Levi H. Dowling - The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ

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 has 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 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 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.

Table of Contents

1. 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.