THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS CHRIST

 
Excerpts from the book by Vladimir Antonov

The Original Teachings of Jesus Christ

 

Love

“God is Love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16).

“Owe no one anything, except to love one another” (Rom 13:8).

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I have become as sounding brass… And though I have prophecies, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so as to move mountains, and do not have love, I am nothing. And though I give out all my goods to feed the poor, and though I deliver my body to be burned, and have not love, I am profited nothing.

“Love has patience, is kind; love is not envious, is not vain, is not puffed up; does not behave indecently, does not seek her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil. Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth. Love quietly covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails, though prophecies will be abolished and tongues will cease…” (1 Cor 13:1-8).      >>> 

 
It is available online on the site http://www.teachings-of-jesus-christ.org/ or can be ordered at Lulu e-store

 

 

The  Gospel of Philip

Edition and commentaries by Vladimir Antonov

(Excerpts from the book)

*     *     *    

45. Faith receives. Love gives.

One must not receive without faith. One must not give without love.

Therefore, in order to receive, we believe, and in order to give truly, we love.

But if one gives without love, he does not benefit from such giving.

 

*     *     *    

 48. A pearl, even if it is cast down into the mud, is not despised. And if one covers it with balsam, it does not become more valuable. But it is always valuable to its owner.

It is the same with the Sons of God: wherever They may be, They are still of value to Their Father.

*     *     *    

52. A donkey, walking around a millstone, has walked hundred miles.

When it was untethered, it remained at the same place.

There are men who walk much, but advance nowhere. And when evening comes for them, they have seen neither city nor village to which they were going, they have cognized neither the nature of the Creation nor the Power (i.e. God-the-Father), nor even angels. Futile was the work of these miserable.

The efforts can give good fruits only if the Goal and the methods of its cognition are clear. Or it is necessary to take the hand of the Teacher and hold to it tight. (The Teacher can be only the One Who is capable of leading to the Goal and Who knows It well).

 

*     *     *    

64. There are people who neither desire nor can work (on self-improvement).

Others desire but do not do this. And therefore, they do not benefit from such a desire. This only makes them sinners.

And if they can, but not desire, they will get their own for justice: both for the lack of desire and for the lack of deeds.

 

*     *     *    

110. The one who cognized the Truth is free. The free one does not commit sin: because he who commits sin becomes a slave of sin (i.e. first of all, burdens his destiny).

The true knowledge is like mother and father (i.e. like wise teachers, advisers, and guardians of their child).

Those who are not capable of sinning are said that they have attained freedom. The knowledge of the Truth raises them even more. This makes them both free and above this world.

But only Love creates. He who became free thanks to knowledge, because of Love remains a slave of those who have not managed to attain the Freedom of knowledge yet. He brings the knowledge to them and this develops the latter because it calls them to the Freedom.

Love takes nothing: how can it take something? Everything belongs to it. It does not say, “This is mine! And this is mine!” But it says: “This is yours!”

*     *     *    

123. The beginning of this fragment is damaged in the original text.

 
… Abraham in order to perceive the One Whom he had to perceive performed circumcision of the foreskin, showing by this (symbolically) that we should rid ourselves of the fleshly — that which is of this world.

 

Then the original text is damaged partly.

 

… As long as the intestines of man’s body are hidden, it is alive. But if the intestines are uncovered and fall out, it dies.

It is the same is with a tree: while its roots are hidden, it blossoms and grows. If its roots are uncovered, it withers.

It is the same is with any phenomenon in the world, not only in the material but also in the hidden one. Thus, as long as the root of evil is hidden it grows and is strong. When it gets known, it begins to bloom. But if its root is uncovered, it perishes.

Therefore, Logos says, “Already the axe lies at the roots of trees! If it does not cut up completely, that which was cut will grow again. Hence, it is necessary to drive the axe deep enough so that it tears out the roots.”

And Jesus destroyed those roots in the place where He worked. And He also did this partially in other places.

As for all of us, let each one cut into the roots of evil, which is within him, and tear out evil with its roots from the soul!

We can tear evil out only if we know it. If we are ignorant of it, it will continue to grow its roots in us and multiply itself in our souls. Then it will get complete control over us, we will become its slaves. It will enslave us more and more, forcing us to do that which we do not want to do and forcing not to do that which we want to do… It is very powerful until we know about it in ourselves!

While it exists, it acts. Ignorance of it is the mother of evil in us. Ignorance will lead us to death. And those who have not become free from ignorance have not existed yet as (true) people, are not existing, and will not exist!

Those who are in the true knowledge fill themselves with the Perfection as the Truth reveals Itself to them.

For the Truth, even as ignorance, — while it is hidden, it rests in itself; but when it is revealed and is recognized, it blooms, being praised.

How much more powerful it is than ignorance and errors! It gives the Freedom!

Logos said, “If you know the Truth, it will make you free”.

Ignorance is slavery. Knowledge is Freedom.

Seeking the Truth, we find its seeds in ourselves.

If we unite with It, It will receive us in the Primordial Consciousness.

 

Philip discusses the mechanism of repentance and insists on the necessity of paying serious attention to the intellectual work.

Repentance is purification of oneself from vices. Two foundations of all our vices are the following:

1. The ability to cause deliberately suffering to other beings (for example, just by “distressing” them); by doing this we manifest our egoism, the “I”, and lack of developed love in ourselves. With the hypertrophied “I” and without developed love, one cannot really approach the Father.

2. The absence of permanent orientation of the attention to the Father, absence of aspiration to Him.

In connection with this, let us discuss faith. Faith as simple “yes” as an answer to the question “do you believe?” — is too little. The true faith is indeed permanent and unshakeable remembering about God-Teacher, Who teaches me all the time; it is especially important to remember about this at the moments of critical situations, which are also His lessons for us. The thing which brings one to such a level of faith is big and long intellectual work in interaction with Him.

Only thanks to such efforts of spiritual warriors, God becomes for them a Living Reality, and not just a symbol, an abstraction which you are supposed to worship. Thus the faith turns into knowledge about Him.

On the highest level of its development, the faith changes — necessarily through the stage of knowledge about Him, knowledge of Him — into passionate Love, which alone can help one to become close to Him and then to enter His Abode and merge with Him.

… Penitential work is not just listing aloud in front of a “father” all your true and imaginary deeds-sins. Penitential work is studying of oneself as a soul and transforming oneself by introspection and self-education. It is necessary to notice that “sins” are not the main things with which we should struggle: they are just manifestations of qualities of the soul which are called vices. Thus, to struggle with the help of the axe about which Jesus and Philip told, is necessary against vices. And this struggle can be deployed in full strength only after realizing God — as a Living Teacher.

… The result of the entire work on purification and development of oneself is birth and maturing in the highest eons. As this happens, all the material, fleshly become less and less significant and then is “cut off” completely (at what Abraham hinted by his circumcision).

Then only He remains.

*     *     *    

Full text of  The  Gospel of Philip   is published on

http://teachings-of-jesus-christ.org/gospel-of-philip.html

 
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Parable from Apostle Andrew

 

Written down by Anna Zubkova in November 2007.

Edited by Vladimir Antonov.

Translated from Russian by Svetlana Eremina.

Parable about the Prophet

Jesus said: ‘He came, but not many recognized Him…
He spoke, but not many heard Him…
 He taught, but not many fulfilled His Teachings…’

From the memories of Apostle Andrew

 
A Man, sent by God-the-Father, came to the Earth.

And He saw that people wallowed in sins, that vices had multiplied in the souls, that good manners had been forgotten…

And the Man saw that the Teachings about Divine Laws had been forgotten, and the knowledge about essence of the Scriptures created by God had been lost.

As one covers with beautiful clothes the dirt and ugliness of the body, even so people can try to cover the vices of souls with the words from the Scriptures, which are spoken but not fulfilled.

Everyone speaks about the Law; everyone teaches about the Law… Yet, they merely say words… but do not fulfill even what they say…

People do not see the Light and do not know that they live in the darkness…

The Man did not know how to change what He saw… For He knew if He started to speak, His speeches would be lost among the false speeches of those who spoke about the Law but did not know it and did not fulfill it…

And then the Man took off His clothes and went to the desert… And He lived in the desert… and listened to God, and God spoke to Him.

And a rumor spread about the Prophet who lived in the desert and listened to God but was always silent.

And people started to come to see that Man and wondered at Him…

They began asking Him questions and waited who of them receives the answer.

One man came and asked:

‘What harvest will we get this year?’

Another man came and asked:

‘When will my son get married?’

And many others came and asked:

‘When will my daughter-in-law give birth?’, ‘How can I multiply my treasures and protect them?’, ‘How can I make a maid love me and marry me?’…

The Prophet kept silence. The words, which He wanted to tell people, were burning His mouth; His heart was overfilled with God’s Love. He kept silence for ten years…

The rumor about Him spread wide, and more people were coming to see Him. People wondered because all prophets had said a lot, but this one… had said nothing!

The Prophet kept silence. The words, which He wanted to tell people, were burning His mouth; His heart was overfilled with God’s Love. And He kept silence for other ten years.

And His silence attracted people more than the speeches of others…

Once, a young man came to Him. He did not want to get any profit from the answer to his question. He simply asked: ‘What word is hidden behind Your silence?’

And then the Prophet said, ‘Purify yourselves!’

And people began to come to Him to be purified from their sins.

One man said, ‘I was angry yesterday! Purify me!’

And another said, ‘I cheated in trading telling a lie! Purify me!’

And the third said, ‘I was proud and indulged in vanity! Purify me!’

The Prophet kept silence. The same people would come again and again; they repented of the same sins and went home to sin again…

The Prophet kept silence…

‘Why do not You want to purify us?’, the people asked.

The Prophet answered, ‘Purification won’t come until repentance cleans out the vice of the soul, so that a similar sin be not possible from that moment on!’

And again the Prophet kept silence…

There was only the River of Living Light. All thoughts and deeds were visible in Its Flow. The Prophet stood in the River of Living Light and waited for those who would come to be purified… The River was flowing, and time was passing…

And people listened to His silence, the silence of the Soul. And there were those who understood Him. And they came to be purified.

The fire of shame for their sins was burning them. They could not rise their eyes and were ashamed to speak. The fire of shame was burning them — and this fire burned away the vices of souls washed by repentance.

And then these souls were purified and washed by the River of Light.

The Prophet washed with pure water those who came to receive the purification. And there was no sign of condemnation in His eyes.

The River of the Sacred Light was flowing, and people entered Its Waters and were purified from vices, so that not to sin anymore!

And the Prophet said, ‘It is impossible to abandon all vices of the soul at once. Stay and learn how to purify yourselves! All bad qualities of the soul must be washed away and replaced with love — with a flow of giving love! And you need to grow the Light of Love in yourself!»

And the Prophet said, ‘I am baptizing you with the Waters of the Flow so that you could receive the Baptism of the Fire of the Father! The One Who will come after Me will bring the Fire of Divine Love to the Earth! Only if you receive purification of the soul before His coming, you will be able to cognize the Divine Fire!’

Thus taught the Prophet called by people John.

*     *     *    

See video  Spiritual Heart

Download from http://www.spiritual-art.info/video.html

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Many people suffer of failures in the material world, of illnesses… This results in depressions, neuroses, other kinds of psychic disorders… Many of them become alcoholics, drug addicts, criminals, commit suicide …

There are two main reasons for this problem: first, people do not understand the meaning of their lives, and second, they have no knowledge about how they can change themselves in order to overcome successfully the difficulties which we unavoidably encounter on our life path.

We discussed in detail the philosophical-religious aspect of this subject in our books Classics of Spiritual Philosophy and the Present, Ecopsychology, Forest Lectures. I assure you that it is not possible to achieve stable success in mastering psychic harmony and true happiness in life without including God in one’s outlook, also without serious work on bringing one’s ethical sphere in accordance with what God expects from us. And it would be most correct to begin the process of self-transformation with studying the true picture of life in the Absolute and with understanding one’s own place and tasks in It; only in this case one can become convinced in the necessity of making personal efforts on transforming oneself.

Unfortunately… many people raised in the atheistic environment or those influenced by false religious views become incapable of comprehending and accepting the true knowledge about the existence of God; the knowledge which implies not the practice of begging God or seeking “salvation” through certain forms of ritualism — but active creative work on perfecting oneself as a soul, consciousness. It is this work that God expects from us!

* * *

Our experience of teaching the art of psychic self-regulation in Russia, in the time of Communist Party governing when it was forbidden to talk about God, demonstrated that in the process of such classes almost all students without suggestions of the instructor began to feel the presence of God, to cognize themselves not as physical bodies but as souls incarnated in bodies. And then, quite naturally, they began conscious search for religious-philosophical truths.

It is for the sake of such people that I am writing now — for the sake of those who need first the proof — and only then they are ready to accept the Truth: to accept it not as BELEIF but as KNOWLEDGE.

But in order to receive this KNOWLEDGE one has to make personal efforts on transforming oneself.

Let us try transforming ourselves! Let our goals in the beginning be achievement of harmonious existence among other people, good health, experience of true happiness!

Let us begin with this! Let us acquire such experience by applying to ourselves the knowledge which was very useful for many people before!

 

Chakras and Psychic Self-Regulation

The only way of mastering the art of psychic self-regulation is to gain control over the functions of the chakras.

Detailed knowledge about the chakras, their functions, and possibilities of work with them is presented in our book Ecopsychology. Now let me tell briefly only about those points which are important for our present conversation.

… In total there are seven chakras. Every one of us has them — in the head, in the neck, in the trunk.

Every chakra is responsible, among other things, for supplying with bioenergies those organs of the body which belong to the sphere of influence of that chakra. If the chakra is contaminated with coarse energies, this may result in chronic diseases of the corresponding organs. By cleansing the chakra with the help of the methods described in the book mentioned above, one can cure such illnesses.

But the more important point is that every chakra participates in producing certain psychic states.

For example, the two head chakras are responsible for the thinking function, the neck chakra — for the emotional evaluation of situations perceived by us; the thorax chakra, located at the place of the heart and lungs, — for generation of the entire spectrum of the emotions of love; the chakra of the upper part of the abdomen — for vigor; the chakra of the lower part of the abdomen is responsible for the reproductive function; and the lowest chakra located at the level of the coccyx and share bone is responsible for the link with the energy of kundalini.

It is important to know that the chakra ajna, located in the center of the head, is the source of many human afflictions. Even its name in Sanskrit means “non-wise”, or “fool” bluntly speaking.

This chakra, as all others, is necessary, and ideally it must be cleansed and developed. Yet one must not allow it to dominate! Because it gives birth to egocentric emotions and makes its owner an egocentric person.

Such a person is egotistic, jealous, touchy or quick-tempered… Some of such people, having broke, become ever complaining neurasthenics, drunkards, commit suicide.

As angry dogs guard their kennels and bark from inside them at everyone — even so such people guard their selves, always provoking conflicts with others. They perceive this way of behaving as a norm; they believe that all people behave so, and that the essence of life consists in mutual struggle between individual egos. They can even justify such a way of life with the motto “struggle for existence“…

If such ajnic features are supplemented with hyperactivity of the chakra of the upper part of the abdomen — then this forms the ajnic-manipura psychotype. Its most bright manifestation is people who are ever discontent with everything and everyone, irritated and aggressive. They are called also aggressive primitives. One of their characteristic features is disposition to drinking. In this way they “settle their nerves”. It is the representatives of this psychotype that are most inclined to committing all kinds of selfish crimes and to aggressive actions against other people, quite often due to drunkenness.

 

Anahatic Psychotype

I am not going to continue describing other psychotypes because we discussed this subject in detail in the book Ecopsychology. Let me just note that there is a psychotype opposite of that described above — the anahatic psychotype. People of this psychotype are treasures in human society! They are souls most promising from the evolutionary standpoint!

They may suffer from attacks of aggressive primitives, but they are those who have entered on the spiritual Path already (they may just stand on this Path, but it is better to walk it!).

… God is Love; this truth was taught by Jesus Christ and by all other Divine Teachers.

The only way to become closer to God (what many believers dream about) is by gradually becoming similar to Him. And one has to become similar to Him in the aspect of love, first of all.

The knowledge about the chakras provides necessary details about how one can gain and develop in oneself this main quality of God. The emotions of tender love, care, admiration and respect for wisdom, also love-aspiration to the Creator — all these emotional states are born and sustained in the special emotiogenic structure of the organism — in the chakra anahata. It is in this chakra that the special part of the consciousness, called the spiritual heart, is formed and continues its development.

Only by developing oneself as a spiritual heart, one can gain true spiritual power and approach the direct personal cognition of the Creator and Mergence with Him.

By the way, this is the answer to the question raised by a number of people: is it good to have a developed anahata but suffer attacks from malicious primitive people? Isn’t it better to develop coarse power in oneself with the help of the methods of black magic or through “gladiatorial” kinds of sport, where usually most coarse and aggressive people achieve success?

I can answer that everyone has a right to make their choice — the right given to us by God. Yet one has to reflect first on the consequences of the choice. The destiny of those who preserve or even develop such coarseness in themselves is hell!

And the perspective of those who develop themselves as spiritual hearts, as love — is paradise or even higher abodes!

After the death of the body, we abide in those states of consciousness to which we accustomed ourselves during the life in the body.

Those who are accustomed themselves to various manifestations of malice — will continue to live in these emotional states among other souls similar to them. This is what hell is. (By the way isn’t it appropriate to revise our attitude to those kinds of sports where such qualities are encouraged and developed intentionally? I am sure that sport must exalt the Beauty rather than confrontation between people, aggressiveness, violence, cruelty!)

Those used to live in the state of tender and caring love will also continue to live in these states among other people similar to them. This is paradise.

One attains paradise or hell not due to belonging to certain religious organization, not due performing certain deeds — but as a result of correct or wrong evolutionary advancement of the soul: to the Creator — or from Him.

It is easy to understand for any reasonable person…

* * *

So what should we do if we value the principle of Love, believe in the existence of God, but do not want to be weak?

The answer to this question must be clear to you now: we have to become more and more close to the Creator, to grow ourselves more and more as spiritual hearts. It is in this way that we gain true spiritual power and the invulnerability in relationships with incarnate and non-incarnate beings of hell.

Yes, an incarnate soul possesses the ability to change not only qualitatively by abandoning one qualities and gaining, developing others. A soul can also grow quantitatively. We have the possibility to grow as spiritual hearts — first inside the thorax of the material body and then outside it —to the sizes of several meters, then — kilometers, then thousands of kilometers… And having grown to such sizes, having acquired much experience, the soul then can infuse itself into the Creator and enrich Him thus.

This constitutes the meaning of our lives: to develop oneself to the extent when one becomes worthy of approaching the Abode of the Creator in the multidimensional universe — and to merge into Him. He receives in Himself only those who became Love as He is. There are no other possibilities of cognition of Him.

And what will happen to us once we begin to transform ourselves in this way? What changes will happen quite soon, not in the distant future?

The first and the most important thing is that you will become capable of feeling, experiencing the state of love. It will be not short periods of emotional upliftment but stable state of benevolence and calm. The unpleasant emotions of dislike, hatred, irritation, fear, envy, impatience will go away. The illnesses caused by dominant negative emotions will be healed too. The energy field of the organism will change as well: it will be pleasant for people to communicate with you; you will improve your relationships with those with whom you had no friendship before; and you will find new sincere friends. Possessing true spiritual experience, you will have knowledge to share with others. In this way you will find companions in your spiritual quest.

And then quite soon you will have new Friends — Holy Spirits, Representatives of the Creator, Who will be your Spiritual Guides, Teachers.

In this way God — as living Reality and not as merely a symbol, an object of questionable faith — enters our everyday life, becomes Real Father-Mother, Friend, Beloved Teacher.

 

How to Achieve This Practically?

There are natural means of development of cordial love in oneself.

They are, first of all, all the good related to the reproductive sphere: selfless, tender, caring sexuality; care about children.

They are also emotional attunement with the subtle beauty: the beauty of various manifestations of nature, the beauty of harmonious human bodies.

Yet there are also auxiliary methods for cleansing and development of the corresponding energy structures of the organism — the chakras and several most important medians. The use of these methods allows one to accelerate significantly both the mastering of psychic self-regulation and the spiritual growth in general. As we understand now, it concerns first of all the chakra anahata and the spiritual heart growing in it.

It is important to emphasize that quick advancement in this direction can be achieved if one works in nature. It is better to work on special natural places called places of power (we described them in our books mentioned above).

… And now let me tell you how to begin this work on oneself — how one can learn to separated oneself from the material body — of course, not for ever but for the time of meditative training.

The only correct way to do it — is to exit as a developed spiritual heart from the chakra anahata.

Having mastered this completely, we can become convinced that we are not bodies! We are souls, consciousnesses, energies aware of themselves — able to perceive themselves not only in the body but outside of it as well!

Fear of the death of the body then disappears: I can easily exist, continue to live without the body!

And we can continue our study as free consciousnesses, who explore the multidimensional Absolute under the guidance of our Divine Teachers — the Holy Spirits. The main task of our Teachers will be to bring us to the Abode of the Creator.

It is very important for everyone to understand that they are not material bodies! Unfortunately even those people who consider themselves believers lack this knowledge!

Let me note that even in the translation of the New Testament into Russian (and probably into some other languages) there are such expressions as “my soul”, “your soul”. I have heard even such a fool expression as “to lose the soul”…

But the soul is what man is!

The well known international signal SOS (“save our souls”) is also absurd! It implies a call to save bodies, not souls!

The way to saving the soul is completely different: through explanation of religious philosophical truths, through learning the methods of spiritual self-development!

And there is no sense in mourning for deceased people: they are alive! It is only their temporary “dwellings” — their bodies — that have died!

Also there is no meaning to cling to the life of the body when death comes.

Another thing is much more important: how have I lived the life? To what extent have I managed to realize the purpose of my life in this body — before God?

Therefore, let us hurry to become better! And we know now — how to do this!

So, let us begin to work — and God will necessarily help us! He wants this from us most of all! And He is personally interested in this!

Lecture published on  http://www.new-ecopsychology.org

More about Psychic Self-Regulation  read in  the books:

Spiritual Heart.

 

Spiritual Development.

Man and God. Destiny.

Meaning of Life.

Upbringing of Children.

Art. Chakras. Kundalini.

Ecopsychologists Cognize and Study God.

 

It can be ordered online at   http://www.lulu.com/content/2210857

 

           

It can be ordered online at the publisher's bookstore. The book is also available for ordering in Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Other books by Vladimir Antonov can be  ordered online at LuLu.com

 

See explanation of spiritual terms in 

Encyclopedia of Spiritual Knowledge