The Gospel of THOMAS and Initiation Into the Mysteries of the Kingdom of the Heavens, also Kirpal Singh on Initiation

Today I provide a brief introduction to the Gospel of Thomas... where it came from, what it is, describing it as a wisdom gospel or 'Christ Upanishad', a collection of the sayings of Jesus to be contemplated, leading to revelations and insight.

Between a third and half of the sayings attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas are also included in the regular or orthodox New Testament. The rest however are not. Yet some of those sayings of Jesus associated with the Gospel of Thomas also were quoted, far and wide, in other early Christian writings too. I list some of the other texts, scriptures and authors that have quoted these "Thomasonian" sayings of Jesus that got left out of the New Testament.

We focus on one such saying, in what other gospels and writings it's also appeared, AND how it even got included in the scriptures of other religions of the East & West! Yeshua says: "I will give you what eye has never seen, and what ear has never heard, and what hand has never touched, and what has never entered into the heart of man." (GoT # 17) This verse also was directly quoted by Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians.

This is an axiom of wisdom about being initiated by a living teacher into the Mysteries of the Kingdom of the Heavens, so other sources are shared exploring what initiation is: The Mystical Theology of Dionysius the Areopagite, The Testament of Our Lord (a Syriac gospel), The Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life, and there are readings from the Sant Mat satsang or spiritual discourses of Sant Kirpal Singh, also Swami Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj, on initiation as well as about inner seeing and hearing during meditation practice.

"This 'Single' or 'Third Eye' provides an ingress into the spiritual worlds -- the Kingdom of God -- now a lost realm to most of us... Of this inlet or ingress little is known by the people at large." (Kirpal Singh)