“Take This Cup”
In the symbolism of the ancient wisdom-language of the Secret Teachings of Jesus, the cup stands for the mind, and the drink within the cup for the knowledge or consciousness within the mind. Jesus was begging the Supreme Lord, not to change His plan, but to change his consciousness or state of mind. This is confirmed by Jesus’ ultimate conclusion: “Not as I will, but as You will,” indicating Jesus’ complete surrender to the will of the Lord. The metaphor of the cup indicates that the entire passage should be interpreted as shedding light on the esoteric psychology of the intimate loving relationship between the pure devotee and the Lord.
Unless we change our consciousness, we cannot advance in spiritual life. Spiritual life means developing consciousness of God leading to eternal freedom and bliss; whereas material life means conditioned consciousness limited to the dull, temporary and changeable material mind and senses. The soul perceives the Lord directly through spiritual senses, so the material body is superfluous in the advanced stages of spiritual life. The spiritually advanced devotee does not care for the material tabernacle, except insofar as it is useful to carry out the instructions of the Lord. Therefore Jesus was not lamenting for the body, although from a material perspective it may appear that he was.
To comprehend the significance of the events in the Garden of Gethsemane that night, it is vital to understand that Jesus was trying to create a pretext for the Lord to transmit the eternal Esoteric Teaching anew. He was concerned about his disciples’ immature stage of spiritual advancement. Jesus felt they were unprepared for his imminent disappearance. He was trying to provoke the Lord to appear and bestow the important instructions of the Esoteric Teaching for their benefit. Therefore he invokes the Lord’s presence by pleading for help in dealing with his own mind.
In other words, Jesus humbly takes the position of an ordinary man who is unable to control his mind at the hour of death. He does this both as an example to his disciples of how to pray in times of emergency, and to provide an opportunity for a new dispensation of the Esoteric Teaching. He knew that God always speaks just appropriately for the intelligence of those who are hearing. His real motivation is thus consistent with both his devotional attitude of humility and unconditional compassion, and his special concern for his disciples’ welfare and their impact on the future of humanity.
The appearance of the Lord in the material universe is always a very great and significant event. It is only by such appearances or incarnations of the Lord that we denizens of the material world learn of transcendental knowledge. Unless the Lord reveals Himself by speaking the Esoteric Teaching, we would simply have no other alternative than to speculate about religion and manufacture our own so-called truth, as is going on all over the world at the present moment. Unfortunately, as we have experienced, this leads only to misunderstanding, strife and disaster.
People in material consciousness cannot understand why modern hedonistic culture, based as it is upon limited human intelligence, cannot grant perfect peace and happiness to the living beings. This is because, while materialists may have made some small progress in material science, they are ignorant of the science of God. Therefore spiritual degradation, unrest and suffering are increasing all over the planet. The Lord appears to speak transcendent knowledge of spiritual life just to mitigate the sufferings of all living beings by granting them spiritual peace. This is the only valid process of obtaining real knowledge of Transcendence, which by definition is beyond the observational range of the imperfect material senses and the analytical power of the tiny human mind. Since we cannot see the spiritual world in our present limited state of consciousness, when the Lord appears He reveals knowledge of the unmanifest world. This is the origin of the Esoteric Teaching that underlies and informs all the bona fide religions of the world.
However, we must be intelligent and spiritually advanced enough to see and recognize the Lord when he reveals Himself. Otherwise we will miss Him and lose the opportunity, as did Jesus’ disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. While Jesus was speaking with the Lord, completely absorbed in the spiritual ecstasy of seeing Him face to face, his disciples were sleeping. This confirms that they did not see the Lord nor feel His presence. Therefore their transcendental senses were as yet unawakened. Not only Jesus’ neophyte disciples, but the entire Jewish elite of Jerusalem missed the appearance of the Lord, who “comes as a thief in the night,” and thus is not exposed to our materially conditioned senses.
Master of the Senses
In the Secret Teachings of Jesus, the Lord is called the ‘Master of the Senses’ because as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he is the actual owner and controller of all the senses in all living bodies. The living entities emanate from Him, therefore the senses of the living entities are also emanations of His senses. The omnipresent Lord, situated in the hearts of all living entities, directs their minds and senses, but since the embodied living entities in the illusion of material consciousness identify with the body, they wrongly think that the bodily senses are operating under their own control. Actually, the Lord directs the senses and awakens the minds of the living entities in proportion to the degree of their surrender unto Him. He does not force Himself on anyone, but reciprocates in response to the sincerity of our desire to know Him as He is.
The non-devotional impersonalist philosophers, and others overwhelmed by the illusion of material consciousness, cannot understand Him or detect His personal presence. But in the case of a pure devotee, the Supreme Lord directly controls his senses and mind, awarding enlightenment, unlimited spiritual pleasure and causeless transcendental knowledge. No one but a pure devotee of the Lord can comprehend how this is possible. The impersonalist philosophers cannot properly understand either the senses of the living entities or the transcendental senses of the Lord, and therefore they concoct various theories that describe all living entities, including the Lord, as ultimately impersonal or senseless. Since there is no such thing as a living entity without senses, in reality it is the impersonal theory that is senseless.
The Lord has different names according to His different activities and qualities. In the Garden of Gethsemane the Lord directly controlled the spiritualized senses of Jesus, thus stimulating intense symptoms of ecstatic love in Jesus’ body and recalling His particular name of ‘Master of the Senses.’ The purpose of Jesus’ dialog with his Father, the infallible Lord, was to get Him to reveal the confidential purpose of eternal religion—the Esoteric Teaching—to his disciples. Although the Lord is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the Supreme Controller, He accepted this task in the service of His transcendental son out of His causeless mercy and boundless unconditional love. He never fails in His affection for His devotees, and thus He is also called the ‘Infallible One.’ He felt responsible to carry out Jesus’ request, and as a loving Father he did not hesitate to do so.
Although in this pastime the Lord accepted the position of a spiritual Master Teacher at Jesus’ request, His supreme position as universal Father was never challenged. In all circumstances, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord of the total senses. But the Lord was reciprocating His devotee’s love. The relationship between the Lord and His servitor is very sweet and transcendental. The devotee is always ready to render service to the Lord, and similarly the Lord is always seeking an opportunity to render service to His devotee. He actually takes greater pleasure in His pure devotees’ ordering Him than he does in being the order-giver Himself. Since He is always the supreme Master and Controller, everyone is under His order, and no one is above Him. But when He finds that a pure devotee is ordering Him, although He is the infallible Master of all beings, He derives spiritual pleasure from this paradox of loving intimacy. This is the esoteric transcendental psychology of the relationship between the Lord and His pure devotee in the ecstasy of spiritual love.
My Odeo Channel (odeo/bde8638bc2be1bff)