The
Aquarian Gospel of Jesus,
the Christ of the Piscean Age
transcribed by Levi
H. Dowling
SECTION
V
HE
Childhood and Early Education of Jesus
CHAPTER 16
The home of Joseph.
Mary teaches her son. Jesus'
seventh birthday.
Jesus tells about his dream; his grandmother's interpretation. His birthday gift.
THE
home of Joseph was on Marmion Way in Nazareth; here Mary taught her son the
lessons of Elihu and Salome.
2) And Jesus greatly loved the Vedic hymns and the Avesta; but more than all he
loved to read the Psalms of David and the pungent words of Solomon.
3) The Jewish books of prophecy were his delight; and when he reached his
seventh year he needed not the books to read, for he had fixed in memory every
word.
4) Joachim and his wife, grandparents of child Jesus, made a feast in honor of
the child, and all their near of kin were guests.
5) And Jesus stood before the guests and said,
I had a dream, and in my dream I stood before a
sea, upon a sandy beach.
6) The waves upon the sea were high; a storm was raging on the deep.
7) Someone above gave me a wand. I took the wand and touched the sand, and
every grain of sand became a living thing; the beach was all a mass of beauty
and of song.
8) I touched the waters at my feet, and they were changed to trees, and
flowers, and singing birds, and every thing was praising God.
9) And someone spoke, I did not see the one who spoke, I heard the voice, which
said,
There is no death.
10) Grandmother Anna loved the child; she laid her hand on Jesus' head and
said,
I saw you stand beside the sea; I saw you touch the
sand and waves; I saw them turn to living things and then I knew the meaning of
the dream.
11) The sea of life rolls high; the storms are great. The multitude of men are
idle, listless, waiting, like dead sand upon the beach.
12) Your wand is truth. With this you touch the multitudes, and every man
becomes a messenger of holy light and life.
13) You touch the waves upon the sea of life; their turmoils cease; the very
winds become a song of praise.
14) There is no death, because the wand of truth can change the driest bones to
living things, and bring the loveliest flowers from stagnant ponds, and turn
the most discordant notes to harmony and praise.
15) Joachim said,
My son, today you pass the seventh milestone of your
way of life, for you are seven years of age, and we will give to you, as a
remembrance of this day, whatever you desire; choose that which will afford you
most delight.
16) And Jesus said,
I do not want a gift, for I am satisfied. If I
could make a multitude of children glad upon this day I would be greatly
pleased.
17) Now, there are many hungry boys and girls in Nazareth who would be pleased
to eat with us this feast and share with us the pleasures of this day.
18) The richest gift that you can give to me is your permission to go out and
find these needy ones and bring them here that they may feast with us.
19) Joachim said,
'Tis well; go out and find the needy boys and girls
and bring them here; we will prepare enough for all.
20) And Jesus did not wait; he ran; he entered every dingy hut and cabin
of the town; he did not waste his words; he told his mission everywhere.
21) And in a little time one hundred and three-score of happy, ragged boys and
girls were following him up Marmion Way.
22) The guests made way; the banquet hall was filled with Jesus' guests, and
Jesus and his mother helped to serve.
23) And there was food enough for all, and all were glad; and so the birthday
gift of Jesus was a crown of righteousness.
CHAPTER 17
Jesus talks with the rabbi of the synagogue of
Nazareth.
He criticizes the narrowness of Jewish thought.
NOW,
Rabbi Barachia of the synagogue of Nazareth, was aid to Mary in the teaching of
her son.
2) One morning after service in the synagogue the rabbi said to Jesus as he sat
in silent thought,
Which is the greatest of the Ten Commands?
3) And Jesus said,
I do not see a greatest of the Ten Commands. I see
a golden cord that runs through all the Ten Commands that binds them fast and
makes them one.
4) This cord is love, and it belongs to every word of all the Ten Commands.
5) If one is full of love he can do nothing else than worship God; for God is
love.
6) If one is full of love, he cannot kill; he cannot falsely testify; he cannot
covet; can do naught but honor God and man.
7) If one is full of love he does not need commands of any kind.
8) And Rabbi Barachia said,
Your words are seasoned with the salt of wisdom that
is from above. Who is the teacher who has opened up this truth to you?
9) And Jesus said,
I do not know that any teacher opened up this truth
for me. It seems to me that truth was never shut; that it was always opened up,
for truth is one and it is everywhere.
10) And if we open up the windows of our minds the truth will enter in and make
herself at home; for truth can find her way through any crevice, any window,
any open door.
11) The rabbi said,
What hand is strong enough to open up the windows and
the doors of mind so truth can enter in?
12) And Jesus said,
It seems to me that love, the golden cord that
binds the Ten Commands in one, is strong enough to open any human door so that
the truth can enter in and cause the heart to understand.
13) Now, in the evening Jesus and his mother sat alone, and Jesus said,
14) The rabbi seems to think that God is partial in
his treatment of the sons of men; that Jews are favored and are blest above all
other men.
15) I do not see how God can have his favorites and be just.
16) Are not Samaritans and Greeks and Romans just as much the children of the
Holy One as are the Jews?
17) I think the Jews have built a wall about themselves, and they see nothing
on the other side of it.
18) They do not know that flowers are blooming over there; that sowing times
and reaping times belong to anybody (and the Jews).
19) It surely would be well if we could break these barriers down so that the
Jews might see that God has other children that are just as greatly blest.
20) I want to go from Jewry land and meet my kin in other countries of my
Fatherland.
CHAPTER 18
Jesus at a feast in Jerusalem. Is grieved by the cruelties of the
sacrificers.
Appeals to Hillel, who sympathizes with him.
He remains in the temple a year.
THE
great feast of the Jews was on, and Joseph, Mary and their son, and many of
their kin, went to Jerusalem. The child was ten years old.
2) And Jesus watched the butchers kill the lambs and birds and burn them on the
altar in the name of God.
3) His tender heart was shocked at this display of cruelty; he asked the
serving priests,
What is the purpose of this slaughter of the beasts
and birds? Why do you burn their flesh before the Lord?
4) The priest replied,
This is our sacrifice for sin. God has commanded us to
do these things, and said that in these sacrifices all our sins are blotted
out.
5) And Jesus said,
Will you be kind enough to tell when God proclaimed
that sins are blotted out by sacrifice of any kind?
6) Did not David say that God requires not a sacrifice for sin? that it is a
sin itself to bring before his face burnt offerings, as offerings for sin? Did
not Isaiah say the same?
7) The priest replied,
My child you are beside yourself. Do you know more
about the laws of God than all the priests of Israel? This is no place for boys
to show their wit.
8) But Jesus heeded not his taunts; he went to Hillel, chief of the Sanhedrin,
and he said to him,
9) Rabboni, I would like to talk with you; I am
disturbed about this service of the pascal feast. I thought the temple was the
house of God where love and kindness dwell.
10) Do you not hear the bleating of those lambs, the pleading of those doves
that men are killing over there? Do you not smell that awful stench that comes
from burning flesh?
11) Can man be kind and just, and still be filled with cruelty?
12) A God that takes delight in sacrifice, in blood and burning flesh, is not
my Father-God.
13) I want to find a God of love, and you, my master, you are wise, and surely
you can tell me where to find the God of love.
14) But Hillel could not give an answer to the child. His heart was
stirred with sympathy. He called the child to him; he laid his hand upon his
head and wept.
15) He said,
There is a God of love, and you shall come with me;
and hand in hand we will go forth and find the God of love.
16) And Jesus said,
Why need we go? I thought that God is everywhere.
Can we not purify our hearts and drive out cruelty, and every wicked thought,
and make within, a temple where the God of love can dwell?
17) The master of the great Sanhedrin felt as though he was himself the
child, and that before him stood Rabboni, master of the higher law.
18) He said within himself,
This child is surely a prophet sent from God.
19) Then Hillel sought the parents of the child, and asked that Jesus
might abide with them, and learn the precepts of the law, and all the lessons
of the temple priests.
20) His parents gave consent, and Jesus did abide within the holy temple in
Jerusalem, and Hillel taught him every day.
21) And every day the master learned from Jesus many lessons of the higher
life.
22) The child remained with Hillel in the temple for a year, and then returned
unto his home in Nazareth; and there he wrought with Joseph as a carpenter.
CHAPTER 19
Jesus at the age of twelve in the temple. Disputes with the doctors of the law.
Reads from a book of prophecy. By
request of Hillel he interprets the prophecies.
AGAIN
the great feast in Jerusalem was on, and Joseph, Mary and their son were there.
The child was twelve years old.
2) And there were Jews and proselytes from many countries in Jerusalem.
3) And Jesus sat among the priests and doctors in the temple hall.
4) And Jesus opened up a book of prophecy and read:
5) Woe, woe to Ariel, the town where David dwelt! I
will dismantle Ariel, and she shall groan and weep:
6) And I will camp against her round about with hostile posts;
7) And I will bring her low and she shall speak out of the earth; with muffled
voice like a familiar spirit shall she speak; yea she shall only whisper forth
her speech;
8) And foes unnumbered, like the grains of dust, shall come upon her suddenly.
9) The Lord of Hosts will visit her with thunder and with tempest, and with
storm; with earthquake, and with devouring flames.
10) Lo, all these people have deserted me. They draw to me with speech, and
with their lips they honor me; their hearts are far removed from me; their fear
for me is that inspired by man.
11) And I will breathe an adverse breath upon my people, Israel; the wisdom of
their wise men shall be lost; the understanding of their prudent men shall not
be found.
12) My people seek to hide their counsel from the Lord, so that their works may
not be seen. They fain would cover up their works with darkness of the night,
and say, Who sees us now? Who knows us now?
13) Poor, foolish men! shall that which has been made say of its maker, He
is naught, I made myself?
14) Or shall the pot speak out and say to him who made the pot, You have no
skill; you do not know?
15) But this will not forever be; the time will come when Lebanon will be a
fruitful field, and fruitful fields will be transformed to groves.
16) And on that day the deaf will hear the words of God; the blind will read
the Book of God's Remembrance.
17) And suffering ones will be relieved, and they will have abundant joy; and
every one that needs will be supplied; and it will come to pass that all the
foolish will be wise.
18) The people will return and sanctify the Holy One, and in their heart of
hearts, lo, they will reverence him.
19) When Jesus had thus read he put aside the book and said,
You masters of the law, will you make plain for us
the prophet's words?
20) Now, Hillel sat among the masters of the law, and he stood forth and
said,
Perhaps our young rabboni who has read the word will
be interpreter.
21) And Jesus said,
The Ariel of the prophet is our own Jerusalem.
22) By selfishness and cruelty this people has become a stench unto the Elohim.
23) The prophet saw these days from far, and of these times he wrote.
24) Our doctors, lawyers, priests and scribes oppress the poor, while they
themselves in luxury live.
25) The sacrifices and the offerings of Israel are but abomination unto God.
They only sacrifice that God requires is self.
26) Because of this injustice and this cruelty of man to man, the Holy One has
spoken of this commonwealth:
27) Lo, I will overturn, yes, I will overturn, it shall be overturned, and it
shall be no more until he comes whose right it is and I will give it unto him.
28) In all the world there is one law of right, and he who breaks that law will
suffer grief; for God is just.
29) And Israel has gone far astray; has not regarded justice, nor the rights of
man, and God demands that Israel shall reform, and turn again to ways of
holiness.
30) And if our people will not hear the voice of God, lo, nations from afar
will come and sack Jerusalem, and tear our temple down, and take our people
captive into foreign lands.
31) But this will not forever be; though they be scattered far and wide, and
wander here and there among the nations of the earth, like sheep that have no
shepherd guide.
32) The time will come when God will bring again the captive hosts; for Israel
shall return and dwell in peace.
33) And after many years our temple shall be built again, and one whom God will
honor, one in whom the pure in heart delights will come and glorify the house
of God, and reign in righteousness.
34) When Jesus had thus said, he stepped aside, and all the people were amazed
and said,
This surely is the Christ.
CHAPTER 20
After the feast.
The homeward journey. The missing Jesus. The search for him.
His parents find him in the temple. He
goes with them to Nazareth.
Symbolic meaning of carpenter's tools.
THE
great feast of the pasch was ended and the Nazarenes were journeying towards
their homes.
2) And they were in Samaria, and Mary said,
Where is my son?
No one had seen the boy.
3) And Joseph sought among their kindred who were on their way to Galilee; but
they had seen him not.
4) Then Joseph, Mary, and a son of Zebedee returned and sought through all
Jerusalem, but they could find him not.
5) And then they went up to the temple courts and asked the guards,
Have you seen Jesus, a fair-haired boy, with deep blue
eyes, twelve years of age, about these courts?
6) The guards replied,
Yes, he is in the temple now disputing with the
doctors of the law.
7) And they went in, and found him as the guards had said.
8) And Mary said,
Why Jesus, why do you treat your parents thus? Lo, we
have sought two days for you. We feared that some great harm had overtaken you.
9) And Jesus said,
Do you not know that I must be about my Father's
work?
10) But he went round and pressed the hand of every doctor of the law
and said,
I trust that we may meet again.
11) And then he went forth with his parents on their way to Nazareth;
and when they reached their home he wrought with Joseph as a carpenter.
12) One day as he was bringing forth the tools for work he said,
13) These tools remind me of the ones we handle in
the workshop of the mind where things are made of thought and where we build up
character.
14) We use the square to measure all our lines, to straighten out the crooked
places of the way, and make the corners of our conduct square.
15) We use the compass to draw circles round our passions and desires to keep
them in the bounds of righteousness.
16) We use the axe to cut away the knotty, useless and ungainly parts and make
the character symmetrical.
17) We use the hammer to drive home the truth, and pound it in until it is a
part of every part.
18) We use the plane to smooth the rough, uneven surfaces of joint, and block,
and board that go to build the temple for the truth.
19) The chisel, line, the plummet and the saw all have their uses in the
workshop of the mind.
20) And then this ladder with its trinity of steps, faith, hope and love; on it
we climb up to the dome of purity in life.
21) And on the twelve-step ladder we ascend until we reach the pinnacle of that
which life is spent to build – the Temple of Perfected Man.
SECTION VI
VAU
Life and Works of Jesus in India
CHAPTER 21
Ravanna sees Jesus in the temple and is
captivated. Hillel tells him about the
boy.
Ravanna finds Jesus in Nazareth and gives a feast in his honor.
Ravanna becomes patron of Jesus,
and takes him to India to study the Brahmic religion.
A
ROYAL prince of India, Ravanna of Orissa in the south, was at the Jewish feast.
2) Ravanna was a man of wealth; and he was just, and with a band of Brahmic
priests, sought wisdom in the West.
3) When Jesus stood among the Jewish priests and read and spoke, Ravanna heard
and was amazed.
4) And when he asked who Jesus was, from whence he came and what he was, chief
Hillel said,
5) We call this child the Day Star from on high, for
he has come to bring to men a light, the light of life; to lighten up the way
of men and to redeem his people, Israel.
6) And Hillel told Ravanna all about the child; about the prophecies
concerning him; about the wonders of the night when he was born; about the
visit of the magian priests;
7) About the way in which he was protected from the wrath of evil men; about
his flight to Egypt-land, and how he then was serving with his father as a
carpenter in Nazareth.
8) Ravanna was entranced, and asked to know the way to Nazareth, that he might
go and honor such a one as son of God.
9) And with his gorgeous train he journeyed on the way and came to Nazareth of
Galilee.
10) He found the object of his search engaged in building dwellings for the
sons of men.
11) And when he first saw Jesus he was climbing up a twelve-step ladder, and he
carried in his hands a compass, square and axe.
12) Ravanna said,
All hail, most favored son of heaven!
13) And at the inn Ravanna made a feast for all the people of the town;
and Jesus and his parents were the honored guests.
14) For certain days Ravanna was a guest in Joseph's home on Marmion Way; he
sought to learn the secret of the wisdom of the son; but it was all to great
for him.
15) And then he asked that he might be the patron of the child; might take him
to the East where he could learn the wisdom of the Brahms.
16) And Jesus longed to go that he might learn; and after many days his parents
gave consent.
17) Then, with proud heart, Ravanna with his train, began the journey towards
the rising sun; and after many days they crossed the Sind, and reached the
province of Orissa, and the palace of the prince.
18) The Brahmic priests were glad to welcome home the prince; with favor they
received the Jewish boy.
19) And Jesus was accepted as a pupil in the temple Jagannath; and here learned
the Vedas and the Manic laws.
20) The Brahmic masters wondered at the clear conceptions of the child, and
often were amazed when he explained to them the meaning of the laws.
CHAPTER 22
The friendship of Jesus and Lamaas. Jesus explains to Lamaas the meaning of
truth, man, power, understanding, wisdom, salvation and faith.
AMONG
the priests of Jagannath was one who loved the Jewish boy. Lamaas Bramas was
the name by which the priest was known.
2) One day as Jesus and Lamaas walked alone in plaza Jagannath, Lamaas said,
My Jewish master, what is truth?
3) And Jesus said,
Truth is the only thing that changes not.
4) In all the world there are two things; the one is truth; the other falsehood
is; and truth is that which is, and falsehood that which seems to be.
5) Now truth is aught, and has no cause, and yet it is the cause of everything.
6) Falsehood is naught, and yet it is the manifest of aught.
7) Whatever has been made will be unmade; that which begins must end.
8) All things that can be seen by human eyes are manifests of aught, are
naught, and so must pass away.
9) The things we see are but reflexes just appearing, while the ethers vibrate
so and so, and when conditions change they disappear.
10) The Holy Breath is truth; is that which was, and is, and evermore shall be;
it cannot change nor pass away.
11) Lamaas said,
You answer well; now, what is man?
12) And Jesus said,
Man is the truth and falsehood strangely mixed.
13) Man is the Breath made flesh; so truth and falsehood are conjoined in him;
and they strive, and naught goes down and man as truth abides.
14) Again Lamaas asked,
What do you say of power?
15) And Jesus said,
It is a manifest; is the result of force; it is but
naught; it is illusion, nothing more. Force changes not, but power changes as
the ethers change.
16) Force is the will of God and is omnipotent, and power is that will in
manifest, directed by the Breath.
17) There is power in the winds, a power in the waves, a power in the
lightning's stroke, a power in the human arm, a power in the eye.
18) The ethers cause these powers to be, and thought of Elohim, of angel, man,
or other thinking thing, directs the force; when it has done its work the power
is no more.
19) Again Lamaas asked,
Of understanding what have you to say?
20) And Jesus said,
It is the rock on which man builds himself; it is
the gnosis of the aught and of the naught, of falsehood and of truth.
21) It is the knowledge of the lower self; the sensing of the powers of man
himself.
22) Again Lamaas asked,
Of wisdom what have you to say?
23) And Jesus said,
It is the consciousness that man is aught; that God
and man are one;
24) That naught is naught; that power is but illusion; that heaven and earth
and hell are not above, around, below, but in; which in the light of aught
becomes the naught, and God is all.
25) Lamaas asked,
Pray, what is faith?
26) And Jesus said,
Faith is the surety of the omnipotence of God and
man; the certainty that man will reach the deific life.
27) Salvation is a ladder reaching from the heart of man to heart of God.
28) It has three steps; Belief is first, and this is what man thinks, perhaps,
is truth.
29) And faith is next, and this is what man knows is truth.
30) Fruition is the last, and this is man himself, the truth.
31) Belief is lost in faith; and in fruition is lost; and man is saved when he
has reached deific life; when he and God are one.
CHAPTER 23
Jesus and Lamaas among the sudras and visyas. In Benares,
Jesus becomes a pupil of Udraka. The
lessons of Udraka.
NOW,
Jesus with his friend Lamaas went through all the regions of Orissa, and the
valley of the Ganges, seeking wisdom from the sudras and the visyas and the
masters.
2) Benares of the Ganges was a city rich in culture and in learning; here the
two rabbonis tarried many days.
3) And Jesus sought to learn the Hindu art of healing, and became the pupil of Udraka,
greatest of the Hindu healers.
4) Udraka taught the uses of the waters, plants and earths; of heat and cold;
sunshine and shade; of light and dark.
5) He said,
The laws of nature are the laws of health, and he who
lives according to these laws is never sick.
6) Transgression of these laws is sin, and he who sins is sick.
7) He who obeys the laws, maintains an equilibrium in all his parts, and thus
insures true harmony; and harmony is health, while discord is disease.
8) That which produces harmony in all the parts of man is medicine, insuring
health.
9) The body is a harpsichord, and when its strings are too relaxed, or are too
tense, the instrument is out of tune, the man is sick.
10) Now, everything in nature has been made to meet the wants of man; so
everything is found in medical arcanes.
11) And when the harpsichord of man is out of tune the vast expanse of nature
may be searched for remedy; there is a cure for every ailment of the flesh.
12) Of course the will of man is remedy supreme; and by the vigorous exercise
of will, man way make tense a chord that is relaxed, or may relax one that is
too tense, and thus may heal himself.
13) When man has reached the place where he has faith in God, in nature and
himself, he knows the Word of power; his word is balm for every wound, is cure
for all the ills of life.
14) The healer is the man who can inspire faith. The tongue may speak to human
ears, but souls are reached by souls that speak to souls.
15) He is the forceful man whose soul is large, and who can enter into souls,
inspiring hope in those who have no hope, and faith in those who have no faith
in God, in nature, nor in man.
16) There is no universal balm for those who tread the common walks of life.
17) A thousand things produce inharmony and make men sick; a thousand things
may tune the harpsichord, and make men well.
18) That which is medicine for one is poison for another one; so one is healed
by what would kill another one.
19) An herb may heal the one; a drink of water may restore another one; a
mountain breeze may bring to life one seeming past all help;
20) A coal of fire, or bit of earth, may cure another one; and one may wash in
certain streams, or pools, and be made whole.
21) The virtue from the hand or breath may heal a thousand more; but love is
queen. Thought, reinforced by love, is God's great sovereign balm.
22) But many of the broken chords in life, and discords that so vex the soul,
are caused by evil spirits of the air that men see not; that lead men on
through ignorance to break the laws of nature and of God.
23) These powers act like demons, and they speak; they rend the man; they drive
him to despair.
24) But he who is a healer, true, is master of the soul, and can, by force of
will, control these evil ones.
25) Some spirits of the air are master spirits and are strong, too strong for
human power alone; but man has helpers in the higher realms that may be
importuned, and they will help to drive the demons out.
26) Of what this great physician said, this is the sum. And Jesus bowed
his head in recognition of the wisdom of this master soul, and went his way.
CHAPTER 24
The Brahmic doctrine of castes. Jesus repudiates it and teaches human
equality.
The priests are offended and drive him from the temple.
He abides with the sudras and teaches them.
FOUR
years the Jewish boy abode in temple Jagannath.
2) One day he sat among the priests and said to them,
Pray, tell me all about your views of castes; why
do you say that all men are not equal in the sight of God?
3) A master of their laws stood forth and said,
The Holy One whom we call Brahm, made men to suit
himself, and men should not complain.
4) In the beginning days of human life Brahm spoke, and four men stood before
his face.
5) Now, from the mouth of Parabrahm the first man came; and he was white, was
like the Brahm himself; a brahman he was called.
6) And he was high and lifted up; above all want he stood; he had no need of
toil.
7) And he was called the priest of Brahm, the holy one to act for Brahm in all
affairs of earth.
8) The second man was red, and from the hand of Parabrahm he came; and he was
called shatriya.
9) And he was made to be the king, the ruler and the warrior, whose highest
ordained duty was protection of the priest.
10) And from the inner parts of Parabrahm the third man came; and he was called
a visya.
11) He was a yellow man, and his it was to till the soil, and keep the flocks
and herds.
12) And from the feet of Parabrahm the fourth man came; and he was black; and
he was called the sudras, one of low estate.
13) The sudras is the servant of the race of men; he has no rights that others
need respect; he may not hear the Vedas read, and it means death to him to look
into the face of priest, or king, and naught but death can free him from his
state of servitude.
14) And Jesus said,
Then Parabrahm is not a God of justice and of
right; for with his own strong hand he has exalted one and brought another low.
15) And Jesus said no more to them, but looking up to heaven he said,
16) My Father-God, who was, and is, and evermore
shall be; who holds within thy hands the scales of justice and of right;
17) Who in the boundlessness of love has made all men to equal be. The white,
the black, the yellow, and the red can look up in thy face and say, Our
Father-God.
18) Thou Father of the human race, I praise thy name.
19) And all the priests were angered by the words which Jesus spoke;
they rushed upon him, seized him, and would have done him harm.
20) But then Lamaas raised his hand and said,
You priests of Brahm, beware! you know not what you
do; wait till you know the God this youth adores.
21) I have beheld this boy at prayer when light above the light of the sun
surrounded him. Beware! his God may be more powerful than Brahm.
22) If Jesus speaks the truth, if he is right, you cannot force him to desist;
if he is wrong and you are right, his words come to naught, for right is might,
and in the end it will prevail.
23) And then the priests refrained from doing Jesus harm; but one spoke out
and said,
24) Within this holy place has not this reckless youth
done violence to Parabrahm? The law is plain; it says,
He who reviles the name of Brahm shall die.
25) Lamaas pled for Jesus' life; and then the priests just seized a scourge of
cords and drove him from the place.
26) And Jesus went his way and found shelter with the black and yellow men, the
servants and the tillers of the soil.
27) To them he first made known the gospel of equality; he told them of the
Brotherhood of Man, the Fatherhood of God.
28) The common people heard him with delight, and learned to pray, Our
Father-God who art in heaven.
CHAPTER 25
Jesus teaches the sudras and farmers.
Relates a parable of a nobleman and his unjust sons.
Makes known the possibilities of all men.
WHEN
Jesus saw the sudras and the farmers in such multitudes draw near to hear his
words, he spoke a parable to them; he said:
2) A nobleman possessed a great estate; he had four
sons, and he would have them all grow strong by standing forth and making use
of all the talents they possess.
3) And so he gave to each a share of his great wealth, and bade them go their
way.
4) The eldest son was full of self; he was ambitious, shrewd and quick of
thought.
5) He said within himself, I am the oldest son, and these, my brothers, must be
servants at my feet.
6) And then he called his brothers forth; and one he made a puppet king; gave
him a sword and charged him to defend the whole estate.
7) To one he gave the use of lands and flowing wells, and flocks and herds, and
bade him till the soil, and tend the flocks and herds and bring to him the
choicest of his gains.
8) And to the other one he said, You are the youngest son; the broad estate has
been assigned; you have no part nor lot in anything that is.
9) And he took a chain and bound his brother to a naked rock upon a desert
plain, and said to him,
10) You have been born a slave; you have no rights, and you must be contented
with your lot, for there is no release for you until you die and go from hence.
11) Now, after certain years the day of reckoning came; the nobleman called up
his sons to render their accounts.
12) And when he knew that one, his eldest son, had seized the whole estate and
made his brothers slaves,
13) He seized him, tore his priestly robes away and put him in a prison cell,
where he was forced to stay until he had atoned for all the wrongs that he had
done.
14) And then, as though they were but toys, he threw in air the throne and
armor of the puppet king; he broke his sword, and put him in a prison cell.
15) And then he called his farmer son and asked him why he had not rescued from
his galling chains his brother on the desert plains.
16) And when the son made answer not, the father took unto himself the flocks
and herds, the fields and flowing wells,
17) And sent his farmer son to live out on the desert sands, until he had
atoned for all the wrongs that he had done.
18) And then the father went and found his youngest son in cruel chains; with his
own hands he broke the chains and bade his son to go in peace.
19) Now, when the sons had all paid up their debts they came again and stood
before the bar of right.
20) They all had learned their lessons, learned them well; and then the father
once again divided the estate.
21) He gave to each an equal share, and bade them recognize the law of equity
and right, and live in peace.
22) And one, a sudra, spoke and said,
May we who are but slaves, who are cut down like
beasts to satisfy the whims of priests - may we have hope that one will come to
break our chains and set us free?
23) And Jesus said,
The Holy One has said that all his children shall
be free; and every soul is child of God.
24) The sudras shall be free as priest; the farmer shall walk hand in hand with
king; for all the world will own the brotherhood of man.
25) O men, arise! be conscious of your powers, for he who wills need not remain
a slave.
26) Just live as you would have your brother live; unfold each day as does the
flower; for earth is yours, and heaven is yours, and God will bring you to your
own.
27) And all the people cried,
Show us the way that like the flower we may unfold and
come unto our own.
Jesus at Katak.
The car of Jagannath.
Jesus reveals to the people the emptiness of Brahmic rites,
and how to see God in man. Teaches them
the divine law of sacrifice.
IN
all the cities of Orissa Jesus taught. At Katak, by the river side, he taught,
and thousands of the people followed him.
2) One day a car of Jagannath was hauled along by scores of frenzied men, and
Jesus said,
3) Behold, a form without a spirit passes by; a
body with no soul; a temple with no altar fires.
4) This car of Krishna is an empty thing, for
Krishna is not there.
5) This car is but an idol of a people drunk on wine of carnal things.
6) God lives not in the noise of tongues; there is no way to him from any idol
shrine.
7) God’s meeting place with man is in the heart, and in a still small voice he
speaks; and he who hears is still.
8) And all the people said,
Teach us to know the Holy One who speaks within the
heart, God of the still small voice.
9) And Jesus said,
The Holy Breath cannot be seen with mortal eyes;
nor can men see the Spirits of the Holy One;
10) But in their image man was made, and he who looks into the face of man,
looks at the image of the God who speaks within.
11) And when man honors man he honors God, and what man does for man, he does
for God.
12) And you must bear in mind that when man harms in thought, or word or deed
another man, he does a wrong to God.
13) If you would serve the God who speaks within the heart, just serve your
near of kin, and those that are no kin, the stranger at your gates, the foe who
seeks to do you harm;
14) Assist the poor, and help the weak; do harm to none, and covet not what is
not yours;
15) Then, with your tongue the Holy One will speak; and he will smile behind
your tears, will light your countenance with joy, and fill your hearts with
peace.
16) And then the people asked.
To whom shall we bring gifts? Where shall we offer
sacrifice?
17) And Jesus said,
Our Father-God asks not for needless waste of
plant, of grain, of dove, of lamb.
18) That which you burn on any shrine you throw away. No blessings can attend
the one who takes the food from hungry mouths to be destroyed by fire.
19) When you would offer sacrifice unto our God, just take your gift of grain,
or meat and lay it on the table of the poor.
20) From it an incense will arise to heaven, which will return to you with
blessedness.
21) Tear down your idols; they can hear you not; turn all your sacrificial
altars into fuel for the flames.
22) Make human hearts your altars, and burn your sacrifices with the fire of
love.
23) And all the people were entranced, and would have worshiped Jesus as
a God; but Jesus said,
24) I am your brother man just come to show the way
to God; you shall not worship man; praise God, the Holy One.
CHAPTER 27
Jesus attends a feast in Behar. Preaches a revolutionary sermon on human
equality.
Relates the parable of the broken blades.
THE
fame of Jesus as a teacher spread through all the land, and people came from
near and far to hear his words of truth.
2) At Behar, on the sacred river of the Brahms, he taught for many days.
3) And Ach, a wealthy man of Behar, made a feast in honor of his guest, and he
invited every one to come.
4) And many came; among them thieves, extortioners, and courtesans. And Jesus
sat with them and taught; but they who followed him were much aggrieved because
he sat with thieves and courtesans.
5) And they upbraided him; they said,
Rabboni, master of the wise, this day will be an evil
day for you.
6) The news will spread that you consort with courtesans and thieves, and men
will shun you as they shun an asp.
7) And Jesus answered them and said,
A master never screens himself for sake of
reputation or of fame.
8) These are but worthless baubles of the day; they rise and sink, like empty
bottles on a stream; they are illusions and will pass away;
9) They are the indices to what the thoughtless think; they are the noise that
people make; and shallow men judge merit by noise.
10) God and all master men judge men by what they are and not by what they seem
to be; not by their reputation and their fame.
11) These courtesans and thieves are children of my Father-God; their soul are
just as precious in his sight as yours, or of the Brahmic priests.
12) And they are working out the same life sums that you, who pride yourselves
on your respectability and moral worth, are working out.
13) And some of them have solved much harder sums than you have solved, you men
who look at them with scorn.
14) Yes, they are sinners, and confess their guilt, while you are guilty, but
are shrewd enough to have polished coat to cover up your guilt.
15) Suppose you men who scorn these courtesans, these drunkards and these
thieves, who know that you are pure in heart and life, that you are better far
than they, stand forth that men may know just who you are.
16) The sin lies in the wish, in the desire, not in the act.
17) You covet other people's wealth; you look at charming forms, and deep
within your hearts you lust for them.
18) Deceit you practice every day, and wish for gold, for honor and for fame,
just for your selfish selves.
19) The man who covets is a thief, and she who lusts is courtesan. You who are
none of these speak out.
20) Nobody spoke; the accusers held their peace.
21) And Jesus said,
The proof this day is all against those who have accused.
22) The pure in heart do not accuse. The vile in heart who want to cover up
their guilt with holy smoke of piety are ever loathing drunkard, thief and
courtesan.
23) This loathing and this scorn is mockery, for if the tinseled coat of
reputation could be torn away, the loud professor would be found to revel in
his lust, deceit and many forms of secret sin.
24) The man who spends his time in pulling other people's weeds can have no
time to pull his own, and all the choicest flowers of life will soon be choked
and die, and nothing will remain but darnel, thistles, burs.
25) And Jesus spoke a parable: he said,
Behold, a farmer had great fields of ripened grain, and when he looked he saw
that blades of many stalks of wheat were bent and broken down.
26) And when he sent his reapers forth he said, We will not save the stalks of
wheat that have the broken blades.
27) Go forth and cut and burn the stalks with broken blades.
28) And after many days he went to measure up his grain, but not a kernel could
he find.
29) And then he called the harvesters and said to them, Where is my grain?
30) They answered him and said, We did according to your word; we gathered up
and burned the stalks with broken blades, and not a stalk was left to carry to
the barn.
31) And Jesus said,
If God saves only those who have no broken blades,
who have been perfect in his sight, who will be saved?
32) And the accusers hung their heads in shame; and Jesus went his way.
Udraka gives a feast in Jesus' honor.
Jesus speaks on the unity of God and the brotherhood of life.
Criticizes the priesthood. Becomes the
guest of a farmer.
BENARES
is the sacred city of the Brahms, and in Benares Jesus taught; Udraka was his
host.
2) Udraka made a feast in honor of his guest, and many high born Hindu priests
and scribes were there.
3) And Jesus said to them,
With much delight I speak to you concerning life –
the brotherhood of life.
4) The universal God is one, yet he is more than one; all things are God; all
things are one.
5) By the sweet breaths of God all life is bound in one; so if you touch a
fiber of a living thing you send a thrill from the center to the outer bounds
of life.
6) And when you crush beneath your foot the meanest worm, you shake the throne
of God, and cause the sword of right to tremble in its sheath.
7) The bird sings out its song for men, and men vibrate in unison to help it
sing.
8) The ant constructs her home, the bee its sheltering comb, the spider weaves
her web, and flowers breath to them a spirit in their sweet perfumes that gives
them strength to toil.
9) Now, men and birds and beasts and creeping things are deities, made flesh;
and how dare men kill anything?
10) 'Tis cruelty that makes the world awry. When men have learned that when
they harm a living thing they harm themselves, they surely will not kill, nor
cause a thing that God has made to suffer pain.
11) A lawyer said,
I pray you, Jesus, tell who is this God you speak
about; where are his priests, his temples and his shrines?
12) And Jesus said,
The God I speak about is everywhere; he cannot be
compassed with walls, nor hedged about with bounds of any kind.
13) All people worship God, the One; but all the people see him not alike.
14) This universal God is wisdom, will and love.
15) All men see not the Triune God. One sees him as the God of might; another
as the God of thought; another as the God of love.
16) A man's ideal is his God, and so, as man unfolds. Man's God today, tomorrow
is not God.
17) The nations of the earth see God from different points of view, and so he
does not seem the same to every one.
18) Man names the part of God he sees, and this to him is all of God; and every
nation sees a part of God, and every nation has a name for God.
19) You Brahmans call him Parabrahm; in Egypt he is Thoth; and Zeus is his name
in Greece; Jehovah is his Hebrew name; but everywhere he is the causeless
Cause, the rootless Root from which all things have grown.
20) When men become afraid of God, and take him for a foe, they dress up other
men in fancy garbs and call them priests.
21) And charge them to restrain the wrath of God by prayers; and when they fail
to win his favor by their prayers, to buy him off with sacrifice of animal, or
bird.
22) When man sees God as one with him, as Father-God, he needs no middle man,
no priest to intercede;
23) He goes straight up to him and says, My Father-God! and then he lays his
hand in God's own hand, and all is well.
24) And this is God. You are, each one, a priest, just for yourself; and
sacrifice of blood God does not want.
25) Just give your life in sacrificial service to the all of life, and God is
pleased.
26) When Jesus had thus said he stood aside; the people were amazed, but
strove among themselves.
27) Some said,
He is inspired by Holy Brahm;
and others said,
He is insane;
and others said,
He is obsessed; he speaks as devils speak.
28) But Jesus tarried not. Among the guests was one, a tiller of the
soil, a generous soul, a seeker after truth, who loved the words that Jesus
spoke, and Jesus went with him, and in his home abode.
CHAPTER 29
Ajainin, a priest from Lahore, comes to Benares to
see Jesus,
and abides in the temple. Jesus refuses
an invitation to visit the temple.
Ajainin visits him at night in the farmer's home, and accepts his philosophy.
AMONG
Benares' temple priests was one, a guest, Ajainin, from Lahore.
2) By merchantmen Ajainin heard about the Jewish boy, about his words of
wisdom, and he girt himself and journeyed from Lahore that he might see the
boy, and hear him speak.
3) The Brahmic priests did not accept the truth that Jesus brought, and they
were angered much by what he said at the Udraka feast.
4) But they had never seen the boy, and they desired much to hear him speak,
and they invited him to be a temple guest.
5) But Jesus said to them,
The light is most abundant, and it shines for all;
if you would see the light come to the light.
6) If you would hear the message that the Holy One has given me to give to men,
come unto me.
7) Now, when the priests were told what Jesus said they were enraged.
8) Ajainin did not share their wrath, and he sent forth another messenger with
costly gifts to Jesus at the farmer's home; he sent this message with the
gifts:
9) I pray you master, listen to my words; The Brahmic
law forbids that any priest shall go into the home of any one of low estate;
but you can come to us;
10) And I am sure these priests will gladly hear you speak. I pray that you
will come and dine with us this day.
11) And Jesus said,
The Holy One regards all men alike; the dwelling of
my host is good enough for any council of the sons of men.
12) If pride of cast keeps you away, you are not worthy of the light. My
Father-God does not regard the laws of man.
13) Your presents I return; you cannot buy the knowledge of the Lord with gold,
or precious gifts.
14) These words of Jesus angered more and more the priests, and they
began to plot and plan how they might drive him from the land.
15) Ajainin did not join with them in plot and plan; he left the temple in the
night, and sought the home where Jesus dwelt.
16) And Jesus said,
There is no night where shines the sun; I have no
secret messages to give; in light all secrets are revealed.
17) Ajainin said,
I came from far-away Lahore, that I might learn about
this ancient wisdom, and this kingdom of the Holy One of which you speak.
18) Where is the kingdom? where the king? Who are the subjects? what its laws?
19) And Jesus said,
This kingdom is not far away, but man with mortal eyes can see it not; it is
within the heart.
20) You need not seek the king in earth, or sea, or sky; he is not there, and
yet is everywhere. He is the Christ of God; is universal love.
21) The gate of this dominion is not high, and he who enters it must fall down
on his knees. It is not wide, and none can carry carnal bundles through.
22) The lower self must be transmuted into spirit-self; the body must be washed
in living streams of purity.
23) Ajainin asked,
Can I become a subject of this king?
24) And Jesus said,
You are yourself a king, and you may enter through
the gate and be a subject of the King of kings.
25) But you must lay aside your priestly robes; must cease to serve the Holy
One for gold; must give your life, and all you have, in willing service to the
sons of men.
26) And Jesus said no more; Ajainin went his way; and while he could not
comprehend the truth that Jesus spoke, he saw what he had never seen before.
27) The realm of faith he never had explored; but in his heart the seeds of
faith and universal brotherhood had found good soil.
28) And as he journeyed to his home he seemed to sleep, to pass through darkest
night, and when he woke the Sun of Righteousness had arisen; he had found the
king.
29) Now, in Benares Jesus tarried many days and taught.
CHAPTER 30
Jesus receives news of the death of his father. He writes a letter to his mother.
The letter. He sends it on its way by a
merchant.
ONE
day as Jesus stood beside the Ganges busy with his work, a caravan, returning
from the West, drew near.
2) And one, approaching Jesus, said,
We come to you just from your native land and bring
unwelcome news.
3) Your father is no more on earth; your mother grieves; and none can comfort
her. She wonders whether you are still alive or not; she longs to see you once
again.
4) And Jesus bowed his head in silent thought; and then he wrote. Of what he
wrote this is the sum:
5) My mother, noblest of womankind; A man just from
my native land has brought me word that father is no more in flesh, and that
you grieve, and are disconsolate.
6) My mother, all is well; is well for father and is well for you.
7) His work in this earth-round is done, and it is nobly done.
8) In all the walks of life men cannot charge him with deceit, dishonesty, nor
wrong intent.
9) Here in this round he finished many heavy tasks, and he has gone from hence
prepared to solve the problems of the round of soul.
10) Our Father-God is with him there, as he was with him here; and there his
angel guards his footsteps lest he goes astray.
11) Why should you weep? Tears cannot conquer grief. There is no power in grief
to mend a broken heart.
12) The plane of grief is idleness; the busy soul can never grieve; it has no
time for grief.
13) When grief come trooping through the heart, just lose yourself; plunge deep
into the ministry of love, and grief is not.
14) Yours is a ministry of love, and all the world is calling out for love.
15) Then let the past go with the past; rise from the cares of carnal things
and give your life for those who live.
16) And if you lose your life in serving life you are sure to find it in the
morning sun, the evening dews, in song of bird, in flowers, and in the stars of
night.
17) In just a little while your problems of this earth-round will be solved;
and when your sums are all worked out it will be pleasure unalloyed for you to
enter wider fields of usefulness, to solve the greater problems of the soul.
18) Strive, then, to be content, and I will come to you some day and bring you
richer gifts than gold or precious stones.
19) I'm sure that John will care for you, supplying all your needs; and I am
with you all the way, Jehoshua.
20) And by the hand of one, a merchant, going to Jerusalem, he sent this
letter on its way.
CHAPTER 31
Brahmic priests are enraged because of Jesus'
teaching
and resolve to drive him from India.
Lamaas pleads for him. Priests employ a
murderer to kill him. Lamaas warns him
and he flees to Nepal.
THE
words and works of Jesus caused unrest through all the land.
2) The common people were his friends, believed in him and followed him in
thongs.
3) The priests and rulers were afraid of him, his very name sent terror to
their hearts.
4) He preached the brotherhood of life, the righteousness of equal rights, and
taught the uselessness of priests, and sacrificial rites.
5) He shook the very sand on which the Brahmic system stood; he made the
Brahmic idols seem so small, and sacrifice so fraught with sin, that shrines
and wheels of prayer were all forgot.
6) The priests declared that if this Jewish boy should tarry longer in the land
a revolution would occur; the common people would arise and kill the priests,
and tear the temples down.
7) And so they sent a call abroad, and priests from every province came.
Benares was on fire with Brahmic zeal.
8) Lamaas from the temple Jagannath, who knew the inner life of Jesus well, was
in their midst, and heard the rantings of the priests,
9) And he stood forth and said,
My brother priests, take heed, be careful what you do;
this is a record-making day.
10) The world is looking on; the very life of Brahmic thought is now on trial.
11) If we are reason-blind; if prejudice be king today; if we resort to beastly
force, and dye our hands in blood that may, in sight of Brahm, be innocent and
pure,
12) His vengeance may fall down on us; the very rock on which we stand may
burst beneath our feet; and our beloved priesthood, and our laws and shrines
will go into decay.
13) But they would let him speak no more. The wrathful priests rushed up
and beat him, spit upon him, called him traitor, threw him, bleeding, to the
street.
14) And then confusion reigned; the priests became a mob; the sight of human
blood led on to fiendish acts and called for more.
15) The rulers, fearing war, sought Jesus, and they found him calmly teaching
in the market place.
16) They urged him to depart, that he might save his life; but he refused to
go.
17) And then the priests sought cause for his arrest; but he had done no crime.
18) And then false charges were preferred; but when the soldiers went to bring
him to the judgment hall they were afraid, because the people stood in his
defense.
19) The priests were baffled, and they resolved to take his life by stealth.
20) They found a man who was a murderer by trade, and sent him out by night to
slay the object of their wrath.
21) Lamaas heard about their plotting and their plans, and sent a messenger to
warn his friend; and Jesus hastened to depart.
22) By night he left Benares, and with haste he journeyed to the north; and
everywhere, the farmers, merchants and sudras helped him on his way.
23) And after many days he reached the mighty Himalayas, and in the city of
Kapivastu he abode.
24) The priests of Buddha opened wide their temple doors for him.
CHAPTER 32
Jesus and Barata.
Together they read the sacred books.
Jesus takes exception to the Buddhist doctrine of evolution and reveals
the true origin of man. Meets
Vidyapati, who becomes his co-laborer.
AMONG
the Buddhist priests was one who saw a lofty wisdom in the words that Jesus
spoke. It was Barata Arabo.
2) Together Jesus and Barata read the Jewish Psalms and Prophets; read the
Vedas, the Avesta and the wisdom of Gautama.
3) And as they read and talked about the possibilities of man, Barata said,
4) Man is the marvel of the universe. He is part of
everything for he has been a living thing on every plane of life.
5) Time was when man was not; and he was a bit of formless substance in the
moulds of time; and then a protoplast.
6) By universal law all things tend upward to a state of perfectness. The
protoplast evolved, becoming worm, then reptile, bird and beast, and then at
last it reached the form of man.
7) Now, man himself is mind, and mind is here to gain perfection by experience;
and mind is often manifest in fleshy form, and in the form best suited to its
growth. So mind may manifest as worm, or bird, or beast, or man.
8) The time will come when everything of life will be evolved unto the state of
perfect man.
9) And after man is man in perfectness, he will evolve to higher forms of life.
10) And Jesus said,
Barata Arabo, who taught you this, that mind, which
is the man, may manifest in flesh of beast, or bird, or creeping thing?
11) Barata said,
From times which man remembers not our priests have
told us so, and so we know.
12) And Jesus said,
Enlightened Arabo, are you a master mind and do not
know that man knows naught by being told?
13) Man may believe what others say; but thus he never knows. If man would
know, he must himself be what he knows.
14) Do you remember, Arabo, when you were ape, or bird, or worm?
15) Now, if you have no better proving of your plea than that the priests have
told you so, you do not know; you simply guess.
16) Regard not, then, what any man has said; let us forget the flesh, and go
with mind into the land of fleshless things; mind never does forget.
17) And backward through the ages master minds can trace themselves; and thus
they know.
18) Time never was when man was not.
19) That which begins will have an end. If man was not, the time will come when
he will not exist.
20) From God's own Record Book we read: The Triune God breathed forth, and
seven Spirits stood before his face. (The Hebrews call these seven Spirits,
Elohim.)
21) And these are they who, in their boundless power, created everything that
is, or was.
22) These Spirits of the Triune God moved on the face of boundless space and
seven ethers were, and every ether had its form of life.
23) These forms of life were but the thoughts of God, clothed in the substance
of their ether planes.
24) (Men call these ether planes the planes of protoplast, of earth, of plant,
of beast, of man, of angel and of cherubim.)
25) These planes with all their teeming thoughts of God, are never seen by eyes
of man in flesh; they are composed of substance far too fine for fleshly eyes
to see, and still they constitute the soul of things;
26) And with the eyes of soul all creatures see these ether planes, and all the
forms of life.
27) Because all forms of life on every plane are thoughts of God, all creatures
think, and every creature is possessed of will, and, in its measure, has the
power to choose,
28) And in their native planes all creatures are supplied with nourishment from
the ethers of their planes.
29) And so it was with every living thing until the will became a sluggish
will, and then the ethers of the protoplast, the earth, the plant, the beast,
the man, began to vibrate very slow.
30) The ethers all became more dense, and all the creatures of these planes
were clothed with coarser garbs, the garbs of flesh, which men
can see; and thus this coarser manifest, which men call physical, appeared.
31) And this is what is called the fall of man; but man fell not alone, for
protoplast, and earth, and plant and beast were all included in the fall.
32) The angels and the cherubim fell not; their wills were ever strong, and so
they held the ethers of their planes in harmony with God.
33) Now, when the ethers reached the rate of atmosphere (and all the creatures
of these planes must get their food from atmosphere) the conflict came; and
then that which the finite man has called survival of the best, became a law.
34) The stronger ate the bodies of the weaker manifests; and here is where the
carnal law of evolution had its rise.
35) And now man, in his utter shamelessness, strikes down and eats the beasts,
the beast consumes the plant, the plant thrives on the earth, the earth absorbs
the protoplast.
36) In yonder kingdom of the soul this carnal evolution is not known, and the
great work of master minds is to restore the heritage of man, to bring him back
to his estate that he has lost, when he again will live upon the ethers of his
native plane.
37) The thoughts of God change not; the manifests of life on every plane unfold
into perfection of their kind; and as the thoughts of God can never die, there
is no death to any being of the seven ethers of the seven Spirits of the Triune
God.
38) And so an earth is never plant; a beast, or bird, or creeping thing is
never man, and man is not, and cannot be, a beast, or bird, or creeping thing.
39) The time will come when all these seven manifests will be absorbed, and
man, and beast, and plant, and earth and protoplast will be redeemed.
40) Barata was amazed; the wisdom of the Jewish sage was a revelation
unto him.
41) Now, Vidyapati, wisest of the Indian sages, chief of temple Kapivastu,
heard Barata speak to Jesus of the origin of man, and heard the answer of the
Hebrew prophet, and he said,
42) You priests of Kapivastu, hear me speak: We stand
today upon a crest of time. Six times ago a master soul was born who gave a
glory light to man, and now a master sage stands here in temple Kapivastu.
43) This Hebrew prophet is the rising star of wisdom, deified. He brings to us
a knowledge of the secret things of God; and all the world will hear his words,
will heed his words, and glorify his name.
44) You priests of temple Kapivastu, stay! be still and listen when he speaks;
he is the Living Oracle of God.
45 And all the priests gave thanks, and praised the Buddha of enlightenment.
CHAPTER 33
Jesus teaches the common people at a spring. Tells them how to attain unto happiness.
Relates the parable of the rocky field and the hidden treasure.
IN
silent meditation Jesus sat beside a flowing spring. It was a holy day, and
many people of the servant caste were near the place.
2) And Jesus saw the hard drawn lines of toil on every brow, in every hand.
There was no look of joy in any face. Not one of all the group could think of
anything but toil.
3) And Jesus spoke to one and said,
Why are you all so sad? Have you no happiness in
life?
4) The man replied,
We scarcely know the meaning of that word. We toil to live, and hope for
nothing else but toil, and bless the day when we can cease our toil and lay us
down to rest in Buddha's city of the dead.
5) And Jesus' heart was stirred with pity and with
love for these poor toilers, and he said,
6) Toil should not make a person sad; men should be
happiest when they toil. When hope and love are back of toil, then all of life
is filled with joy and peace, and this is heaven. Do you not know that such a
heaven is for you?
7) The man replied,
Of heaven we have heard; but then it is so far
away, and we must live so many lives before we can reach that place!
8) And Jesus said,
My brother, man, your thoughts are wrong; your heaven is not far away; and it
is not a place of metes and bounds, is not a country to be reached; it is a
state of mind.
9) God never made a heaven for man; he never made a hell; we are creators and
we make our own.
10) Now, cease to seek for heaven in the sky; just open up the windows of your
hearts, and, like a flood of light, a heaven will come and bring a boundless
joy; then toil will be no cruel task.
11) The people were amazed, and gathered close to hear this strange
young master speak,
12) Imploring him to tell them more about the Father-God; about the heaven that
men can make on earth; about the boundless joy.
13) And Jesus spoke a parable; he said,
A certain man possessed a field; the soil was hard and poor.
14) By constant toil he scarcely could provide enough of food to keep his
family from want.
15) One day a miner who could see beneath the soil, in passing on his way, saw
this poor man and his unfruitful field.
16) He called the weary toiler and he said, My brother, know you not that just
below the surface of your barren field rich treasures lie concealed?
17) You plough and sow and reap in scanty way, and day by day you tread upon a
mine of gold and precious stones.
18) This wealth lies not upon the surface of the ground; but if you will dig
away the rocky soil, and delve down deep into the earth, you need no longer
till the soil for naught.
19) The man believed. The miner surely knows; he said, and I will find the
treasures hidden in my field.
20) And then he dug away the rocky soil, and deep down in the earth he found a
mine of gold.
21) And Jesus said,
The sons of men are toiling hard on desert plains, and burning sands and rocky
soils; are doing what there fathers did, not dreaming they can do aught else.
22) Behold, a master comes, and tells them of a hidden wealth; that
underneath the rocky soil of carnal things are treasures that no man can count;
23) That in the heart the richest gems abound; that he who wills may open the
door and find them all.
24) And then the people said,
Make known to us the way that we may find the wealth
that lays within the heart.
25) And Jesus opened up the way; the toilers saw another side of life,
and toil became a joy.
CHAPTER 34
The Jubilee in Kapivastu. Jesus teaches in the plaza and the people are astonished.
He relates the parable of the unkept vineyard and the vine dresser. The priests are angered by his words.
IT
was a gala day in sacred Kapivastu; a throng of Buddhist worshippers had met to
celebrate a Jubilee.
2) And priests and masters from all parts of India were there; they taught; but
they embellished little truth with many words.
3) And Jesus went into an ancient plaza and taught; he spoke of
Father-Mother-God; he told about the brotherhood of life.
4) The priests and all the people were astounded at his words and said,
Is this not Buddha come again in flesh? No other one
could speak with such simplicity and power.
5) And Jesus spoke a parable; he said,
There was a vineyard all unkept; the vines were
high, the growth of leaves and branches great.
6) The leaves were broad and shut the sunlight from the vines; the grapes were
sour, and few, and small.
7) The pruner came; with his sharp knife he cut off every branch, and not a
leaf remained; just root and stalk, and nothing more.
8) The busy neighbors came with one accord and were amazed, and said to him who
pruned, You foolish man! the vineyard is despoiled.
9) Such desolation! There is no beauty left, and when the harvest time shall
come the gathers will find no fruit.
10) The pruner said, Content yourselves with what you think, and come again at
harvest time and see.
11) And when the harvest time came on the busy neighbors came again; they were
surprised.
12) The naked stalks had put forth branch and leaf, and heavy clusters of
delicious grapes weighed every branch to earth.
13) The gatherers rejoiced as, day by day, they carried the rich fruitage to
the press.
14) Behold the vineyard of the Lord! the earth is spread with human vines.
15) The gorgeous forms and rites of men are branches, and their words are
leaves; and these have grown so great that sunlight can no longer reach the
heart; there is no fruit.
16) Behold, the pruner comes, and with a two-edged knife he cuts away the
branches and the leaves of words,
17) And naught is left but unclothed stalks of human life.
18) The priests and they of pompous show, rebuke the pruner, and would stay him
in his work.
19) They see no beauty in the stalks of human life; no promises of fruit.
20) The harvest time will come and they who scorned the pruner will look on
again and be amazed, for they will see the human stalks that seemed so
lifeless, bending low with precious fruit.
21) And they will hear the harvesters rejoice, because the harvest is so great.
22) The priests were not well pleased with Jesus' words; but they
rebuked him not; they feared the multitude.
CHAPTER 35
Jesus and Vidyapati consider the needs of the
incoming age of the world.
THE
Indian sage and Jesus often met and talked about the needs of nations and of
men; about the sacred doctrines, forms and rites best suited to the coming age.
2) One day they sat together in a mountain pass, and Jesus said,
The coming age will surely not require priests, and
shrines, and sacrifice of life.
3) There is no power in sacrifice of beast, or bird, to help a man to holy
life.
4) And Vidyapati said,
All forms and rites are symbols of the things that men
must do within the temple of the soul.
5) The Holy One requires man to give his life in willing sacrifice for men, and
all the so-called offerings on altars and on shrines that have been made since
time began, were made to teach man how to give himself to save his brother man;
for man can never save himself except he lose his life in saving other men.
6) The perfect age will not require forms and rites and carnal sacrifice. The
coming age is not the perfect age, and men will call for object lessons and
symbolic rites.
7) And in the great religion you shall introduce to men, some simple rites of
washings and remembrances will be required; but cruel sacrifice of animals, and
birds the gods require not.
8) And Jesus said,
Our God must loathe the tinseled show of priests
and priestly things.
9) When men array themselves in showy garbs to indicate that they are servants
of the gods, and strut about like gaudy birds to be admired by men, because of
piety or any other thing, the Holy One must surely turn away in sheer disgust.
10) All people are alike the servants of our Father-God, are kings and priests.
11) Will not the coming age demand complete destruction of the priestly caste,
as well as every other caste, and inequality among the sons of men?
12) And Vidyapati said,
The coming age is not the age of spirit life and men
will pride themselves in wearing priestly robes, and chanting pious chants to
advertise themselves as saints.
13) The simple rites that you will introduce will be extolled by those who
follow you, until the sacred service of the age will far outshine in
gorgeousness the priestly service of the Brahmic age.
14) This is a problem men must solve.
15) The perfect age will come when every man will be a priest and men will not
array themselves in special garb to advertise their piety.