The Second Coming of Christ
This book is so revealing, inspiring and illuminating of Jesus and His teachings, that I would
class it as the most profound RESTORATION OF THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS.
Yogananda's newest book "The Second Coming of Christ" will not disappoint those who have waited long for this literary spiritual masterpiece from Self-Realization Fellowship Publishers.[released Sept 2004
Although bible academics will tell you that anything written over 50 years ago may be out of date. You will find that this Gospel commentary is at least equal to if not superior to anything written to date on this subject.
There are a number of things that make this work especially qualified to represent the true teachings of Jesus the Christ.
(a)The author Himself actually lived the life described in these gospels- Paramahansa Yogananda was a modern Christ in every regard. If one cannot see this in the Second Coming book, this fact can be further verified through a couple of more years study of the Masters life and other teachings. Plus there are still a few living witnesses to His divine stature.
(b)Yogananda goes far beyond other academics/clergy and theologians. he not only gives a spiritually potent and convincing explanation of Jesus teachings, but also the full and clearest methodology on how to reach that high state of self-realization. He takes you on the actual journey and explains every step of the way. You would not get more or better instruction even if you were in the presence of another physical teacher.
(c)the proof and value of the spiritual instruction in the second coming have already been effectively verified by Yogananda's divine lineage and many successor disciples-it works!
(d)His approach that he is not attempting to prove the authenticity and factualness of the Early Gospels [see Page 69] is very telling of His foresight and wisdom. This very area, is where many embarrassed and presumptuous previous writers made their first mistake. Assuming that everything in writing is the unadulterated "word of God." This caution alone sets him apart and speaks to his humility.
(e)He uses the mystical path of Yoga Sciences and Vedic spiritual wisdom as the background to share with us the inner/fuller meanings and purposes of Jesus the Christ's teachings and mission. Whereas various other commenters on these same documents have been attempting to show the origins of many Gospel passages as originating in Buddhistic and Egyptian traditions.
(f)The value and veracity of a true revelatory spiritual message rests in part upon its useful and original ideas for the spiritual seeker. Here Yogananda gives us a cornucopia of valuable and refreshingly original approaches to many of the heretofore mysteries of the bible. He fills in a lot of the blanks that were left when other writers on these subjects attempted to come up with similar concepts.
One can clearly see herein the difference between previous "attempts" to explain subtle matters and Yogananda's finished product.
(g) And above all, the author avoids the greatest of all pitfalls so many others got tripped up on - the true meaning of Christ's second coming. You will find in the gospels that the reason why JEsus says "no man can know the day or the hour of his return" , is simply because he will not be making a public earth shaking appearance. His second coming occurs in the lives of those who become one with Him or God and is happening to a few souls continually. All others who have attempted to claim the other idea of a public return have ended up looking like fools and frauds. They were all lost in popular belief systems. PY instead supports his universal Christ Consciousness theory with ample evidence and conviction. Freeing all seekers and faithful from the blind opportunism that has victimized them in the past by the popular doomsday Jesus return concepts. It gives credit to this Gurus way of returning the power from bad leaders to the individual devotee. It further demonstrates how obedience to the Master results in the greatest freedom and god-realization for all who make the effort using the right means. Then one becomes truly free.
This work seems to truly represent the Jesus of Judean times. Before time, men and politics distorted and/or lost so much of the beautiful wisdom that Jesus taught back then. And some that was kept so secretive, as was required in the mystical customs of old.
It is truly fitting that after the attempts of so many other well meaning but ineffectual claims of other prophets who claimed credit for restoring Jesus true teachings, it is a prophet from India [where Jesus spent almost half of his life] who is able to finally reveal the true light of that ancient and holy teaching. A light that has already given new hope to millions of spiritual seekers around the globe for the last hundred or so years.
This book tells us about some of Jesus amazing connections with India that have been verified through history.
It goes into great detail on spiritual practice and healing, the Master -Disciple relationship as the door to heaven before death, and the value of the spiritual life to the fulfillment of ones every other goal of life.
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I bought this from Abe Books in hardback.At times a penetrating and illuminating work. At times erroneous and I doubt Yogananda authored some of the erroneous parts. Having said that his original version is freely available online and likewise erroneously refers to the need for a guru. I guess that’s a part of his own learning as a Hindu so he can’t let it go. However it simply and unarguably has no place in the Christian religion and was emphatically rejected by Jesus (call no man your master, and the kingdom of god is within you). Why seek the truth that the kingdom of God is within you in somebody else?? Illogical. It’s true that some say it’s theologically impossible for the kingdom of God to be within you. But that shows an elementary misunderstanding of the omnipresence of God. God being infinite and omnipresent, it’s incontrovertible that all of God is within you. Hence Jesus is unarguably right. Merely because all of God is within you doesn’t mean all of God is not in everything. If you doubt this, do some basic research on the nature of the infinite.But much better books are available, and the book is flawed by its attempts to import Hindu doctrines into Christianity. This is clear in the claim you need a guru (Hindu doctrine rejected by Christ), karma (Hindu doctrine rejected by Christ), and subtly inserts caste system (Hindu doctrine rejected by Christ), into claim that karma extends over lifetimes (as if your thought and mental science is powerless to alter this).Side by side with brilliant insights, the author - or more correctly authors- errs in many ways and slides into a belief in an external God. This is most evident in chapters 28-29, where he says one should pray admitting mistakes. The fact is that this sort of prayer can only be to an external God. Although Yogananda elsewhere acknowledges prayer is not begging, his ridiculous view that one should acknowledge having committed many mistakes, is nothing short of begging to some external God with a volition which decides whether or not to grant the prayer. That’s completely wrong and an example of ineffective prayer. If you ask for forgiveness of sins-completely unnecessary-you automatically create doubt in the effectiveness of prayer. The Bible says that he who doubts will receive nothing from the Lord. It says this because one is dealing with mind rather than some external anthropomorphic God in space. God is spirit, and spirit is power that is conscious of itself. There’s simply no reason to have doubt in spirit as it cannot possibly have any opposition. It’s an immutable law that whatever spirit thinks must take form. Meditate on the sermon on the mount: ask and ye shall receive. That’s an immutable law. There’s no element of volition or arbitrariness. All one has to do is ask believing you have received. That’s a statement of law that appears several times in the New Testament. It’s true that poor authors reject I am affirmations (Murphy’s power of your subconscious mind), but that’s only because it’s an elementary blunder to say the conscious mind rejects such affirmations. Yes you must believe your desire is true on the spiritual level and will manifest in your reality eventually. But you don’t have to believe it has occurred already in your experience. Genevieve Behrend invisible power explains how to do this. The simple fact, as Fox, Power Through Constructive Thinking states: you can’t get anything you have not risen in consciousness to. So admitting mistakes is just begging and won’t raise your consciousness, so the prayer won’t be answered.Then we read that one should say “You cannot forsake me Lord because I am your loving child…”. With all due respect this is nonsense that presupposes an external God with a volition whether or not to grant your prayer. Precisely the opposite of Jesus teachings that you will receive a certain answer to your prayer if you believe you have received. But the kingdom of God is within you, and naughtiness is irrelevant. Simply follow the law and think of what you desire as if you already have it. The law does not decide to work for some but not others based on whether they’re deserving. It works for all on the basis of belief, just as electricity works for all if it’s principle is applied. Much better authors such as Charles Fillmore Metaphysical Dictionary Of The Bible (imo the best book after the Bible) and Catherine Ponder advise reading all references in scripture to The Lord as to the I Am, because the Lord suggests an external God, whereas the only God you can contact is within. In fact as Emmet Fox explains, the Bible references to Lord should be read as to the Christ within, or the I am. Understand this and you will never fall into the trap, which Yogananda does, of begging to an external God with volition to grant or deny your prayer.If you don’t believe you receive, so your prayer is in vain. The same flaw is in the advice to say “I love you Lord” as a sure way to enter the kingdom of God. Nope. You enter that kingdom not by praying to an external God, but realising your unity with God. Troward, Hidden Power says affirm simply “I am “ with a realisation of this unity. And the same point is made in Ralph Waldo Trine’s In Tune With The Infinite. There’s a power in the universe that responds to the intrepid, but not to the beggar. And that’s for the obvious reason that spirit is power that is conscious of itself. By recognition of your unity with this spirit, you attract what you seek.Then in chapter 29, after good advice never to give up, we read his recommendation to pray “give yourself to me Lord.” This is said to be the hardest thing for God to do because God must give all himself to the person. This is a non sequitur. God doesn’t need to give you anything because he’s already given it, for all of God is within you already. So Yogananda commits a basic error which can only presuppose an external God who will decide whether or not to grant your prayer.Thomas Troward (a much better author than Yogananda) Edinburgh Lectures notes in an early chapter that God is spirit-power that is conscious of itself-and infinite. The infinite is everywhere fully present so wherever any of it is, all of it is. As God is omnipresent, there’s no question of giving anything at all because all of God is already there. Probably written by a ignorant follower. And can only be a reference to an external God in space that doesn’t exist. I prefer the views of Ernest Holmes among others that there can be no mistakes save in our thoughts, for God is spirit and can only be found within us. And far from mistakes in thoughts requiring forgiveness, the Bible is absolutely clear that if one changes one’s thoughts, past errors will not be held against the person. The universe is a great thought according to Sir James Jeans, so our own thought is the tool that activates our creative power.The power is to be used, like electricity it has no volition and does not decide to work for some but not others. The law is that thought must take form. That’s what one should meditate on. We are all divine and must learn to use a power we all have. We don’t have to beg or ask for forgiveness of our sins.This book-only partly written or co-written by Yogananda- errs at times by failing to acknowledge that Jesus rejected the ideas that : 1. You need a guru-which is very prominent for Hindu religious beliefs. That’s untrue. The kingdom is within you. You don’t need anyone else to find it, and you are the only one who can find it. In short, you are obstructing your own search for the kingdom within by having a guru, because you are relying on an intermediary between you and God. Gurus are false prophets and the Bible warns against them. See Emmet Fox’s brilliant essay on the zodiac (photo).2. Karma from past lives affects immutably this life. That’s drivel. As Ernest Holmes says in Living The Science Of Mind, p 145 , once you know the truth of the indivisibility of man and God, Karma and Kismet become bubbles to be blown about. Troward Hidden Power notes that karma is cut off once you realise your unity with the great universal spirit. Karma says you have no control over cause and effect over different lifetimes. That’s at odds with the Bible teaching that your sins will be forgotten once you realise your unity with spirit and forsake your old erroneous ways.Yogananda is well known as a Hindu. There’s nothing wrong with that faith, although I think it’s a tall order thanks to karma, the caste system and need for a guru- in other words mental science is useless! But he subtly attempts to introduce these aspects into Christianity when the Bible and the teachings of Jesus lend zero support for them. The best discourses are probably the first few and 29 . But even chapters 28-29 wrongly encourage doubt. Thus he says that saying “I love you Lord,” is a sure way of seeking the kingdom. It’s not.Yogananda fails to explain that the lord is within you and that is the only place you will find it. Much better than this is the Aquarian Gospel chapter 92, where Jesus says that when man comes to himself and comprehends he is a son of god with all the powers of god within him, he is a mastermind with unlimited power. No begging here. The only way to seek the kingdom of heaven is to meditate on and believe in the unity and indivisibility of man and God. A better way than Yogananda’s approach is to meditate on the verses of the 23rd psalm: the Lord (which is inside you) is my shepherd, I shall not want.here’s what he says about karma in his book on the Bhagavad Gita at p1064: “To reap the inevitable results of past Karmic influences a man is born into a family, environment and circumstances that are compatible with his own karmic pattern. ... The habitually sick are reborn in families disposed to illness, whereas the habitually robust are reborn to healthy parents. A poor man ...finds himself, after death drawn into a new body in a poverty-stricken family.”That’s simply untrue. Karma across lifetimes is no part of Christianity. Christianity does endorse the law of cause and effect, so you reap precisely what you sow. But the notion that people pay in this life for bad actions in previous lives is erroneous and absurd.It’s inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus. Yes you reap in this life what you sow he said, but he taught you don’t pay for previous lives mistakes. If you think negatively you attract negative things in this life. The problem is Yogananda tries to introduce the notion of karma into the bible and it is not mentioned there. He likewise tries to say Jesus had a karma surplus so he was able to absorb sins of others. That’s simply untrue. Anyone interested in but unfamiliar with mental science should avoid this book. Instead read Thomas Troward, lochlainn Seabrook, Adrian Cooper, Holmes Fillmore Behrand for example. You will be confused by this sly attempt to introduce Hindu doctrine into Christianity.The Aquarian Gospel by Levi Dowling well recounts this. Incidentally, it recounts Jesus’ rejection of the caste system. It’s remarkable how so many are fooled into believing that God favours some over others, especially as God is one.The book is over long and the second volume is often repetitive. Had the book been condensed into a single volume it would have been better. Parts were obviously written after Yogananda’s death by his followers, who introduced their views that are inconsistent with Christianity.The authors’ repetition of the need for a guru is annoying as it seems to say Jesus recommended that too, when he didn’t. In fact Jesus warned very strongly about false prophets and his teaching did not suggest one required a guru-he never even mentioned the word. Jesus warned that no man should be your master (rabbi) or father-Matthew 23:8-9. Jesus never had a guru-even at 13 he was about the father’s business. That means no man should be your guru: the reason being that this imposes an intermediary between you and god. His teaching was comprehensively set out in the New Testament and gnostic gospels. One does need to know that he often spoke in parables and mystical terms, but a good book on his teaching (such as Seabrooks Jesus And The Law Of Attraction) explains the inner meaning well.Further, Jesus said “have faith in God.” He didn’t say “have faith in a guru.” He didn’t say “you need a guru.” Given the completeness of his teaching Jesus would have advised a guru was needed had he believed that to be the case. He not only did not advise a guru was needed but actually advised to call no man your master. Pretty clear I think. So, with great respect to Yogananda, he is wrong on this point and is clearly contradicted by Jesus himself.Swami Sasaki is a well known example of a guru who sexually abused his female disciples. This is a consequence of allowing other people to be intermediaries between you and God. Yogananda was simply wrong to claim Jesus said you need a guru. He said you do not! He not only advised the kingdom of God is within you but also to call no man rabbi or master. His teaching was to avoid intermediaries. The great Indian mystic philosopher Krishnamurti said this:“The pursuit, all the world over, of gurus and their systems…seems to me so utterly empty, so utterly futile, for you may wander all over the earth but you have to come back to yourself. And most of us are totally unaware of ourselves…the more you know yourself, the more clarity there is.“Allegations of sexual abuse have been made against an Australian guru . Of course the courts will decide if the allegations are justified, but it simply points to the possibility of abuse of putting another between yourself and God. That’s precisely what Jesus rejected.So, you don’t need a guru but you do need to find god within yourself. You are not going to find God anywhere else.Strangely suggests Jesus and other healers were able to absorb negative karma from persons healed. That’s pure speculation and illogical, and Jesus gives not an ounce of support to that view. He said “if you can believe all things are possible “. He didn’t say you need someone with a karma surplus to be able to redress your mistakes. Indeed if he had a karma surplus as Yogananda contends he would have been born into a king’s family rather than a carpenter’s. Likewise John 14:12 Jesus says “he that believeth on me [not Jesus but belief in the power of God within] the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do.” No mention here of karma or needing someone else with a karma surplus! I suspect Yogananda claimed karma as relevant because it’s a central point in Hindu religious thinking. But it’s not mentioned in the bible which in fact states that the sins of the bad will be forgiven Now if they change their ways : Ezekiel 18:22. No mention that first they must be punished for past sins or negative karma. That’s in the Old Testament but is supported by Jesus own teaching. So I strongly disagree with Yogananda on this point. In fact his view implies that god is somehow vindictive and punishes sins by placing you in future lives in bad situations because of previous lives’ sins. And the claim that Jesus was crucified because of his healing (ie his healings depleted his karma surplus so crucifixion was the result), is total nonsense. Incidentally mystical Christianity rejects crucifixion as a historical event but treats it symbolically.It’s true that the law of attraction is essential in Jesus teaching and it has some similarities with karma. But unlike the Hindu doctrine of karma, the law of attraction rejects notions that karma of past sins must first be neutralised-which may take many lives. The bible says as a man thinketh in his heart so is he. No mention that first bad karma from previous lives must first be neutralised.The bible is very clear that no matter one’s transgressions if one changes one can reap rewards in this life, rather than wait until some future life. Incidentally Jesus knew his wish was granted; he never begged. Why beg yourself? That’s the point: God has placed a part of himself-the super conscious mind or father- within. So the power is already there. Begging to an external God or relying on a guru (or a priest) merely ignores this power.Yogananda fails to see the inconsistency between his idea of karma and the advice of Jesus to first seek the kingdom of heaven. That seeking would be unsuccessful in this life if negative karma from a past life operated. Instead Jesus clearly said anyone can seek the kingdom now.Views sexuality with acceptance but a few negative ideas creep in. Forget not two facts: Genesis records Gods recommendation to go forth and multiply. So that immediately rejects from the highest authority any view that sexual relationships are ungodly. Secondly, were men and women not attracted to each other the human race would cease to exist. Yogananda is better than one of the most absurd things I’ve ever read- that the only way you will see God is if you are celibate. Even so, it is ridiculous to even suggest sex is harmful. How can the means to new life be sinful?? Fairly cursory discussion of Mark 11:24, which is repeated in Matthew, the most explicit and important statement Jesus made on the law of attraction. Much better discussion in Lochlainn Seabrook Jesus And The Law Of Attraction and Thomas troward edinburgh lectures.So in parts well written and probing. Good discussion of seeking the kingdom of god as advised by Jesus, although wrong, as Jesus advice is by itself difficult to understand. As an aside one seeks the kingdom within, so that itself says one doesn’t need an intermediary.So I wouldn’t recommend this to someone who hasn’t read deeply about Christianity as they will read and be prone to believe the untruths here. For those who have a deeper understanding of the inner meaning of the bible, it’s good in parts, but don’t accept everything Yogananda says, as it is somewhat biased in favour of enticing one in to the yogi’s life and Hindu faith, hence his repetition of the need for a guru -for how does one get a guru otherwise? A better approach is to study the inner meaning of Jesus’ statements.Aside from these blatant errors (which in part may be due to his followers for the book was edited and published long after his death), he claims St Francis suffered from various illnesses. Absurd because Jesus said exactly the opposite: you are ill only because of your lack of faith.In summary, some good discussion, but also errors due I suspect to ignorant editors. Jesus said if you can believe all things are possible. This fact is ignored by Yogananda or his followers who probably had little idea of the true teachings of Jesus.I suspect 70-80% of the book was written by Yogananda and the rest by others later. It’s fairly obvious: passages of penetrating insight are Yogananda; but passages of limitations and Hindu doctrine are written not by Yogananda but by editors with less insight and with a political or religious agenda. A great shame!The title should reflect the content: Christianity modified to a Hindu perspective. In short Emmet Fox in his masterpiece Sermon On The Mount correctly states: you can accept Karma; or you can accept Christ-and then karma disappears. I’ll take Christ thanks! And Christ is something in us all that existed before Jesus (as he stated).
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Top reviews from other countries
Ricardo Gonçalves
Amazing book! I just love the depth
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2018
Amazon Customer
BOOK OF TRUTH. THANK YOU PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 6, 2016
