Bible Discourse 16 Rejoicing in the voice of Bridegroom

Discourse 16

Rejoicing in the voice of Bridegroom

After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.  And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salem, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.  For John was not yet cast into prison.

Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying.  And they came unto John, and said unto him, , “Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.”

John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.  Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.

“He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.  He must increase, but I must decrease.

“He that cometh from above is above all; he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.   And what he has seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.  He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.

“For whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.  The Father loveth the Son, and hath all things into his hand.

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him”.

When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than, (though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) he left Judea, and departed again into Galilee.  And he must needs go through Samaria.

--John 3:22—4:4

Here the attention is to understand the difference between the symbolic baptism with water and the true baptism of Spirit. Jesus as Christ came to bestow the long-awaited Baptism with Holy Ghost than the outer purification with water that was being given by John. Jesus was attracting masses with the magnetism of his divine love and power.

John reminded them that Jesus had come with a great role to play in manifesting God on Earth.  This is what John the Baptist meant that Jesus must increase and John must decrease.  John came in this incarnation as an ordinary saint, and Jesus a world savior. This is the will of God.

Elevated Saints and prophets those who are able to manifest fully or partially the Divine come on earth to help the upliftment of souls are called partial incarnations or khanda avatars. Fully liberated masters are called full incarnations of God or poorna avatars. Example: Bhagavan Krishna, Jesus Christ, Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Sri Yukteswarji, Sri Yogananda and many down the ages. John the Baptist was Elijah in his previous incarnation was a fully liberated soul. He had a distinctive role as John to play and bear witness of a world savior i.e., Jesus.  John’s analogy of Jesus as the divine Bridegroom is a symbolism. It appears in several passages in the New Testament. Ex: Mathew 9:15; 25:1.  Similarly one of the epithets applied to Bhagavan Krishna is Madhava; maa, Prakriti, or Primordial Nature; dhava, husband.

Both Jesus as Christ Consciousness and Krishna as Krishna Consciousness are the consorts of the Divine Spirit. They are the Prakriti or Primordial Mother Nature.  This has become all matter and space.

Spirit or Sat  causes a duality to manifest creation.  That is one becoming two.  They are 1) Transcendent inactive Creator or God the Father , and 2) His active Creative Power or Cosmic Mother Nature Positive and negative, attraction and repulsion, Subject and object. It is from this duality many come out of one.  His objectifying Creative Vibration is called Holy Ghost or Maha Prakriti.  God Himself is subjectively present.  That presence is unchanged, unaffected reflection, the universal creation is Kutastha Chaitanya, or Krishna or Christ Consciousness, or tat.  This is the empowering guiding intelligence that makes the Omnipotent Vibratory Force into multitudes of objective manifestations in the womb of Mother nature. Thus gives birth to Creation.   In the noncanonical Gospel of the Hebrews, Jesus is quoted as referring to the Holy Ghost as “my mother.”

Jesus was called the Bridegroom because He has equated himself with omnipresent positive consciousness of Spirit united with the negative vibration of Cosmic Nature, the Bride which engenders the vast universe. The positive universal consciousness flows towards Spirit.  The negative Universal consciousness towards matter. Thus it is counter -balanced. One must be one with Christ Intelligence. Then the devotee can see Spirit and Nature together. He will behold perishable and imperishable together equally. Whatever exists, animate and inanimate, isborn of Kshetra and Kshetragna, Nature and Spirit. 

Cosmic sound Ohm or Amen is referred by John as Bridegroom’s voice.

This is the voice or “witness’ is the active vibration of the inherent Christ Intelligence.

“These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of creation of God.”                               Revelation 3:14

The Yogi initially listens “Ohm” within his body. Then he can hear it in any part of creation. In the second step, the yogi feels the Christ Intelligence in the sound in his body and then throughout the Creation.

John refers to himself as ‘the friend of the bridegroom , which standeth and heareth him…..this my joy therefore is fulfilled.  He who beholds Spirit as both transcendental and immanent is one with Spirit as the Bride, God’s omnipresence  in and as Cosmic Mother Nature (Maha Prakriti), as well as one with Spirit as transcendent consciousness in creation as Christ Consciousness and beyond manifestation as Cosmic Consciousness, the absolute.

 If our eyes are unable to see the light of  Cosmic vibration and the Christ Intelligence cannot reach God. “He that believeth not the Son…the wrath of God abideth on him.”  Those who cannot see the Christ Intelligence cannot reach God.  Mother is angry with his son because he has misused her freedom and got hurt. The ‘wrath of God’ is a Biblical terminology for the Lord’s just laws of Karma, which metes out the consequential effects of man’s self initiated actions.

After God announced the coming of Jesus through John, and showed to the Pharisees the magnetic drawing power of Jesus- attracting crowds of soul-bees by the Divine Fragrance manifested in him—Jesus left Judea and departed for Galilee to preach there the Gospel. He had a special mission to redeem a fallen disciple of former incarnations, the woman of Samaria.  That is why it is written: “And he must needs go through Samaria.”