Jesus’ Motivation
To understand the character and motivation of Jesus, we must first accept that he is a pure devotee of the Lord. He has no desire for material sense gratification, intellectual philosophical knowledge or even liberation. He is so advanced he is ready to sacrifice everything for the purposes of his beloved Father, the Lord. Yet for the sake of his disciples, he adopted the role of an ordinary ignorant man and pretended to be in anxiety and illusion. Jesus did this to invoke the Lord’s mercy upon them. He wanted to gain the Lord’s special instructions and blessings to empower his disciples to teach the Absolute Truth to the fallen people of this materialistic age. It is extremely difficult to teach spiritual life or God consciousness in the present historical cycle without distortion, especially in the Western countries. Jesus wanted the Lord to deliver a new dispensation of the eternal Absolute Truth, specially adapted to present conditions, so that even the most fallen materialistic people could understand these important transcendental Truths.
The first sentences of this apparently simple but profound story set the stage for the sacred talks to follow:
And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed… [Luke 22:39-41 KJV]
The Garden of Gethsemane was a favorite meditation place of Jesus. He came there many times to pray to the Lord. Therefore it was a comfortable scene to his disciples, who were used to resting while Jesus prayed. But this time was special, for Jesus already knew that he was betrayed and what was to occur early the next morning. On this night, Jesus was approaching his prayer with unprecedented intensity, because he knew that he and his disciples were soon to undergo the greatest test. The disappearance of the empowered representative of the Lord from this world always opens the gates of chaos, and unscrupulous persons take advantage of this to advance their own interest under the guise of religious teaching. Jesus therefore asked his closest disciples to remain alert while he invoked the presence of the Supreme Lord, so they would benefit by receiving the special Teaching the Lord was going to reveal.
The Lord appears in the material world to protect His pure devotees, to accept their loving service unto Him, and to respond to their heartfelt pleas for help. A pure devotee can invoke the presence of the Lord at any time, and the Lord responds to him just like an ordinary parent or friend. The father of a young child is certainly in a superior position, yet when his son calls in distress the father immediately comes to help. Similarly, the Supreme Lord is the Father of all living entities, who are therefore His dependent children. Yet He is always responsive to the loving call of His pure devotee who feels helpless and completely dependent upon His kind mercy.
Death is an extremely difficult time for everyone but a pure devotee of the Lord. Only the pure devotee has nothing to lose and everything to gain by giving up the material body. Others whose lives are riddled with sinful activity not only suffer the loss of everything near and dear to them, but also have nothing to look forward to except a hellish existence after death. But the devotee knows that after death he will be reunited with his most beloved Lord. Therefore he is not disturbed by the prospect of death; indeed, he welcomes it enthusiastically.
Jesus wanted the Lord to take responsibility for his disciples because he knew the Lord’s plan. Jesus was soon to leave this world and his disciples would have to carry on without his physical presence. Nevertheless they were at an immature stage of spiritual development and unready to carry on the exalted esoteric tradition of transcendental knowledge. Therefore Jesus wanted to ask the Lord to protect them directly. Of course, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is already protecting all living entities, but this is an example of the sweet personal dealings between the devotee and the Lord. Jesus knew that he would be unable to complete his disciples’ transcendental education; therefore he personally called upon his Father, the Lord, for assistance.
The next part of the Gospel story reads, “And going forward a little, he fell on his face praying.” [Matt 26:39]
This text is a little difficult for the ordinary person to understand, because it refers to a level of spiritual practice beyond our common exoteric experience. In the West, it is customary to kneel while praying; but in the context of the Secret Teachings of Jesus, it is understood that one is supposed to fall down on the ground in complete surrender before the Lord and his spiritual Master Teacher. To show proper respect to the omnipotent Lord and his personal earthly representative the spiritual Master Teacher, one is supposed to offer complete obeisance with eight parts of the body: the two legs, the two arms, the belly, the chest, the head and with one’s words. This is called dandavats, or falling down like a stick.
“And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him…” [Genesis 17.3 KJV]
This is the transcendental etiquette, and here we see that Jesus Christ observes the customary procedure. One who does not comply with this tradition is considered uncultured and unfit to approach the Lord directly or associate with the members of the Inner Circle of Christ. However, anyone who offers proper respect to the spiritual Master Teacher and to the Lord very easily obtains their complete mercy, and advances quickly in spiritual life and devotion.
“And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;” [Mark 14:33 KJV]
The bulk of the disciples could not enter the Inner Circle because they were not yet qualified to be Initiates. Only Peter, James and John could go deeper into the Garden with Jesus. As the Path of the Teaching ascends toward the presence of the Supreme Lord, it becomes so narrow only one can pass. Only Jesus could enter the Inner Circle and come into the Presence of God, because only he was qualified by personal realization of the Absolute Truth. Even Peter, James and John could not follow Jesus all the way.
The Secret Teachings of Jesus assert that Lord Jesus Christ is an empowered incarnation of the Celestial Christ, the secondary creator, sent to the earth planet by the Supreme Lord to perform an important service to Him. Lord Jesus Christ is unique among all beings in this universe because his body is emanated or expanded directly from the transcendental body of the Lord before the creation of the planetary systems of this material universe. Therefore, although the Lord is certainly the spiritual Father of all living entities, Jesus Christ is especially known as the transcendental son of God.
The question then arises that, considering the exalted position and advanced spiritual consciousness of Lord Jesus Christ, how is it that he lamented his imminent persecution and crucifixion? Was he afraid of death? Did he doubt his eternal spiritual identity because of some material ignorance? Was his spiritual development less than perfect? Otherwise, why was he begging, “All things are possible for You, take this cup from me”? Was Jesus asking the Lord to change His plan? If Jesus knew the future and the nature of the conspiracy against him, why didn’t he simply use his mystic powers to escape? These are all legitimate questions in the mind of the inquisitive student.