of the universe is available to us now if we are willingto take the time to open our spiritual eyes through the spiritual disciplinesand practices available to the elect. As our scrolls say, we must be resurrectedbefore we die. Likewise, we must see into the hidden universe before weactually travel there permanently. 112 Yeshu said: Woe to the flesh that is dependent upon the Soul, and woe tothe soul that is dependent upon the flesh. Because the body is dependenton the soul to make it alive, it is lifeless on its own. Its nature, independentof the soul, is dead. A soul that is too intertwined and integrated intothe flesh and its desires partakes of that death state of the flesh. Itis spiritually dead until it separates and keeps separate from the innatelydead flesh. Woe to the materialistic consumer and vane adorer of flesh,for they are in a form of disguised death. 113 His disciples questioned: When will the kingdom come? Yeshu answered: Itwill never come if you are expecting it. Nobody will say look here or lookthere. Yet the Kingdom of the Father is spread throughout the earth andno one sees it. For a fully initiated Nazorean,the past and the future are now. Time diminishes and eternity spreads outwardin all directions. The purer our soul, the purer out outlook and the greaterease in which we view the universe as it is. We see the universal groundof unity that is everywhere. 114 Simon Peter suggested to them: Mary Magdalene should leave us. Women areunworthy of the life. Yeshu said: I shall lead her so as to make her male,that she may become a Living Spirit, as you other males for every femalemade manly, shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Nazoreans accepted woman as priestesses and evenas head of their Order. Yeshu recognized in Miryai the female expressionof his own soul. By being one with him she became male and he became female,both of them neither male nor female. Peter betrays that he was raisedamong the Jews and converted to Nazoreanism rather late, as did so manyof the early followers of Yeshu, bringing with him many false notions aboutwoman and spirituality. Yeshu corrects this wrong view here and firmlyestablishes the rights of woman in Nazirutha. In Semitic tongues like Aramaic,every name has a gender attached to it. Because the world has a femalegender associated with it, and heaven a male, Nazirutha developed a codelanguage where earthly mysteries were associated with females and heavenlyones with males. Nazoreans always thought both men and woman lived in therealm of the mother, or female, before deeper initiation, and that bothmale and female priests and priestess existed in the heavenly world ofNazirutha once they were initiated into the fourth degree or higher. Let us remember that we are Pearls cast downinto a dark and hostile sea, that our true destiny is to return to theParents of Life who originally bore us, and that we can return to Them by following the 32 step Path of Our Returning, called Nazirutha! In thewritings of Mani these words of Yeshu are preserved: "I am close to you,like clothing." May Yeshu and Miryai be ever near you and in you and closerto you than your own skin. Peace to all…Yesai

No comments:

Post a Comment