Jesus said, “Come unto me, for my yoke is easy and my lordship is mild, and you will find repose for yourselves.”
Not I, but Christ in me, accomplishes everything. Of myself, I can do nothing, but the Holy Spirit fulfills and perfects my soul and liberates my spirit. Even the emergence of faith in me and my yearning for the Truth, for union with God, is the operation of Divine Grace. Grace sets me on the path, leads me in the Way, and labors for the advancement of my soul from one holy rung of the Ladder of Lights to the next. On my part, I must only surrender myself in faith, becoming open and sensitive to the Spirit of the Lord, and actively aspire with the power of free will God has given me. Making myself the channel or vehicle of the Christ-Spirit in this way, it is the power of the Holy Spirit that accomplishes the great work within and through me. This is the yoga of Christ, the yoga of Divine Grace.
How could I not give thanks and praise the Lord for his grace and mercy? The holy spark having been ignited, and faith and righteousness conceived in a virgin birth, surely holy awe and wonder lead the soul, reborn in the Spirit of the Messiah, to thanksgiving and praise. This very act of sacred awareness is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit leading the soul in ascent to the next rung above. In this way, every development coming from within is the operation of the Holy Spirit elevating the soul yet higher, and so the path to enlightenment unfolds in the yoga of Christ. God is gracious and compassionate, Rachum Ve-Hanun! Praise the Lord!
There are many rungs upon which souls stand, some higher and some lower. Not every soul is able to attain perfect devekut—that is to say, to attain the highest rung on the Ladder of Lights and so cleave to the Lord our God directly. Therefore, there must be a mediation between God and humanity, between heaven and earth. For this reason, God sends the Spirit of the Messiah into the world and ordains prophets, apostles, saints, and sages, so that something of God’s Word and Wisdom might reach the souls upon every rung. By cleaving to the person of a holy tzaddik or maggid who cleaves directly unto the Lord, a soul also might be elevated with the holy man or woman and united to the Lord God above.
Indeed, something of heaven is brought down on earth through the person of the holy apostle, and likewise, something of earth is raised up into heaven to repose. In the person of a tzaddik or maggid, God in some way takes on a name and form and becomes a holy person so that the people might have some link or connection directly with him. Through the person of the prophets, apostles, saints, and sages, God establishes an intimate personal relationship with us, if only we are able to recognize, accept, and draw near to the Spirit of God manifest in the holy tzaddik.
Now, it is true that the holy man or woman could more easily live in seclusion and abide continually in the communion of the higher rung to which his or her soul has attained. There are certainly those adepts who choose to do this, and that is well and good. Yet there is a greater good the masters know and serve—the Will of God who is merciful and compassionate and who reaches out to the living souls of his Creation, the children of her womb. Reaching ever higher upon the Ladder of Lights, love and compassion dawn and the illusion of personal salvation for oneself alone naturally falls away. So the holy souls of the tzaddikim and maggidim have the impulse to descend from their lofty rungs to come among the people of God, seeking to make a connection with them, to minister to them and elevate them, and to win the freedom of their souls in the Spirit of the Messiah. Ascending, they descend to bring others in ascent into perfect repose in God. For one who cleaves unto a holy one, a prophet or apostle of God, a saint or a sage, it is as though one cleaves and unites oneself directly with God. This is the mystery of true discipleship in the Spirit, and we are invited into it.
As we learn in the verse that follows this one in the Gospel of St. Thomas, we must come to recognize the holy Shekinah resting upon the tzaddik or maggid who is to be our spiritual guide and guardian. You cannot ask a spiritual master if they are a spiritual master and expect them to say, “Yes, dear child, I am a spiritual master.” Spiritual humility, which is a central part of the constitution of an authentic adept or master, does not allow them to answer such a question. Rather, they will hide themselves and direct your attention to God, knowing your own capacity to recognize who and what they are in the Spirit is the awakening of that same Spirit of enlightenment within you. It is the Holy Spirit that will answer your question if you are willing to look and see and listen and hear, and to cultivate spiritual humility within yourself. Only through a recognition and love of the holy tzaddik born within ourselves, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, can we cleave unto the tzaddik and fully receive teachings and initiation from him or her.
Becoming a disciple, we must surrender ourselves to the spiritual and moral guidance of the tzaddik. The spiritual teacher and guide, our holy tzaddik, will not place on us too great a burden. Rather, he or she will seek to guide us from the rung upon which we presently stand in a gradual and gentle way toward the next rung in our own ascent. They will ask us to do whatever we can do for ourselves. When we reach the limit of our capacity, they will reach out and help us. To guide and to protect is their mission among the people, to bridge the gap between God and the people, between heaven and earth, and so fulfill the Will of God in creation. We also are called to this Divine labor to the extent of our own capacity, like the holy tzaddik or maggid, to become a conscious channel or vehicle of the Divine presence and power, the holy Shekinah.
Understand that, ultimately, there is no separation between the holy tzaddik and his or her companions. The tzaddik is a disciple and companion of the Holy Spirit, as is every companion in the mystical Body of Christ, the interior church. He or she is fully human, striving and struggling for conscious evolution like everyone else, learning through trial and error. He or she is not to hold him or herself in seclusion or in separation from the people, but rather to be a person among the people of God, the faithful and elect, reaching out to the souls of the righteous and wicked, alike. The tzaddik is a Holy Light that must shine and illuminate the world, and as the Master has previously taught, so also are we. Hence, we come to understand the perfect Master himself, and all of the holy ones, as the image and reflection of our own inner and Divine self. In cleaving to them, we come to cleave to that Christ-self within us and to draw out something of that Light and Life. In so doing, we discover a spiritual life that is effortless and a true and lasting repose or peace.