Easter Reflections

en.wikipedia.org

The whole of Holy Week provides rich grounds for study on any aspect that the researcher would like to focus on, such as the symbolism of the three days that Jesus was dead, the significance of the crucifixion event, etc. Each aspect is already a book unto itself and we can see this in the number of works available on these subjects both in print and online. For this article, I would just like to focus on one aspect of the Holy Week drama: Jesus Christ suffering and dying for our sins.

Of course, we cannot look at the death of Jesus without briefly touching upon Easter. If one were to look at the actual history of Easter, one would discover that Easter has pagan roots. It was a time of celebration to welcome the vernal (spring) equinox. Because it heralded the start of spring, this festival was a celebration of renewal (spring cleaning) and fertility as the land shrugged off the mantle of winter to allow the planting of crops that would feed the people for the rest of the year.

To pagans and Wiccans, the name of this spring festival was Ostara (Eostre), which is a derivation of the German fertility goddess Ostare. As was standard Catholic Church practice at the time, this pagan festival was incorporated into the (then new) religion in order to attract converts. It's easy to see how Eostre could evolve to be pronounced Easter.

Where the pagan version of this festival was a time of celebration, the Catholic Church version precedes it with a somber week of rituals commemorating the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. The resurrection itself, on Easter Sunday, is one of the few (although important) symbolisms left over from the pagan tradition. The resurrection event gives meaning to the suffering and death that Jesus went through, because it symbolizes the triumph over death and sin.

While the crucifixion event of Jesus and even the resurrection has been doubted by some academics and scholars, from an esoteric perspective is it even possible for someone else to die for our sins? Doesn't this fly in the face of personal responsibility and the concept of karma?

From the different accounts about the lives of certain gurus, it seems that it is standard practice for some (if not most) gurus to take on at least part of the karma of the guru's disciples. The reason would be to allow the disciple much faster spiritual progress or evolution that would otherwise be hindered by unresolved karma.

While karma is simply the effect of past actions (good or bad), what is more important is that the situations produced by maturing karma, at least the negative ones, are a way for one to learn a particular lesson or correct the flaw that led to the karmic debt in the first place. Presumably, a disciple who has been exposed to higher spiritual teachings and the blessings of the guru has learned enough life lessons to make certain karma unnecessary. The karma relating to these already learned lessons may be the ones partially taken over by the guru.

Still, the act of taking on a disciple's karma (even partially) places a heavy burden on the guru which is why this act is usually reserved for the guru's closest disciples and expected successors. The understanding of course is that the disciple is expected to continue the work and mission of the guru, and this spiritual work is better accomplished if the disciple were not to be constantly sidetracked by numerous instances of maturing negative karma.

Logical as it may seem, the above explanations are just speculation on my part. Still, it would be reasonable to assume that the disciple is not really earning a free pass, since any wrongdoing that the disciple may subsequently perform will surely be paid back in full sometime in the future either in this life or in the disciple's next incarnation.

The book Autobiography of a Yogi mentions several instances of a guru taking on the karma of a disciple. In one instance, Paramahansa Yogananda's own guru Sri Yukteswar Giri became seriously ill while in another city. Yogananda pleaded with his guru not to let his body become wasted away from that karmic burden, to which Sri Yukteswar Giri acquiesced and thus recovered from the illness. Sri Yukteswar's own guru Lahiri Mahasaya developed a boil in the weeks before his death. He already knew when he was going, so he took that chance to partially take on the karma of some of his disciples as part of his final blessings to them.

Such accounts are not limited to Eastern adepts because in the book The Magus of Strovolos, author Kyriacos Markides related several accounts where the Cypriot mystic Daskalso took on the karma of some people. I only borrowed the copy I read, so I will have to relate from memory, but there is one account where Daskalso developed gangrene on his leg in order to partially take on the karmic burden of a relative. In order to demonstrate to Markides that he (Daskalso) took the burden willingly, he willed the gangrene away and started hopping around on the previously sick leg, to the consternation of doctors. After that demonstration, Daskalso returned the gangrene to allow it to run the course of its allotted time period.

These are fantastic accounts, I know. But they do show that taking on the karma of others is not unheard of.

Let's now go back to the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. What is the esoteric significance of that event? Going by the earlier examples I cited, shouldn't the benefits of such sacrifice have taken effect only on Jesus' disciples?

Some esoteric accounts claim that Jesus' death and resurrection opened up initiation for all. One only had to be sincere and to look, and initiation would eventually come. One didn't need to be accepted into a hidden esoteric order in order to be initiated. In this sense, the "resurrection from the grave" that was promised is not the physical climbing out of the grave that most would imagine, but the salvation of one's consciousness from the recurring "death" of continuous reincarnations. At the gate of each reincarnation, one is literally struck dumb and one re-enters the world as a babe, powerless and with no memory of one's past knowledge or the legacy of one's being. Upon initiation, the path towards immortality of consciousness begins.

How could an effect of such magnitude be produced by one person and one event? Again, some esoteric texts contend that in terms of spiritual evolution, Jesus was so high above the chain that his act of coming on Earth was like a human voluntarily incarnating as an ant in order to help the whole ant species evolve.

Again, a little fantastic to hear and read about, but they do give us food for thought about the significance of Holy Week. Wherever one's beliefs resides, there is no denying the fact that the Holy Week, culminating in Easter, represents a very important esoteric event. The gates of heaven have been opened to us, so to speak, in the form of easier access to initiation for all who are willing to venture on that path. Whether one would benefit from this opportunity is dependent on just how much one is willing to act on the blessings and opportunities that one is given. This not only applies to spiritual work but everyday life as well.

And so without further ado, a happy Easter to all! May your future be filled with the renewal that has become ours through the continuing sacrifice and work of the Holy Ones!