Christ and His Teachings

By Swami Abhedananda
Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, Calcutta
Abridged

Jesus the Christ lived the same simple life, always trusting the Lord, and without thinking of the morrow, as was lived by Buddha, Krishna and other Vedantic seers and sages of ancient times, and his wonderful career had shown to the world that he possessed divine powers and he manifested those powers through his acts. From his childhood, he lived in God-consciousness and he realized that intimate relation that exists between the individual soul and the Heavenly Father. He proved to the world by his glorious works that he was the embodiment of purity and righteousness and that he was the personification of divine wisdom and divine powers. We cannot deny this. By his unique life of renunciation, self-denial and sacrifice, he has conquered the hearts of all the spiritually minded people among all nations and has taught them how to live the life of blessedness, how to work for others, how to live and to die for the good of humanity; he has lived a life that stands as an example before all the seekers after spirituality.
The disinterested love for humanity that was shown by Jesus the Christ, was unique, and following his example we must try to love all human beings; nay, all living creatures, as Buddha said. We must show that in our lives, we must follow the path of Jesus the Christ, in that universal love. It is for this reason that Vedanta accepts the ideal of Christ and presents it before the world, before all the seekers after spirituality and asks them to follow the path of Jesus the Christ, to be like Christ, to live the life of Jesus the Christ, and to obey his teachings, worshipping him as the Saviour of mankind and the Redeemer of the world.
In whatsoever heart the Christ ideal is accepted, there is sown the seed of charity, self-denial, renunciation, control of passions, universal love and faith in God. These are the cardinal virtues of the religion of Jesus the Christ, and there in fullness of time the tree will surely grow, bearing the fruit of the realization of that oneness with the Heavenly Father which was expressed by Jesus the Christ in his famous saying: "I and my Father are one". What He said, we must realize, each one of us. By following the example of Jesus the Christ, each one of us will be able to say in the same way, "I and My Father are one". If we cannot do this, we are not followers of Jesus the Christ. The moment that we shall be able to do it, to realize that truth which was explained by Jesus the Christ, then we shall be able to call ourselves the true disciples of our Master, and not until then.
When the cave of the human soul will be illumined by the Divine light and glory of the newly born Spiritual Christ, when our hearts will be filled with that light, then the spiritual self of the true devotee will enjoy the blessings of spiritual Christmas and understand the true meaning of Trinity by realizing the oneness of his individual soul with the Heavenly Father through the state of super-consciousness. Jesus the Christ used to commune with the Lord by entering into the state of super-consciousness, by rising above this material plane, by forgetting the earthly existence. When we shall be able to do the same, then the birth of Spiritual Christ has taken place in our souls, then the spiritual Christmas will spread its glory within us and all around us. That is the time for rejoicing.
The external Christmas is only a form, but let us understand the spirit of Christmas and let us understand the meaning; that spirit and that meaning we can only grasp through the sublime teachings of Vedanta which harmonize with the teachings of Jesus the Christ, and through Vedanta we shall be able to realize the spiritual, ideal Christ within ourselves and become one with the Heavenly Father.
If we read in the Bible the life and teachings of Jesus the Christ, we believe that he was the incarnation of Divinity. We cannot help believing in the ideal life and exemplary character as depicted in the Synoptic Gospels as of one who was not only the Son of God, but the divine incarnation, manifestation of that Supreme Deity who is the Lord of the universe and God of all nations. We cannot deny this fact. The students of Vedanta regard him, with his sublime character and wonderful powers, as an incarnation of the Logos, the eternal Word of God, as in the case of all other Saviours of the world. The Eternal Word that dwelt in heaven with the Lord is the Logos, and that Logos appeared in the form of Jesus the Christ, in the form of Krishna, of Zoroaster, Buddha and all other saviours of the world. The students of Vedanta regard him as the Incarnation of divinity, as the Son of God, as the Saviour of the world.