The New Heaven and the New Earth

On a macrocosmic level the enlightened humankind will live in the Reality of the New Heaven and the New Earth.  According to the prophecies in many of the Holy Scriptures of the world religions this reality comes after the resurrection from the dead and the day of Judgment. When humankind chooses the positive, creative, life-supporting Divine path of evolution, it will be able to hatch from the restricted earthly consciousness and begin its return to the Kingdom of God.  In a similar way to the grain of wheat which sprouts within the earth and pushes up into a new world above the soil, the enlightened consciousness of human beings will transcend its perceptions of the physical universe and will penetrate into the higher spiritual worlds.  Human beings will change their understanding of Creation and will comprehend it as an enormously vast, multi-dimensional spiritual Universe – a tremendously rich world of spiritual realities within new dynamic spatio-temporal co-ordinates where the physical dimensions of our world are only a special case.  Then the whole of Creation will appear like an ocean of Divine Consciousness, Light, Love, Music, Sacred Words and archetypal Thought-forms, inhabited by the myriads of light beings of the celestial hierarchy.

Of course, the physical Earth will remain as it is, but for the consciousness enlightened by the Divine Truth of Creation it will melt into a cosmic sea of spiritual energies.  This is why St. John saw a great white throne and the one who sits on it that is, God Himself shining from the zenith of the Universe), and a new metaphysics of Creation in which earth and heaven fled from his presence and were seen no more.

We can find a poetic expression of this transfiguration of our consciousness in Yogananda's book Metaphysical Meditations: "When you find that your soul, your heart, every wisp of inspiration, every speck of the vast blue sky and its shining star-blossoms, the mountains, the earth, the whippoorwill, and the bluebells are all tied together with one cord of rhythm, one cord of joy, one cord of unity, one cord of Spirit, then you shall know that all are but waves in His cosmic sea." (Paramanahsa Yogananda, Metaphysical Meditations, p.36)

In the legendary Surangama Sutra we find another inspiring poetic vision of illuminated consciousness contemplating the process of the transfiguration of the Earth. At first, "the waters and waves of brooks and streams were singing the music of the Dharma".   This is the stage of awareness when the Earth is comprehended on the astral level – the second, celestial level of the three-fold structure of the Universe. "Then, all the differentiations of mountains and waters and rocks and plants, and all that makes up our common world, blended into one another and faded away, leaving only the indescribable experience of primordial unity." This higher state of consciousness corresponds to the perception of the Earth on the causal level – the third level in the three-fold structure of the Universe.  And finally, "even this indescribable experience fades away into silence" – that is the enlightened consciousness reaches the state of nirvana and dissolves the whole of Creation into the Great Void. (See Lama Anagarika Govinda, The Way of the White Clouds, p.10.)

Therefore, our comprehension and understanding of the Earth depends on our state of consciousness.  When we open our eyes to the celestial world, we can contemplate the Earth as a beautiful 'astral planet'.  Then, for us, the Earth will appear as a living celestial Being with its own planetary Soul (a part of the Universal Soul) and with a planetary Spirit – the planetary Divine Logos – who leads the evolution of the Earth.  The Earth, as a celestial Being, has spiritual centres (chakras) and a very rich and well-developed structure of lay-lines of circulating energy which corresponds to the nervous system in the human body.

When we ascend to the Highest Divine World, we will understand the Earth as the projection of the Heavenly Jerusalem.  The Earth will be appreciated as a majestic Divine Temple in the centre of which a gigantic cosmic-spiritual Cross of life is present.  This is the Cross of immortal life which the Living God activates in the Reality of the New Heaven and the New Earth. The vertical axis of this Cross is a huge column of Light, filling the whole space and representing the vertical structure of the Universe.  The horizontal axis of the Cross (actually a horizontal circular plane filling the entire cosmic-spiritual space) is the celestial reality of the Kingdom of God with its many mansions, including all the different spiritual worlds revealed by the world religions.  Above the horizontal axis is the Throne of God with the "One sitting upon it". The walls of this gigantic, etheric Temple are living Light which shines with all the colours of the Rainbow, exposing the presence of myriads of light beings, angels, archangels and many others.  All the kingdoms of life on Earth – the mineral, plant, animal and human – are present within the Temple. This Temple of Life, in which Divine Light, Love, Unity, Harmony, Wisdom and Truth are manifested, is the New Earth in the highest Divine world.

Therefore, the new Earth for us will be enlivened by radiantly bright spiritual colours and will become first a Garden of Paradise, a wonderful "astral" planet, and after this it will appear as a Divine Temple in the Kingdom of God where there are many mansions.  On the new Earth we will live as cosmic-spiritual beings and we will be mediators between Heaven and Earth for the spiritual elevation of the whole planet with all kingdoms of life on it.  Thus, we will fulfil our predestined function on Earth as Divine Mediators (Divine Messengers). For this purpose, we will be in direct contact with the Divine Masters as the living Light – they will be both within our souls and before our spiritual gaze. This is the reality of the New Earth and in this reality, we will become new beings – Sons and Daughters of the Divine Father-Mother. Thus, we will live as God's people on sacred Earth.

As to the "sky" above this sacred earth, the Lord God Himself, the Ultimate Truth, will shine as an eternal cosmic spiritual sun which never sets.  In it we could see the images of all our beloved Masters and manifestations of the Divine Feminine in celestial transfigured bodies shining in great glory, love and power.  Their radiation will contain all colours of the Divine Rainbow and will reveal the beauty of the Highest Divine World – the result of their common inspired co-creative work with God.

This is why after the apocalyptic events of Resurrection and Judgment St. John sees "The New Heaven and the New Earth, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared and ready, like a bride dressed to meet her husband." (Revelation 21: 1-2)

A mystical key to the Reality of the New Heaven we could find in the same legendary Surangama Sutra. Expecting the coming of the Enlightened One, Maitreya-Buddha, Tomo Geshe Rimpoche had a staggering vision:

"The Blessed Lord, sitting upon the throne in the midst of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas from all the ten quarters of the universe, manifested his transcendental glory, surpassing them all.  From his hands and feet and body radiated supernal beams of light that rested upon the crown of each Buddha and Bodhisattva assembled here.
And equally from the hands and feet and bodies of all those Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten quarters of the universe went forth rays of glorious brightness that converged upon the crown of the Lord Buddha, and upon the crowns of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and Saints present." (Lama Anagarika Govinda, The Way of the White Clouds, p.10.)

This is the amazingly majestic Buddhist Mandala, which reveals the mystery of Creation from the Buddhist point of view.  Now in the light of the new Creative Act from the Lord, we could imagine the One Who sits on the Throne, the cosmic-spiritual Sun of the universe, radiating with transcendental glory.  From the twelve mythological directions, i.e. the Temples in the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Divine Masters of humankind – Krishna, Hermes, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Lao Tze, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, the Master Beinsa Douno and others – shine with great Divine light that merges with the crown of the One Who sits on the throne. The celestial images of the Divine Masters appearing at the twelve gates of the Holy City are emanations from the cosmic-spiritual Sun at the centre of the Universe, from the One Who sits on the Throne. At the same time each one of them reflects the light of all the others in accordance with his own image and spiritual essence.  This leads to an illumination about the glorious appearance of all the Divine Masters simultaneously from the Centre of the New Jerusalem.  
Radiating from the Divine Centre of Creation as images of the Living God, they reflect the essence of each other, keeping however their own unique identity. The Divine Masters, together with their Feminine counterparts, are surrounded by the souls of many enlightened followers – the Bodhisattvas in Buddhism, the Prophets in Judaism, the Apostles and Saints in Christianity, the Gnostics in Islam.  The Light emanating from the Divine Masters opens widely the gates of initiation into the ultimate reality.

So, the New Heaven is the integral light of all the Divine Masters, all personifications of the Divine Feminine and all initiates, connected with them, which radiates from the "One, Who sits on the Throne" as from a colossal cosmic-spiritual Sun, enlightening the New Reality.  In a similar way as the Sun is at the base of all life on Earth, thus the Light, Love, Wisdom and Truth of this cosmic-spiritual Sun is at the base of the co-creative life of the enlightened humankind:

"The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 22: 3-5)

If we imagine the New Heaven, the New Earth and the New humankind as emanating from "the One who sits on the Throne and makes all things new", then in sacred feelings, appreciation and trembling we could contemplate the Divine Tree of Life revealing the majestic Truth about God, Creation and the human being.  The roots of this tree will be in the Highest Divine World, the Absolute Origin of Being, the trunk will go through the whole vertical structure of Creation, and the crown will blossom in the earthly physical world testifying to the Divinity of everything which has been created!

Of course, the Tree of Life with roots on Earth and crown in the Highest Divine World and the Tree of Life with roots in the Highest Divine World and crown on Earth are only two different "points of view " (earthly and celestial) of the great Tree of Life – revealing the absolute truth about God, Creation and the human being.  The essence is one and the same – it is the Lord God Almighty Who was, Who is and Who is to come!

The ultimate experience of this great Divine Truth is the Testament of Truth: "Our Lord and God! You are worthy to receive glory, honour, and power. For you created all things, and by your will they were given existence and life." (Revelation 4: 11)