'Ye Are Gods'

Excerpts from The Second Coming of Christ by Paramahansa Yogananda

All Souls are Made in the Pure Image of God

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, I said, "Ye are gods'"?
(John 10:34)

When Jesus quotes the scripture that "ye are gods," he signifies that all souls are made in the pure image of God, the Father. If one hundred people are basking under the sun, ten with their eyes wide open and ninety with their eyes closed, all are revealed by the sun. But the ninety who have their eyes closed see neither the sun nor themselves as do the ten whose eyes are open. Similarly, souls with open eyes of wisdom behold themselves as emanations of God, while others, even though they too are "children of the Most High," do not realize it because their eyes of wisdom are closed. Thus, although the scripture says of all humans "ye are gods," there is a difference of perception among them according to the degree of their Self-realization.

Jesus, who had fully realized Spirit as manifested within him, did not speak of his human nature as God, so there was no blasphemy in his saying, "I and my Father are one." Persons identified with their human egoity lack that realization; even though they are potential gods, they have no actual perception of the presence of God within themselves. Jesus never said: "I am God," but by his divine works he manifested the realization that his consciousness, having emanated from God, was one with Him. (The Second Coming of Christ p.1020)