The Second Coming of Christ Excerpts from the Introduction By Paramahansa Yogananda To provide you with a first glimpse of the scope and content of The Second Coming of Christ, following are a few excerpts from Paramahansa Yogananda's thirteen-page Introduction to the two volumes. In titling this work The Second Coming of Christ, I am not referring to a literal return of Jesus to earth. He came two thousand years ago and, after imparting a universal path to God's kingdom, was crucified and resurrected; his reappearance to the masses now is not necessary for the fulfillment of his teachings. What is necessary is for the cosmic wisdom and divine perception of Jesus to speak again through each one's own experience and understanding of the infinite Christ Consciousness that was incarnate in Jesus. That will be his true Second Coming. There is a distinguishing difference of meaning between Jesus and Christ. His given name was Jesus; his honorific title was "Christ." In his little human body called Jesus was born the vast Christ Consciousness, the omniscient Intelligence of God omnipresent in every part and particle of creation. This Consciousness is the "only begotten Son of God," so designated because it is the sole perfect reflection in creation of the Transcendental Absolute, Spirit or God the Father. It was of that Infinite Consciousness, replete with the love and bliss of God, that Saint John spoke when he said: "As many as received him [the Christ Consciousness], to them gave he power to become the sons of God." Thus according to Jesus' own teaching as recorded by his most highly advanced apostle, John, all souls who become united with Christ Consciousness by intuitive Self-realization are rightly called sons of God.... In these pages I offer to the world an intuitionally perceived spiritual interpretation of the words spoken by Jesus, truths received through actual communion with Christ Consciousness. They will be found to be universally true if they are studied conscientiously and meditated upon with soul-awakened intuitive perception. They reveal the perfect unity that exists among the revelations of the Christian Bible, the Bhagavad Gita of India, and all other time-tested true scriptures. The saviors of the world do not come to foster inimical doctrinal divisions; their teachings should not be used toward that end. It is something of a misnomer even to refer to the New Testament as the "Christian" Bible, for it does not belong exclusively to any one sect. Truth is meant for the blessing and upliftment of the entire human race. As the Christ Consciousness is universal, so does Jesus Christ belong to all.... It is an erroneous assumption of limited minds that great ones such as Jesus, Krishna, and other divine incarnations are gone from the earth when they are no longer visible to human sight. This is not so. When a liberated master has dissolved his body in Spirit, and yet manifests in form to receptive devotees (as Jesus has appeared throughout the centuries since his passing, such as to Saint Francis, Saint Teresa, and many others of East and West), it means he has an ongoing role to play in the destiny of the world. Even when masters have completed the specific role for which they took on a physical incarnation, it is the divinely ordained task of some to look after the welfare of humanity and assist in guiding its progress. Jesus Christ is very much alive and active today. In Spirit and occasionally taking on a flesh-and-blood form, he is working unseen by the masses for the regeneration of the world. With his all-embracing love, Jesus is not content merely to enjoy his blissful consciousness in Heaven. He is deeply concerned for mankind and wishes to give his followers the means to attain the divine freedom of entry into God's Infinite Kingdom.... To reestablish God in the temples of souls through revival of the original teachings of God-communion as propounded by Christ and Krishna is why I was sent to the West by Mahavatar Babaji, the deathless Yogi-Christ of modern India, whose existence was revealed to the world at large for the first time in 1946 in Autobiography of a Yogi.... For uncounted millenniums, India has been the spiritual lightland of the earth. It is in India that the divine soul-science of yoga —union with God through direct personal communion with Him —has been preserved. That is why Jesus went to India as a youth, and why he returned to India and conferred with Babaji for the spiritual evolution of the world. Time will testify to this truth, that they have given to the world through the Kriya Yoga teachings of Self-Realization Fellowship (Yogoda Satsanga Society of India) the techniques of meditation by which each soul can reunite with God through inner realization of the universal Christ-Krishna Consciousness.... These teachings have been sent to explain the truth as Jesus intended it to be known in the world — not to give a new Christianity, but to give the real Christ-teaching: how to become like Christ, how to resurrect the Eternal Christ within one's Self.... Many of Jesus' sayings and parables, which have undergone transformations due to mistranslation from the Aramaic, I did not understand at a first reading. But as I prayed and attuned myself with him, I received the meaning directly from him. Revelations that I never expected have been given to me; little did I dream what wealth of truth lay concealed. I believe that readers of this book will find that meanings buried twenty centuries have been brought out here for the first time, interpretations of the words of Jesus as he would talk to the people of today — truths he conveyed to his disciples and which he wants understood by devotees of the world throughout all time. Those who are receptive will feel through direct perception the message that Christ is speaking to them; for all I have done is to receive and convey the fullness of his thoughts and consciousness....I hear Christ in the land of my inspiration; I behold Christ speaking to me all the eternal wisdom he intended to convey within his pregnant words.... Jesus said, "We speak that we do know,"* and through this new interpretation I feel certain that people will be enabled to understand that true knowledge, the wisdom-realizations, which he meant the world to have. Therefore, in spite of multitudinous interpretations of his words already written by others, I believe that Christ has inspired me to lift the veil of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of his teachings and utter them anew in their native purity, divested of misconceptions, and stress their applicability to the changed conditions and life of modern civilization. The people of today should break through the dark glass of theology — intellectual knowledge about God — and perceive God directly.** Such is my conviction, in thus writing the first thorough study by an Oriental of the words of Christ, who also was born in an Oriental land and who spent many years in India.... As you read the pages of The Second Coming, you will see the mist of difficulty, misunderstanding, and mystery about the words of Jesus lifted forever after the lapse of twenty centuries. Many sects, many denominations, many beliefs, many persecutions, many conflicts and upheavals have been created by misinterpretations. Now, Christ reveals the consummate message in the simple words he spoke to an ancient people in a less-advanced age of civilization. Read, understand, and feel Christ speaking to you through this "Second Coming" bible, urging you to be redeemed by realization of the true "Second Coming," the resurrection within you of the Infinite Christ Consciousness.

*John 3:11. **"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known" (I Corinthians 13:12). Copyright © 2004 Self-Realization Fellowship All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in book reviews, and as otherwise permitted by applicable law, no part of this work may be reproduced, stored, transmitted or displayed in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, or otherwise) now known or hereafter devised — including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system — without prior written permission from Self-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, California 90065-3298, U.S.A.