The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-26
CHRIST WAS GREAT YOGI.
SWAMI ABHEDANANDA's view OF
THE SAVIOUR.

Ne vgas . Perfect Wan, whs, By Ahsoiute ne.
ssnnciation or All Earthly Dcsires. was
Abis TO Connect Rts Soul With the Great
Cos",Ie Soul OF Gbd-The vedanta Teaching.
In one Of his recent lectures upon tho vedanta
philosophy in this city, tho Swami Abhedan.
anda stated that Christ was n uroat yogi and
that the essence OF His teachings accorded with
the Vedanta philosophy and through the We
dantn philosophy His life and teaching arc best
interpreted.
After the lecture the Swami WINS asked to
explain the Hindu conception Of tho life and
character OF Christ.
When a Hindu hears of Christ" said the
Swami. The believes what he did. Christ was
the Son of God. Yes says the Hindu, lie
was, but lie was no the only son of God.
There were and are others. and there will be
many others. In fact, the whole of animal lifo
10 moving Christward, for the word Christ IL
tho name OF the state OF freedom and tho high
est spiritual enlightenment, as the Sanskrit
word Buddha means.
''To understand Christ one must understand
the Hindu conception OF the soul and tho uni
verse. for Christ, although n Jew by race, was
in cvcry fibre of His character n Hindu or ve-
dantist, and when the Christian looks ut his
Saviour from the Hindu point Of view he will not
only get a more beautiful and sublime conccp-
ton of Christ, but he will receive q much bettor
opinion Of himself and his fellow men. All
that Christ did and said will become vastly
more interesting to him, for he can himself con-
fdcntly hope some day to become q Christ.
The beauty Of tho Vedanta Wow OF Christ Is to
be able to roalizo from experience, that you and
I and all OF us win some day on this very earth,
clothed In blood and flesh. become Christ, for
In every ono Of US 10 the pure and sublime soul
that shows forth from Him on the Mount of
TRANSPORTATION. 1t needs only to DO set free,
IN connact itsoIf xyitb THE ,o,n,i, fptnll;,on,o
that stands behind and directs, evol, es. and
projects Nil these gross forms of matter that we
see. In every ono Of us is a spark of this uni
versal intelligent energy that is moving
toward freedom. In Christ. In Buddhn, and
in many Of our Hindu sages this cosmic ener-
gy was set free.
what do we see In ourselvesi First, tho
body, then behind it the mind. and behind that
something that Is conscious Of them both. One
can by effort separate all three of them in such
o manner as to see their difference. The mind
IL tied to the body and the soul or self to the
mind. Tie body dies, for oil forms OF matter are
changing. The soul departs and takes the
mind with it, and again they incarnate them.
selvos. This goes on till some day the mind is
able to renounce its passions and desires for
the world and tho soul is free to direct it.
This soul. OF CO IN Z consciousness behind
everything. ia able 10 manifest itself In man
moro freely than in anything else, because of
the more nearly perfect form Of his mind and
body. 1t is all along the line evolving toward
him and through him to freedom. But not in
the sense of changing its nature; it never does
that. Hence tho reason for the evolution of all
animal life. and tho Vodanta philosophy has
been sustained or confirmed by tho system of
evolution. Every law and fact yet embodied in
material science corroborates Vedanta.
In a perfect man like Christ the mind stuff
had been purified, eliminated in the absolute
remuneration of oil earthly desires. He was able
God, and no then exclaimed: I and my father
are one. When a Nedantist reaches that state
Sun sAy reaches as' that fasns sta9e he Eas says 2 4 ann a an
Every perfect man realizes that he Is a part of
Brahman, and when he is able to make the con.
nectlun with. it through his purified mind no
partakes OF its omnipresence. omniscience and
Look at what this universal Intelligent en-
orgy is doing, It is projecting suns and planets
molten furnace of the sun; 1t cools 1t, bathes it
In air and water and clothes 1t in vegetable and
sea. 1t wings the atmosphere with clouds and
spans the plain with rivers. 1t takes some
thing very line and hsaa small nall and projects it into
this universe 1t has never created something
from oTy nothing Eg and never will
b ts' Sss s1sss t as insr ShS saV when sR Ho has R rsliizsS
walks on the water or turns water into Wine or
feeds a great concourse Of people with a few
laws Of nature, which are unknown to the ordi.
nary man because he has not realized his con.
necti9p with that intelligence that is doing
India could be written for the last 5000 years,
there would be descriptions OF many, miracles
credited to Christ. any
A perfect men witness the truth. Sec
and the teachings Of Christ. See how antaE.
32nistie the New Testament is to the Old. In
separate from the world and man, which were
his creatures, while In the New Christ taught
fhat sho Creator is the saviour; He is one with
sentative. In Judaism the world was the end,
while In the New Testament It is tho means
Judaism is optimistic, while Christianity is en-
tireIy pessimistic;
John 1t is said the Whole world lieth in wicked.
ness. Again In the SECOND chapter, 1t is said:
IN the world; If any man love the world, the
love Of the Father y not in him What can
over, in the twelfth chapter G" Of the fourth Gospel,
Satan is described as the prince or healer Of the
preach the old jewish law Of Vengeance. but
He said love your enemy: In he Old Tesla
ment God promised innumerable posterity,
while in the New the assurance of eternal life.
Hebrew religion started with the idea Of eter-
God and man. The Semitic minds founded ro-
lRion on that idea of separation. They under
through fear. and their God t Wes an Mo o5jepptp 81
constant terror. How can a man with such o
strong notion OF separation. with such constant
fear OF punishment and eternal damnation,
reconcile God and man. Several attempts were
made Tor such u reconciliation, but all TAI ed.
AT last, when Jesus came and realized the truth
and spoke before the public. He was accepted
by some as q mediator. and as an impostor by
those who killed him.
Jesus understood the whole situation and
tried to mend the errors committed by His pred
ecessors, but very few Of His disciples or fol-
lowers understood Him or His plans.
"Schopenhauer says the New Testament
must be traced In a certain way TO Indian
sources. and The connection can be shown.
Asoka, the Buddhist Emperor of India, some
$50 b. c.. sent Buddhist missionaries to every
part OF the known world, as stone tablets eth
testtfy. These missionaries preached in Paies-
tine on down till near the bi IN OF Christ. They
left their Impress upon the country.
1T 10 most probable that Jesus got His in
know but little Of Him until He was 81 years OF
ago. Not till then did Ho renlize His own true
nature else He would have been heard Of sooner.
He WAS lDuhtlnka hnru INiIh pvary Tnantal and