December 22nd 1966
It is indeed so much easier to contact those on the Earth plane at this time of year. Because, even though their thoughts, or the thoughts of most of the Earth children are on good things appertaining to the Earth and to the world, nevertheless, there is an element of love on various levels, going forth into the ether. People are thinking of one another in a kinder vein. And those who they cannot really love, they still feel that at this time of year these must be tolerance. And all this makes it so much easier for us in this world to draw nearer, to draw nigh.
And again the emphasis is laid upon the birth of Jesus. Your Churchmen, your religious leaders, are again emphasising the birth of the babe in Jerusalem, and the carol singers are again singing the same old songs.
And yet, we too, because these songs have for us a sentimental value, because we sang these songs, some of us, whilst upon the Earth plane, and those of us from different countries, in different environments, still sang religious songs which had the same sort of meaning. And so, because these carols are sung at this time with much feeling, and because little children sing them too, with hearts full of human joy, and human excitement, we can draw power and create, with the vibrations forthcoming, from this so-called happiness.
And so we choose a song, a Christmas song which is very dear to the hearts of most Christian people, and we will place upon it a deeper spiritual meaning. "While shepherds watched their flocks by night all seated on the ground, the Angel of the Lord came down, and Glory shone around”.
Always at this time there is much emphasis laid upon the shepherd. Jesus said, "Feed my lambs, feed my sheep". And then he was called the lamb, the lamb of God, making God the supreme shepherd. Every man is a shepherd and every man has to theme his own sheep. And the shepherd is the self, and the sheep are those things which he, and he alone can develop, take care of, rescue, and overcome. He has, within his own being, a flock of very wayward sheep.
There are those very near to him, and which he grows to love because of this nearness, faith, tolerance, loves of many kinds, many different things. Then you remember what the Master said that He would leave the ninety nine sheep to save the one in the deep crevice. And every man has one or more of these so-called black sheep, who will wander of and fall into the deep and dark places. This could be hate and jealousy, arrogance, meanness, selfishness, and this is the one sheep which must be rescued, which must be put, as it were, in its proper place. This is the sheep that the shepherd must find and must control, and must take in to his own safe keeping, and place it where it cannot do any harm. This is the one sheep that must be saved. It must be kept in a safe place. And when the shepherd has found the one, he must go after the others. Not those that will be content to stay in their proper place, in the green meadows of this life, near the water, in a quiet place, but those which would lead him astray into great and terrible dangers. His passions deep within the soul. And so the shepherd watched his flock by night, in the dark, for the Earth life is a dark life and the Earth plane is a dark plane, and it seems like a long dark night.
And the shepherds in the carol are seated on the ground, in the world, but, when all the sheep are safe, and when the shepherd can see them all in a safe place, when all the passions have been brought under control, when the shepherd is sitting quietly, with his eyes fixed upon the bright stars of faith and hope, because he knows exactly where his flock abide and he feels a great peace. And within him he feels and knows a burning flame.
It is at this moment when all THE SHEEP ARE SAFE AND the ANIMAL passions are subdued, when there are no deep desires or cravings or longings from the heart, but to serve God. This then is the Christmas evening. This is the evening when the Christ Spirit is born within and the angel of the Lord came down. And then, for a moment of time, glory, glory shone around, in the darkness of your soul and inner being, you know and feel and recognise the light, you know that all those things that have been in your keeping are at last safe and sound, you are not afraid of the darkness, although you await the light. No longer are you afraid of the black sheep that will lead you onto the slippery slopes. But you make yourself at home in the darkness, and above you is the great star.
Oh children, why cannot people understand these things? Why must they all look unto the image, unto the picture of the babe? Why cannot they look into the manger of their own hearts and find Him there, living, breathing, doing, dying to all that is evil, all that is wrong, and rising again to live in hope and power and glory? But no, the images will be put away, the pictures will be dusted and put in a safe place, and the peace and goodwill will be forgotten for another year.
But when we see the living Spirit in the hearts of men, we rejoice, and Jesus himself rejoices too, because as long as one man every year realises the truth, the babe, the Christmas message, was not in vain.
One profound message here is that the extra love and understanding that is currently applied at Christmas, makes it easier for the Spirit world to communicate with us. We don’t of course need to wait for Christmas to apply this love and understanding towards others.
Each person is their own shepherd, and their "flock" is made up of their own qualities — patience, love, tolerance, but also the wayward ones like jealousy or arrogance. The one "lost sheep" that must be found and brought safely under control is whatever weakness keeps leading a person astray.
This transcript also portrays perhaps the hardest lesson of all. The giving up of desire, overcoming the animal passions.
An early Buddhist text observes that sexual desire is so powerful that, were humanity burdened with another desire of equal strength, scarcely anyone would be capable of following the path to enlightenment.1
And this quote is comforting:
The lower instincts were not implanted in your nature by "the devil"; you came by them honestly. They came in the process of evolution as a proper and right thing, but have been largely outgrown and can now be left behind. So do not fear these inheritances from the past; you can put them aside or subordinate them to higher things as you journey along the path. Do not despise them, though you tread them under foot – they are the steps upon which you have reached your present high estate,and upon which you will attain still greater heights.2
The unusual re framing here is what "Christmas" actually is, in this view: not a date on the calendar, but the moment when all of a person's inner flock is finally safe and under control — that's when the message says the Christ Spirit is truly "born." The message is fairly pointed that most people only ever look at the picture of the manger, rather than finding this same birth happening quietly in their own hearts.
Paraphrased from The Sutra of the Forty-Two Sections, section 24.
Yogi Ramacharaka, Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism (London: L. N. Fowler & Co. Ltd, 1964), p35