The Gospel of Jesus decoded

The Gospel of Jesus Decoded: Christ and Kundalini, Part 1 by Michael Bowes

Posted by: Michael Bowes • Mar 8th, 2010

Although it is referred to in many different ways the Kundalini Shakti plays a key role in all spiritual traditions.  The principles are the same, the effects are the same; but the words and symbols used to express Kundalini differ.  In the Judeo/Christian tradition Kundalini is known as the Holy Spirit, Living Water, Christ, the Anointing, the Word and by other terms as well.

But before exploring the details of Kundalini in the Judeo/Christian scriptures, I would like to introduce the subject by examining the authentic and original message of Jesus.  Unless one understands Jesus’ core message it will not be possible to see how Kundalini is the key to his teaching.  The original message of Jesus was lost in translation, couched in symbol and metaphor and obscured by time, and has never been commonly understood.  Today there are many different Christian sects with vastly different interpretations of Jesus’ sayings.  How then is it possible to decipher the mystery so long after the fact?  To determine the original and authentic message of Jesus, as well was the involvement of Kundalini; we will examine his words in the original languages that the Bible was written in – Hebrew and Greek.  And then we can compare his message to the teachings of other spiritual luminaries such as Shankara, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Ramakrishna, and others.  We will discover that the great spiritual teachers all agree on the most sacred essence of spirituality.
And what is his fundamental message?  In the Bible when Jesus uses the word “gospel”, which usually means message, the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” or “Kingdom of God” is always present in the same sentence or passage.  So Jesus’ message is that the “The Kingdom of Heaven/God is within you.”
Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”
– Luke 17:20, 21
Jesus did not teach that he had come to earth to be a sacrifice for men’s sins.  He proclaimed the amazing message of the Kingdom of Heaven.  He also commanded his disciples to proclaim the message of the Kingdom of Heaven/God, and as far as I know he did not instruct them to preach anything else.  But what is the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God?
In the Bible the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” is translated from the Greek words BASILEIA OURANOS.  BASILEIA is translated as “kingdom”.  According to Thayer’s Lexicon the primary meaning of BASILEIA is “royal power”.  Power creates and sustains a “kingdom”.  Without power a kingdom cannot exist.  Without power a king is nothing.  That is why the word “kingdom” is actually a secondary definition of BASILEIA.  BASILEIA is feminine gender and its primary meaning is “royal power” or “governing power”.
When Jesus replied to the disciples about the coming of the Kingdom (Acts 1:8), he stated that they would “…receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…”  By this statement Jesus related the “kingdom” to a “spiritual power”.
Jesus expressed the same fact in Mark 9:1.
And He was saying to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
The apostle Paul asserted the same truth:
For the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power.
– First Corinthians 4:20
It is obvious from the primary definition of the word BASILEIA and its use in the scriptures, that it can be translated as “royal power or governing power”.  In this sense BASILEIA is very similar to the definition of SHAKTI.  According to the Monier-Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary the word SHAKTI, usually translated as “divine power” (feminine), also means “regal power” and “feminine or procreative energy”.
The word “heaven” in the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” is translated from the Greek word OURANOS.  The definition of OURANOS is—UNIVERSE.  In old English the concept of the universe was expressed as “the heavens”.  Somewhere along the way the plural expression “heavens” was replaced by the singular expression—“heaven”.  The attempt to translate or interpret OURANOS–“universe” as “heaven” (singular), is totally erroneous and misleading.
The biblical Greek phrase BASILEIA OURANOS should translate as—“the DIVINE POWER OF THE UNIVERSE”.  Jesus’ message was about the “power of the universe”, The Cosmic Lord; not about an “earthly kingdom” or a “paradise” to be enjoyed after death.  Jesus taught that the “divine power of the universe” or the “power of God” is within you.  Jesus taught a version of pantheism (worship or reverence of the universe and nature).  But Jesus also taught that the very power that manifests itself as the Universe is within you, and can be experienced within one’s self and that it IS one’s true SELF – the Self of All.  He referred to this experience as the New Birth.  The concept of the New Birth is also found in Hinduism, and is expressed as DWIJA (the twice-born).
A microcosm of the universe, the universal ocean of power and bliss, dwells within one’s own heart.  The sum total of all of the light, power and bliss that is manifested throughout the entire macrocosm can be experienced within the Spiritual Heart, which is the same as one’s own Self.
Please consider the following quotations from various sources:
7:5.  This is My lower nature.  But, different from it, know, O mighty Arjuna, My higher nature—the Indwelling Spirit by which the universe is sustained.
7:6.  Know that these two form the womb of all beings.  I am the origin of the entire universe and also its dissolution.
7:7.  There exists nothing whatever higher than I AM, O Dhananjaya.  All is strung on Me as a row of gems on a thread.
Bhagavad Gita, Translated by Swami Nikhilananda
To realize the whole universe as the Self is the means of getting rid of bondage.  There is nothing higher than in identifying the universe with the Self.  One realizes this state by excluding the objective world through steadfastness in the eternal Atman.
Verse 339, from The Vivekacudamani of Sri Shankaracharya, translated by Swami Madhavananda
When there is not the I-thought, then there will be no other thought. Until that time, when other thoughts arise, (asking) “to whom?” (will call forth the reply) “To me.” He who pursues this closely, questioning “What is the origin of the I?” and diving inwards reaches the seat of the mind (within) the Heart, becomes (there) the Sovereign Lord of the Universe.
Eight Stanzas to Arunachala, by Sri Ramana Maharshi (A Portion of Stanza Seven)
11:  The whole universe is in the body and the whole body is in the Heart.  Hence all the universe is contained in the Heart.
12:  The universe is nothing but the mind, and the mind is nothing but the Heart.  Thus the entire story of the universe culminates in the Heart.
SRI RAMANA GITA Chapter Five, THE SCIENCE OF THE HEART
“Master:  ‘The jnani reasons about the world through the process of Neti, Neti, and at last reaches the Eternal and Indivisible Satchidananda.  He reasons in this manner:  Brahman is not the living beings; It is neither the universe nor the twenty-four cosmic principles.  As a result of such reasoning he attains the Absolute.  Then he realizes that it is the Absolute that has become all this—the universe, its living beings, and the twenty-four cosmic principles.”
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Translated by Swami Nikhilananda
Similar quotations from various sources about the nature of the Universal Self are included in an addendum at the end of this article.  Hopefully the reader already understands that the message of Jesus, The Bhagavad Gita, Shankara, Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Ramakrishna all resonate as One.  According to these masters the summit of spirituality is the realization of our Oneness with the indwelling Power of the Universe – The Cosmic Lord, The Self of All.  Jesus called it the Divine Power of the Universe; but it has been misunderstood by the Christian Church and the Bible translates it as the Kingdom of Heaven.
So what role does Kundalini play in the realization of the Cosmic Lord, the Self of All?  We will begin to explore that question in Part Two of The Gospel of Jesus Decoded.