The single, simple eye and what Tom had to say.

I recently received an email with the following link and a "Well, what do you have to say about this smartypants?" message.
http://ompage.net/Text/singleeye.htm


I didn't want to publish the email because it was rather abusive, however I do think the question itself deserves an answer, so here it is.
First of all I looked up the passage in question, which was found here:
Treasures in Heaven

¹⁹"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 ²²"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. ²³But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
 ²⁴"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206&version=NIV 

It is a discourse on the proper view of money and possessions. 

Ok, so back to the analysis by Mr. Ompage and Yogananda....

"To modern day translators, the single eye makes no sense unless you are a yogi and practice meditation."
http://ompage.net/Text/singleeye.htm 

synophthalmia

Highly advanced yogi with "single eye" 

To the contrary, it makes perfect sense to modern day translators who are not Yogi's and do not meditate. It only makes sense to 'Yogis' as a reference to a "Spiritual eye" because they have taken it out of context.


The Spiritual eye depicted in images of Hindu Gods is a third eye, not a single eye. A single eye would be a cyclops. 
There is no reference to anything like this in the Vedas or Gita that I can find. The only ancient Spiritual text that this appears in is the Christian Bible. So it makes sense to try to understand it within the context that it is written. 

It DOES mean single or simple ("good") and it IS a figurative expression. So everyone agrees on these points.
http://strongsnumbers.com/greek/573.htm


In common Greek usage it means "simple". The text of Mathew was written in Koine Greek, the common language. It was written for the common people, in the language of the people, not formal.

Here is a site that illustrates why taking a few translated words from a religious text out of context, leads to strange fundamental practices.
WHY WE SHOULD NOT TAKE A FEW TRANSLATED WORDS OUT OF CONTEXT 

I asked my friend Tom to translate this Bible passage from Greek for me. In this passage Jesus is giving a lecture (to a large audience) on how to keep a proper attitude toward money. If you were to go with Yogananda's interpretation (Did Yogananda speak Koine Greek?) then in the middle of talking about money, Jesus suddenly makes a statement about the spiritual eye (having learned about it from Babaji  while on a super secret trek to India) and then goes right back to talking about money again. According to Tom the meaning is to have an eye for the simple things, good things, healthy things. So as to not lay up your Treasure on Earth but in Heaven. In this discourse Jesus is apparently quoting Ben Sirach from the Apocrypha (not the Gita or Vedas). 


http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/30-sirach-nets.pdf 



Laying up Treasures to the most high was another figurative phrase commonly used by the Jewish people of this time. So the "single eye' and 'Treasures in Heaven' were catch phrases. Sound bites. Kind of like "a stitch in time saves nine".  Jesus gives no additional explanation because no additional explanation would have been necessary. Everyone knew what he was talking about. He was talking about charity and simplicity. 


The eye as a lamp is paralleled in Luke and Matthew to mean generosity and simplicity. A Jewish man at the time of Jesus would have translated Proverbs 10:2  as "The treasures of the wicked are of no benefit, but the righteousness (tsedakah) rescues from death". Tsedakah meant alm giving. Charity.


Using your resources not for luxury (like mansions and swanky cars) but for helping others in need....


Ok, well, so much for Yogananda's analysis. 


(Thanks for the help Tom.)


Peace and Best Wishes,
Katie (AKA 'Smartypants')