It was only by fixing His mind fully and firmly upon what He knew to be His Real Self—­the Spirit Within His soul, and holding His mind “one-pointed” upon the fact—­that He was able to fight the fight and conquer.  Seeing the Truth, He could see the folly and illusion of all that the world had to offer, and He could put forth His mighty Will bidding the Tempter retire from the scene and from His mind.  It was in this full knowledge of His Spirit—­His Real Self—­that He was able to rebuke the Tempter, saying, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy God!” He held fast to His realization of the God Within—­the Spirit that was within Him and all men—­and thus denied out of existence the power of the earth-things—­the illusions of mortality—­the maya of the race.

But not alone this and other weaknesses of man’s mortal nature were constantly besieging the mind of the Master after He had taken upon Himself the Karma of the Earth.  He had also taken upon Himself the mortal life consequent of the human frame which He inhabited.  He must live, suffer and die—­even as all men—­and according to the law of mortality.  And so He moved forward toward the end, knowing fully what lay before Him.  He, a God, had taken upon Himself all these attributes of mortality, in order to be able to perform His work as the Redeemer and Savior of the race.

And so, He lived, and suffered and died—­even as you and I. He drank the cup to the dregs, suffering as only such a finely organized mental nature could suffer.  And, men, poor creatures, speak of His sufferings as terminating with the last breath upon the cross.  Why, they only began there!

For know ye, that Jesus the Christ is still within the race of men, suffering their woes, paying with them their penalty, every day, every hour—­yea, and must remain so throughout the ages, until finally the soul of every man, yea, even that of the last man; the most degraded man in the world, is fully cleansed of the Karmic taint, and thus fully “redeemed” and “saved.”  And within the soul of every man is found the Christ Principle, striving ever to elevate and lift up the individual toward that realization of the Real Self—­and this is what “redemption” and “salvation” really means.  Not a saving from hell-fire, but a saving from the fire of carnality, and mortality.  Not a redemption from imaginary sins, but a redemption from the muck and mire of earth-life.  The God within you is like the fabled Hindu god who descended into the body of a pig and then forgot Himself.  It is to bring you to a realization that you are a god and not a pig, that Jesus, the Master, is working within your soul as the Christ Principle.  Have you never heard His voice, crying from within your soul, “Come out—­come out of your pig-nature and realize the god that you verily are!” It is this “recognition, realization and manifestation of the god within you” that constitutes “salvation” and “redemption.”