The Fruits of the Testament of Truth
1. The New Human Being
2. The New Humankind
3. The New Heaven and the New Earth
1. The New Human Being
The Tree of Life is a universal symbol of the three-fold structure of Creation and of the human being, made in the image and likeness of God, emanating from the Absolute Origin of Being. Through the fulfillment of the Testament of Truth the life of humankind will develop and grow as a Tree of Life on all levels – microcosmic, socio-cultural and macrocosmic. On a microcosmic level human beings will be transformed into cosmic spiritual persons – Sons and Daughters of the Lord, beloved children of God. On a socio-cultural level humankind will become God's people on sacred Earth. On a macrocosmic level human beings will enter into the Reality of the New Heaven and the New Earth where they will live in the presence of the Lord God forever.
So, on the microcosmic level the human beings will transform themselves into cosmic spiritual persons (sons and daughters of God) who are living simultaneously in the whole three fold vertical structure of Creation: with a purified physical body and enlightened human personality in the physical world; with a blossoming soul in the celestial world and with an awakened Divine Spirit in the Highest Divine World. For this purpose they have to undergo two main spiritual transformations. Here we are calling them, symbolically, resurrections, because each of them is connected with a new birth. The first resurrection is rebirth as a Divine soul from the first, material world into the second, heavenly world, woven by celestial light, love, music, high human virtues and spiritual abilities. The second resurrection is rebirth from the heavenly world into the highest Divine world – a mystery connected with the awakening of the higher Divine Self which enables the human being to contemplate the whole of Creation and to co-create with God. In every spiritual tradition we find profound and inspiring descriptions of the great spiritual journey of the human being through the two resurrections towards complete self-realisation and final liberation in God.
In the first resurrection the human being is transfigured from an earthly personality into a heavenly soul (a 'psycho-soulful essence'). The inner 'spiritual senses', i.e. the mind and the heart, develop in the process of the blossoming of the soul and begin to build the bodies of the higher intellect, higher emotions and higher will. The human being is then imbued with very refined, delicate, yet powerful feelings; profound insight into the spiritual aspect of life is gained; the limitations and obstructions of the egocentric 'I' are overcome and the person starts to 'live for the whole'. Gradually this process leads to the realisation of the spiritual essence of the Universe.
With the blossoming of the soul, the human being no longer identifies solely with the physical body, but sees himself as a psycho-soulful essence (a part of the Universal Soul), consisting of spiritual colour rays of light and living heavenly music in which the highest human virtues are manifested. With the first resurrection the human being becomes one with his soul, understands the spiritual nature of the Universe, develops new abilities, creates a new body, the perfect celestial body, and finally enters into the world of angels.
After the first resurrection human beings are able to express the Divine virtues hidden in their souls. Behind each of these virtues (such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, charity, faith, gentleness, humility, compassion, beauty and many others) lies a spiritual colour ray of Light emitted by the highest Divine world. So, when a person develops the qualities which each Divine colour ray brings, his aura will contain all the spiritual colours of the Divine Rainbow and will approach the integral White Light of the Divine Masters.
Through the blossoming of the soul the human being enters into the reality of the second, angelic, world of the three-fold structure of Creation. There, those who have completed the spiritual rebirth (the first resurrection), have the possibility to continue their spiritual path and to ascend to the highest Divine world. In the highest Divine world they could undergo the second resurrection, awakening their higher Divine Self. For this purpose the followers on the Path have to enter into one or another Temple of the world religions in the Heavenly Jerusalem, to link with the Divine Master there, and the personification of the Divine Feminine connected with him, and to receive his initiation. Thus, by merging with the perfect universal body of the Divine Master, the followers start developing their own universal bodies.
The second resurrection of the human beings happens when they open all of their seven spiritual centres (chakras). The first resurrection occurs when the human being opens completely his fourth, heart, centre (anahata chakra). This is the process of the blossoming of the human soul and the entry into the Garden of Paradise. The second resurrection occurs when the heavenly born human being opens his sixth centre, the 'third eye' (ajna chakra), and becomes able to contemplate the spiritual structure of Creation. Then he illuminates the seventh centre, the thousand-petalled lotus, merges with the Living God and becomes the human being created in the image and likeness of God with an awakened higher Divine Self.
In the second resurrection the followers on the Path of the Initiate are transfigured into cosmic-spiritual beings. In the process of this second rebirth the physical body becomes completely illuminated and spiritualised. The higher emotional body develops into a body of Divine Love, the higher intellectual body develops into a body of Divine Wisdom and the higher will body develops into a body of Divine Will and Truth.
It is during this second resurrection that the human being ceases to identify even with the soul and unites with the Living God. Since God is Love, God is Wisdom and God is Truth, the transfigured human being now becomes love of Love, wisdom of Wisdom and truth of Truth – the essential characteristics and attributes of one who is a Son or Daughter of God. Thus, undergoing the second resurrection, the human being, by uniting with the Divine Spirit within, transcends even the world of angels and enters into the highest Divine world.
So, when the human beings have undergone the second resurrection, their existence extends to the whole three-fold vertical structure of the Universe as the Tree of Life: they live in the physical world with an illuminated physical body and personality, in the world of angels with a soul in full bloom, and in the highest Divine world with an awakened Divine Self. Thus they achieve the richness and fullness of their cosmic-spiritual wholeness and become models of the Universe with three perfect bodies. This is the Eternal Truth about the human being revealed by all world religions (see Scheme Two):
In our time however, in order for the human being to become a "blossoming" Tree of Life, i.e. to realise completely his creative spiritual potential as a Being, made in the image and likeness of God, he has to achieve two more sublime levels in his development – receiving the Crown of Initiations and merging with God as a Co-creator.
Receiving the initiations of the Divine Masters in the various Temples of the world religions, the followers on the Path gradually develop the qualities for entry into the centre of the Heavenly Jerusalem and experiencing the wholeness of the Kingdom of God where there are many mansions. In this sublime state of consciousness they merge with the Absolute Origin of Being, the Lord God Almighty, who was, who is and who is to come (Revelation 4: 8) and experience the New Pentecost. The Holy Spirit comes to remain in them and they receive the Crown of Initiations.
The Divine Service in the centre of the Heavenly Jerusalem contains enormous richness for contemplation, meditation and co-creation. Through it the initiates enter into a qualitatively new state of cosmic consciousness in which there is balance, synchronization and complete harmony between all archetypal polarities in Creation: between earthly and celestial forces, masculine and feminine Divine energies, micro and macro, inner and outer planes of existence, between the past, present and future in human history, between east and west, north and south in human culture and so on.
In order to receive the Crown of initiations and to contemplate the wholeness of the Kingdom of God, the initiates have to develop (based on the results of their second resurrection) many new spiritual qualities related to the activation of the various
Divine archetypes. Obviously, mystical comprehension of the opposing, yet complementary Divine archetypes quoted above requires the development of different spiritual abilities. For instance, in order to enter into the spiritual Universe through the microcosmic or macrocosmic gates, we have, on the one hand, to develop the ability to focus on the smallest 'quantums of consciousness' (as in Buddhism) and, on the other hand, to become able to comprehend the evolution of every form of life over thousands of years (as in the initiation of the Master Beinsa Douno). Thus the integration of various initiations in the spiritual history of humankind opens new horizons for the evolution of the human being.
Experiencing these most elevated states of consciousness, the initiates will be ready to meet the Second Coming of the Divine Masters, to participate in the Divine Wedding in Heaven and to co-create with God for the descent of the Kingdom of God on Earth. After receiving the Crown of Initiations the mystical path towards co-creation with God is completely open. In essence Co-creation with God is an even higher state of Being than receiving the Crown of Initiations.
Participation in the Divine Wedding, resulting in co-creation with God, is the highest stage of human evolution on Earth. At this stage the human beings develop the highest Divine qualities, abilities and virtues, that of Sons and Daughters of God, who participate consciously in the evolution of the Universe. Finally, through co-creation with God they become Divine Temples where the Holy Spirit comes to remain forever.
It is only through the miracle of co-creation with God that human beings can completely unfold the Divine potential of their higher Selves. Moreover, co-creation is the way in which they can express the uniqueness of their spirits 'printed' in them from the beginning of their existence. By following the Path of the Initiate in the fulfillment of the Testament of Truth, every human being will receive a unique mission in the great apocalyptic process of the re-creation of the world. And because they will be in God's consciousness and the Living God will act through them, their unique missions will be inscribed in the Great Divine Plan for the New World. Through co-creation with God the human beings will penetrate to the very depths of the Second Coming of the Divine Masters because their Second Coming is a Divine action in which the Masters themselves co-create with God.
Thus, in the fulfillment of the Testament of Truth, experiencing the mysteries of the first and second resurrections, humankind will be blessed with two qualitatively new stages of human evolution on Earth – receiving the Crown of Initiations and Co-creation with God. The Crown of Initiations introduces us to the totality of the Kingdom of God, while Co-creation with God initiates us into the celestial task of bringing the reality of the Kingdom of God down on Earth and building ourselves as Divine Temples. This is the complete self-realisation of the human being, created in the image and likeness of God, who becomes a blossoming cosmic-spiritual Tree of Life.
It is in regard to achieving this highest state of consciousness that St. John testified in the last Chapter of the Book of Revelation to the Second Coming of Christ, when he will bring his rewards:
"Listen!" says Jesus. "I am coming soon! I will bring my rewards with me, to give to each one according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Happy are those who wash their robes clean and so have the right to eat the fruit from the Tree of Life and to go through the gates into the city". (Revelation 22:12-14)
2. The New Humankind
On a socio-cultural level (the level of human civilization) humankind has to become God's people on Earth and the greatness and the wealth of the nations has to be brought into the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. (Revelation 21: 26)
Each nation has a three-fold structure similar to that of the human being: body (personality), soul and spirit. On the earthly or material level, every nation develops by forming a socio-cultural organism which consists of various systems such as economic, political, cultural, religious, educational and so forth. These systems are very closely, organically interconnected and, altogether, form the 'organism' of the human society which, in order to develop and reproduce itself, enters into relationship with the socio-cultural organisms of other nations and with all kingdoms of life on Earth.
Every nation also has its National Soul which is like a bouquet of human virtues and qualities that the nation develops over centuries and expresses through religion, morality, the arts and science. Each nation makes a unique contribution to humankind's treasury of spiritual qualities. Together the National souls comprise the essence of humanity in the Heart of God – that is, in the reality of the Universal Soul.
Furthermore, every nation has its National Spirit who leads the nation and its destiny according to the Divine Plan. Each nation has a mission which it unfolds over the centuries of its development on Earth and the National Spirit, an emanation from the Divine Universal Spirit, is the inspirer of this mission. The 'kings of the earth' referred to by St. John are the National Spirits who hold the keys to the spiritual wealth gathered by each nation along its historical path. So, when the time comes for humankind to return to the Kingdom of God, its 'kings' will bring forth and manifest the spiritual wealth of the nations. In other words, every National Spirit-Guide will present the spiritual richness of his people in front of the Throne of God.
The process of transformation of the earthly culture into a heavenly one is similar to the blossoming of the human soul and the awakening of the higher Self. Just as a human being first develops a personality and self-consciousness within the human culture and later transcends this level of existence to enter into the higher worlds, so human society develops its socio-cultural organism based on the earthly culture and later it has to transform its earthly culture and enter into the ring of cosmic-spiritual civilisations. Then human society ceases its absorption with itself, becomes an organic part of the heavenly civilisations, and starts to blossom in the reality of the Universal Soul and the Universal Spirit.
In order to blossom spiritually, however, the existing culture, which has developed on the basis of 'cosmic illusion' (maya), has to be illuminated and transformed. The substance of contemporary human culture is dense, thick and heavy because egoism, materialism, separation, division and narrow-mindedness are woven into its very fabric. It has developed within the limited confines of such fundamental structures as ego-personality, self-consciousness, material life, and so on. Almost all human relationships and socio-cultural structures, and subsequently the destinies of societies and nations, are functions of these categories. This ego-based earthly culture has to be illuminated, spiritualised and transformed so that a new type of civilisation can be established. The new heavenly culture has to be founded on different archetypal structures such as the higher Self, super-consciousness, spiritual life, harmonious relationships with the Earth and Nature, and so forth.
When the opening of the souls of the nations begins and humankind realises that it is one Divine cosmic-spiritual organism, the Rose of the World will start to blossom. (The Rose of the World is an emotional poetic symbol introduced by the great Russian mystic Daniil Andreev in his book The Rose of the World. His book is consecrated to the mission of the Russian people in relationship to the blossoming of the Rose of the World. Daniil Andreev was blessed to be able to contemplate the destiny and interrelationships on both the physical and celestial planes of more than thirty cultures in human history going back thousands of years. It also contains an extremely rich ontology of the vertical structure of the Universe, of the three-fold structure of human cultures and of the new manifestation of the Divine Feminine.)
The Rose of the World is a poetic image of the integration of all religions, of all spiritual paths and traditions. Each one of them is like a petal of this cosmic Rose with an exquisite spiritual fragrance. It is a symbol of the heart centre of all humankind which now opens and begins to blossom. The beauty and fragrance of all spiritual paths and traditions come from the depths of the collective heart of humankind – the centre of its Divine origin in God springing from the Universal Soul. This heart contains inexhaustible potential, shines with all the colours of light and love, testifies to the infinite and passionate, always new and deeply moving Divine Love. By fulfilling the Testament of Truth, this sacred heart of humankind will be opened through the great blessings of the Living God, Who creates everything new.
When the process of the awakening of the National Spirits-Guides begins, humankind will ascend to the highest Divine World and will bring its spiritual treasures before the Throne of God:
I did not see a temple in the city, because its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. The city has no need for the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God shines on it, and the Lamb is its lamp. The peoples of the world will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their wealth into it. (Revelation 21: 22-24)
After finishing its Hindu-European cycle of evolution, humankind will return to the Kingdom of God enriched by many spiritual experiences and various initiations. Each initiation, however, regardless of the time it was given to humankind, is not lost from God's memory, but remains to shine throughout eternity as a spiritual jewel. After its return to the Kingdom of God, humankind will resurrect all initiations through which it has passed and experience them as the 'many rooms in the Father's house'. Thus, by the grace of God, it becomes possible to go beyond the stream of cultural-historical time and to transform dyachrony into synchrony. In other words, humankind can rise above the cycle of the cosmic-spiritual seasons in its evolution and encompass the whole macrostructure of the spiritual Zodiac in which the various initiations find integration.
In principle human beings, who were created in the image of God, should not have descended to the lower cycle of involution – i.e. entered the previously described cosmic-spiritual year of life in earthly consciousness. However, after the Fall, due to the power of cosmic law, humankind descended into the material world and had to undergo a very long and painful metahistorical process of involution and evolution through the spiritual seasons.
Naturally, after humankind has completed its process of ascension and has reached the zenith of its earthly evolution, i.e. when it enters the new cosmic-spiritual 'Summer', humankind will not descend again but will start a qualitatively new cycle of spiritual evolution in the celestial worlds. When the same archetypal structure of the cosmic-spiritual Zodiac is projected onto the first, material, world of the three-fold structure of the Universe it determines long historical periods of involution and evolution which last thousands of years. When however it is activated in the second, celestial, world, the structure of the cosmic-spiritual Zodiac determines the pattern of just one spiritual year in the life of humankind which gives initiatic fruit twelve times a year – once every month. Then, in the highest Divine world the structure of the cosmic-spiritual Zodiac manifests itself as the wholeness of the Holy City of Jerusalem with its twelve gates and the Throne of God which shines as the eternal spiritual Sun upon the City. On this level the cosmic-spiritual Zodiac becomes a Divine archetypal structure which can be contemplated in one single act of illumination.
By ascending to the new higher cycle of evolution, humankind will fulfil its original Divine purpose envisaged by God from the beginning of time – going not through various painful historical epochs of earthly life, but from initiation to initiation in the celestial realms. This is why, in the Kingdom of God the enlightened humankind will appreciate completely and enjoy fully the fruit of the Tree of Life which grows on each side of the River springing from the Throne of God in the Heavenly Jerusalem and giving fruit twelve times a year:
The angel also showed me the river of the water of life, sparkling like crystal, and coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb and flowing down the middle of the city's street. On each side of the river was the Tree of Life, which bears fruit twelve times a year, once each month; and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22: 1-2)
The Tree of Life here could be interpreted as the living cosmic-spiritual Cross of Immortality, where the vertical axis represents the three-fold structure of Creation, while the horizontal axis represents the reality of the Heavenly Jerusalem, with its twelve Gates leading to the Temples of the world religions, as the Kingdom of God with many mansions. The fruit of the Tree of Life, which it bears twelve times a year, once each month, are the initiations of the world religions in the cosmic-spiritual Zodiac-Mandala, which will be appreciated more and more deeply by humankind in its new cycle of evolution.
Thus the Tree of Life, growing on each side of the river in the Heavenly Jerusalem, and the Tree of Life within the human being refer to the same mystery of life, but on a different scale: on a microcosmic level as the mystery of immortal life of the human being and on a socio-cultural level as the mystery of life of all humankind. Then the Tree of Life on a macrocosmic level is the mystery of life in the New Creation, i.e. the reality of the New Heaven and the New Earth, which the Lord God Almighty will reveal to the New Humankind.
3. The New Heaven and the New Earth
On a macrocosmic level the
enlightened humankind will live in the Reality of the New Heaven and the
New Earth. According to the prophecies in many of the Holy Scriptures
of the world religions this reality comes after the resurrection from
the dead and the day of Judgment. For instance in his Revelation St.
John testifies:
Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sits on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence and were seen no more. And I saw the dead, great and small alike, standing before the throne. Books were opened, and then another book was opened, the book of the living. The dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. Then the sea gave up its dead. Death and the world of the dead also gave up the dead they held. And all were judged according to what they had done. Then death and the world of the dead were thrown into the lake of fire. (This lake of fire is the second death.) Whoever did not have his name written in the book of the living was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20: 11-15)
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth disappeared, and the sea vanished. And I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared and ready, like a bride dressed to meet her husband. (Revelation 21: 1-2)
It is difficult to find in spiritual literature a text more mystical and apocalyptic than the quoted one. When we understand it on an archetypal level however it reveals its deep meaning and actuality. The activation of the Testament of Truth will transform these visions into spiritual action, as a result of which the Reality of the New Heaven and the New Earth will appear.
In essence the end of the Hindu-European cycle and the beginning of the new evolutionary cycle of humankind in the cosmic-spiritual summer is the time of spiritual Resurrection and Judgment for humankind.
The whole of Creation is an ocean of Light, Love and Divine Thought-forms and unfolds itself within the Divine Spirit. The Divine Spirit keeps a record of everything which has happened, is happening, and is planned for the future. Everything is recorded in the Divine 'memory', referred to as the Akashic Chronicles. When the Truth of God as Creator and the spiritual essence of the Universe are revealed in the cosmic-spiritual Summer, all the Akashic Chronicles from the past will be activated. This is what St. John witnessed as books were opened.
The content of the 'opened books' is the history of the human race on Earth. In a similar way as an illuminated human being can see all his or her past incarnations, humankind, in the epoch of the cosmic-spiritual Summer when the Divine Sun sheds light on the whole evolutionary path, will be able to read the Akashic Chronicles as 'opened books'. Moreover, God will make visible the spiritual essence of the deeds of all generations from the passing metahistorical cycle in order to gather the good seeds, to preserve and include them in the new metahistorical cycle, and to discard all the undeveloped ones.
In the cosmic-spiritual Summer, however, when the Divine Light and Presence shines with full power, everyone has to face the Truth. Facing the Truth is not a matter of personal desire or individual illumination; it is the result of the objective cosmic-spiritual 'weather' in the Universe which encompasses everything and raises the vibrations of all beings. When St. John saw the dead, great and small alike, standing before the throne, he witnessed all human beings that were still living in ignorance, forced to face the Divine Truth. Let us remember Christ saying let the dead bury their dead. By 'dead' He meant all those living in the world of illusion, maya, ignorant of the Truth. In the Christian spiritual tradition the sea symbolizes the life of humankind in the "cosmic illusion" – maya. This is why in the transitional period from the Hindu-European historical cycle to the new one the sea will give up its dead for Judgment.
On the other hand, through the opening of the Akashic Chronicles, the physically dead, the past generations, will be resurrected in their spiritual bodies and will also stand before the Throne of God for judgment. (Here, we should bear in mind that actually there is no death for the spiritual essence of human beings; a subtle aspect of the mystery of resurrection is that all physically dead actually live in other spiritual realms in the Universe). The Light of the Divine Truth, shining in the cosmic-spiritual Summer, will dissolve the veil between the visible and invisible worlds. The difference between them is a result only of our limited perception of the Universe. This Light will make all planes and levels of existence apparent and as a result all creatures in them will be exposed to the Truth. When St. John speaks about the sea which gave up its dead, and about the death and the world of the dead which also gave up the dead (i.e. the past generations) – this refers to the different planes and modes of existence which will be exposed to the Divine Truth.
The dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The supreme essence of the Universe is Love, Light, Wisdom, Truth and Freedom. Because every being has the right of absolute freedom, they can live in accordance with the Divine essence of Creation or they can misuse and abuse it. In the first instance, their deeds are written in the book of the living; in the second, their deeds are also recorded but are the subject of judgment and rejection.
In essence, no one judges us but when we face the Divine Truth, we see the whole story of our lives and we understand what we have done and the consequences of our deeds. We could compare this self-judgment with the phenomenon in the hours before death when a human being sees all his life as on a video film and understands, from a new spiritual perspective, the essence of all his deeds and their interconnection. The impressions from this 'video film' are the judgment; they are the psychic material which the person will deal with in the psychological dimensions of his 'life after death'. According to the law of karma, if his life was based on love, goodwill and friendship – on all positive human virtues – he will continue his ascent into higher metaphysical planes of the Universe. If however the life of the human being was based on negative emotions, violence and offences against others, karmic law obliges him to rectify his deeds. For this purpose, he will be incarnated again on Earth and he will face all the problems which he caused.
The crucial point here is that after the end of the present metahistorical cycle, the new incarnations cannot take place on Earth anymore. If the Earth and humankind on it move to a new stage of evolution (and this will be the case in the cosmic-spiritual Summer when the whole Earth will be transformed and illuminated), the karmic forces will prevent some human beings from returning to the Earth. They will be pushed into other planes of existence or will experience psychic solitude, facing the results of their mistakes again and again, without an opportunity to correct or neutralise them. If someone's name is not written in the Book of the Living when the Earth moves into a new stage of evolution, they will be expelled from the community of God's people on Earth and will start their evolution over again at a much lower level, in a completely new metaphysical realm. The great karmic Judgment, which will be at the end of the present metahistorical cycle, determines the positive or negative outcome in the development of individual human destinies.
Naturally, the drama of the End of Time, the Judgment and the Second Coming requires a transitional period when each important decision will influence the evolutionary direction – upward or downward. And, of course, we will be given enough time to make our choice consciously and to take full responsibility.
When humankind chooses the positive, creative, life-supporting Divine path of evolution, it will be able to hatch from the restricted earthly consciousness and begin its return to the Kingdom of God. In a similar way to the grain of wheat which sprouts within the earth and pushes up into a new world above the soil, the enlightened consciousness of human beings will transcend its perceptions of the physical universe and will penetrate into the higher spiritual worlds. Human beings will change their understanding of Creation and will comprehend it as an enormously vast, multi-dimensional spiritual Universe – a tremendously rich world of spiritual realities within new dynamic spatio-temporal co-ordinates where the physical dimensions of our world are only a special case. Then the whole of Creation will appear like an ocean of Divine Consciousness, Light, Love, Music, Sacred Words and archetypal Thought-forms, inhabited by the myriads of light beings of the celestial hierarchy.
Of course, the physical Earth will remain as it is, but for the consciousness enlightened by the Divine Truth of Creation it will melt into a cosmic sea of spiritual energies. This is why St. John saw a great white throne and the one who sits on it, that is God Himself shining from the zenith of the Universe, and a new metaphysics of Creation in which earth and heaven fled from his presence and were seen no more.
We can find a poetic expression of this transfiguration of our consciousness in Yogananda's book Metaphysical Meditations:
When you find that your soul, your heart, every wisp of inspiration, every speck of the vast blue sky and its shining star-blossoms, the mountains, the earth, the whippoorwill, and the bluebells are all tied together with one cord of rhythm, one cord of joy, one cord of unity, one cord of Spirit, then you shall know that all are but waves in His cosmic sea.
(Paramanahsa Yogananda, Metaphysical Meditations, 1976, p.36)
In the legendary Surangama Sutra we find another inspiring poetic vision of illuminated consciousness contemplating the process of the transfiguration of the Earth. At first, 'the waters and waves of brooks and streams were singing the music of the Dharma'. This is the stage of awareness when the Earth is comprehended on the astral level – the second, celestial level of the three-fold structure of the Universe. Then, all the differentiations of mountains and waters and rocks and plants, and all that makes up our common world, blended into one another and faded away, leaving only the indescribable experience of primordial unity. This higher state of consciousness corresponds to the perception of the Earth on the causal level – the third level in the three-fold structure of the Universe. And finally, even this indescribable experience fades away into silence – that is the enlightened consciousness reaches the state of nirvana and dissolves the whole of Creation into the Great Void. (See Lama Anagarika Govinda, The Way of the White Clouds, 1966, p.10.)
Therefore, our comprehension and understanding of the Earth depends on our state of consciousness. When we open our eyes to the celestial world, we can contemplate the Earth as a beautiful 'astral planet'. Then, for us, the Earth will appear as a living celestial Being with its own planetary Soul (a part of the Universal Soul) and with a planetary Spirit – the planetary Divine Logos – who leads the evolution of the Earth. The Earth, as a celestial Being, has spiritual centres (chakras) and a very rich and well-developed structure of lay-lines of circulating energy which corresponds to the nervous system in the human body.
When we ascend to the Highest Divine World, we will understand the Earth as the projection of the Heavenly Jerusalem. The Earth will be appreciated as a majestic Divine Temple in the centre of which a gigantic cosmic-spiritual Cross of life is present. This is the Cross of immortal life which the Living God activates in the Reality of the New Heaven and the New Earth. The vertical axis of this Cross is a huge column of Light, filling the whole space and representing the vertical structure of the Universe. The horizontal axis of the Cross (actually a horizontal circular plane filling the entire cosmic-spiritual space) is the celestial reality of the Kingdom of God with its many mansions, including all the different spiritual worlds revealed by the world religions. Above the horizontal axis is the Throne of God with the One sitting upon it. The walls of this gigantic, etheric Temple are living Light which shines with all the colours of the Rainbow, exposing the presence of myriads of light beings, angels, archangels and many others. All the kingdoms of life on Earth – the mineral, plant, animal and human – are present within the Temple. This Temple of Life, in which Divine Light, Love, Unity, Harmony, Wisdom and Truth are manifested, is the New Earth in the highest Divine world.
Therefore the new Earth for us will be enlivened by radiantly bright spiritual colours and will become first a Garden of Paradise, a wonderful "astral" planet, and after this it will appear as a Divine Temple in the Kingdom of God where there are many mansions. On the new Earth we will live as cosmic-spiritual beings and we will be mediators between Heaven and Earth for the spiritual elevation of the whole planet with all kingdoms of life on it. Thus we will fulfil our predestined function on Earth as Divine Mediators (Divine Messengers). For this purpose we will be in direct contact with the Divine Masters as the living Light – they will be both within our souls and before our spiritual gaze. This is the reality of the New Earth and in this reality we will become new beings – Sons and Daughters of the Divine Father-Mother. Thus we will live as God's people on sacred Earth.
As to the "sky" above this sacred earth, the Lord God Himself, the Ultimate Truth, will shine as an eternal cosmic spiritual sun which never sets. In it we could see the images of all our beloved Masters and manifestations of the Divine Feminine in celestial transfigured bodies shining in great glory, love and power. Their radiation will contain all colours of the Divine Rainbow and will reveal the beauty of the Highest Divine World – the result of their common inspired co-creative work with God.
This is why after the apocalyptic events of Resurrection and Judgment St. John sees the New Heaven and the New Earth, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared and ready, like a bride dressed to meet her husband. (Revelation 21: 1-2)
A mystical key to the Reality of the New Heaven we could find in the same legendary Surangama Sutra. Expecting the coming of the Enlightened One, Maitreya-Buddha, Tomo Geshe Rimpoche had a staggering vision:
The Blessed Lord, sitting upon the throne in the midst of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas from all the ten quarters of the universe, manifested his transcendental glory, surpassing them all. From his hands and feet and body radiated supernal beams of light that rested upon the crown of each Buddha and Bodhisattva assembled here.
And equally from the hands and feet and bodies of all those Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten quarters of the universe went forth rays of glorious brightness that converged upon the crown of the Lord Buddha, and upon the crowns of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and Saints present. (Lama Anagarika Govinda, The Way of the White Clouds, 1966, p.10.)
This is the amazingly majestic Buddhist Mandala, which reveals the mystery of Creation from the Buddhist point of view. Now in the light of the new Creative Act from the Lord, we could imagine the One Who sits on the Throne, the cosmic-spiritual Sun of the universe, radiating with transcendental glory. From the twelve mythological directions, i.e. the Temples in the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Divine Masters of humankind – Krishna, Hermes, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Lao Tze, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, the Master Beinsa Douno and others – shine with great Divine light that merges with the crown of the One Who sits on the throne. The celestial images of the Divine Masters appearing at the twelve gates of the Holy City are emanations from the cosmic-spiritual Sun at the centre of the Universe, from the One Who sits on the Throne. At the same time each one of them reflects the light of all the others in accordance with his own image and spiritual essence. This leads to an illumination about the glorious appearance of all the Divine Masters simultaneously from the Centre of the New Jerusalem. Radiating from the Divine Centre of Creation as images of the Living God, they reflect the essence of each other, keeping however their own unique identity.
The Divine Masters, together with their Feminine counterparts, are surrounded by the souls of many enlightened followers – the Bodhisattvas in Buddhism, the Prophets in Judaism, the Apostles and Saints in Christianity, the Gnostics in Islam. The Light emanating from the Divine Masters opens widely the gates of initiation into the ultimate reality.
So, the New Heaven is the integral light of all the Divine Masters, all personifications of the Divine Feminine and all initiates, connected with them, which radiates from the "One, Who sits on the Throne" as from a colossal cosmic-spiritual Sun, enlightening the New Reality. In a similar way as the Sun is at the base of all life on Earth, thus the Light, Love, Wisdom and Truth of this cosmic-spiritual Sun is at the base of the co-creative life of the enlightened humankind:
The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22: 3-5)
If we imagine the New Heaven, the New Earth and the New humankind as emanating from "the One who sits on the Throne and makes all things new", then in sacred feelings, appreciation and trembling we could contemplate the Divine Tree of Life revealing the majestic Truth about God, Creation and the human being. The roots of this tree will be in the Highest Divine World, the Absolute Origin of Being, the trunk will go through the whole vertical structure of Creation, and the crown will blossom in the earthly physical world testifying to the Divinity of everything which has been created!
Of course the Tree of Life with roots on Earth and crown in the Highest Divine World and the Tree of Life with roots in the Highest Divine World and crown on Earth are only two different "points of view” (earthly and celestial) of the great Tree of Life – revealing the absolute truth about God, Creation and the Human Being. The essence is one and the same – it is the Lord God Almighty, Who was, Who is and Who is to come!
Our Lord and God! You are worthy to receive glory, honour, and power.
For you created all things, and by your will they were given existence and life.(Revelation 4: 11)
The ultimate experience of this great Divine Truth is
the Testament of Truth!