Spiritual Society
Jesus prophesied,
“With the destruction of the senior family members of the dynasty, the eternal family tradition is vanquished, and thus the descendants become involved in irreligious practice. When irreligion is prominent in the family, O Father, the women of the family become corrupt, and from the moral degradation of womanhood come unwanted progeny. When there is increase of unwanted population, a hellish situation is created both for the family and for those who destroy the family tradition. In such corrupt families, there are no regular offerings of food and water to the Supreme Lord.”
In the ancient system of spiritual society there are many principles of religious tradition to help members of the family mature properly and attain spiritual values. The elder family members are responsible for such purifying process, which are a series of seven transcendental rituals celebrating the passages of life, beginning from conception and birth up to the death ceremony. But on the death of the senior family members, the family traditions of purification may become neglected, and the remaining younger family members may develop irreligious habits and thereby lose their chance for spiritual salvation. With the destruction of the lineage holders of the family spiritual tradition, the rest of the family may become involved in irreligion. Therefore, for no purpose should the older members of the family be disrespected, disobeyed or destroyed.
When irreligion becomes prominent in the family, the women of the family become polluted by unfaithfulness. And from the degradation of womanhood comes unwanted low-class progeny. The deliberate creation of good quality population is the basic principle for peace, prosperity and spiritual progress in human society at large. The principles of the exoteric social institution of the Esoteric Teaching are designed so that good population prevails in society for the general spiritual progress of state and community. These arrangements for good population depend on the chastity and faithfulness of womanhood. As children are vulnerable to deception, women are similarly very susceptible to exploitation and moral degradation. Therefore, both children and women require constant protection, supervision and guidance by the elder members of the family. The women are protected from being misled into adultery by being constantly engaged in various family religious traditions in association with their elders and spiritual teachers.
Women are generally sentimental and not very spiritually intelligent, and therefore are easily deceived and misled by unscrupulous men. So family traditions of religious activities should always engage them, and thus their chastity and devotion will result in good population eligible for participation in spiritual life. On the failure of such spiritual institutions, naturally the women become free to act independently and mix unrestrictedly with men, and the resulting illicit sexual relations create unwanted, sinful population. Irresponsible lusty men also promote adultery in society, and thus unwanted children flood the human race with the result of crime, war and a pandemic of ignorance in society. The increase of unwanted population certainly causes hellish conditions of life both for the family and for those who destroy the family tradition. The evil deeds of those who destroy family traditions and thus give rise to unwanted children ultimately devastate all kinds of community projects and family spiritual welfare activities. The family welfare activities of the social institutions of the Esoteric Teaching are designed to help people attain ultimate salvation.
Therefore, when irresponsible, unenlightened leaders break the family tradition, the result is social chaos, and consequently people in general forget the aim of life: devotional service in God consciousness, Krsna consciousness or Christ consciousness. Such ignorant leaders are spiritually blind, and persons who follow them are certain to be misled into confusion. One may be inclined to desire sinful acts such as the death of one’s own senior relatives when driven by selfish motives. There are many such tragic occurrences in the history of the world. But Jesus, being a saintly devotee of the Lord, was always conscious of spiritual principles and therefore took care to avoid sinful activities. He could foresee that the entire community of the Jews would have to bear the sinful reaction of the evil conspiracy of their leaders, the rabbis and Pharisees. These results would reach far into the future and disrupt the peaceful condition of society all over the world. We are actually experiencing the results of this sinful reaction even today.
Jesus’ Reasoning
Jesus concluded,
“I would consider it better for the descendents of Moses to kill me unarmed and unresisting, rather than to ask You to kill them.”
Jesus was trying to establish a position of non-violence on the principles of material religiosity. He compassionately saw that if the rabbis were allowed to attack him, due to this offense the Lord would punish them severely. The inevitable result of this offense against a pure devotee of the Lord would be the destruction of the elders and spiritual guides of Jewish society: the rabbis descended from Moses and David . When the guardians of spiritual family traditions are destroyed, the traditions important to the spiritual health of society would be neglected, and the whole civilization would glide down into a hellish condition as described above.
Although Jesus’ concern for the spiritual family tradition was certainly correct according to external Scriptural codes of morality, the Lord was more concerned with the esoteric side of religious practice. While the rabbis and Pharisees were following the external principles of religion very strictly, they had become ignorant of the inner or esoteric aspects of spiritual advancement. Thus they were unable to recognize Jesus as a pure devotee and representative of the Lord. They had become more concerned with maintaining their important positions in material society than with the Absolute Truth. Due to their continued offenses the Lord had already decided long ago to destroy them, and Jesus was to be the instrument of His plan.
Jesus knew this, but at the same time he was horrified at the thought of the destruction that would take place. He did not consider that the family religious traditions had become corrupt, and the Lord desired to replace them with a new dispensation of the Esoteric Teaching. Jesus apparently was caught up in material lamentation. He thought that even if he survived the confrontation with the Pharisees and defeated them, he still would be unable to enjoy the result. Having defeated and dishonored his elders, many of whom were his childhood religious teachers, Jesus would not be able to enjoy the flourishing congregation he would thus inherit. Nor, after defeating and dishonoring them, would he be able to share his spiritual success with them. In every alternative, then, Jesus saw only defeat and frustration of his actual mission, which was to uplift the entire human society, including his quarrelsome relatives, to the plane of God consciousness.
Seeing Jesus full of compassion in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Supreme Lord spoke comforting words of transcendental wisdom to him. In very ancient times the Lord killed the demon Madhu, and thus to this day He is called Madhusdana or ‘Killer of Madhu’ by the followers of the Secret Teachings of Jesus. Now in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus wanted Him to kill the demon of doubt that had overtaken him in the discharge of his devotional service. No one in material consciousness knows the proper application of compassion. A person fallen in the dangerous ocean of material nescience cannot be saved simply by rescuing his outer dress—the gross material body. Compassion for the dress of a drowning man is useless.
Therefore bodily compassion, lamentation and tears are all signs of ignorance; compassion for the eternal soul is actual self-realization. One who does not know this and laments for the outward dress of the soul—the material body—laments unnecessarily. Jesus was an advanced transcendentalist, a great sage and spiritual Master Teacher, and for him this kind of conduct was unexpected. The Supreme Lord, however, wanted to show how to dissipate the lamentation of all ignorant people. For this reason He arranged a situation in which Jesus was apparently placed into lamentation so that the Lord could impart the confidential truths of the Esoteric Teaching to save suffering humankind.