Jesus & the lady who applied costly scent to Him

[dattaswami]

Jesus & the lady who applied costly scent to Him

Once, a lady was worshipping Jesus by applying a costly scent to Him. A disciple of Jesus criticized this and stated that the cost of the scent would have been spent for feeding the beggars. Jesus condemned the disciple and accepted her service. The reason for such personal service is that she is in the path of Nivrutti. She desires only the Lord and is not interested in the social service. The followers of Nivrutti will even leave the justice for the sake of the Lord (Sarvadharman—Gita). Such souls reach the permanent divine abode of the Lord. One cannot compare Jesus with a rich man who is also enjoying a similar service. The rich man is not God and he has to please the Lord. The final goal is not his selfish pleasure. In the case of Jesus there is no other God whom he should please. The service done to Jesus protected that lady in this world as well as in the upper world. But the service done to the rich man cannot protect anybody.

Once a rich man approached Jesus and asked for his future duty in order to enter the Heaven. Jesus told him that he should give away all his money to the beggars. Jesus did not ask him to bring costly scent to be applied to Him. The rich man belongs to the level of Pravrutti and is interested in his personal upliftment and personal enjoyment in the heaven. He is not interested in Lord Jesus. Thus the Pravrutti and Nivrutti should be differentiated. The ignorant people who are unaware of this difference will mistake Jesus to be fond of the application of the scent by the tender hand of a beautiful lady.

The Lord is the fire of knowledge and any stick will be burnt to ashes. When the Lord comes in the human form, He plays with all the qualities existing in the universe. He created all the qualities only (Yechaiva Sattvikah—Gita) for His divine play meant for the entertainment. The Lord created even Satan. In a cinema the role of villain also exists and the actor of that role is also paid. Any quality that is used for the entertainment and pleasure of the Lord is good and sacred. Any quality that is turned towards selfish pleasure and these worldly bonds is bad and impure. The ultimate aim of this universe is only His entertainment. Even Satan is sacred since he is playing his role sincerely by testing the firm faith of the devotees.

You must hate his attraction for diverting you from the Lord but not the Satan. Jesus told that you should hate the sin but not the sinner. The Lord is beyond qualities because the qualities consist of the subtle body (Gunateetah—Gita). These qualities are tools of His divine play and He is not the subtle body. Therefore He is not the qualities and is untouched by them. A human being is the subtle body and is controlled by the qualities. He is a tool to the game played by the qualities (Nanyam Gunebhyah—Gita). The Lord uses the bad qualities as His mask so that the undeserving devotees do not approach Him for any favors. He is also using these bad qualities to test the firm faith of the sincere devotees. No human being can understand the Human incarnation. Every human being easily misunderstands the Lord in human form.

[weaver]

What is your source for much of this language and discussion? Obviously this is of Hindu influence - and I know that more modern day Hindu has recognition of Jesus as a Prophet but I don't know of much in terms of formal writings regarding him from that perspective.