How One Should Act Under Persecution The Second Coming of Christ

by Paramhansa Yogananda
Inner Culture, February 1939

Intuition, Not Ego, Should Be Man’s Guide

“But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” (Matthew 10:19-22)

“When they arrest you, do not use your calculating limited human reason, but let God speak through your intuition and voice. Let not your human ego speak, but let the wisdom of your Father speak through your inner surrender to Him. Even a human brother will persecute a spiritual brother who will follow truth. You will be hated by all materially-minded people for following the Christ intelligence within you. But he that withstands persecution for the truth to the end f life will be saved from reincarnation of the misery-making earth-life.”

In the above words, Jesus is outlining how God-guided people should act when confronted with persecution. In business matters and lawsuits, people definitely plan their activities and their words in all transactions, but Jesus points out that souls who are in tune with Cosmic Consciousness are guided by it in their senses, thoughts, feelings, intelligence, and intuitions.

Guided by Higher Wisdom

Human reason is based on sense experience and is limited by it. If the sense experience is misinterpreted, the human reason proves to be erroneous. A person beholding a cloud of dust on a hill from a distance might be led to think that the hill is on fire and emanating a cloud of smoke. This shows how reason, which is dependent on sense experience, can blunder if sensory experience or observation is faulty or incomplete.
On the other hand, even as God knows the truth about all things through His omnipresent intuition, so His devotees also know everything through their developed intuition. God has no eyes, nor senses, nor reason dependent on the senses through which He knows. He is the Knower, the process of knowing, and the wisdom to be known. Hence he knows everything through His intuition or feeling present in everything.

Jesus urges his disciples to depend on the unlimited power and guidance of intuitive God-perception and not on their limited reason when they are confronted with persecutions or human problems. So He said, “O my dear ones, when for the sake of preaching my all-emancipating truth you are delivered before the governors, do not plan how or what you will speak in defense of your truth and yourself, for God and Cosmic Vibration will speak through your voice and reason (being present with you) instantaneously in that same hour in which you will be required to speak.

Depend on Intuition

“You, being in tune with the Spirit of your Heavenly Father, must feel that it is not your ego but He that will speak through your intuition, reason, and voice. I prophesy that when you live and preach my truth, Satan will create great mischief and will rouse a material brother to persecute a spiritual brother, and the unspiritual father will persecute the spiritual child, and the unspiritual children will rise up against their parents who believe my truth and will put them into trouble and be the cause of their great suffering and death. And for manifesting the subtle pure light of Christ Intelligence in your actions, you will be disliked by materially-minded men who are used to living in the darkness of ignorance. That devotee who does not only overcome the trials in the spiritual path for a little while, but who is patient and endures difficulties, temptations, and spiritual disappointments of not finding God by prayers or years of meditation, to the end of life, shall find eternal life and be permanently saved from further trials, ordeals and sufferings which go with desireful reincarnating individuals.”

“But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.” (Matthew 10:23)

“But when they persecute you in one city, take the path of least resistance and divine meekness and fly into another city to preach His message. And you will not finish preaching in the cities of Israel until the words and message delivered through my body (Son of man) become known all over the earth.”

Warned Not To Use Divine Power Spectacularly

In the above words Jesus instructed his disciples to be led by God and use His power in doing good things only. Jesus warns the disciples not to use divine power in any spectacular way. That is why he says, “O ye beloved disciples, when people persecute you for preaching my message in a city, use your common sense and divine meekness to follow the road of least resistance and fly away and preach in another city, for verily, by the all-seeing power of spiritual vision, I declare unto you and prophesy that it would take a long time for you to preach my message in the different cities of Israel, and you will be doing so until the Son of man or my body and its name and its work on earth become fully known.”

“The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?” (Matthew 10:24-25)

In the above words, Jesus emphasizes that the persecution of his disciples would be as great as if not greater than he himself would endure, so he says, “Beloved ones, you know that even a Master-like disciple is not honored like his Master, no matter how far the disciple is spiritually advanced, nor is a glorified servant ever regarded as great as his lord. It is spiritually sufficient before the eyes of God that the disciple becomes equal to the master and the servant becomes powerful like his lord, but the same is not true before the eyes of the people. Thus, when the materially minded people and the Pharisees have called the Master of the house of Christ teachings “Beelzebub” (Prince of Devils), then how much more shall they criticize you all who are followers of the truth revealed in Christ Consciousness?”

Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. Matt. 10:26-27

In the above words Jesus says to his disciples that even though they must be meek and humble, following the course of least resistance during their preaching campaigns by flying from one city to another, and even though they would be subject to great criticism, they should fearlessly speak about the hidden truths, even though their exposition and newness might evoke terrible criticism from the wicked and ignorant. For the sake of the true seekers all hidden truth must be revealed for their benefit.
“O ye, my beloved ones, be meek but fear not your critics, for the sake of the true seekers to whose awakened consciousness all truth covered from the gaze of the spiritually ignorant must be uncovered. There is no wisdom that will remain forever covered or hidden from the awakened consciousness and spiritual hunger of the devotee. All things, all truths that the spiritually dark, ignorant people cannot perceive will be perceived by those that are developed in intuitional self-realization. All the truths which I describe to you in the darkness of secrecy and which are hidden from the gaze of all, I ask you to reveal with the light of your self-knowledge, that others who are highly advanced may understandingly perceive them. And al the truths which you hear from me and all the truths that I shall reveal through my Christ Intelligence in your intuitional ears within, for public use, you can loudly preach to all without distinction.

“Speak Ye in Light”

“I say unto you again that all the esoteric truths which I vibrate within you in the secrecy of your soul, you must transmit to other souls who are in light or are already spiritually advanced due to their past good karmas; and all the general truths which you hear from my words, you can preach loudly from all platforms wherever you are before the gaze of the public.”

It must be noted that Jesus asks his disciples to spread two kinds of teaching one, the hidden higher teachings to the selected spiritually advanced people; second, the general teachings for the public at large.

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Matt. 10:28-31

Power of Cosmic Law

In the above, Jesus is emphasizing that it is a great sin if one, for the fear of man, acts against the cosmic law and thus brings disaster upon himself. Jesus also speaks of the omnipresent, all-knowing power of God which protects and appreciates the work of the devotees who are martyred for the sake of truth.

“O ye beloved disciples, for the sake of attaining immortality, fear not even if you have to sacrifice the body. The sacrifice of the body will not bring destruction to the soul, but sacrifice of a spiritual principle might bring disaster to the soul and the body as well. Fear not those that can kill your body, but be aware of the Cosmic Consciousness which evolved your soul and body and which can dissolve them back again within itself due to the action of your own ignorance.”

When Jesus speaks of God as destroying both body and soul, he meant that God has complete power over the bodies and souls of all creatures, even as kings have power over the bodies of their subjects.

“Every soul is made in the image of God and as such is indestructible. Persecution may destroy the body of man, but acting against the laws of truth affects the body as well as the soul in the after-death state. The miseries of the body end in death, but the agonies accruing out of an individual’s evil actions in one life continue in the soul in the after-death state. Be warned, dear disciples, about the sins against the laws of the soul, more lasting than the errors against the body. Beloved ones, fear not the temporary persecutions of people for a little while on earth, but remember your connection with the Heavenly Father, whose consciousness is within you and everywhere, even in the insignificant dying sparrows, which are sold for two farthings.

Omnipresent Father

“Remember you have to deal with this ever-watchful, beloved Father throughout eternity. Remember that God is conscious through the present, past, and future. His is conscious of every hair on your head; and the cosmic law ever watches every action, good, bad, or indifferent, the countless actions of your life, that it may justly give you the earned result. Therefore, fear not your persecutors and thus desist from preaching the truth, for remember your life and actions as the children of God concern the Father more than the mechanical life of the sparrows who are free from good and bad karma and whose lives, insignificant though they are, are well attended to and taken care of by Him.”

Glossary:

1. Them – Worldly people.
2. Kill the soul – Dissolve the indestructible soul.
3. Fear him – Stand in awe before Him.
4. Which is able to destroy both body and soul – Who is almighty and, through His cosmic law of cause and effect, can dissolve your body and soul.
5. In Hell – Self-created misery which burns the inner being as well as the outward health.
6. Without your Father – Without the consciousness of the Father who is omnipresent, omniscient.

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Matt. 10:32-33

Christ’s Promise of Eternal Protection

“Whoever shall admit that he is in tune with my consciousness and my teachings before materially minded people and persecutors shall find me also in tune with him, and I shall speak with the Father about taking him in His kingdom of luminous space even though he may have sins of evil karma. Every soul who will suffer physical death as the consequence for teaching my truth will find his consciousness pass through the Christ Intelligence in Cosmic Vibration to the sphere of Cosmic Consciousness which exists beyond all vibratory creation.

Denial Brings Punishment

“That individual who will deny or desist from exercising his Christ Consciousness and Christ living before materially minded people for fear of persecution, will find, when he reaches the blissful Christ Intelligence state after death, that consciousness weakening within him (due to his previous denial) and thus will be prevented from remaining in the Christ Intelligence or entering into the higher God-the-Father state or Christ Intelligence which exists beyond Christ Consciousness .”

In the above words Jesus is giving warning that if any disciple, after contacting the Christ Intelligence within him, does not openly share that consciousness with others because of fear of persecution and selfishness, he will lose that consciousness and be unable to advance further.

 

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