The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus Christ, by Levi H. Dowling, [1920], at sacred-texts.com
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-labourer.
1. 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 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 fleshy 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 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 that which the finite man ahs called, survival of the best, became the 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 Kapavistu, 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 Kapavistu, hear me speak: We stand to-day 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 Kapavistu.
43. This Hebrew prophet is the rising star of wisdom, deified. He brings to us a knowledge of the secrets things of God; and all the world will hear his words, will heed his words, and glorify his name.
44. You priests of temple Kapavistu, 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.