Did you know that Jesus Christ and the Buddha taught the timeless truth in the Vedas? The Vedas are the ancient scriptures that are the foundation of Hinduism. In each Veda there are Upanishads-sections that sum up its teachings-and the teachings of Vedanta interpret the Upanishads and other major Hindu texts. The Vedas were received as sacred hymns or mantras by sages in India thousands of years ago, their truths became the basis of Hindu belief, and in the last century these truths were disseminated around the world by Yogananda, Sivananda, and other great gurus.
Jesus lived in India and the Far East from the age of 13 to 30, 17 years that are unaccounted for in the Bible but documented in ancient manuscripts in Tibet. During that time in his life, Jesus visited sages and holy people, studied the teachings of the Vedas, and taught truth to those who were looked down on by the upper classes and denied access to the scriptures. He did not accept the caste system, and with the wisdom of an illumined mind he taught that God is within and guides us from within. He said one should purify the heart, look to the Christ within, and meditate in the silence of the soul. When he went back to his homeland, he continued to teach Vedic truth, often using parables and metaphor. The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, Chapter 135, tells us that in the temple in Jerusalem he said to the people, “I am the lamp; Christ is the oil of life; the Holy Breath the fire. Behold the light!”
The light of Christ is part of the Holy Breath; the Holy Breath is the Holy Spirit.
Buddha also taught the wisdom of the Vedas. Like Jesus, he was a reformer. He did not personify God and taught only the important, essential, and universal aspects of the Hindu religion. Most of his followers do not accept the truth that the Self is pure, immortal consciousness, but in the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, Buddha’s final teaching before he left his body, he makes it clear that his earlier teachings about non-self and emptiness (which were mistakenly interpreted as nihilistic) were preliminary teachings designed to free people from the false idea that the mortal self (ego) is real, and he tells his listeners, “The Self (Atman) is Reality (tattva), the Self is permanent (nitya), the Self is virtue (guna), the Self is eternal (sasvata), the Self is stable (dhruva), the Self is peace (siva).” Nirvana is God’s nature as the Self in the cosmos and in every soul, and as Brahman beyond creation.
In Advaita Vedanta, the Atman (God as the Universal Self, the Holy Spirit) and Brahman (God as the Supreme Being: ever-existing bliss-consciousness) are said to be the same. Even though only Atman is active, Atman came out of Brahman, and both are eternal and have the same qualities. And in creation, just as different objects made of clay are made of the same substance, yet each is unique, every individual soul is made of the Atman and is unique. All things are made of the light of the Atman, and each is a unique expression of Its love, intelligence and power.
Pain teaches us to avoid harmful thoughts and actions, which directly or through the law of karma cause it, but when individual selves were created out of God’s infinite love and light, some did not like their role as independent beings and judged pain as bad. However, all things including pain are one in God’s all-encompassing light and love, so by condemning pain they became less aware of God and the oneness of all things, and as their awareness of oneness decreased, they perceived separations and dualities. Moreover, their awareness of their own divine nature and the happiness it gave them were diminished, and they began to identify with their mortal mind and body and seek happiness in physical pleasure.Thus, they became caught up in harmful desires and habits, their awareness of God continued to decrease, and they became more and more engrossed in matter.
As we grow spiritually and gradually become free from harmful tendencies and habits, we reverse this process and begin to discover the Universal Self. And when our false sense of identity, the ego, is gone, and we remember our true identity as God, we experience the infinite majesty and glory of the Self.
In Messages from Jesus by Mary Ann Johnston, Jesus speaks of the oneness of everything. He says, “God as love and life force is infinite oneness of all things, seen and unseen” (p. 229). He also says, “There is no fixed reality except for the light of God. Everything is all one, including time. This oneness dwells as the light of God, the only reality” (p. 190).
As the Supreme Reality (Brahman), God transcends creation, but as the Universal Self (the Atman), God manifests and sustains every body, mind and soul, and also the entire cosmos. Through the vibratory power of OM and the intelligence that guides this power, the Atman projects the dream of the cosmos in our mind. “The Word” and “Holy Spirit” are other names for the Atman, who is love, light, bliss, intelligence, and power. God is infinite, beyond description, and fully understood only when experienced as the One Spirit both beyond and in creation, but words do give us an idea of the nature of this experience and inspire us to seek it.
May the Holy Breath guide and sustain you!
To read The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ visit: ocoy.org
Go to “Original Christianity,” next scroll down to and click on “The Aquarian Gospel for Awakening,” and then scroll down past “Commentary and Text” to “The text of the Aquarian Gospel.”
On ocoy.org, you will find various texts that shed light on Jesus’ life and teachings, not only in Israel but also in India and the Far East.
For the Mahaparinirvana Sutra and an excellent commentary, visit: nirvanasutra.net
