 Commentary on the Gospel of Thomas–12—by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
 What Will You Do?
“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?’” (11)
This is one of many saying of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Thomas which is completely inexplicable without some knowledge of Indian philosophy (Sanatana Dharma). To me it is another demonstration of the fact that if anyone wishes to follow Jesus they must follow him to India. “This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away.”
Creation takes place in cycles–projection and withdrawal, for there is no such thing as “creation from nothing.” (In fact, there is no such thing as creation, but rather there is manifestation.) In Sanskrit the world for the withdrawal of the worlds is pralaya, which means “dissolution.” The three lower “worlds” (lokas) or spheres are known as Bhur, Bhuvah, and Swah. Bhu Loka is the material level of existence, whereas Bhuvah and Swah are the two lower astral worlds, the “heaven of heaven,” the “one above” the material heaven.
Jesus wants us to realize that not only is the earth temporary, so also is “heaven.” Neither heaven nor earth are our true home, so we must look beyond them. One Pentecost I was visiting in the Coptic Monastery that is outside Frankfort, Germany. The Abbot, Father Matthew, explained to the people that they were mistaken if they planned to go to heaven forever. “God has something much better than that,” he told them. “He intends for us to enter into the great Light of God–into Himself.” That is why Jesus in His life as David sang: “When I awake, I am still with thee.” And: “I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” We must identify with our eternal nature. “The dead are not alive, and the living will not die.”
Jesus brings to his hearers the immortal teaching of the Bhagavad Gita:
“There was never a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor any of these kings. Nor is there any future in which we shall cease to be. That which is non-existent can never come into being, and that which is can never cease to be. Those who have known the inmost Reality know also the nature of is and is not. That Reality which pervades the universe is indestructible. No one has power to change the Changeless. Bodies are said to die, but That which possesses the body is eternal. It cannot be limited, or destroyed.”
The truth is, matter is never alive, but rather reflects the life of the Eternal, both the individual Self (atman) and the Supreme Self (Paramatman). Yet we identify with the material body and material conditions which are “dead” and forget our true selves which alone are “alive.” We avidly run after the dead and call it “living.” Practically speaking, we pursue death and deny life, we seek to vivify the dead and kill the living–our own self.
In time, though, our true self breaks through and posits the question the angel asked the mourners at the tomb of Jesus: “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” Yes; why, indeed. “In the days when you consumed what is dead, you made it what is alive.”
We must come to realize that we are life itself, as is God (Brahman). That the dead only “live” through contact with us. We are the only source of life in our private sphere of evolution. We idolize that which has no value or meaning except in its relation to us. Our touch is the only life it has. Yet we exalt it above us and even claim to be dominated by it. In time we come to think that if it is eliminated from our life we will die, either physically or metaphysically. We are thus truly negative: black is white and white is black; empty is full and full is empty’ something is nothing and nothing is something; the dead is alive and the live is dead.
The dilemma is colossal. How can we ever break out of it? Actually it is easy because we are LIFE itself. All we need do is turn to our own Self. That is why Buddha said: “Turn around, and behold! the Other Shore.” Getting into our mess is much harder than getting out. This is an unaccepted truth, but it is no less the truth. It is material life that is hard, because it is an attempt to accomplish the impossible, to make the dead alive. Spiritual life is comparatively easy because it is a matter of “is”–of eternal reality.
That eternal status must be pursued, must be driven home in our consciousness. So Jesus puts forth two crucial questions. “When you come to dwell in the light, what will you do?”
When our consciousness once more comes to dwell in the light of spirit–both finite and Infinite, what will we do? Nothing. As Buddha said: “Birth is exhausted, the holy life has been lived out, what can be done is done, of this there is no more beyond.” Perfection having been reentered, nothing remains to be done or not done. “On the day when you were one you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?”
There was a time when we were in the state of unity, but then we entered into duality. When that occurred, what, then, could we do? Again: nothing. For we had made ourselves helpless in unreality.
There is, however a single thing needed: Awakening. But we do not “do” awakening, for being awake is a state–and a primeval state, at that. So we need only stop sleeping and lo! we will find ourselves awake in Reality. Therefore Saint Paul wrote: “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”
1) Psalms 139:18 [Go back]
2) Psalms 17:15 [Go back]
3) Bhagavad Gita 2:12, 16-18 [Go back]
4) Luke 24:5 [Go back]
5) That is, the karma that produces birth is dissolved, has ceased to exist. [Go back]
6) Ephesians 5:14. “It is high time to awake out of sleep” (Romans 13:11). “Awake and sing” (Isaiah 26:19). “Awake, awake, stand up” (Isaiah 51:17). “Awake, awake; put on thy strength” (Isaiah 52:1). “Arise, shine” (Isaiah 60:1). [Go back]
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