My father is the intrinsic awareness. My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality. I belong to the caste of nonduality of the sphere of awareness. My name is the Glorious Lotus-Born. I am from the unborn sphere of all phenomena. I act in the way of the Buddhas of the three times.
—Padmasambhava
Esteemed Reader of Our Magazine:
It was Easter and we were listening to "Hey Jude" in the car. A barrage of questions emitted from the back seat as we drove:
"Dad, is he saying 'Hey Jew' or 'Hey You'?"
"Neither," I reply. "He's saying 'Hey Jude."
"Jude? Who's Jude?"
"It could be anyone, but there is a Saint Jude the song is probably referring to."
"How does someone become a saint?"
"To be a real saint someone has to do a great service for the world by transforming himself, and helping others transform."
"Why did Jude become a saint?"
"He was one of Jesus's students, and he helped spread the teaching after Jesus died."
"Is he the same as Judas?"
"Maybe, but the church says Judas was someone else."
"Why?"
"Because the church made Judas out as a traitor, but really he was his nearest and dearest."
"Why was Judas called a traitor?"
"Because he was entrusted with the most difficult role in the passion play. The whole event of Jesus's life and death was a big play and everyone had roles. The hidden teaching is that part of Judas's role was to delay Jesus's arrest, so he could finish his work with the other disciples."
"What kind of work?"
"It was a transmission to enable them to continue to work after Jesus was gone. They had to prepare and share an image of Jesus for people to connect to."
"Why couldn't people just connect directly?"
"Because Jesus was a part of the infinite totality and without an image regular people couldn't connect to the energy that came in with the event of his birth and life. That was the job of the students. Later they were called apostles, which means messenger. It's the same for every prophet—Mohammed, Buddha, Moses, Padmasambhava, Krishna. Without the energy of the totality of being born as an individual, there wouldn't be any religions."
"What did Jesus teach them?"
"Do you remember the Golden Rule?"
"Don't kick your dingo when he's down."
"Exactly! The most important thing he taught actually came from the Torah, because Jesus was Jewish. The students were almost all Jews, so they knew what he was talking about. He said, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' It sounds like the Golden Rule, but it's different because it refers to the world that Jesus comes from. In that level of heaven there is only one—everything and everyone is part of one body."
"What do you mean?"
"Imagine your pinky thinks it is a separate person. It says, 'I am important; I am a Pinky!' From the point of view of the pinky, it's true, but from the point of view of you, your pinky is part of your whole body. It's like that for us—from our perspective we are all separate people; but in the world Jesus comes from, there is only one body and the whole universe is part of that one. That's why he said 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' He really meant it, because in that level of reality every other being is yourself. He was talking about the world he lives in."
"People pray to saints, right?"
"Yes."
"What do they pray to Saint Jude for?"
"They pray to Saint Jude when they have a problem that seems impossible to solve. Jude is the saint of hopeless cases."
"Is that what the song's about?"
"Could be, but it sounds like they are talking about more than just praying for help or deliverance. Listen:
So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin
You're waiting for someone to perform with
And don't you know that it's just you, hey Jude, you'll do
The movement you need is on your shoulder
"Do you ever pray to Saint Jude?"
"I haven't before, but I will today!"
"Are we there yet?!"
"Yes, here we are!"
