Photo of Krishna Rose (http://www.krishnarose.com/)
In my research into the lives of Saint Jesus and his various disciples and family members, I found some interesting evidence to show that the cause of this imbalance is coming due to the male domination that has occurred in these last 2,000 years of religious marketing and promotion. From what I have learned, it seems that the story begins after the Crucifixion of Saint Jesus, in what looks like, a battle for power and leadership between the disciples, Rome, the Gentiles and Judeans. It began with the story of Mary Magdalene.
The natural rhythm in religion was changed by the institution created around the story of St. Jesus’ life. The scales tipped in favor of a male dominated ‘business of religion’. Prior to the life of St. Jesus, the Divine Feminine (Goddess) was worshipped openly by everyone. The Jews worshipped and adored Shekina, the Hindu’s would give offerings to Goddess Radha sitting at the left-hand of Krishna (God). The pagans worshipped many various goddesses under many names, as did Rome, Greece, China and other nations. So what happened?
The institute of Rome created a God out of a man. They made him impotent by claiming that he had no wife, nor any heirs to his throne. St Jesus was the expected Messiah of a long-line of famous Kings that date back to King David. What King takes no wife and bears no heirs? It is their primary concern to keep the lineage alive, especially such an important line as his. Mariamne Magdalene was a Princess in the line of Benjamin. For centuries both the line of David and Benjamin would inter-marry in order to keep their bloodlines pure. They knew for centuries before the time of Jesus, that a Messiah would take birth within their lineage, since it stated in the Song of Songs “from the line of David and the seed of Jesse will the Messiah come”.
There are arguments for the marriage of St Jesus to Mary Magdalene, as well as against. In truth no one will ever know what transpired, one can only read the evidence and choose with one’s level of faith, what is true and what is not. Does St Jesus being married change his position as King, or reduce his status as Messiah in any way? Does it make him any less Divine, or his teachings any less potent?
Since man and woman are made in the image of God and Goddess, it makes sense that even a God has a woman at his side, albeit a Goddess. Therefore, my belief and feeling is that St Jesus is not undermined by being a house-holder, married with children. If anything, it would be against his nature to be celibate, since he was a Jewish Rabbi by birth, as well as a King and the Expected Messiah. It was unheard of for a Jewish Rabbi to not marry.
Let us examine the evidence for a moment so I can prove my point. 2,000 years ago in ancient Judea, which is now known as Israel, a bridal ritual would take place in September and again in Spring before Passover. There would be two marriage celebrations. The first would happen in Autumn. Part of that first marriage rite would be for the woman to anoint the newly wedded husbands feet with oil. Then the married couple would try to conceive a child through the winter until the second bridal marriage in Spring. If the young woman had indeed conceived a child, then the marriage would be considered complete and the second marriage would go ahead, with the same ritual of completion, where the woman would again anoint the husband with oil.
However, if the woman did not conceive a child after the first marriage rite, in Spring there would be no second bridal ritual. The couple would have to stop having intimate relations until September, and then again try for a child. If no child was conceived during this time, the woman would be considered barren, and the man would then take a second wife. However, if she did conceive, the second bridal marriage would take place, culminating in the ritual of anointing with oil. Let us consider for a moment how this relates to a King. A King who is without heirs was considered weak and the future of his Kingdom insecure.
Mary Magdalene is documented as having anointed Jesus’ feet two times. This is written in the New Testament as well as the other Gospels, which were famously omitted from the current Bible. Let us consider for a moment the time and circumstance. In Judea at that time no woman would ever be allowed to anoint a man in a bridal manner unless a marriage was taking place. It would be against the laws of that time period. No man, especially no Rabbi, what to speak of a Prince in the line of David, not to mention that he was the expected long waited Messiah, would ever allow any woman to give bridal ritual worship to him, in public, unless they were indeed marrying.
According to the Gospels of Phillip, Mary, Thomas and other ancient books found in Nag Hammadi with the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jesus “loved Mary over all others, and would often kiss her on the mouth”. So once again, let me reflect, would any man of Jesus’ station kiss a woman on her mouth, in public, unless he was married to her? It just would not have happened. Again, it does not belittle his Divinity in any way, in fact, it shows that he was a Godly man, for if he had kissed a woman on the mouth, loved her above all others, talked and walked with her in private, as well as accept bridal rituals from her, he would have been tried not as a pretender to the Throne of Judea, but as a man who broke the law and destroyed a woman’s chastity. If he had not married her, no one would have believed him to be the Rabbi the world had waited for. He would have been seen as what would now be known as a philanderer. So this is my argument for the marriage of Mary Magdalene to Jesus.
According to the Book of Revelation, it is the marriage of the Lamb that will finally cause water to flow to the desert. It seems that the “voice of the Bride” was stolen along with her reputation when her story and position as Apostle to the Apostles, and Bride of the Messiah, mother of his vine (lineage) was repudiated and declared heretical by the leaders of the early Roman Church. With her position brought down to the level of prostitute, the church leaders were able to remove her from the picture completely and establish themselves as the authority on the life and teachings of Christ.
In restoring the feminine divine, embodied in the story of Mary Magdalene, it is necessary to re-establish her true identity as Bride and Grail (carrier of Holy Bloodline) rather than prostitute. For to name any woman a whore, when the truth is very different, is an awful transgression of anyone’s life story. The hostility towards women was founded on the position of the church ‘fathers’ who viewed women as morally and spiritual inferior to men. Both Paul and Simon Peter (Cephas) were known to have very strong emotions against Magdalene, which in turn became anti-woman agendas. “I am afraid of Peter for he threatens me and hates our race” Mary Magdalene told Jesus in the Pistis Sophia. Paul insisted that women veil themselves and remain silent and subordinate to their husbands and church. In I Timoth, Paul wrote “let a woman learn in silence with submissiveness. I permit no woman to teach or have any authority of men, she is to be silent. For, Adam was formed first, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Woman will be saved only through bearing sons. The head of a woman is a man”. Paul created an argument for removing the spiritual gifts of women from teaching and learning, and this foundation became the backbone for religious thought for many centuries to come. This thinking used the mythical story of Eve as the whipping girl for humanity’s fall from grace, and thereby made every woman on Earth, for all time, guilty of her crimes for being an “Eve”. The same is true of the story of Mary Magdalene. Through her we have all become whores in the DNA belief systems of the religious institutions and men at large, since the only woman worth venerating is a Mother Mary, a woman who forever remained a Virgin, despite having given birth to five known children!
By the end of the second century women were no longer allowed to attend church service at all, and any woman who took on a position of leadership was to be branded a heretic. Paul’s theology makes up half of all orthodox Christian doctrine, whilst Peter (Cephas) takes up the other half. They even debated on whether or not a woman had a soul. The material world, the flesh, the devil and women were all placed together as a source of evil that kept men from attaining spiritual union with God. The slanders against Mary Magdalene was not personal, they did it with the need to subordinate all women to the authority of men. Mary Magdalene, like the mythical Eve in the Garden of Eden, became “every woman”. The Church and early brotherhood would use the story of Adam and Eve to show that it is “women who degrade us”. With the “bully” of these early beliefs, the Inquisition, the “new Church” stamped out all who believed different. Mary Magdalene and her bloodline lineage were considered heretical. Books, artifacts and people were burned brutally in Southern France in acts of ultimate violence against the family of their Savior. The area of Provence, Southern France, had been a refuge for the family of Jesus, including Mary Magdalene and her children, after the crucifixion of Jesus. They were known to have been brought there in a boat, by Joseph of Arimathea, who was a very wealthy and well connected tin miner who travelled to and from that region regularly. This area became the center for free-thought and the cult of Mary Magdalene was everywhere. Some of the first churches were built in this region. The area of St Maxim on the coast of Camargue, was so named after the first Bishop of this region, where the Holy family first arrived. St Maxim was of course Maximus, a close personal friend of Jesus and his family.
So I ask you, what happened to thou shalt not kill? Where is the love, peace and harmony that Jesus came and taught? What about forgiveness and charity? Is not each man and woman free to believe as he believes, and deserving of our love? For surely that is what Jesus came to share with the world. Yet, the Church of Rome at that time, despite all the brutal torture and murder that went on in the name of the peace-loving Christ, was and still is, considered the authority on spiritual belief. They should have been tried and disbanded for all their vicious war crimes committed in the name of their Master. The Institute of Christianity hoped that the story of the marriage of Jesus and Mary, along with their original teachings and bloodline, would be eliminated forever. However hard they tried, the vine would not die.
Groups were formed as the protectors of the Holy bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene (Grail – san graal – Royal Blood)). Throughout history they kept the secrets and teachings alive, along with the bloodline lineage, by going ‘underground’. They founded secret societies, and commissioned beautiful architecture and symbolic art in many of the Great Cathedrals of the world, that would span the centuries. Hidden within the masons and artists hearts was the true story of the Vine of Judah. Their story became written into history encoded within paintings, writings and novels, such as the Grail stories and many of the most famous fairy tales, as well as the songs of the troubadours. Their story, as well as their bloodline, lives on today, now more than ever, due to the sacrifices made by these great men who would not give up their secrets even under the worst kind of torture, to the last breath.
Now we are so fortunate to have such a vast expanse of knowledge available to us through the internet, and so their story is gradually becoming heard, and the truth has crept through the cracks of time as a hidden weed, when indeed it is a flourishing Vine.
So how does all of this correlate to the corruption and violence that is a global problem these past 2,000 years?
In Chapter 4 of the Hebrew Prophet Micah, there is a prophecy of the restoration of Jerusalem, when all nations shall bear their swords into plow shares and be reconciled under God. In Verse 8 is says:
“As for you, O Magdal-Eder, watchtower of the flock,
You cry aloud for you have no King
Your former dominion will be restored to you,
For you were forced out of the city and have camped in the open field for too long,
Writhed in agony and almost perished at the hands of your Councellors,
O great manficent tower (Magdal)
Kingship will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem”
Following her ‘exile’ she will be restored, this is the prophecy of many verses in the ancient texts. Mary Magdalene, and the Goddess with Her, into exile they were forced, and now through her story, the Goddess will be restored, and the world will heal, just as promised.
An institution founded upon a lie, upon the heads of women’s fall from grace and position surely must either change or fall. For within each of us as human beings, there is a feminine and masculine side. Just as God has Goddess by His side, so too are we created so. If the masculine side ignores the femininity within his very self, then no balance can there be. The truth of this is to be seen on the pages of history by all the aggression done in the name of furthering a totally male dominated religious cause. The Goddess, along with Her devotees, were stamped out, burned out and wiped out of history by this regime that dominated our global thinking tank and DNA for the past 2,000 years. Now, as we enter the age of Aquarius, we hope that the balance will again be restored, rightfully so, and that Magdalene, along with the Goddess and all that is feminine, may again rule peacefully, side by side, with all that is masculine within this world, so that harmony may again prevail. It is the nature of woman to heal, to love and to nurture, and so, once the veil of seclusion is fully removed, we can hope and pray that a time may come when men will again take council from the wise women, and honor woman from her status as “whore (Magdalene)” and “temptress (Eve)” to that of Mother, lover and ceaseless care-giver.
In conclusion, the restoration of the Feminine Divine is a necessary part of healing the wounded psyche of both the masculine and feminine energies of this world. If Magdalene were to be restored as the Bride of Christ, the risen Jesus would no longer be separated from his Bride, and the Goddess would again be seen restored to Her God. The legends of the Grail protectors believed that the restoration of the wife of Jesus would heal the wasteland and cause the desert to bloom once more. They were also known to believe that a ruler of the Royal House of David, would someday be restored to the Throne of Judea (Israel) and would rule the entire world with peace and justice. In Isaiah II there is a prophecy that when the royal line of David is restored to the Throne of Israel, a Millenium of the reign of God would begin.
So how does one begin healing such a rift in society? Perhaps the ancient Veda’s have the answer.
In the Veda's, the Ancient Scripture of the Sanskrit (mother tongue) language, it teaches us that according to our Sukriti, we will be attracted to a certain form of religion or spiritual practice. Sukriti can be explained as follows. When we do good deeds for another, we get "sukriti" in a spiritual bank account. When we give in charity, help someone in need, bring someone to God's way, heal someone or do some spiritual austerity like fasting on special Holy days, or taking vows of silence for deep introspective prayer, then "sukriti" is added to our spiritual account. According to how large our sukriti account is, that is how deeply we will understand the various paths, and advance towards the highest goal of life. In all cases, it seems to be the ultimate goal of entering the Kingdom of God. The Veda's have a scripture called Srimad Bhagavatam, which is a collection of books from many thousands of years ago. It is known to be the oldest scripture. Within one of these books of the Bhagavatam, there are detailed descriptions of that Kingdom, which we are encouraged so fervently to enter.
It describes how once the soul enters the forests of that Kingdom, also known as Goloka Vrindavan, that one never has to take birth again. The cycle of birth and death is complete, and the soul can live eternally in that beautiful Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is described there has having ever increasing ecstasy at every moment, every day is a like a festival, every step is a dance and every word a song. God and Goddess are at the center of every one’s daily love and life. All the creatures of that world, including the abundant plant life, can speak and are fully conscious, every moment expressing their devotion to the Divine Couple. Once arriving here at this eternal place, it is said that we will have found our true ultimate destination. There is no death, old age, disease or suffering of any kind. God is a young and extremely handsome Prince, rather than an old man sitting on cloud condemning people to heaven or hell. He has many friends, both girls and boys, as well as millions of pets in the forest. The Goddess is a beautiful young Princess, from another part of the 'island' of Goloka. She has many millions of fairy-like girlfriends, who serve Her like best friends. There are wonderful evenings of music and dancing under the moon and stars at night, and they all have forest cottages where they live in harmony with the many millions of friendly animals who grace this Holy place.
It is the goal of our life, no matter what faith we follow, to do our very best to focus our prayer and devotion through daily practice, towards this goal. You can see that in this world, there are so many problems. The happiness that most people experience is fleeting, and the suffering comes and keeps coming. Death is an inevitable fate, and we live in a world of insecurity, where no relationship is permanent. The Kingdom of God promises us that all our relationships there will be eternal. Our brothers, sisters, mother, father, friends, pets, husbands/wives, are eternally so, as there are no goodbyes.
It struck me hard that with so much suffering in this world, there had to be some purpose to it all. Since coming to this path of living a devoted life, I see that God gives suffering according to our past misdeeds (“as you sew. so you reap”), or karma, in order to correct our behavior towards others. When one is dissatisfied by life’s trials and troubles which inevitably come, we then listen to the voices of those wise Saints and Messengers, who took great efforts for us to gain entrance into the eternal Kingdom, which promises eternal happiness. We are all searching for love and joy at every moment of our lives, yet there is always something causing anxiety to our lives, whether it is death, disease, old-age, unlucky in love, war, famine or monetary worries. Problems are bound to come, just as the river flows to the sea. The ultimate 'gift' to humanity is to give a cure for the disease of reincarnation, which is the cause of all our problems.
According to the great Saints in history, having a daily practice that gives the mind and heart a spiritual focus and purification process is the only means for gaining success in our search for true sustained spiritual joy. There are two ways to practice:
1. Vaidhi-Bhakti – strict adherence to rules, laws, rituals and regulations of the religion;
2. Raganugha-Bhakti – spontaneous loving devotional activity done out of pure love, it flows from the heart into a daily practice. One's devotion is not hindered, nor reliant upon the rules, laws and regulations laid out in scripture.
Bhakti means devotion. Our path is Bhakti Yoga, which means devotion with the goal of unifying with God and Goddess, which as we earlier concluded, is the healing that will give us the peace we have been yearning for, no matter which religion we follow.
An example of this is as follows.
Jesus saw a man suffering by the side of the road. He was blind and had many entities attaching themselves to the body & mind of the man. Jesus saw his suffering and immediately reached out to help him. With devotion and love for God in his noble heart he walked to the man, and asked "would you like to be healed?" The man replied "yes, I am a tortured soul". Jesus knelt down, spat into his hands and put his palms over the man’s eyes. The man shook and begged for mercy. Jesus prayed and begged the Lord our God, to heal this man, and to forgive his karmic sins, that had caused this man to suffer so. The man shook and started to wail. Jesus shouted at the entities "your time is nigh, I have come in the Name of God and tell you to leave this man, for he now belongs to me, you no longer have any place here, I have made other arrangements for you, in the Name of God, so now leave". Then the man shook violently and fell to the floor. There were many people standing watching all that had transpired. Some were afraid, some were in awe, others doubted he could heal the man, there were some who were envious of Jesus' ability, and others who were angry that he had healed a man on the Sabbath. The man opened his eyes, which had not been open in 40 years. He fell on the floor and kissed the feet of the man who had healed him.
Ritualistic devotion tells us to follow the laws of scripture and not do any works on the Sabbath, whereas the path of spontaneous love told Jesus to love and help someone in need without hindrance from any rule or law. So which is correct?
Both are right.
According to one's sukriti (spiritual bank account) one must follow the path that one is on. When one's sukriti is thick, devotion will be spontaneous, and no law can prevent someone from loving God in that moment. To increase your spiritual bank account and make your sukriti thick, daily practice is recommended. You can take many lifetimes devoted to any path, but reincarnation will continue to happen until you reach very deep levels of devotion. Having a devoted daily practice will help get you there sooner, rather than later. One can stand still, crawl, walk, run, gallop or fly towards the goal of life (to enter the Kingdom). When one does a spiritual practice daily, one's chances of walking, running, galloping or flying increases. According to how deep the longing and prayer becomes, that quickens your gait towards the goal of pure unmotivated devotion. The goal is to pray and meditate on the Holy Names of God and Goddess at every moment, until the heart is saturated with love.
The Buddhists chant on rosary, Jesus told us to love God with all our hearts and all our souls, and taught us to take the Holy Names of God upon our tongue. The Catholics pray on Rosary beads to the Holy Mother Mary, Muslims pray to Allah and repeat His Holy Names upon their minds, hearts and tongues as they finger their prayer beads. The Hindu's pray on mala, which look and act just like the rosary of the Buddhists, Catholics and Muslims. So it seems that all major religions are teaching us one thing. To repeat God's Holy Names in a repetitive mantra type fashion. As a practicing Vaishnava, the most ancient religion of devotion, one fingers sacred beads, whilst repeating and meditation upon the Names of God and Goddess.
The Names of God and Goddess are all powerful. The Divine Couple have invested all Their energies within Their Names. Their Names are not separate from Them. If I call you John, and your name is John, when I call you, you will come. So when we call out to God and Goddess, using one of Their many Holy Names, They too promise to come. Gradually the devotee will advance to the ultimate goal. That devotee who chants ritually, but has no love saturate the heart yet, will eventually become softened by God's association, since God and Goddess are not separate from Their Holy Names. In this way ritual chanting will eventually bring the seeker to the path of spontaneous devotion.
The devotee, feeling love in the heart for God and Goddess, weeps out of pure gratitude and devotion for the object of their worship. Even if rules and laws are broken, the devoted ones heart is experiencing the beginning of pure devotion. My spiritual teacher once told me "one of your tears is worth thousands of lifetimes of chanting and prayer". Gradually as we increase our prayer and chanting time, the heart becomes cleansed of all unwanted things. Some of the roots of disfunction (anarthas) within the heart of all who begin on the path of spiritual practice, are as follows:
Pride, selfishness, envy, greed, anger, judgment, criticism, hate, lust, sloth, as well as addiction to the many sense pleasures that come from sex, food, drugs, drink and all manner of daily distractions. These habits that come from experiencing life are hard to let go of once formed. Most of these disfunctions are already set in motion within us by the time we are young adults. Society is running towards 'things' for happiness, and simplicity and calm quiet contemplation are soon becoming lifestyles reserved only for the very old, the dying or those dedicated to monastic life. Repetition of God and Goddesses Holy Names, as a daily practice, helps one shift one's focus from "getting, doing, wanting and lamenting", to devotion, giving love and living purely.
I choose to chant a mantra from the ancient world called the Maha-Mantra. Maha means greatest of all, very merciful. The reason I chose the Maha-Mantra is not because it is the greatest, but because it focuses the devotee on devotion to God and Goddess combined, rather than to a male deity alone. So, considering all that I had researched on the life of Mary Magdalene and Jesus, for me it made the most amount of sense to choose a mantra that would include and unite both Masculine and Feminine Divine at its center.
You may repeat any of God’s Holy Names, they are all perfect and complete, this is just an example of my own personal daily spiritual practice as prayer repetition and meditation on God’s Holy Names and beauty.
HARE – One of the Holy Names of the Goddess
KRISHNA – One of God’s Holy Names
HARE - Goddess
RAM – Another one of God’s Divine Names, where God is in His devotion to Goddess;
HARE KRISHNA, HARE KRISHNA, KRISHNA KRISHNA, HARE HARE,
HARE RAMA, HARE RAMA, RAMA RAMA, HARE HARE
It is the most complete of all prayers as it brings Divine Masculine and Feminine together, which is the goal of all religious prayer at its core, if one read's any deep esoteric scripture.
Krishna Rose - January 19, 2011
