Our Christmas present this year was the gift of Satsang with our beloved Master. While most of the world were occupied with material gifts, we sat with Him, remembering the true meaning of Christmas. To hear Swaha’s beautiful sharing about Jesus is to reconnect with the essence of truth, which all the masters throughout time have shared.
Buddha said that the greatest gift is the gift of truth. That is the only gift anyone needs, the gift of truth, of love. So on this day, which is meant to be in remembrance of Jesus but is often anything but, it is a blessed gift to be reminded of his words and his message. To see beyond the tinsel and advertisements, into the real heart of this joyful season.
If we can bring awareness into everything we do, we can receive the gift of the kingdom of God. Then this celebration of Jesus and his message of love and truth need not be confined to one or two days, but every moment can be filled with peace and love.
Anyone who would like to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life, will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, will find it.
Jesus.
In Satsang, Swaha helped us to understand these beautiful words.
Anyone who would like to come after me, let him deny himself …
He is saying that you have to drop your past. It is impossible to walk with a Jesus if you carry all your past – you have to deny yourself. You have to deny the old. This is the only way.
… and take up his cross and follow me.
He is also reminding us that it is going to be hard, because we have to face all our darkness and unconsciousness. So Jesus makes it as clear as he can; it is not only him that has to carry the cross, we have to carry it also. Everybody has to be ready to walk through the fire. He is saying – you have to be ready, then you can follow me.
For whoever would save his life, will lose it …
And what does he mean with “his life”? He means our life until now, our whole identity. If we want to save this old ego idea we have of who we are, we cannot follow him. And if we try to protect this identification – this old life – we will lose it, because this is not the real life. For whoever would save his life, will lose it – it sounds like a paradox, and this is why the mind and the ego cannot understand it. Yes, you can try to protect your old story, but then you are wasting your life. A Jesus is there to show us a different life, but we cannot have both – we have to be ready to lose the old.
… but whoever loses his life for my sake, will find it.
These are the people he is looking for – that any true master is looking for – those who are ready to let go of the old – to lose their life, which also means just losing the past. And “for my sake”, means for the sake of Truth, of Love. Then he will show you a new way of living.
In this way, we have to be ready to transform. Nobody can do it for us – it has to come from each one of us.
