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Sri Shantananda Saraswati
Om May no harm be done Here, May this desire be motivated by Love. May what is not beneficent wither to obscurity.
 
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The Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is extra to the canonical gospels in the New Testament of the bible. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars speculate that the works were buried and hidden after the declaration of a strict canon of Christian scripture, where any works that were not selected for inclusion in the new testament were ordered to be destroyed. Scholars have proposed dates of composition as early as 60 AD and as late as 250 AD as a collection of sayings of Jesus.
Our Commentary on Verse 011 of Thomas Gospel.
These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.
Gospel of Thomas Saying 11 - The living will not die.
Jesus said, "This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away. The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. In the days when you consumed what is dead, you made it what is alive. When you come to dwell in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?"
This heaven and earth, and indeed the whole universe, is passing away. The natural laws of entropy will ensure this. We believe it is correct to say that this fact is undisputed today, not by philosophers nor by scientists. Of course, this truth was clearly known to Jesus, even at that time.
Through this saying Jesus is revealing the true nature of this material creation. The truth is there is nothing here that is permanent so there is nothing here that can be described as true or real. To clarify the minds of his followers and to show the urgency of their learning his lessons, Jesus asks them what will they do?
With this saying Jesus is describing the ending of this creation, Jesus goes on to state the relevant facts…
Jesus said “The dead are not alive”
Things that were once seen as alive but are now seen as dead are the material forms of beings only. As with all forms of the material universe all material is subject to entropy and decay, material death.
Jesus said “the living will not die”.
Truth is immutable, it does not change with time. What truly lives can only be that which has true existence. True existence must be unchanging. therefore, existence is timeless and immortal. It is Absolute knowledge being Absolute Consciousness that truly exists and is immortal. It is Consciousness which gives the experience of our life. Because, as has been explained elsewhere here, existence itself is without beginning therefore without end.
“In the days when you consumed what is dead, you made it what is alive”
The conscious experiencing of a life (days) or of living causes the need for a being to have a material form. This consciousness of living is done through a material form with mind and senses, taste, touch, sight etc. During a life experience one’s form, although of material only, appears to be alive. The life of one’s material form is also maintained by the consuming of further material, as food.
“When you come to dwell in the light, what will you do?”
The experienced of a worldly birth, and a life lived through the limited awareness of duality and desire is a life lived in the darkness of ignorance, Unaware of one’s true identity with the unity of the Absolute. At the death of our material form, that material falls away. The knowledge of the being, in consciousness, is immortal. That consciousness of the being, which the being once regarded as his own consciousness, can now, through the light of divine knowledge, realise the true state of Absolute knowledge as Consciousness Absolute.
To see the light means to gain understanding of divine knowledge. Divine light reveals the truth of our divine identity. To see this light of knowledge is to gain full divine realisation. To dwell in the light of divine knowledge, means to have surrendered all worldly desires and dwell as the one consciousness. Which is the conscious Absolute.
Here, after the death of our form, and through the conscious knowledge of the Divine we gained Conscious unity with divine Consciousness then we would become one with eternal existence.
“On the day when you were one you became two”
Our true existence is as Absolute knowledge as Consciousness, One only and Nondual Unborn and timeless ( Day ). Being One only is our true being.
But, from this Oneness, or the Nondual Absolute of existence, we desired a material experience. This experience of living through a form, is experienced through a consciousness of ignorance and duality. That is, becoming two, is an experience of material living, in a consciousness of delusion only.
“But when you become two, what will you do?”
The desire for worldly experience is the fall from our nondual bliss and absolute unity, which is the fall in Absolute consciousness, into our consciousness of desire and duality, which is the desire for worldly experience. Desire is the ignorance of duality.
This experience of a life ( Days ) and duality is enabled by a forgetting of who we truly are. Through this forgetting we suffer the ignorance of duality. We feel needy and fearful and so seek to surround ourselves with material for comfort and protection.
Some get lost in material desire while others through renunciation of this world, seek knowledge of the path back home to our identity as the one nondual Absolute of existence. Jesus askes us, after revealing to us the above knowledge "what will you do"?
Will you, in consciousness, continue to seek material fulfilment, or will your conscious desire be to surrender all and return home to the stillness of eternal unity or Absolute?
ref. Luke 16:16-17, Luke 21:32-33, Matt 5:18, Matt 24:34-35, Mark 13:30-31
All verses of the Thomas Gospel.
Ohm peace, peace, peace.