Abha Father
Light is a recurring theme throughout Iesous’ teaching. Mari of Magadha was Iesous’ foremost disciple. She followed him through India, where they met, to the West. She spent more time with him than any other human being. They had a very special relationship, so much so that she was referred to by others as “the beloved disciple”. This nick-name was not always said in purity. It is widely written by several observers that Peter, for one, had issues with Mari and was set against her presence among the closest disciples of Iesous. After the crucifixion, Mari was called on to write an account of Iesous’ work among the people of Judea. She wrote under the name of The Beloved Disciple. Some say she did this because the world was not prepared for a book written by a female, some say it was because she was an Indian and her background was blotched (because of working as a child sex slave). There must have been some truth in the argument because by the time that the New Testament was compiled, her book was included under the authorship of a man named John. Nevertheless, Mari’s account of Iesous’ teaching emphasises the theme of Light.
About twenty two years after the crucifixion, Paul could write to Timothy about god our spiritual father, saying, “He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen” (1 Tim 6:16), and again in the late New Testament book of 1 John Amitābha is described, “This then is the message that we have heard from him (Iesous) and declare to you: that god is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”
Iesous taught that the light is from the awakened 5th chakra, the first spiritual chakra which lies above the highest soul chakra, soul-mind, the heart chakra. When the heart chakra abounds with compassion and love, the Vishuddha chakra comes alive and one’s spirit starts to grow. It has white light, the nectar of wisdom. The nectar “drips” down into the soul from time to time and enlightens the soul. The Light of wisdom makes clear many supernatural things and spiritual awareness develops. Light is therefore light on the path. Mari writes in John 8:12 how Iesous said, “I am the lightof the world. If you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light.” Again in John 12:36, “While you have light, believe in the light, that you may become the children of light."
On occasion, during what was perhaps the most trying time in Iesous’ ministry on Earth (Mark 14: 36), He called on the Father as “Abha (or prabha) Father”.
Abha is a Sanskrit word meaning beautiful light, splendour light. It makes sense to us that Iesous would address the King of Heaven, our god, as “Light Father” because the Lord's title Amitabha means Splendorous Everlasting Light. Iesous frequently spoke about being “the light of the world”, and children of the Light vs children of darkness.
Nevertheless, some scholars argue that the disciples who accompanied Iesous on this meditation in Gethsemane were instructed to watch from a distance and therefore may not have heard exactly what Iesous said to the Father. Unlike Iesous and Mari, the Jewish disciples were not schooled in Sanskrit. They may have heard Him saying abhati Father. Abhati is a verb; in which case Iesous would be uttering a plea, asking “Illuminate me Father” as if asking, ‘make the plan clear to me’. This is a good point.
We remember Gethsemane was the one time when Iesous was deeply distressed and uncertain. Before this event, he spent time alone, meditating in the desert about the ministry in Judea which was the most challenging part of his mission. He may have contemplated taking up the title of Messiah that the Jews pushed upon him, he may have been tempted to renew their religion for them as a religious leader. However, what the Father made clear to Iesous was that it would not work; they were a rebellious people hungry for revenge and war. A little later, in Gethsemane, Iesous came upon another plan, one that would revitalize Judaism, and give birth to a reformation sect, Christianity. Was the plan proposed by the Father, or was it Iesous' radical idea? Nevertheless, Iesous had to spend some time to confer with his God, our Heavenly Father.
Abhati could also mean, become visible to me, or, appear to me. There is another option; the Sanskrit noun abhaya can be used to indicate something as a symbol of safety and security. If this was the word Iesous used, he would be saying, “Set my mind at ease Father”, or He may have used it as a title, “Protector Father”.
Officially, Wayism goes with the “Abha Father” explanation, but we don’t think that this is a game changing point that warrants a lot of academic postulation.