The image of the Grail was so spectacular that as from then on several of Arthur’s knights vowed to seek after the Grail. What happened at Pentecost with Arthur and with the Disciples of Jesus is always so at Pentecost. It is when the Holy Grail sends out Power to the whole of Creation for its renewal and rebirth. This is an event which always recurs every year at this period and that was why the Grail made its appearance because this power comes from It as has been explained.

The gathering of the disciples coincided with the day of the Pentecost and being open spiritually, they experienced the rapture, which is always connected with the Grail. And this rapture is already explained in the legends themselves in that the knights are always held in rapture whenever the Grail dispenses its blessings. The reason is that the human spirits at such moments receive of the Power of God as dispensed through the Holy Grail and the effect of this Power on the human spirit borders on the miraculous. The disciples therefore, experienced the effects of the Power of the Grail on themselves. This is however, not the fulfilment that Jesus meant by His prediction concerning the Holy Spirit. This was obviously not a personal fulfilment, as one would be forced to conclude if these words were critically examined.

Jesus however, went further in John 14:30 “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me.” What did Jesus mean by this statement. Who is the ruler of the world? From what we have been discussing so far the answer to this question would be obvious. The Holy Spirit is the ruler of this world. He is ruler simply because He is the Creative Will of God. He is that Part of the Holy Trinity whose responsibility it is to guide and maintain the Creations.

In maintaining and guiding however, He rules. Jesus goes further to say that this ruler has no power over him. This means that this Ruler of the world and Jesus are equals. They are both Parts of the Holy Trinity, both Sons of God and as such they are equal. Nobody else can be an equal to Jesus apart from the Holy Spirit. And then He says that this Ruler is coming. This other Part of the Trinity is coming. This Spirit of God will be sent to teach us all things and will be sent in the name of Jesus. All this goes to confirm what has been said concerning the Holy Spirit or Parsifal. Jesus went further and said that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and will bring to our remembrance all that He had said to us. From this it looks like a personal fulfilment is involved here. Somebody has to come to bring Christ’s teachings to our remembrance. Jesus also called Him a Counsellor.

A Counsellor obviously cannot be some form of amorphous power. Properly considered a Counsellor has to come personally and counsel. He went further in John 15:7-8, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counsellor will not come to you. And when he comes he will reprove the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement.” Jesus Himself has proven that the task of the Holy Spirit is Judgement. Therefore Parsifal is concerned with Judgement, with reproving the world of sin and righteousness. From Jesus’ words Himself one could easily conclude that the task of judging was not going to be administered by Him but by another whose duty it has been right from the beginning to do this.

Parsifal therefore, is the embodiment of the Holy Spirit whose duty it is to administer the Judgement. In His Mission however, of reproving the world of sin, he had to explain to us once more the Message of Christ. This is why Jesus alluded to the Spirit of Truth bringing His Words to our remembrance. Jesus went further in John 16:12-14 “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” This is obviously the promise of the coming of one who will fulfil all these.

This is to be regarded as a prophecy from Jesus of the coming of someone who will come and personally fulfil this prophecy. It is doubtful whether we can conclude that all that Jesus prophesied was fulfilled at Whitsuntide. There was no Judgement, there was no new teaching and the world was not reproved of any sin but on the contrary sins multiplied. All the digressions made here is to try to clarify the issue of why Parsifal found Himself on the plane of Amfortas.

Being the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Truth He was on a general Mission for all the Worlds and being on a Mission of Redemption for all the World and since as Christ prophesied He had to be personally involved in everything, it is then not surprising that He also became personally involved in the Grail story of Amfortas. The reason He became personally involved is already clear from what Christ prophesied as quoted above but is also explained by Wagner in Parsifal (der reine Tor, “durch Mittleid, wissend”) meaning through pity, knowing. Parsifal’s inability initially to understand Amfortas’ problem until he had personally gone through the same experience.

Parsifal had to go through the same ordeal and temptations and experiences like Amfortas for him to be in a position to help. Then the words of Wagner should have been “das reine Tor, durch Erfahrung, Wissen”: the pure Gate through experience, knowledge. It was only through the experiences, which he had to go through that he gained the knowledge to help Amfortas. When he first made his entrance into the Grail castle he did not understand what was going on, he could not understand Amfortas’ pain. After going through all of the experiences however, he was now in a position to help through his knowledge, hence “the pure Gate, through experience, knowledge”.