 Commentary on the Gospel of Thomas–2—by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
 The Open Secrets
Secrets?
“These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.”
Everyone loves secrets, especially children–and those whose brains but not their hearts have matured. Religion is riddled with “secrets,” “secret knowledge,” “secret practices,” “secret fraternities,” “secret books,” and suchlike, all creating an atmosphere reminiscent of old Flash Gordon serials and The Wizard of Oz. O, to be of the elite and know the SECRETS the commoners know not; to seek and find what only the special few can access. Knowledge is power…. Ah, yes, if people only knew…. All of this appeals to the same kind of person who likes fantasy stories of wimpy and nerdy losers who in reality are superheroes with superpowers. All it takes is the mystic word or the super (secret) technology to transform a characterless and ineffectual nobody into a veritable god. How the people will gasp and wonder…but they will never know the secret of Blandman. Even as I write this Spiderman–just such a childish fantasy–is making more money than any other film in history. The secret (!) is obvious: the world is filled with frustrated incompetents, do-nothings, and nobodies that gladly pay their money to see on the screen what they wish could be true in their life.
But Jesus, like Buddha, made it clear that He had no secret teachings, saying: “There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.”
In my search for the real teachings of Christ, I became a member of several secret Christian esoteric associations, all with secret knowledge and secret practices. The interesting thing was that although those groups did possess power and methods that produced an effect, in the final analysis they were ineffectual, and in some cases actually ran counter to the result desired. I experienced this for myself. And in no instance was there the slightest justification for anything they knew or did being kept secret. Jesus certainly knew best, and acted accordingly.
“Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.”
“No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.…No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.”
“Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.”
This is surely sufficient to establish that Jesus had no secret teachings, whatever the “children of the kingdom” may have said from after His resurrection to the present day. Why, then, this statement about “secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke?” A story from India will make it clear.
Once a man was taught a mantra by a yogi. “You must keep this mantra absolutely secret, for it is known to only a very few,” the yogi told him. But the next day in the morning as the man walked through the town he noticed that a great many people were repeating that mantra aloud–especially as they did their morning ablutions. Indignantly he went to the yogi, told what he had observed, and demanded to know why he had claimed the mantra was a secret known only to a few. The yogi said nothing in explanation, but brought a shining green object from his pocket and handed it to the man with the instruction that he should show it to the people he met in the town and ask them how much they would buy it for–but he was not to actually sell it to them. “When you do this, I will explain about the mantra,” he promised. The first person he met was a woman who sold vegetables; she offered some eggplants for it, wanting it for her baby to play with. He showed it to some merchants in small shops who offered him small amounts of money for it as a curiosity. A wealthy merchant said that it was an excellent imitation emerald and offered him a goodly sum, for he wanted it to make jewelry for his wife. A banker examined it, declared it to be a genuine emerald, and offered him a great deal of money for it. Amazed by this, the man took it to a jeweler who told him that it was the largest and most perfect emerald he had ever seen. “No one in this land, not even the king, has enough money to purchase this emerald,” he concluded. Frightened at having such a valuable in his keeping, the man hurried back to the yogi and returned the emerald. Smiling, the yogi put it back in his pocket. “Now will you tell me why you claimed the mantra was secret, when everybody in town seems to know it?” demanded the man. “I have already done so by your experience with the emerald,” the yogi replied. “How many of the people knew what it really was?” “Only the banker and the jeweler,” the man admitted. “And the others–did not their offers for it correspond to their opinion of it and their own financial worth?” “Yes.” “There you have it. The mantra I taught you is in the memory and on the lips of many in a superficial way. They repeat it a few times and then drop it. Only those who meditate upon it can know it in truth–as they at the same time increase in spiritual status. My friend, that mantra is very little known, but I hope you will strive to realize its value by your own self-realization through its use.” The man understood.
It is interesting that the Venerable Master Hua, founder of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, told his students that the Secret School of Buddhism was not called secret because its methods, including its mantras, were unknown to others, but because the effects of the practices were purely internal and could only be known by the practitioners. Therefore to the non-practitioners it would always be a secret matter. And since each individual is different, other practitioners could not know fully what an individual was experiencing. So it would always be a Secret School no matter how many adherents it had or how widely its texts were read.
One English translation out of many–Grondin’s–renders the expression “hidden words.” The Greek work kruptos (from which we get the words crypt and cryptic) means something that is concealed or hidden because it is inside–inward. The sayings of Jesus are “secret” as far as the outer world is considered because their understanding is a matter of personal, private experience that by its nature remains hidden. And let us not forget another Greek word, mystikos, which also means inward and hidden. So we could validly say that these words of Jesus about to be given us are Mystical Sayings.
Another intriguing point about the Gospel of Thomas is the insistence of “scholars” and “experts” that these sayings are disjointed and random, following no particular pattern. This is simply not so, and a little pondering will reveal that they are definitely connected and follow a logical sequence–but a sequence that is mystical and therefore of necessity “secret” and “hidden” to those not in on the Great Secret. Freedom from death
“And he said, ‘Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death.’” (1)
Ironically, in the Bible the only verse that approximates this is a quotation from Jesus’ enemies when they said: “Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.”
What is death? Also ironically, perhaps the best brief definition comes from Vine’s Expository Dictionary, where life is defined as “conscious existence in communion with God,” and death as “conscious existence in separation from God.” Since it is impossible for even an atomic particle to be separated from the infinite, omnipresent God, obviously what is meant is that life is consciousness of union with God and death is loss of that consciousness–the illusion of separation from God. Neither of these have anything to do with the condition–life or death–of the body. Rather, life and death are states of consciousness.
But we should backtrack a bit. Finding
Jesus said that death will not be experienced by “whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings.” This immediately brings to mind the well-known statement of Jesus: “Seek, and ye shall find.” The Greek text uses the word zeteo, which means to earnestly desire and work toward something–it is practical as well as theoretical, and even has the minor meaning of needing what is sought. The important word, of course, is heurisko, which not only means to find, but has the secondary ideas of both perceiving and possessing the object of the search. So to find the meaning of Jesus’ mystical sayings is to inwardly perceive the reality of their meaning and to attain the state of consciousness on which they are based. It is like a rabbi who was an expert in interpreting the Jerusalem Talmud. When asked how he understood it so well, he replied: “Because I know That from which the Jerusalem Talmud was given.”
Instead of “finds” the Patterson and Maeyer translation of these introductory words has “discovers” and Johnson’s has “uncovers.” Both of these bear out the interpretation that Jesus is telling us to gain the states of awareness which are embodied in these sayings.
1) Matthew 10:26,27 [Go back]
2) John 18:20 [Go back]
3) Luke 11:16,17,33 [Go back]
4) Matthew 24:26 [Go back]
5) John 8:52. “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” (John 11:25,26) [Go back]
6) Matthew 7:7 [Go back]
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