This statement is distinct enough, as is also the one:  “He who longs to be rich is like a man drinking sea water.  The more he drinketh, the more thirsty he becomes and never leaves off drinking until he perisheth.”

The hypnotism of the external world is too well illustrated to need further comment.  The man who enters upon the pursuit of worldly possessions; temporal power; personal ambition; thinking that when he shall have attained all these, then will he turn to the solution of the mystery of mysteries, finds himself caught in the trap of his desires, and he can not escape.  He is under the spell of enchantment, wherein the unreal appears as real, and the real becomes the illusory.

To sum up, the fragmentary accounts we have of the life and character of the man Jesus are conclusive proof that he had entered into full realization of cosmic consciousness.

Like Lord Gautama, he appeared to his disciples after he had left the physical body, “glorified,” as one who had taken on immortality.

Nor was there ever, it would appear, any doubt in the mind of Jesus, of his right to godhood, while retaining, also, his self-consciousness.

The intellectual superiority.

The wonderful spiritual magnetism and attraction of his presence.

The absolute, unwavering conviction of his mission, and of his immortality.

The transfiguration, after his “temptation” and his prophetic vision.

His great love and compassion for even his enemies.

These are what made him indeed a Christ.

The term “Christ” and the term “Buddha” are synonymous.  They both mean one who has entered into his godhood.  One who has attained to cosmic consciousness, leaving forever the limitations of the lower self.

CHAPTER X

PAUL OF TARSUS

The system of worship known as Christianity owes its systematic foundation to Paul of Tarsus.  Paul’s sudden conversion from zealous persecution of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth to an equally zealous propaganda of the gospel of Light, offers a perfect example of the peculiar oncoming of cosmic consciousness.

Paul evidently occupied a position of authority among the Jews and it is equally probable that he was near the same age as Jesus, as he is referred to as a “young man named Saul” in Bible accounts of the persecution of the early Christians.  His illumination occurred shortly after the crucifixion, probably within two or three years.

In Acts, chapter 8-9, we read: 

“And Saul was consenting unto his death (Stephen).  And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea, and Samaria, except the apostles.

“And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.