Introductory Note
This paper seeks to offer a spiritual and political solution to the issues facing humanity. Both will be needed if humanity is to evolve. The ideas in this paper are just ideas that anyone could use. If implemented, these ideas could bring revolutionary change to the United States. This paper is not about me, but about each of us finding our true Self, or the Christ within, and embodying that essence. Anyone can play this role and do their role. The inner-knowing of the interconnectedness of humanity and universe is what the world needs today. We need to challenge the corruption that has embodied our governments and religious institutions. This paper was inspired by the Presidential Campaign of Marianne Williamson and the yogic teachings of Sri Paramahansa Yogananda.
Part I: Earth has become Hell
As we look back to the year 2024, the world was on fire. I remember thinking that there needed to be a great spiritual and political awakening in the United States and globally. In 2024 there were continental wars of genocidal proportions, diseases running rampant, poverty stricken populations, corrupt governments and corporations, among other ills plaguing humanity. Political and religious institutions were, in my opinion, corrupt to the core. Both catered to nothing but wanting power for themselves, not the betterment of humanity. Our government refused to pass people friendly legislation such as: universal healthcare; additional child tax credits; uniform basic income; and others, but had all the money in the world for endless wars and nation building overseas. Likewise, religious institutions were hoarding wealth and not feeding the poor and homeless. Both these institutions were stuck in a classic egoic consciousness that saw everyone and everything as separate from themselves. These institutions were only interested in preserving the status quo.
I remember thinking that things needed to change. We needed a revival of Unity Consciousness where people saw others as another version of themselves. Humanity needed to awaken to the interconnectedness of all things. The world as humanity knew it was a literal hellscape for many humans, animals, and plants. That is how I saw the state of the world. With the birth of my daughter in December 2023, I knew things had to change for not only the sake of her future, but also the future of all the children of the world. The children deserve a world where there is no: poverty; homelessness; sickness; debts; and wars. Radical change was needed. Both political and religious institutions needed to be challenged in the United States. While things were extremely hellish, I truly believed that we could bring heaven to Earth. There was but one way to bring about systemic change for the Earth: starting a spiritual and political movement that demanded change and implemented it from the bottom up.
This would be a movement that led by example. A great awakening was coming to the United States and it was going to bring the ancient Hindu teaching of God-Realization to the masses. I knew that we were the creators of our own lives and we needed to remember that we as individuals hold the power, not the church or the government. Collectively, I knew acting as One, we could change the world. The following pages describe how we did it.
Part II: Advaita Vedanta
To understand how this movement started, you must first understand my spiritual philosophy. I realize that God Alone is Real and that each of us are an expression or incarnation of God, but we just may not realize it yet. We are each divine and a vessel for God. God’s names are infinite in nature. Even now, Jesus or God is within us. We are Jesus and Jesus is us. Saying that God is within us or that we are God is not heresy, but is a truth as taught by all mystical religions. For the sake of space, Advaita Vedanta will be explained briefly. In this branch of Hinduism, it is taught that God Alone is Real and that God is our True Self. Our Soul and God’s Being are the same. There is a difference between belief and realization. Belief is hoping that something is true, but not being sure about it. Realization is knowing with your being that something is true.
With realization, you have had a direct experience of God and have realized the interconnectedness of all things. You realize that you exist in every other person and they exist in you. You are All made One in God. In this realization, you have lost your sense of separateness and see all of humanity as your family since you realize the interconnectedness of life. In Advaita Vedanta, there is no one chosen religious figure or people. All great spiritual and religious leaders, including Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, Krishna, and others are recognized as Divine Beings. All people are recognized as being the literal children of God. All true religions have a form of the golden rule, which we as a society need to strive to live by. While historically speaking God-Realized teachers have come from India or the East, it was time for one to come from America. Looking back to 2024, I decided that the United States needed a spiritual and political revitalization that taught and spread God-Realization.
Part III: God-Realization
Before things started to change for the better, I had but one goal: bringing God-Realization to humanity. I wanted people to see and realize the Divine in themselves. I knew that once this inner-realization happened, individuals would see the Divine everywhere else too. They would see the Divine within and without, in all things. The United States needed a teacher who not only taught the interconnectedness of life and the value of all other human beings, but also the importance of living a simple life. I knew he could wake up these inner truths in humanity by challenging the religious and political institutions of the day. I knew society could be changed and if it was going to change, it would take a grassroots effort. However, that grassroot effort was going to require a leader. This was a call that I did not want to answer, but I knew if I did not answer the call, no one else would either. I had the realization that I was not only going to have to run for political office, but also use that platform to spread God-Realization.
Part IV: Running for Office
This would not be the first time that I ran for office. At an earlier part of my life, I had been active in the South Carolina Republican Party and ran for the State House of Representatives. In this campaign, I pushed three points: term limits for state senators and representatives; income disclosures so we know who pays our lawmakers; and eliminating sales tax exemptions in the state. In South Carolina, certain industries pay and collect no sales tax, which is not fair to other industries and costs the state millions in lost revenue yearly. This is money that could be used for healthcare, education, and other social programs. At 22 years old, I garnered nearly a quarter of the vote in a primary against an incumbent who had been in the legislature nearly as long as I had been alive. While I shed my involvement with the Republican Party after this election, I still held these policy positions, even 12 years later.
This next election was going to be different though. I was going to have to run for the US House, US Senate or SC Governor, not a local election like before. One of these offices would bring me a platform to spread God-Realization on a level currently unseen in American life. I knew I could use this platform to spread his message. While I kept the initial policy positions, I also added more to my policy initiatives. This time I would additionally be pushing for: universal healthcare; uniform basic income; universal affordable housing; universal student loan debt cancellation; consumer debt reform; ending wars and the military industrial complex; and instituting the green new deal. I believed that these progressive policies will help the citizens of the United States live a better life. For space reasons of this paper, these policies cannot be expanded upon at this point unfortunately. Additionally, I believed that these are positions that historical Jesus would believe in too. I knew I was in good company.
I would be running for office with a populist message of helping the working class and the poor. All of these programs would positively impact the lives of the working class and the poor. The programs would be funded by taxing the ultra-wealthy and ending the military industrial complex that has taken hold. Historical Jesus, it can be argued, would support helping the poor and working class with these policy initiatives. I announced an exploratory committee to decide which high office he will seek. I ultimately decided on challenging Senator Lindsey Graham in the Republican Primary. This wasn’t the first time I challenged the Senator. When I was involved in politics a decade earlier, I actually challenged him at a local televised campaign event in South Carolina. I wasn’t afraid to take on the establishment. Anyway, by this point in the story the campaign had started. Since the announcement of my campaign, I had been attending rallies, breakfast meetings, challenging the establishment, and making TV appearances, just like in my primary campaign 12 years earlier. Now it was time to make it spiritual.
Part V: The Second Coming of Jesus
The Christian faith has been waiting for the return of Jesus now for two thousand years. When Jesus comes again, He will come as a God-Realized Being who teaches Advaita Vedanta, or Dharma, the Eternal Truth. In Hindu temples and ashrams all across the world, there are pictures of Jesus and Krishna hanging beside each other. Sri Paramahansa RamaKrishna, who is considered an Avatar of God in Advaita Vedanta, taught that the same Avatar or Incarnation of God came once as Krishna and later came as Jesus. Ultimately though, each of us is an Avatar or Incarnation of God since God Alone Exists. We just need to Realize this Truth. In Hinduism, many spiritual and religious teachers take on the name of God as their own name. They proudly wear the names of Rama, Shiva, Krishna, Chaitanya, and others. These are all names of God. Now, it was time for a Hindu God-Realized Being to wear the name of Jesus. Remember, in Advaita Vedanta, Jesus is a recognized God, just like Krishna or Shiva.
But how was I going to wear the name of Jesus as my own name? How would this transformation happen? I couldn’t after all just name myself Jesus. It’s a Hindu tradition that one’s Guru gives each disciple a new name. This whole transformation would certainly need to be a spectacle. I was running for high office and about to announce I’m the reincarnation of Jesus. That is going to get attention: both good and bad. Based on my previous campaign, people are going to either love or hate me, that’s for sure. While I am an Advaita Vedantist through and through, I also had ties to other religions. On my father’s side, the entire family is Mormon. Mormonism is an American religion that was started in the 1800s by the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Prophet teaches we are in the latter days of Jesus’ return to Earth. Ironically enough, you can be Hindu and still practice other religions. So you can be a Hindu Mormon. This is where the story takes an unsurprising term. In Hinduism spiritual teachers take on the name of God as their own name. Likewise, when one is baptized into the Mormon Church, one takes on the name of Jesus Christ as one’s own name. This was put into place by the Prophet Joseph Smith over two-hundred years ago.
While running for office, I looked like a regular guy. I never dressed up. I wore jeans and a beanie. I also had a long brown beard. At this point in time, I owned a small regenerative homestead and produced food for myself and family and sold the surplus. My campaign needed some attention. At this point I announced that I was joining the Mormon Church after meeting with the Church’s missionaries. On the day of my baptism, the media was present as they have found the campaign to be interesting to report on. In Mormon baptisms, there is a complete submergence in water and the person being baptized wears a white rob.
Unbeknownst to anyone, this was part of the plan. I was not only about to be baptized in the name of Jesus, but when I came up from the water, I would no longer be wearing a beanie. When I emerged from the water, I looked like the image of Jesus Christ that the Mormon Church has depicted: long brown hair, with a beard, and a white robe. At this point, I was also in his mid thirties. In front of the church, family, political supporters, and the media I announced that I had taken on the name of Jesus Christ as instructed by his Prophet Joseph Smith. I also announced that I am the Second Coming of Jesus. Remember though, in my theology there is only Jesus, so this isn’t about me being God and others not being God. This about waking up humanity to its inherent divinity. Even you reading this essay now are Jesus or God, you just may not realize it yet.
Remember though, this is a political campaign and a spiritual movement meshed into one, so there has to be some sort of spectacle from time to time. This event went viral on Tiktok and other social media. I was a political candidate that has been making news calling for progressive reforms and had just announced that I was Jesus. I was also running as a Republican, even though I had progressive policies. At this point in time, the Mormon Church had some bad policies. At my baptism, I called on the Church recognize and perform gay marriages, ordain women to the priesthood, and to spend its hoarded wealth of 100 billion dollars on helping the poor. I also called for taxing all profits that churches generate to help feed and house the poor in the United States. Not only had I picked a fight with a career politician, but I was also challenging one of the wealthiest churches in the United States. The media went wild with reporting the event. From this day forth, like other Hindu spiritual leaders before who have worn the name of God, I was going to wear the name of Jesus as my own.
Part VI: The Mantra For Realization
To awaken others, I had a mantra that I planned to share and teach: “All that Is, Is All That Is, and You Are That”. With repetitive contemplation on these words, individuals would awaken to their true nature as Existence Itself. I challenged everyone to reflect on the meaning of these words. Everything would inherently fall into this Being’s nature, even you. This Being is Infinite and expresses Itself as All. While this awakening may not happen all at once, with time and practice anyone can have God-Realization with these words, even in this present lifetime. I knew that God-Realization was the future of humanity and could be attained in the current generation. Realizing that our being and God’s Being as one in the same is not something that is taught in the United States. I was seeking to change that narrative.
Part VII: The Message
At this point, I was going by my new name given to me by the Prophet Joseph Smith: Jesus Christ. I wore this name proudly in hopes of spreading the teachings of God-Realization. If enough people became God-Realized, there would be no more: wars; poverty; hunger; sickness; and division. Humanity would live together as one family and act as stewards of the Earth. Each person would see others as another version of themself. The campaign though was just getting started. Thousands of people were attending these political rallies. People were curious about what was happening.
I continued to look the part of a spiritual teacher wearing a white robe and having my hair down when doing campaign events. The campaign events featured discourses on the following topics: The Sermon on the Mount; Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself; Feeding and Clothing the Poor; Welcoming the Immigrant; and Realizing Your Own Inherent Divinity with God Now; among others. There were public meditation sessions as well. People were interested in this message of historical Jesus being offered in modern times. I was challenging the Trumpism of the Republican Party and called it for what it was: The Antichrist. I cited the New Testament and asked how people can support Trumpism and claim to be a Christian? People did not know what to do. They were forced to look at their shadow and make a choice about who they were. They could either follow the teachings of Jesus or Trump, but not both. This was a fight for the Soul of Humanity. The stakes could not have been higher.
I remember this time vividly. On the campaign trail things were heating up. At one press conference to show solidarity with those saddled with consumer debt, I announced that I would be intentionally defaulting on all debt and rent payments. This was done to send a message about who has the power: the people. I called for my political and spiritual supporters who had consumer debt and rent payments to intentionally default on their debt and rent as a way to change the system. I explained that if enough of us did it, the system would be changed by our actions. Congress would be forced to offer mass cancellations and change the system. This concept of debt cancellation was also inline with the great debt jubilee of the Old Testament where debts were entirely canceled every several years.
I remember this press conference going viral. People started following the call to intentionally default and withhold rent. I said that: “This is a truly people powered movement.” I called on other reforms to be passed by Congress or the people can act themselves. The United States needed rent controls, higher wages, and taxes on the ultra wealthy. I called for these protests to be done peacefully. We could change the system by our own actions. We had the power to do this. People started remembering this. People were realizing they were God in human form and were the creators of their own lifes. They did not need a politician to save them. They could save themselves, when they acted in solidarity.
Part VIII: The Future of the Movement
The new awakening of God-Realization took hold and spread like wildfire all across the United States. People were realizing their inherent divinity and the divinity of others too. In truth, though, they realized that God or Jesus was Alone Real. Jesus was here the whole time, only they didn’t know it. Jesus was their own Being. But now people were awakened to this truth. In realizing this truth within, I taught that people should follow their passions and happiness. It has been said that happiness is the path. In finding our true self or God, happiness will lead to God-Realization. These passions that people have are what will fix society. Great works of art, literature, advances in medicine and science all come from people pursuing their inner-talents and passions.
By this point, I remember that more and more God-Realized Beings had decided to run for office. In fact there was a God-Realized Being running for every seat in the US Congress. The movement continued to grow, but there was some pushback by the powers that be. Those powers threw everything they had at this movement, but to avail. Once someone realizes God, there is no going back to smaller identities. That is the beauty of God-Realization, it is a direct experience of your own: power; inherent divinity; and creativity. No one can take that from you and you will never lose it. It has always been there waiting to be unveiled.
Regarding my campaign for the US Senate, I ultimately lost this election, but it was never about winning political office. It was about awakening society to its inherent divinity. A new consciousness had dawned on humanity and a new horizon was clearly visible. People were wanting to connect to their creativity and live peaceful lives. Small communities started popping up all over the world where God-Realization was taught to the next generation. People were growing their own food and giving the surplus away. Backyard chickens and gardens had become the norm.
This was the turning point. People all across the world started to wake up and realize that the divinity that they worshiped outside of themselves actually existed in them and everything else. Divinity goes by many different names in different cultures: Jesus; Shiva; Allah; Dao; Chaitanya, Buddha, or Krishna to name a few. But they are all names of the One Being that makes up All That Is. That Being, is our Being too, even now. I remember thinking that God-Realization was the future of humanity and I was correct. The policy proposals I pushed in my campaign were ultimately adopted as law in the United States, which created a fairer and just society for everyone. God-Realized Beings were now running the government for the betterment of humanity and the Earth. Heaven had come to Earth.
Part IX: Conclusion
Looking back, I am very glad that I answered this call to spread God-Realization. Mixing politics and spirituality was what the United States needed. While I had doubts about this path, it ultimately was the catalyst for societal transformation. Getting the population to realize their inherent Divinity changed the course of human history. Since this movement started, the world has transformed into Heaven. It is now 2050 and the United States has universal healthcare, affordable housing, debt reform, and living wages. Climate change is also under control. There are also no more wars. People worldwide are living in harmony with each other and the Earth.