You see me in yourselves as in a clear mirror
There is a saying of Jesus in a newly found gospel, the Gospel of St. Thomas, which is just a short collection of saying, there’s no narrative. ‘You see me in yourselves as in a clear mirror’. St. Paul in his Letter to the Corinthians expands on this saying. It’s found in the Mahabharata … about 300 BC … about 300 years Before Christ. ‘Knowledge springs up in man on the destruction of their sins. When the divine self is seen in the self as in a clear mirror.’ Christ says ‘You see me in yourselves as in a clear mirror’ … a mirror without a veil . And the man’s face is without a veil … as in a clear … clearly … as in a mirror. Paul … there are number of passages in Paul on this. ‘To this very day, every time the Law of Moses is read, a veil lies over the minds of the hearers. But as scripture says of Moses, whenever one turns to the Lord the veil is removed’. Now the Lord of whom this passage speaks is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty … and because for us there is no veil, we all reflect as in a mirror the splendour of the Lord.
Thus we are transfigured into his likeness from splendour to splendour. Such is the influence of the Lord who is Spirit. Christ said ‘You see me in yourselves as in a clear mirror’ … and the Mahabharata … the divine self is seen in the self as in a clear mirror. One of the important points of the yogic interpretation of the New Testament is to emphasise the great Christ. Much of Christian interpretation speaks of the small Christ from Galilee who was finally crucified and resurrected. But there is a great Christ. The Gita says that it’s another incarnation … the incarnation Krishna speaking … ‘Fools despise me clad in human form. Not knowing my higher state, the great Lord of the beings’ … ‘Fools despise me clad in human form. Not knowing my higher state the great Lord of beings’.
The higher state … for instance Paul writes of this of Christ ‘In Christ everything in Heaven and earth was created. Not only things visible but also the invisible orders of sovereignties, authorities and powers. The whole Universe has been created through Him and for Him. He exists before everything. All things are held together in Him. In the great Christ, Palestine and Galilee and Jerusalem and Pontius Pilate are all held together in the great Christ.
The Gita says the same thing ‘The highest spirit is spoken of as the supreme self. The indestructible Lord who interpenetrates and sustains the three worlds.’ This passage is almost identical with Paul in Colossians ‘the whole Universe has been created through Him and for Him’. All things are held together in Christ’. Christ taught, the gospel says in several places, in parables. And the disciples repeatedly say ‘We don’t understand what you’re saying’. And he says to them ‘How dull you are’. If you look in the New Testament you’ll find this repeatedly … he says to his disciples and to others ‘How dull your spirit is’. He didn’t mean brilliant intellect, he meant the ability to see the point. ‘How dull you are’.
© Trevor Leggett
Posts in this series are:
Part 1: Christianity and Yoga
Part 2: The Gospel to the Hebrews
Part 3: You see me in yourselves as in a clear mirror
Part 4: The parable contains a riddle