Accusation of an innocent is a heinous crime. Prosecution of the same causes one's own destruction. Dharma (Righteousness) is accustomed to being traduced. But It cannot be beaten. Those who support Dharma are supported by Dharma. Dharma is invincible.

However, Dharma sometimes swoons before the all-defying violence of vicious pride.

Seesha, or, Adiseesha, is the name of the Primal Serpent (Cobra) Who is the Embodiment of Dharma and upon Whose Thousand-hooded Head the world is supported.

Whenever the Avatar takes Human Birth, Seesha accompanies Him. During the Rama Avatar, Seesha (pronounced Sheesha) took Birth as Lakshmana, Rama's Brother. During the Krishna Avatar, He held His Hood over the Infant Krishna to shield Him from rain. Seesha was discovered under the bed of the Infant Swami Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

Like the cow and the monkey, the cobra is a sacred animal. Each of these is propitiated for a special reason. The cow is honored as the Mother. The monkey (Hanuman Monkey) is honored as God. The cobra is Dharma.

Seesha (Dharma) swoons during the Passion of Christ.

The recoil of the crucifixion of Jesus was the Army of Titus, which took down the Temple of Jerusalem (Jeru -- my god is -- Salem -- the sun) stone by stone and salted the earth where it had stood.

Dharma is invincible. The center of anti-Dharma is religious institutions.

Jesus was severely beaten. Recently, two young adults and a juvenile tortured to death an aged donkey who lived at a city park. They did it for the pleasure they got from inflicting pain and seeing the donkey try to evade their blows. The donkey's suffering, itself, was the thing they sought because they knew it would give them happiness.

Today, many people are like this. They are happy only when others are unhappy and unhappy only when others are happy. The human thing, of course, is to be happy when others are happy and unhappy when they are unhappy. Compassion is the human quality. Incompassion is a dæmonic trait.

A dæmonic trait is a quality of animal nature which resides vestigially in a human being. Traits which are proper in animals because they are an animal's best nature are improper in humans because they are not a human's best nature. Fear, anger, hatred, lust, greed, envy and pride are dæmonic traits. These words and the execrable qualities they indicate do not refer to animal nature. Nor do they refer to human nature. They refer to the condition in which animal nature resides vestigially in a human being.

Animal nature has no execrable qualities. Nor does human nature. But frequently, human nature is adulterated with what is to it the dross of animal nature, and this vestige is execrable.

It is important to understand these subtleties.

Animals do not cause suffering. They follow their Dharma implicitly and never stray beyond their nature. Humans (so-called) veer away from their nature and engage in anti-Dharma. Suffering is unknown in the Universe excepting as humans (so-called) produce it by traducing their nature -- by acting dæmonically, as if they are animals!

Now, what happened to the donkey happened to Jesus. He was given to dæmonic individuals, such as derive pleasure from making others suffer. The more suffering such individuals cause, the happier they become.

Jesus' Body was cracked and broken, covered with huge clots of dried blood, before He carried the cross to the hill. For their own amusement, sadistic individuals compelled Jesus to undergo torture.

The term 'crown of thorns' is misleading. It brings to mind thorny twigs woven into a wreath and placed on the head to cause pain and to make blood run. Actually, the device was considerably more than this. It was a studied instrument, akin to a helmet.

Picture a cloth sack that fits over the head and comes down to the eye brows in front and to the mid-neck in back after covering the ears. Now think of a heavy metal chain sewn into the hem, all around. The chain stands just above the eyes, just below the ears and about mid-neck in back of the head.

The purpose of the chain is to weight the sack. Perhaps 5 to 10 pounds of downward pressure is put on the top of the head by this means.

Now, inside the sack, affixed to its top and sides, are many thorns either actual or made of metal.

You can see what happens. The chain pulls the thorns down into the flesh of the head and even into the skull itself, causing itching, pain and effusion of blood.

The helmet of thorns was an instrument of torture.

Crucifixion is referred to as a method of execution. But it was not that. It was a method of torture. It produced death as a consequence, not as an aim. Its purpose was pleasure derived from inflicting pain. It was liked because it delayed death and prolonged this pleasure.

The cause of death from crucifixion was aprana, asphyxiation: lungs collapsed under the drag of other organs and head bent over under the weight of the helmet. Death did not occur, usually, until several days after hanging.

Sometimes, death was hastened because the subject would get exhausted and go unconscious. Then they weren't much fun. Might as well do them in and get a bite to eat.

The scene is a primal horror, from beginning to end. It has no redemptive value except as an inducement to remove all animal traits from the heart, mind and body. Even so, it induces only those whose spiritual hunger has been ignited by the Hand of a Living Master. For many, it is a paradigm of how the innocent should be treated.

Adwaitha Hermitage
May 1992