The Beatitudes

By J. Donald Walters (Swami Kriyananda) Given as a Christmas gift to the Ananda community Introduction: Jesus Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes. Tradition depicts him as delivering this sermon to the multitudes. It is more likely that he was addressing his disciples. His statement, for example, Ye are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14), would hardly have been directed at everybody. The Beatitudes are an inner teaching, given to the few who deeply longed to know God. Worldly people, enmeshed in selfish desires, would have considered the teaching irrelevant to their needs. What would they have understood, for instance, from the words, Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you? A more pertinent counsel for them might have been, Dont participate in the reviling. That Jesus was speaking to a more intimate group is implied at the very outset of the Beatitudes: And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying: Stanza 1: Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who rejoice in their own unimportance in the great scheme of things. By their non-attachment to ego, they live even now in a state of heavenly bliss. Stanza 2: Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they who mourn the seeming absence of God: Them will He comfort with His love. Stanza 3: Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who live, not aggressively or self-assertively, but in harmony with nature and divine law: for they shall be supported in return. Stanza 4: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are they who seek attunement with Truth. They alone, of all human beings, shall find lasting fulfillment. Stanza 5: Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are they who, recognizing the bond they share with all living creatures, are more concerned for others than for themselves. Blessed are they who serve consciously as instruments of divine grace: for in their very giving they shall receive. Stanza 6: Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are they whose self-offering to God is effortless and complete, secure in the knowledge that all other desires are foreign to the soul. In the purity of their knowing, they shall see God. Stanza 7: Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they who live unshakably in the consciousness of inner peace; who emanate peace to everyone whose lives they touch. They shall be hailed as instruments of the Lord. Stanza 8: Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the

kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who, when persecuted, dare to stand firmly by the truths they know. Through steadfastness to high principles they shall be deemed worthy, after death, to enter the higher heavens. Stanza 9: Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Blessed are you when your awareness of the truth is tested by the misunderstandings of others, born of their spiritual ignorance. For only by placing truth above human opinions shall you attain wisdom. Great though your tests appear to you today, they are the price of admission into the company of the saints. Conclusion: The Sermon on the Mount has been described as a revolutionary teaching. And indeed so it was: Its summons to live for God alone was uncompromising. The orthodox rabbis were accustomed to the spiritual compromises demanded by worldly people. Jesus Sermon on the Mount was a challenge to their lukewarm devotion. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, he declared, and His righteousness; and all these things[the requirements, in other words, for human fulfillment] shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)