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SEEING THE MASTER:-
Jesus said: "I am not your Master" (logion 13)
Where then is the Master to be found and seen?
Logion 82 He who is near to me is near to the fire

The flame is in some respects the soul of the fire.
Like the sun, it gives out light and warmth. In logion 77, Jesus
says: I am the
Light. Here he is identifying himself with the flame before identifying
himself with the Kingdom. While illuminating, the flame burns away
the dross of the Ego. We can see why its symbolism was attractive
to the Master.
Jesus is one with the Father (Jn 10,30). The Kingdom is at
once the dwelling of the Father and of the Son. But it
is also the dwelling
of those who drink from the mouth of Jesus (log. 108). To these,
Jesus says: I am in my Father and you in me and me in you (Jn
14.20).
Just as the flame knows not darkness, so the Kingdom knows
no limitations. It is our mind which creates the shadows,
as it
is it which imagines
that we may be outside of the Kingdom. It is ignorance which
stops us realising that the flame and the Kingdom are omnipresent
and
constitute our Reality, our Blessedness. It sows confusion
by setting up a distinction between the Self and the illusion
or
non-Self.
When the illusion disappears, the Self alone remains. Our
attention - without
tension - should employ itself in removing the veil
which our ignorant mind draws over our true nature, blocking
our access
to the Kingdom; then will the flame chase away the shades.
´ ´ ´ ´ ´
Logion 77 I am the Light that is above them all

Jesus begins by identifying himself with the Light: I am the
Light that is above them all. In John, this identification occurs equally
and repeatedly: 1.9; 3.19; 8.12; 9.5; 12.35; 12.46. Jesus is the
Light because the Father, with whom he is simply one, is the Light
(log.83). We who seek the Light, we come from the Light (log. 50.5)
and, as we return there whence we have come, we shall be in the
Light, we shall be the Light.
Having declared that he is the Light, Jesus affirms that he
is the All: I am the All. The All comes forth from
me, and the All
reaches towards me . And then, he underlines his omnipresence: Cleave the wood, I am there; lift up the stone, and you shall
find me there.
.......... Jesus is indeed omnipresent;
he penetrates all; but is this to say that he fuses himself with
that which
he penetrates?
To affirm this would be to pretend that he fuses himself with
that which exists only at the level of illusion: it would be
at the
same time to contradict the great teachings of the East. Thus
in the Vedanta, Brahman is affirmed as absolutely distinct
from the
world: Brahman in no way is similar to the world, and outside
Brahman there is nothing (because if there were something outside
of Him,
He could not be infinite); all that which appears to exist
outside of him, can exist only at the level of illusion
like the appearance
of water (the mirage) in the desert (Shankaracharya). In Brahman’s
relation with the World, there is no reciprocity: Brahman includes
the world but the world does not include Brahman. Instead of
being the expression of pantheism, such a text is its condemnation.
..........
Jesus is present in the wood, in the stone, but neither wood
nor stone is Jesus. If he speaks to us of his omnipresence,
it is so
that we, in our turn, may take courage in our seeking. Having
assured us that we can do what he has done (Jn 14.12), he
tells us that
we also shall reign over the All (log.2.8).
Find
more sayings on this theme in 'Seeing the Master' in
this book:
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