Question: Is it possible to distinguish between Jesus the man and what is referred to as the "Christ-Consciousness"?

Sri Chinmoy: The conflict is in the seeker’s mind, not in the seeker’s heart. If you think of the Christ as a human being who lived on earth for thirty-three years, then you are mistaken. If you think of the Christ as the representative of the Absolute Father on earth, birthless and deathless, then you are absolutely right. However, if you feel that the Christ is the only Saviour, again you are making a deplorable mistake. We know that this world has existed for more than two thousand years. Sri Krishna and Lord Buddha both lived more than two thousand years ago. We must realise that the Christ-Consciousness, the Buddha-Consciousness and the Krishna-Consciousness are all manifestations of the same Absolute. The Christ, the Buddha and Sri Krishna are not on isolated planes of consciousness, apart from the Absolute. On the one hand, they represent the Absolute; on the other hand, they are the Absolute. Here on earth they represent the Absolute, but in Heaven they actually are the Absolute. If you have faith in a particular spiritual Master, that Master will help you realise the Absolute, from which the Christ-Consciousness, the Buddha-Consciousness and the Krishna-Consciousness have come. So if you wish to follow our path, I wish to say we are able to take you to the Christ-Consciousness, which is all-pervading and all-illumining, but we are not able to take you to the Jesus-consciousness. If you think of Jesus as the son of Joseph, as a human being like us, that is not the Christ-Consciousness. But if you want the all-illumining and all-fulfilling Christ-Consciousness, it does not matter which path you follow. Whichever path you follow will take you to the one destination, which you can call the Christ-Consciousness, the Buddha-Consciousness or the Krishna-Consciousness. There can be no conflict in Truth. If you really cry for the Truth, you will eventually realise it.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Sri Chinmoy speaks, part 4, Agni Press, 1976
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/scs_4