Carry Your Own Cross

 "Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. - Matthew 10:38"

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Every religion has many symbols. Symbolism and mysticism are a fundamental part of every religion. A symbol has a deep-rooted message to teach: "the cross" in Christianity, "om" in Hinduism, "the wheel" in Buddhism and the "crescent moon and star" in Islam. These symbols teach the followers of different religious paths how to perceive truth, reality and soul.

There might be many meanings of the cross as per many scriptures. I just came across one, and I was intrigued by the meaning of the cross in Christianity. I truly loved understanding it.

Jesus urged his followers to deny themselves, to take up their crosses and follow him, long before he was crucified. This is his greatest teaching of mankind, and the real meaning of the cross.

Jesus was an enlightened master. Jesus taught his followers to be free from EGO by denying their 'SELF'.

"Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.": Means remove your ego and follow the God towards the journey of enlightenment.

The real meaning of the cross is to cross out the ego. Ego (I) blocks the door to truth, understanding and knowledge.

In the cross, there are two bars, the first is vertical and the other is horizontal. The long vertical bar is the symbol of ego, and the horizontal bar is hidden message to eliminate ego. Only by crushing ego can we follow the teachings of Jesus.

In my thought process, I understood it this way:

I trekked to Mount Everest Base Camp, the base camp of the highest mountain on Earth. Here, I was showing my pride that I had reached there. However, the fact is that I didn’t reach there alone, yet I was showing that I did it by myself. This is the vertical bar in the Cross.

Now, I will put it this way, “I trekked to Mount Everest Base Camp with my team of 20 people, led by Lt Col. Romel Barthwal, and we reached successfully with God’s grace.”

Here, I am humble, and I have crossed my ego (I) by giving due respect to the team and my leader. This is the horizontal bar in the cross which I crossed + with my humility.



Disclaimer: Example written here is entirely the point of view of my understanding of the concept.

Book reference: The Torah, the Bible and Kriya Yoga by Paramahamsa Prajnanananda