Posted on: 13 Aug 2016
Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami
Kindly give Your explanations to following verses/parables taken from New Testaments of Bible written by St. Mathew. Some of the verses are stand alone verses giving enough understanding still Your commentaries on those are requested for the benefit of all devotees.
Q1) Matthew 12:14-21
[14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
15 Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill. 16 He warned them not to tell others about him. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
18 “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
19 He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets.
20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory.21 In his name the nations will put their hope.”]
Swami replied: Father of heaven (energetic incarnation of unimaginable God) formulates a program and even the human incarnation (human being in which Father of Heaven merged) follows the program in toto irrespective of the comments of human beings regarding the omnipotence of God existing in It. When the ear of a soldier, who came to arrest Him, was cut by a disciple, Jesus placed that in its original spot and it became normal. This miracle shows that Jesus, who is identified with the unimaginable God, is following the program formulated by Himself. This unimaginable miracle proves that Jesus Himself is that unimaginable God (since unimaginable God merged with Father of Heaven and Father of Heaven merged with Jesus), yet, Jesus allowing Himself to get arrested shows that the very unimaginable God is following His own program strictly. This shall open the eyes of ignorant people blaming that Jesus, the savior, could not save Himself. Such conclusion is wrong since it is foolish. Jesus curing the illness of several people, as said above, proved that the absolute God is in that human form. His arrest and crucifixion prove that the planner is strictly following His own plan. Jesus is keeping His divinity as secret so that the soldiers, afraid, may go back, which will hinder the proceedings of the program.
Q2) Matthew 12:31-37
[31 And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. 35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”]
Swami replied: Any sin done to another soul may be forgiven since every soul does sins only in different ways and in different quanta. A sin done to another sinner may be excused. The sin done to the Spirit (Holy Spirit merged with human being), which is totally sinless, can’t be excused. Here, Son of Man means only an ordinary human being. The word spirit must be taken in the sense of God in human form or Jesus because only a human form can be harmed. The Holy Spirit by itself is formless energy in which unimaginable God merged (or even Father of Heaven, who is energy with human form in which also unimaginable God merged) can never be harmed and no sin can be done to energy with form or without form. You can harm a human being or any living being only, but, never harm formless objects like energy, space or air. Hence, doing sin to spirit means only the human form in which the Holy Spirit merged. Meanings of words in the scripture should be understood as per sharp analysis of the context.
Mind, word and body are said to be the three instruments (antahkaranas) for any activity. Mind (actually intelligence) is the king that makes firm conclusions and mind is involved in various discussions of concepts. The body is responsible for any practical activity called as deed or work, which alone gives the fruit. We cannot detect the mind directly. We can know it only by word or action. Hence, ‘word’, here, means mind or heart. Since action by body also follows the mind (word) only, the judgment given is always about the fruits of the action. The words (mind or actions) are judged by God. Here words mean actions.
Q3) The Sign of Jonah [Matthew 12:38-42]
[38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.]
Swami replied: The practical sign of unimaginable God is a miracle, which is unimaginable event. Through the miracle only, ignorant people decide that someone is God. It is wrong since even Satan performs miracles. Miracles are separable jewels of God. Spiritual knowledge and love to true devotees are inseparable like features. Wise people judge God through these inseparable features only. A queen recognizes her husband, the King, by his inseparable features only and not by his separable crown and jewels!
The Queen of South means the nature that is punished in hell, which is on Southern side and hence, God’s judgment is opposed by her. God is said to be North pole and worldly illusion is said to be the South pole in the Veda (Duramete…) and in the Gita (Shukla Krishna Gati…). The belly of fish indicates the nature of animal in human form. The belly of earth means the womb of the mother of a human form. The human form here referred can be also taken as Son of God (because God merges with son of man or human being to become Son of God like Jesus) as He resurrected Himself in three days. The body of human incarnation is said to be divine temple and the deity in it is the divine soul (Deho devalayah proktah…). Divine body means the human body in which God merged and divine soul means the soul with which God merged. It was told, earlier, in Islamic scripture that Jesus leaves the house through a hole of roof. Here, Jesus means the soul charged with God, who leaves through a small hole present in the center of the head (Brahma randhra of a nerve called Susashmnaa nadi in Hinduism). All the names referred above indicate only the worldly forces, which are against the Holy God. The spiritual knowledge of God called as Jesus is certainly higher than the worldly knowledge. The phase of world contains both good and bad concepts and their related works. If it is wrong (hell), God is opposite to it. If it is good (heaven), even then, God is greater than it and hence, God becomes best, being better than good. By this, God becomes the highest level to be voted even against justice if a competition arises between God and justice.
Q4) Matthew 12:43-45
[43 “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”]
Swami replied: The bad spirit leaves bad people for some time and goes to rest in the souls, which do not have any living activity like lazy people. A dry land is worst like such inert phase. A wet land with bad soil is like a wicked person having bad activity. The bad spirit cannot find peace and rest in non-active people since the bad spirit always enjoys through bad activities only. In the absence of bad spirit also, the wicked soul does not allow good activity of God because of the bad odor (called vasana) leftover by the bad spirit. The bad spirit finding no activity in arid soil (non-active soul) returns to the bad soul, which is vacant and not occupied by good activity of God. The bad spirit again becomes peaceful since it can involve itself in bad activities. This means a bad person can become neutral, for sometime only, as it becomes again bad. The conclusion is that a bad person can never become good person and for such cases, the hell is the only way.
Q5) Jesus’ Mother and Brothers [Matthew 12:46-50]
[46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”]
Swami replied: In the case of human incarnation, the external human being-component has family bonds, but, its love is always on the true devotees since this external form is totally merged with Holy Spirit or Father of Heaven. The external form imbibes the nature of the internal form or Father of Heaven, for whom the entire humanity is family only, in which even the family members of external human form are included. Any soul involved in God’s propagation work alone becomes the close family member of God. Work of God means the practical service and total surrender to God in such practical sacrifice. Without this practical side, the so-called family members of human incarnation are of not much use like theoretical devotees.
Q6) The purpose of Parables: Matthew 13:10-17
[10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.]
Swami replied: The spiritual knowledge is always made wonderful and excellent through similes. A simile (parable is a chain of similes looking like a different story) always fixes the concept in the heart. The concepts without similes enter through one ear and leave the in-between brain through the other opposite ear, unfixed. Why the poet Kalidasa became number one in the list of poets? It is only because of his wonderful similes (upamaa kalidasasya). Here, the eye means examination of the concept with clear vision called analysis. ‘You may hear by ear, but, the eye does not see it’, this means that the concept heard is not analyzed. Why is Shankara called as the greatest genius? The reason is that His sharp analysis is examining the concept very clearly from all sides. Shankara is said to be the incarnation of Lord Shiva and Kalidasa is said to be the incarnation of Kaali, the wife of Shiva. Both these Shiva (analysis of concept in brain) and Kaali (wonderful way of preaching through similes) stand as the divine couple in the propagation of spiritual knowledge. God is said to be poet of poets (kavim kavinaam – Veda) and omniscient scholar (sarvavit sarvajnah – Veda) and hence, the human incarnation involved in preaching the spiritual knowledge is to be taken as the couple of both divine Father and divine Mother coming here for the welfare of the souls created by them.
Q7) The Parable of the Weeds [13:24-30]
[24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
The Parable of the Weeds Explained [Matthew 13:36-43]
36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.]
Swami replied: The explanation of the original text given by Matthew is really good from all angles. However, a different special explanation in some angles of the concept can be also added to fulfill the totality of the concept. Here, the weeds are sowed while sleeping. This means that it is very easy to influence an ignorant (sleep) mind than a scholastic mind. Another angle is that the weeds are allowed to grow up to full harvest and then are burnt by the workers or angels because the actual wheat plants can be identified by clear wheat grains and false husks without grains simultaneously. In the harvest, the fruit comes out, which gives the clear identity for easy separation. Another parable also can be given here in the extended context of the concept. The black crow nourishes the black issues of cuckoo also by ignorance. When the issues are grown, the issue of crow will cry with harsh sound and the issue of cuckoo will cry with sweet sound. By the resultant sound, the crow identifies and separates its issues from the issues of cuckoo to expel those out. This can be another good parable. Here, the above interpretation gives the time of separation on the day of final judgment before which there is no scope of repentance and rectification. The parable of crow said above indicates the expulsion of weeds even before the last day. In this aspect, you should take the parable of crow and not the parable of wheat and weed. If the repentance of rectification as enlightened in the second parable becomes impossible, then, the first parable can be taken to explain the judgment on final day.