Mouseless browsing in gmail

Recently Gmail Labs blog introduced a new concept called mouseless browsing in gmail and its benefits . Gmail blog’s Tip: Read your mail without touching your mouse is an excellent primer for using Gmail with minimal to no mouse required. 

There's More To Life Than Gathering Nuts

Flopsy was a high-achieving squirrel. He left the family nest when it was time, survived a few run-ins with retrievers, and dodged more than one Hawk in his day. He also learned to gather his food supply first thing in the day . . . before any play . . . and build a good stash in case the oncoming winter were to turn severe.
He found a mate - her name was Nuggets - and they raised three agile squirrels. One by one the youngsters left the nest, heading out across the wires to another part of town. When they were gone, Flopsy couldn't help wondering, "Did I teach them all that they needed to know . . . did I give them the confidence they'll need to survive? Did I spend enough time chasing them in spirals around the tree or just sitting side by side peacefully on the bank of the stream?" "Oh well," he thought, "I did the best I could . . . and they seem like good squirrels."
"So, on with life," he thought. He got up early every morning and scampered across a few backyards to gather nuts . . . as he had done for so many years before. But soon he noticed that he wasn't getting up with the same enthusiasm as he once had. Also, while he was foraging, his mind would wander. Sometimes he wondered if his nut gathering really mattered. After all, he and Nuggets had a reasonable stash of food . . . more, he thought, than two hungry squirrels could go through in a lifetime. "Maybe I should just . . . whoa . . . wait a minute . . . whoops . . . yikkkkkkkkkes." With all his daydreaming, Flopsy lost his footing and went crashing down through the branches of a 100-year-old Copper Beech. At 5 feet above the ground, he almost caught his grip, but alas, it wasn't to be. Flopsy crashed into the ground at a breakneck speed . . . except he didn't break his neck! But he did black out for a moment. When he came to, he was on his back looking up at the canopy of penny-colored leaves dancing in the wind.
As he watched the swaying leaves he remembered how he used to swing from branch to branch almost effortlessly. He loved to hang from one paw, flip over to the other side, and even hang by his tail. That's how he got his name. He'd jump from one branch to another, flip his body over as if on a parallel bar . . . a regular Flying Wallenda of the squirrel world.
Just thinking about it made his pulse race. His little toes began to tap. It had been years since he'd done what he loved to do. After all, he'd been busy doing what he was supposed to do . . . gathering nuts, providing shelter . . . becoming part of the Treetop community. But now, he thought, "Why not? What am I waiting for?"
He lingered under the tree a little longer, and thought about what he and Nuggets really needed to survive. He figured out that if he gathered nuts early each day, he'd have time to "fly" in the afternoon . . . and still be home in time for dinner. He really didn't need to spend 24/7 in the "hunt."
Soon Flopsy was back practicing his high-branch act. He wasn't as limber as he once had been, but he found his years of experience had taught him how to focus and soon he was flying even better than before.
But after several high-flying months Flopsy sensed that something was still missing from his life. He definitely enjoyed what he was doing, but he still wasn't sure if he was making a difference . . . for anyone but himself . . . and Nuggets, of course, whom he loved dearly.
So he went back to the tree where he'd had his "Aha" moment. Yup . . . just propped himself up against the trunk of the tree, folded his little forelegs behind his head, and stared up under the penny-colored canopy of leaves. "How can I do what I love and also make a difference in some way?" (He was a pretty philosophical squirrel.) He asked the question and watched the shimmering leaves, but no answer was forthcoming. Disappointed . . . and more than a little frustrated, he scrambled to his feet and headed home to Nuggets.
The next morning while Flopsy was out gathering nuts, he noticed an adolescent squirrel on a low branch of a tree staring up. Just staring . . . not moving. So he scurried up next to the youngster and asked, "What's up?" The younger squirrel replied, "I'm trying to figure out how to get to that cluster of mulberries at the end of that branch at the top of the tree. They look so delicious, but . . . I'm rather clumsy and I'm just not sure I can manage the climb."
"Well, would you like a suggestion?" Flopsy offered. "Sure," said the teenage squirrel . . . curious if this graying elder could REALLY teach him what he needed to know. So Flopsy proceeded to suggest a path that might be right for the young squirrel to take . . . given his capabilities and his destination. He even taught him a special way of using his claws so he wouldn't slip. Soon the young squirrel was nibbling on mulberries from the end of a branch and Flopsy went off to gather nuts.
And then it hit him . . . right out of the blue. "That's IT!" he blurted out. "That's how I can do what I love and make a difference." Soon Flopsy was running a school for high-flying squirrels. The days were long and the students were not always attentive, but the time just seemed to fly. One day, he turned to his mate and said, "You know, life doesn't get any better than this . . . I couldn't be more satisfied." "Nor could I," she said, "nor could I."
3 Things We Can Learn From Flopsy About Moving Beyond Success
1. A whack on the head often helps our vision . . . we see what's really important. Don't wait for a " wake-up call;" put your time where your priorities lie.
2. To feel fully alive, we need to feed our passions, desires, and dreams. Every day - in ways large and small - observe, enjoy, and create. Life is in the details.
3. When it seems like something's missing, try giving. Share your talent to make a difference . . . build a legacy. The connection makes us whole.

A reason

Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away they were meant to be there...to serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or to figure out who you are or who you want to become. You never know who these people may be but you lock eyes with them and you know that very moment that they will affect your life in some profound way.
And sometimes things happen to you at the time that may seem horrible, painful, and unfair, but in reflection of you realize that without overcoming those obstacles you would never would realize your potential, strength, will power, or heart.
Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by chance or by means of luck. Illness, love, and lost moments of true greatness and sheer stupidity all acure to test limits of your soul. Without these small tests, life would be like a smoothly paved, straight, flat road to know where safe and comfortable but dull and otterly pointless.
The people you meet affect your life. The successes and the downfalls that you experience can create whom you are and the bad experiences can be learned from. In fact they are probably the most poignant and important ones. If someone hurts you, betrays you, or breaks your heart, forgive them because they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to whom you open your heart to.
If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally, not only because they love you, but also because they are teaching you to love and open your heart and eyes to little things. Make everything count. Appreciate everything you possibly can, for you may never experience it again.
Talk to people whom you have never talked to before and actually listen. Let yourself fall in love, break free, and set your sights high. Hold your head up because you have ever right to. Tell yourself you're a great individual and believe in yourself, no on else will believe in you. Create your own life and then go out and live it.

A Beautiful Story

Haruki Murakami: On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning
One beautiful April morning, on a narrow side street in Tokyo's fashionable Harujuku neighborhood, I walked past the 100% perfect girl.
Tell you the truth, she's not that good-looking. She doesn't stand out in any way. Her clothes are nothing special. The back of her hair is still bent out of shape from sleep. She isn't young, either - must be near thirty, not even close to a "girl," properly speaking. But still, I know from fifty yards away: She's the 100% perfect girl for me. The moment I see her, there's a rumbling in my chest, and my mouth is as dry as a desert.
Maybe you have your own particular favorite type of girl - one with slim ankles, say, or big eyes, or graceful fingers, or you're drawn for no good reason to girls who take their time with every meal. I have my own preferences, of course. Sometimes in a restaurant I'll catch myself staring at the girl at the next table to mine because I like the shape of her nose.
But no one can insist that his 100% perfect girl correspond to some preconceived type. Much as I like noses, I can't recall the shape of hers - or even if she had one. All I can remember for sure is that she was no great beauty. It's weird.
"Yesterday on the street I passed the 100% girl," I tell someone.
"Yeah?" he says. "Good-looking?"
"Not really."
"Your favorite type, then?"
"I don't know. I can't seem to remember anything about her - the shape of her eyes or the size of her breasts."
"Strange."
"Yeah. Strange."
"So anyhow," he says, already bored, "what did you do? Talk to her? Follow her?"
"Nah. Just passed her on the street."
She's walking east to west, and I west to east. It's a really nice April morning.
Wish I could talk to her. Half an hour would be plenty: just ask her about herself, tell her about myself, and - what I'd really like to do - explain to her the complexities of fate that have led to our passing each other on a side street in Harajuku on a beautiful April morning in 1981. This was something sure to be crammed full of warm secrets, like an antique clock build when peace filled the world.
After talking, we'd have lunch somewhere, maybe see a Woody Allen movie, stop by a hotel bar for cocktails. With any kind of luck, we might end up in bed.
Potentiality knocks on the door of my heart.
Now the distance between us has narrowed to fifteen yards.
How can I approach her? What should I say?
"Good morning, miss. Do you think you could spare half an hour for a little conversation?"
Ridiculous. I'd sound like an insurance salesman.
"Pardon me, but would you happen to know if there is an all-night cleaners in the neighborhood?"
No, this is just as ridiculous. I'm not carrying any laundry, for one thing. Who's going to buy a line like that?
Maybe the simple truth would do. "Good morning. You are the 100% perfect girl for me."
No, she wouldn't believe it. Or even if she did, she might not want to talk to me. Sorry, she could say, I might be the 100% perfect girl for you, but you're not the 100% boy for me. It could happen. And if I found myself in that situation, I'd probably go to pieces. I'd never recover from the shock. I'm thirty-two, and that's what growing older is all about.
We pass in front of a flower shop. A small, warm air mass touches my skin. The asphalt is damp, and I catch the scent of roses. I can't bring myself to speak to her. She wears a white sweater, and in her right hand she holds a crisp white envelope lacking only a stamp. So: She's written somebody a letter, maybe spent the whole night writing, to judge from the sleepy look in her eyes. The envelope could contain every secret she's ever had.
I take a few more strides and turn: She's lost in the crowd.
Now, of course, I know exactly what I should have said to her. It would have been a long speech, though, far too long for me to have delivered it properly. The ideas I come up with are never very practical.
Oh, well. It would have started "Once upon a time" and ended "A sad story, don't you think?"
Once upon a time, there lived a boy and a girl. The boy was eighteen and the girl sixteen. He was not unusually handsome, and she was not especially beautiful. They were just an ordinary lonely boy and an ordinary lonely girl, like all the others. But they believed with their whole hearts that somewhere in the world there lived the 100% perfect boy and the 100% perfect girl for them. Yes, they believed in a miracle. And that miracle actually happened.
One day the two came upon each other on the corner of a street.
"This is amazing," he said. "I've been looking for you all my life. You may not believe this, but you're the 100% perfect girl for me."
"And you," she said to him, "are the 100% perfect boy for me, exactly as I'd pictured you in every detail. It's like a dream."
They sat on a park bench, held hands, and told each other their stories hour after hour. They were not lonely anymore. They had found and been found by their 100% perfect other. What a wonderful thing it is to find and be found by your 100% perfect other. It's a miracle, a cosmic miracle.
As they sat and talked, however, a tiny, tiny sliver of doubt took root in their hearts: Was it really all right for one's dreams to come true so easily?
And so, when there came a momentary lull in their conversation, the boy said to the girl, "Let's test ourselves - just once. If we really are each other's 100% perfect lovers, then sometime, somewhere, we will meet again without fail. And when that happens, and we know that we are the 100% perfect ones, we'll marry then and there. What do you think?"
"Yes," she said, "that is exactly what we should do."
And so they parted, she to the east, and he to the west.
The test they had agreed upon, however, was utterly unnecessary. They should never have undertaken it, because they really and truly were each other's 100% perfect lovers, and it was a miracle that they had ever met. But it was impossible for them to know this, young as they were. The cold, indifferent waves of fate proceeded to toss them unmercifully.
One winter, both the boy and the girl came down with the season's terrible inluenza, and after drifting for weeks between life and death they lost all memory of their earlier years. When they awoke, their heads were as empty as the young D. H. Lawrence's piggy bank.
They were two bright, determined young people, however, and through their unremitting efforts they were able to acquire once again the knowledge and feeling that qualified them to return as full-fledged members of society. Heaven be praised, they became truly upstanding citizens who knew how to transfer from one subway line to another, who were fully capable of sending a special-delivery letter at the post office. Indeed, they even experienced love again, sometimes as much as 75% or even 85% love.
Time passed with shocking swiftness, and soon the boy was thirty-two, the girl thirty.
One beautiful April morning, in search of a cup of coffee to start the day, the boy was walking from west to east, while the girl, intending to send a special-delivery letter, was walking from east to west, but along the same narrow street in the Harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo. They passed each other in the very center of the street. The faintest gleam of their lost memories glimmered for the briefest moment in their hearts. Each felt a rumbling in their chest. And they knew:
She is the 100% perfect girl for me.
He is the 100% perfect boy for me.
But the glow of their memories was far too weak, and their thoughts no longer had the clarity of fouteen years earlier. Without a word, they passed each other, disappearing into the crowd. Forever.
A sad story, don't you think?
Yes, that's it, that is what I should have said to her.

India and Outsourcing

In the last few years there has been considerable talk about
oursourcing and it's relationship with india.

I thought i would put some light on this subject in perspective.
Globally corporations have realized that to be successful in this
competitive market place one needs to be cost effective. And what best
way to be cost effective then to outsource some of your work to some of
the cheap labour countries like India. One of the big corporations who
realised this first was GE. They set up the backoffice operations in
India, way before the current outsourcing wave started. At first they
concentrated on moving the call center operations, then they moved on
to move some of the high end jobs to India which includes R&D, medical
research, financial research etc. This resulted in huge savings for GE.
GE was one of the first companies to realise the value of Indian
workforce. India has a very good education system with maximum emphasis
on science and related fields. The number of english speaking science
graduates which pass out every year from India would be more than US
and the EU combined. Pre liberalization era in India (pre 1991), most
of the talented students migrated to the US for pursuing various career
oppurtunities. They became very successful in the US. Companies like
Microsoft, Intel has loads of Indians in US. Indians were not only
forming their presence in software development, but also in high end
research in software, Atomic sciences etc. One fifth of the scientists
in NASA are Indians according to one report. Silicon Valley also has a
sizeable Indian population.

The Indian economy opened up in 1991 and it was achieving on an average
6 % GDP growth since then. This resulted in an increase in focus on
software development in India. Many Indian companies like Infosys,
Wipro, TCS etc flourished during this period. They were able to put
forth an unbeatable value proposition to the US corporates- software
development at high quality at low prices. First some of the software
development and maintenance work were outsourced to India. Then the
focus shifted to other kinds of outsourcing. Major Banks outsourced
their back office operations to India. Post 2000 there has been an
increased focus on this kind of outsourcing. Call centers came up on
almost every nook and corner of India employing thousands of people.
Lately outsourcing has shifted to other areas like high end research,
financial research,Tax return filings, medical transcription etc. The
ousourcing bug has not even spared religious activities.

There is now a talk of outsourcing farming to India. Major African
countries are asking for Indian farmers to work in their countries.

Last few years there has been tremendous growth in India. There has
been increased focus in infrastructure, Telecom, education and poverty
eradication. All these are possible because of the growth in the
economy which is in turn fuelled by the growth in the IT sector. Now
almost all major fortune 500 companies have some work or other
outsourced to India.

I won't be surprised if in the next few years India would emerge as a
major power in the world.

India has definitely arrived.

The Valentine's Day Dilemma

Bloody hell! It is the season of Valentines.

For some it is the most important day. Then why not it is the day on which their love might blossom.
Wake up guys!. Do you think a gift or a card on a valentines day would instill that love in your sweatheart.

I think for starters it is the most confusing times. Let’s look at it from a guy’s point of view. I assume if you are thinking of Valentines day then there should be somebody in your mind. You don’t know whether she likes you or not but from your point of view she is the one that is made for you. Give me a break,

Anyways you want to propose to her or at the least give her a gift. Now comes the interesting part.

What is an ideal gift for Valentine?

Would you go in for the clichéd, the Greeting Card. You go to an Archies or a Hallmark and look for hours together for that “different” gift. You are not going to get it. You decide that you will come back to the store. You want the card to be given along with some other gift.

Next stop flowers. How original my dear? Your gift of the most beautiful set of roses would be lost among the hordes of others. See flowers nowadays have become the most clichéd of all the Valentine's day Gifts.

What next? You want to buy her an expensive gift. But how expensive. Buy her a Jewellery piece may be. Wait a minute, are you really serious about her. The thing with girls is when you give them gold they would think that you are bloody serious. And that’s a bloody big risk. Serious talk on Valentine’s Day. Naah……You need to think something else.

Now the tension comes in. No ideas coming to your mind. A book, a music CD, Jeans, Video game, Movie or box of chocolates may be. Sadly none of them clicks. A book for Christ sake, what a Harry Potter. She might do a rictusempra on you. Ok what about a music CD. Are you planning to give her your favaurite rock band’s latest collection. Doesn’t work.

See the dilemma. It’s called the great V Day’s dilemma (btw I coined this term). An ideal Valentine day’s gift doesn’t exist at all. It is very difficult to achieve that balance. Expectations of the women folk rise to the brim on this day. Mind you if you go for the clichéd there are chances that she might accept your gift but not your heart. And if you go for the expensive ones, it might mean a big hole in the pocket. Girls want the most original gift on this day. There is no original gift idea left my dear.
Ohh wait a minute. I got it. The most original gift idea is to not to give a gift at all. Mind you its very original. Look at the advantages. It doesn’t make a hole in you pocket or your brain. And she might even like it who knows. You can expect anything from the women folk.

P.S: My valentine is in Canada now. So I guess my idea of not giving any valentine gift might work wonders with me.

The story of a Cartoon

Consider this. A half-witted editor of a Danish newspaper publishes a series of cartoons depicting Islam’s intolerant nature by drawing Prophet Mohammad. The cartoons itself were in a bad taste. These cartoons were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten on September 30th last year. The drawings, including a depiction of Muhammad with a bomb inside or under his turban, were accompanied by an article on self-censorship and freedom of speech. The outrage has been caused by the fact that drawing or depicting a physical image of the Prophet is against Islamic law.

There was not much which was said and written about when the article was published. If you do a google search on this topic you would find that all the ruckus was started by Saudi Arabia sometime in January (a clear few months after the incident). If one looks closely one would notice that this outburst by the Islamic governments in the middle east against the Danish newspaper coincided with the report of another stampede in the Haj where around 345 people were killed.

Syria and Egypt also reacted sharply after the Saudi outburst. Syrian and Egyptian governments are considered to be the most secular in the region. But in recent times there have been an increasing pressure on the respective governments. Many in these countries were looking for a more Islamic centered alternative.

Also another important point is the Hamas victory in Palestine. Hamas is considered as a radical Islamic outfit by many including many of the governments in the Middle East. Parties like Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt are increasingly taking advantage of the failures of such governments.

So the governments found an excellent excuse to divert the attention of it’s people and also the world to a supposedly “serious offense”. Arab governments seem to have taken the cartoons so seriously because they were afraid of being outflanked by groups like Hamas among others.

What followed was the boycotting of Danish goods, withdrawing of ambassadors, burning of the Danish flag, unconditional apologies, sacking of the editors, articles after articles deploring the cartoons etc

The effect of this astounding reaction was so immense that everybody has forgotten about the stampede in Haj, which has the potential to really cast a shadow on the efficacy of the Saudi Government to manage Haj.

The cartoons became a tool to make a political point and also to divert attention till the time another blasphemous act is carried out by the Infidels of the world.

Till then enjoy the drama!

Privatization

First things first. Government should be in the business of governance alone and not divert their attention on the management of PSU's. Agreed that there are certain strategic sectors where government control is necessary, but even there privatisation in a limited fashion would actually improve efficiency across board. I agree that government should not concentrate only on the profit making firms. Loss making PSU's can also be privatised and also prove profitable on the long run. The thing with many of these so called loss making PSU's in india is that they are so used to subsidies that the thing called market economics or dynamics don't work for them. These subsidies over a number of years (both in the input as well as output) were typically spent and not invested, and have no relevance to the firm's current worth. Agreed that private sector would jump in to bid for the profitable PSU’s over the loss making one’s. But the govt should realize that if it is not finding any takers for the loss making PSU’s then there is no logic of running it themselves. If there is an inherent value in the PSU even though it is loss making, any prudent investor would jump in to buy these companies. Here are some of the points in favour of privatization of profitable public enterprises.
a) As I said before a Govt should be in the business of Governance alone
b) By selling the profitable PSU’s the government can improve the fiscal scenario
c) There would be efficiency gains which can be seen in the companies which have been privatized.
d) Spillover effect: If a Public sector enterprise is privatized then the first thing which would happen is increase in the monetary flow in the economy itself. It would also help all the ancillary companies associated with the PSU. Another important point is that the govt should relinquish control entirely after the sale of these PSU's. Total privatization is preferable to partial ones.

Christian Science and Vedanta

By Swami Abhedananda
Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, Calcutta

Most startling are the similarities that exist between the fundamental principles of modern Christian Science and those of the ancient system of philosophy known in India as Vedanta.
The followers of Christian Science, unacquainted with the Vedanta and the religious teachings of India, may in all sincerity claim originality for their founder, Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy. They may show their gratitude to her for numerous benefits received. They may shut their eyes to all other systems of philosophy and religion, ancient or modern. Their revealed text-book ‘Science and Health’ may change its tone by additions and alterations in every chapter of every new addition; but Mrs. Eddy, herself, was fully aware that the truths which she claimed to have discovered were discovered and taught in India by the Hindu sages and philosophers centuries before Jesus the Christ appeared on earth.
In the earliest edition of ‘Science and Health’ Mrs. Eddy had the courage to quote certain passages from one of the most authentic books of the Vedanta philosophy, thus herself acknowledging the harmony that exists between the basic principles of the Vedanta philosophy and Christian Science. Unfortunately, for some reason, since the publication of the 34th edition, these passages have been omitted. In the 24th edition of ‘Science and Health’, published in 1886, we find the 8th chapter devoted to Imposition and Demonstration. This chapter has been entirely suppressed in later editions. It begins with four quotations. The second is from Sir Edwin Arnold’s translation of the Bhagavad Gita, entitled ‘Song Celestial’. Those who have read the Bhagavad Gita know that it contains the essence of the Vedas, as well as all truths expounded by the Vedanta philosophy. The passage runs thus:
"Never the Spirit was born; the Spirit will cease to be never;

Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are dreams;

Birthless and Deathless and Changeless remaineth the Spirit forever;

Death has not touched it at all, dead though the house of it seems.
Again, in the same chapter of the 24th edition Mrs. Eddy says: ‘The ancient hindoo philosophers understand something of this principle when they said in the Songs Celestial, according to an old prose translation: ‘The wise neither grieve for the dead nor for the living. I Myself never was not, nor thou, nor all the princes of the earth; nor shall we ever hereafter cease and old age, so in some future frame will it find the like. One who is confirmed in the belief is not disturbed by anything that may come to pass. The sensibilities of the faculties giveth heat and cold, pleasure and pain; which come and go and are transient and inconstant. Bear them with patience, for the wise man whom these disturb not, and to whom pain and pleasure are the same, is formed for immortality’. (p. 259).
This is a quotation from one of the old translations of the Bhagavad Gita by Charles Wilkins, published in London in 1785 and in New York in 1867. In recent editions of Science and Health, this has been omitted, perhaps to show that the founder of Christian Science did not draw the water of truth from any other fountain than the Christian Bible.
Now let us compare the leading propositions of Christian Science with those of the Vedanta philosophy. In the 193rd edition of Science and Health (p.70), these propositions are said to be four in number:
First, God is all in all
Second, God is good, God is mind
Third, God, spirit being all, nothing is matter
Fourth, Life, God, omnipotent good deny death, evil, sin, disease. Disease, sin, evil, death deny God, omnipotent good, life.
Which of the denials in proposition fourth is true? Both cannot be true.
These four propositions form the four main pillars upon which rests the structure of Christian Science. A critical student of philosophy, however, can reduce these four to two. First accept God, who is spirit, mind, life, being, omnipotent, good and all in all. Second, deny matter and that which exists besides God. According to Christian Science, God, spirit, life, mind, being, omnipotence, infinite good, all these terms are synonymous and are applicable to the one real substance of the universe; and in the same manner, matter, sin, disease, ignorance, error, and illusion are also synonymous terms, which can be applied to that which exists as distinct and separate from the God of Christian science, It has no existence, no reality. Therefore the whole phenomenal world with its innumerable appearances does not exist in reality.
It is like a mirage, an illusion or dream of the mortal mind. But the mortal mind itself falls under the head of illusion, too; because we read on page 8, 183rd edition of Science and Health: ‘Mortal mind implies something untrue, and therefore unreal, and as the phrase is used in teaching Christian Science, it is meant to designate that which has no real existence’. The world is an illusion that is seen by the illusion of the mortal mind; but the question arises, whence comes this illusion? What causes it? Christian Science does not answer. It simply says, ‘Mind or God is not the author of matter and the creator of ideas is not the creator of illusions’. (Science and Health 193rd edition, p. 145).
Thus, according to Christian Science, if God or spirit, life, being, absolute, omnipotent good, be all in all and Truth, then the phenomenal universe, including matter and mortal mind, is nothing but an illusion; it does not exist in reality; it has no reality and no existence.
Now let us see what the Vedanta philosophers said on this point centuries before the birth of Christ. In this pre-Christian era a disciple went to a spiritual master and asked: ‘Sir, please tell me in a few words the fundamental principles of the Vedanta philosophy’. The spiritual master, who was a seer of Truth (Rishi), replied: ‘I will tell you in half a couplet the fundamental principles of the Vedanta philosophy that have been declared by millions of volumes. Brahman or the Absolute, infinite and eternal Being, is Truth; the world is false and unreal, and the individual soul is no other than Brahman or the Absolute Truth, which is absolute existence, knowledge (intelligence), and bliss’. This is the quintessence of Vedanta philosophy.
In Christian Science, the word ‘God’ is used to signify the absolute Reality or unchangeable truth of the universe; so, in Vedanta philosophy, the Sanskrit word ‘Brahman’ is used to designate that all-pervading substance being, which is the reality of the universe. This unchangeable reality of the universe forms the reality of all living creatures and all mortal things, everything that we can see, hear or perceive with our senses. If Brahman or the absolute being whose nature is absolute existence, knowledge (intelligence) and bliss, be the one reality and all in all, it must be one, because there cannot be many absolutes or infinites. Absolute must be one and infinite must be one. As we find this idea in reading Science and Health, so we find it also in the Vedanta philosophy. Granting, then, that the absolute reality is one, the question naturally presents itself: why do we see so great a variety in the phenomenal universe? And what is the cause of this variety?
In answering this question, the Vedanta philosophy gives two theories. The first is the theory of illusion, and the second is the theory of evolution. The theory of illusion is very old; we find it formulated in the Vedas and it was taught by some of the seers of the Vedic period. It was maintained and preached by Buddha, who lived 540 years before Christ and by his followers; while later it was explained with great clarity by Shankaracharya, the best exponent of the Vedanta philosophy, who lived in India in the seventh century after Christ.
This theory of illusion is the most difficult of all theories for the ordinary mind to grasp. Even the subtlest logicians and the profoundest thinkers often fail to understand how this phenomenal world, which we perceive with our senses and which appears so real to us, can be unreal or illusory. If, however, Vedanta philosophy declares this phenomenal universe to be unreal and false, it does not deny its existence, as does Christian Science. It does not say that mortal mind or matter is nothing; but, on the contrary, it is most careful to define the terms unreal and illusion. By these words Vedanta philosophy does not mean negation, but phenomenal or relative existence or reality, conditioned by time and space. It admits that this phenomenal world is unreal from the standpoint of the absolute or noumenon, but at the same time it says that it has as much (conditional) reality in it as anything presented to us by the senses can ever have.
Although Vedanta philosophy agrees with Christian Science in its fundamental principles, yet there is still a great difference between their respective modes of expressing the same truths. Christian Science, by denying the existence of matter and mortal mind, denies the existence of the phenomenal world and reduces it to nothingness. This reminds us of conclusions reached by some of the nihilistic philosophers of India and Europe. Hume denied the existence of mind and matter. He reduced the whole universe to a bundle of sensations, impressions, and ideas. Some of the Buddhist philosophers in India denied the existence of the universe in the same way. But this method creates great confusion in the minds of the people.
For instance, I am standing before you and speaking, and you are listening. If we follow the teachings of Christian Science strictly, we shall have to deny that I am standing here and that you are sitting there. In other terms, the speaker is nothing, the hearer is nothing, the mortal mind is nothing; consequently, thoughts and ideas are nothing, the words expressed by the mortal mind are also nothing. Not only this, but the very act of denying is nothing, because the act of denying is the act of the mortal mind; it cannot be the act of an absolute or divine mind. ‘Where God is, no other thing can exist’, so there cannot be the denial of anything in God; the divine mind cannot see anything outside of itself, and as mortal mind is nothing, therefore the denial itself is nothing.
This difficulty does not arise in Vedanta philosophy, because it does not deny the existence of matter, mind, and everything that is on the phenomenal plane. Although it tells us that the world is unreal, that matter is unreal, mind is unreal, still it recognizes their existence, but adds that that existence cannot be separated from the absolute existence. If Brahman or the absolute Existence were all in all, then everything that exists on the phenomenal plane is in reality Brahman or the absolute Truth. The reality of the chair, the table, the earth, the sun, moon and stars, is the absolute existence, is divinity itself.
The reality in you, in me, and in all living creatures is the same as the absolute reality of the universe; only on account of names and forms, the one Reality appears to be many. As, for instance, the one substance, clay, appears through diverse names and forms in numberless varieties, such as pots, jars, bricks, etc., so the one absolute Reality, when clothed with varying names and forms, appears to be sun, moon, stars, animals, vegetables, etc., Matter and mind, according to Vedanta, are not two separate entities, but different expressions of the one eternal substance, which is called the Brahman in Vedanta, and God in Christian Science.
Instead of insistently denying the existence of matter, mortal mind, and objective phenomena, Vedanta tells us how to see through the multiplicity of names and forms the one unchangeable Being which stand as the background (substratum) of all objects of material existence and gives reality to all. The names and forms have of course no absolute reality, but they have conditional reality; or, in other words, they exist in relation to our minds. The world is real, according to Vedanta, but at the same time it is not as seems to be; it is not that which appears to us at the present moment. This is what is meant by ‘illusion’ (Maya) in Vedanta.
[Note: the English translation of ‘Maya’ is not illusion, but is delusion or nescience.]
For example, here is a chair; the substance of this chair is the absolute Reality, because the absolute Reality is all pervading and one. It is in you, in me, in the table and in everything, and that which gives reality to the chair is one with the absolute Reality. But the chair appears as chair only so long as it is clothed with the name and form of chair. If we can mentally separate the name and form from the substance of the chair, that which will be left will be common wood; take away the name and form of wood, atoms and molecules will remain; take away the name and form of atoms and molecules, there will be left nothing but eternal energy, and that is inseparable from the absolute substance. In this way, if we can mentally separate the names and forms from the substance, all phenomenal objects can be reduced to one substance, which is the absolute reality of the universe.
Thus Vedanta, while giving the most logical reason for the variety of phenomena, does not deny the existence of anything. On the contrary, it tells us that the real existence or true substance of everything is Brahman or absolute Reality, or God, as Christian Science calls it. The whole universe is like one infinite ocean of Reality, which is nameless and formless, and in that ocean waves and bubbles rise spontaneously and take different names and forms. These waves and bubbles are the objects of the phenomenal universe. As in the ocean, waves and bubbles have no existence separate from or independent of the ocean itself, so the waves and bubbles known as the phenomenal objects of the universe have no existence separate from or independent of the ocean of Reality. We are like so many bubbles in the infinite ocean of Reality; we owe our existence to that ocean, live there, and play for a while, then merge into it to reappear in some other form. Such is the conception of Vedanta concerning the relation of phenomena to the absolute noumenon, or the unchangeable Truth, which underlies all phenomenal names and forms.
Christian Science, taking its stand on the Bible, tries to defend its position by wonderfully clever interpretations of scriptural passages, in which the meaning of each passage is stretched to its utmost limit. Common sense, however, prevents many from accepting such interpretations, as they depend neither upon logic nor upon reason, but upon the authority of an inspired founder. Vedanta philosophy explains the same truths without resting its evidence upon any book or upon the authority of any man or woman whether of antiquity or of our day. It has no founder; consequently it does not demand allegiance to anyone or to anything save Truth.
Christian Science, again, by denying the phenomenal universe, places itself at variance with all science and all philosophy. It also defies all modern scientific methods by restricting its field of investigation to that which is mentioned in the one copyrighted volume called Science and Health; whereas the Vedanta philosophy, admitting the existence and relative reality of the phenomenal universe of mind and matter, accepts all the truths that have been discovered by science and philosophy or by the seers of Truth in all countries and in all ages. At the same time, it tells us that the realm of science and philosophy lies within the limits of time and space, that they cannot, in consequence, go beyond relative reality. Christian Science does not see any harmony between absolute Truth and the scientific truths discovered by so-called mortal mind; but Vedanta, on the contrary, sees perfect harmony underlying all the laws and phases of Truth which human minds have discovered. Truth being one, whether it is discovered by science, philosophy, or religion, is the same Truth. It cannot be many; why should we deny its diverse aspects as long as we are on the phenomenal plane?
Christian Science, to go further, is notably uncharitable towards everything not sanctioned by its founder, while Vedanta philosophy declares that truth is universal and cannot be monopolized by any man or woman of any country. Christian Science rejects the doctrine of evolution and upholds the belief in special creation as described in the Book of Genesis, attempting to explain the account there given by the idealistic theory which was adopted by Bishop Berkley and by a host of other idealists of ancient and modern times. Vedanta accepts the doctrine of evolution and shows that of special creation to be absurd. It also courts free investigation in the realm of nature without imposing the condition that the results of all such investigations be in accord with the tenets of a specific book or of some one teacher; and it thus emancipates the human soul from bondage to any one of scriptures or to personal authority.
In this age of agnosticism and materialism, Christian Science has done an admirable work, in making people realize that this phenomenal world of ours is like a dreamland, and that all objects of sense are nothing more than objects seen in a dream. This is no small gain for Western minds; because the more we realize that this world is like a dream, the nearer we approach to absolute Truth. In this respect, what Christian Science is at present trying to do in this country (USA) has been done by Vedanta in India for centuries. Furthermore, Christian Science has rendered a great service to humanity by demonstrating the power of the mind over the body, the power of spirit over matter.
Although this fact was in no way new to the spiritual teachers, sages, and best thinkers of every country, still in no other country and at no other time had there ever been so well organized a movement as that started by Mrs. Eddy under the name of Christian Science. Like Vedanta, it has brought health to many diseased bodies and rest to many diseased minds. Dazzled, however, by their wonderful success in healing, Christian scientists lay exclusive claim to the method of healing given by Mrs. Eddy, declaring it to be the only right method; while all others, adopted by mental scientists, metaphysical healers, and other kindred sects are wrong and unscientific. We must not, however, let these extravagant claims made by the over enthusiastic followers of Mrs. Eddy blind us to the fact that the power of healing is the property of every individual soul. Anyone can develop the gift of healing and cure disease by the mind without becoming a Christian scientist and without reading a page of Science and Health.
There have been many remarkable healers in every country, such as among the Hindus, the Buddhists, the Mohammedans, and those of other religious creeds. It is a great mistake to think that the power of healing comes from any outside source or from belief in this or that. It is developed by living a right life in accordance with the moral and spiritual laws of nature. Christian Science teaches that the power of healing was first shown to the world by Jesus the Christ and His disciples, and asserts that no one ever manifested that kind of healing power before He appeared upon earth; but if we read the religious history of the world carefully, we find that long before the birth of Christ, the same healing power of mind or spirit was practised by the followers of Buddha with marvellous success. Wherever Buddhist missionaries travelled, they healed the sick without using drugs. The Yogis in India also use no drugs in curing disease, but rely entirely upon the spiritual power, which they acquire through right living and the practice of yoga.
Christian Science, in laying such stress upon the miraculous and exclusive power of healing manifested by Jesus, are evidently ignorant of the fact that similar Christ-like healing powers were displayed by Esculapius, the ancient Greek, who was proclaimed the saviour of mankind because of these very powers. He not only cured the sick of the most malignant diseases, but even raised the dead. Eusebius, the ecclesiastical historian, wrote in glowing terms of the gift of healing possessed by him. For many years after the death of Esculapius, furthermore, miracles continued to be wrought through the efficacy of faith in his name. Christ-like healing powers, again, were shown and miracles performed by Appollonius of Tyana, who was a contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth. The lives of Hindu sages, Buddhist monks, and of the Yogis of India are filled with such description of miraculous cures and even of the raising of the dead. Vedanta philosophy, being fully cognisant of these facts, cannot, therefore concur with the Christian scientist that Jesus was the first to exercise this power. On the contrary, it teaches that the power of healing is universal and cannot be confined within the boundaries of any one creed, sect, religion, or book.
Christian Science makes good health the standard of spirituality, a position which the most superficial observation disproves; since if good health were to be the standard of spirituality, then all those who enjoy perfect health should be exceptionally spiritual. The tribes who live in close touch with nature, sleep under the trees, walk barefooted, and eat raw food should, because of their physical vigour, be the most spiritual of all; yet we know that this is not the case. For this reason, Vedanta does not make good health the standard of spirituality. Nor does it stop with the denial of disease, pain, and evil. It goes a step further and says, if you deny disease, pain, sorrow, and evil, why should you not also deny the existence of health and the pleasures of the body and mind? Because, in this world of relativity, the one is just as much dreamlike as the other. If disease is a dream, good health is likewise a dream. Why not? Good is good so long as it stands in relation to its opposite evil; otherwise it can have no existence. Some say that God is good; but that word good cannot be used in its absolute sense, because it creates confusion; that which is good demands something which is better and something best. If you say that God is good, the question naturally arises, who is better and who is the best?
By denying evil its correlative is also denied; so with pain and pleasure, health and disease. If you deny ill health, you deny good health also. Therefore, logically speaking, Christian Science preaches, consciously or unconsciously, a dogma that is based on logical inconsistency. In Vedanta no such inconsistency can be found, because it exhorts us to rise above both good and evil, pleasure and pain, sickness and health.
The curing of disease is a very good thing so long as we recognize disease, so long as we admit its existence and in the dream of ignorance seek good health, or try to avoid suffering and ill health; but the moment we realize that our nature is above all relativity, above pleasure and pain, above conditions of mind and body, we cease to talk of disease or health. No disease, no pain, no sorrow or suffering, either physical or mental, can affect or touch the soul; neither a healthy body nor a healthy mind can enrich the perfect Being, which is divine, immortal, unchangeable, which is the Soul of our souls and which dwells in each individual. So why should we trouble ourselves first to deny disease and then to try to cure it?
Christian Science teaches a religion which rests entirely upon the Bible, which in turn is limited by the interpretations of Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy. These interpretations, furthermore, are often so obscure and occult that it requires an unusual mind to grasp their import. Few people of ordinary intelligence, even after hours of study, can understand clearly what the author means. At the same time Christian Science insists that only through an unquestioning acceptance of these interpretations can the Truth be reached. Those, on the other hand, who do not accept them, are cast relentlessly into the abyss of error. There is no hope for them, since they are completely in the wrong. By this attitude alone the religion of Christian Science lays itself open to the charge of dogmatism, sectarianism, and lack of charity towards all other faiths and religious systems; whereas, Vedanta philosophy teaches a religion that is not based upon any book or its interpretation by any man or woman, but upon universal truth and upon the eternal laws that govern our souls and our lives. It teaches that religion which underlies all special religions, and which has no particular name, no creed, no fixed form of worship, and no label of authority stamped upon it by any specific founder. It preaches the truth boldly, and at the same time accepts all the phases of truth discovered by scientists, philosophers, and seers of Truth (Rishis) everywhere and in all ages, while enough room is left in the religion of Vedanta for the admission of any truths that may be discovered in the future. Thus Vedanta establishes the foundation of a universal religion, embracing the teachings of Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Confucius, Zoroaster, Mohammed, and all other spiritual teachers of the past and of those who will come in the future while it proclaims in a trumpet voice to the world:
"That which is eternal in the midst of non-eternal phenomena, which is the life of all living creatures, which is the infinite source of consciousness, is one. It is also the bestower of happiness to all. Eternal happiness comes to those alone, who realize this absolute Oneness; to them comes unbounded joy and peace, to none else, to none else".

Did Christ Teach a New Religion?

By Swami Abhedananda
Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, Calcutta

The religion of Jesus the Christ was not like the orthodox Christianity of today; neither did it resemble the faith of the Jewish nation. His religion was a great departure from Judaism in principles and ideals as well as in the means of attaining them. It was much simpler in form and more sublime in nature. The religion that Christ taught had neither dogma, creed, system, nor theology. It was a religion without priests, without ceremonials, without rituals, or even strict observances of the Jewish laws.
As in India, Buddha rebelled against the ceremonials, rituals, and priest-craft of the Brahmins and introduced a simpler form of worship and a religion of the heart, so among the Jews, nearly five hundred years after Buddha, Jesus of Nazareth rebelled against the priest-craft of Judaism. Jesus saw the insufficiency of the Jewish ethics and ideals and the corruption and the hypocrisy of the priests. He wished to reform the religion of his country and establish a simpler and purer form of worship of the Supreme Being, which should rest entirely upon the feelings of the heart, not upon the letter of the law.
The God of Jesus was not the cruel and revengeful tribal deity of the house of Israel; He was the Universal Spirit. He was not like the tyrannical master of modern orthodoxy, who kills, damns, or saves mankind according to his whim; He was a loving Father. Jesus’ worship consisted not in ceremonials, but in direct communion between his soul and the Father, without any priestly intermediary. The idea of God as the ‘Father in Heaven’ did not, however, originate with Jesus the Christ, as modern Christians generally believe; it existed in the religious atmosphere of northern Palestine as a result of the Hellenic influence of the worship of Jupiter – Greek, Zeus-pitar; Sanskrit Dayus-pitar, which means Father in Heaven, and hence Father of the Universe. The worship of Jupiter was introduced into Babylon and northern Palestine by Antiochus Epiphanes between 175 and 163 B.C. Although the orthodox Jews revolted against this innovation, yet there were many liberal minded Jews among the Pharisees who liked the idea, accepted it, and preached it.
One of the most prominent of the Jewish priests, who was considered by many as the true master and predecessor of Jesus and who was held in great esteem by the Pharisaic sect of the Jews, inculcated this belief in the merciful and fatherly character of God. His name was Rabbi Hillel. The Talmud speaks of this Babylonian teacher in glowing terms, declaring that he was next to the Prophet Ezra. It was Hillel who first preached this Golden Rule among the Jews. He used to spend much time in meditation and study, and recommended such practices to his disciples. Hillel died when Jesus was about ten years old.
Thus we see the idea of Fatherhood of God existed in northern Palestine at the time of Jesus, and was preached in public by Rabbi Hillel. Moreover, at the same time Philo and other Neo-Platonist Jews in Alexandria were teaching the fatherly character of God and the only-Begotten Sonship of the Logos or Word. Both the Fatherhood of God and the Sonship of the Word were known to the Greeks and other Aryan nations, especially the Hindus of ancient India. Jesus of Nazareth took up this grand Aryan idea and emphasized it more strongly than any of his predecessors in Palestine.
At the time when Jesus appeared in Galilee, the religious atmosphere of the place was permeated with Persian doctrines, Hellenic ideas, Pythagorean thoughts, and the precepts of the Essenes. Therapeutae, Gymonosophists, and the Buddhists of India. Galilee was then aglow with the fire of religious enthusiasm, kindled by the ardour of social and political dissensions. The Jews were already divided into three principal sects, the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the Essenes. Each of these was trying to gain supremacy and power over the others. The Sadducees were the conservative and aristocratic class, while the Pharisees and the Essenes were essentially liberal. It was a time of great disturbance and intrigues, insurrections, rebellions, and wars. Such a period naturally kindles the fire of patriotism in the heart of a nation and forces its members to become active in every possible way.
The misfortunes and calamities that befell the descendants of Israel made them remember the promises of Jahveh which were handed down to them through the writings of the prophets, and forced them to seek supernatural aid in the fulfilment of those promises. The unconquerable pride of the sons of Israel- that they were the ‘chosen people’ of Jahveh; the only true God, who was their governor and director – stimulated their minds with the hope that, through the supernatural power of Jahveh, the kingdom of their great ancestors would be restored: that a member of David’s house would appear as the Messiah (the anointed), sit on the throne, and unite the twelve tribes of Israel under his sceptre, and govern them in peace and prosperity. This was the first conception of a Messiah that ever arose in the minds of the Jews. It was the principal theme of the poets and Prophets who lived during the Babylonian Exile.
The glory of the house of Israel and the earthly prosperity of the sons of Jahveh, were the highest ideals of the Jews. They did not mean by ‘Messiah’ a spiritual saviour of the world. The Christian idea of this term owes its origin to the Zoroastrian conception of the coming Messiah Soshiyanta, who, according to the promise of Ahura-Mazda, would appear on the day of judgement, destroy the evil influence of Ahriman, and renovate the world. This idea was accepted by the Pharisees while the orthodox Jews repudiated it.
Although the mind of Jesus, according to the Synoptic Gospels, was not free from the superstitious beliefs of the Jews and the national traditions of his time; although he accepted the Zoroastrian conception of a ‘coming Messiah’ and that the end of the world was imminent, as well as the Persian ideas (which did not exist in Judaism before the Babylonian Captivity) of the renovation of the world, the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the dead, the day of judgment, the punishment of the wicked, and the salvation of the righteous; although Jesus believed with the Pharisees in the Persian conception of heaven and hell and the devil, and saw many angels ascending and descending over his head – yet he realized that the Kingdom of God was a spiritual kingdom: that it was within himself.; he felt the presence of the Father within him, and asked his disciples to feel likewise. The Jews understood by the Kingdom of Jahveh the Kingdom of this world and the prosperity of the house of Israel.
But Jesus spiritualized that ideal and taught a reign of righteousness and justice; not a reign of strife between nations, but a kingdom of peace and love. Jesus preached this idea among his people in the same way as Buddha declared that he came to establish a kingdom of peace and love and righteousness upon earth. Buddha did not use the expression ‘Kingdom of God’, but preferred ‘kingdom of justice, peace and love’. Jesus had to use the former expression, because it was dominant in the minds of the people about him.
These ideas regarding a kingdom of peace and love were scattered in northern Palestine for at least two centuries before the Christian era by the Buddhist missionaries. It is indeed a well-known historic fact that the gospel of peace, goodwill and love was preached in Syria and Palestine by Buddhist monks nearly two hundred years before Christ. Their influence was felt most deeply by the Jewish sect called the Essene, or the Therapeutae, to which sect, as many scholars believe, Jesus himself belonged. It is interesting to note the similarities between the Essene and the followers of Buddha. The Buddhists were also called Theraputta, a Pali form of the Sanskrit Sthiraputra, meaning the son of Sthira, or Thera: one who is serene, enlightened, and undisturbed by the world. Thera was one of Buddha’s names. These people had the power to heal disease.
Readers of the history of India are aware that in 249 B.C. Ashoka the Great, the Buddhist emperor, made Buddhism the state religion of India and sent missionaries to all parts of the world, then known to him, to preach the gospel of Buddha. He sent missionaries from Siberia to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and from China to Egypt. These missionaries preached the doctrines of Buddhism, not by bloodshed and sword, but by scattering blessings, goodwill and peace where they went. The edicts and stone inscriptions of Ashoka were written during his lifetime. One of these edicts mentions five Greek kings who were Ashoka’s contemporaries, - Antiochus of Syria, Ptolemaos of Egypt, Antigonus of Macedon, Magas of Cyrene, and Alexander of Epiros. The edict says that Ashoka made treatise with these kings and Buddhist missionaries to their kingdoms to preach the gospel of Buddha. "Both here and in foreign countries" says Ashoka, "everywhere the people follow the doctrine of the Beloved of the gods, wheresoever it reacheth." Mahaffy, the Christian historian says: "The Buddhist missionaries preached in Syria two centuries before the teaching of Christ, (which has so much in common with the teaching of Buddha), and this was heard in northern Palestine".
The labours of these Buddhist monks were not fruitless in these places. They continued to preach through parables the highest ideals of religion from generation to generation. Their communities, bound to a life of celibacy, which was not a Jewish custom, increased from age to age as outsiders joined their ranks. Even the Alexandrian Neo-Platonist Philo, who was a contemporary of Christ, mentions in his writings once or twice the Indian Gymnosophists or the Buddhists, and says that the Essenes numbered about four thousand at that time. The doctrines of the Essenes, their manner of living, and the vows of their communities show the results of the Buddhist missionary work during the two centuries immediately preceding the birth of Christ. Pliny says: "The Essenes live on the western shore of the Dead Sea. They are a hermit clan – one marvellous beyond all others in the world, without any women, without the joys of domestic life, without money, and the associates of the palm-trees". If we read Josephus we find how highly the Essenes of those days were respected.
One of the peculiar practices of the Essenes was the ‘Bath of Purification’, which was also peculiarity of the Buddhist monks. The life led by John the Baptist was typical of that of a Buddhist monk. Exactly like a Buddhist, the Essene rose before sunrise and made his morning prayers with his face turned towards the east. When the day broke, he went to work. Agriculture, cattle-breeding, bee-keeping and other peaceful trades were among his ordinary occupations. He remained at work until eleven o’clock; then he took a bath, put on white linen, and ate plain vegetable food. The Essenes abstained from meat and wine. They also wore leather aprons, as did some of the Buddhist monks. The Essene novice took solemn oath to honour God, to be just toward his fellow-men, to injure no one either of his own accord or by order of others, not to associate with the unrighteous, to assist the righteous, to be ever faithful to all, always to love truth, to keep his hands from theft and his soul from unholy gain. There were some who joined the order after having lived a married life.
Earnest Renan says: "The Essenes resembled the Gurus (spiritual masters) of Brahmanism". "In fact", he asks, "might there not in this be a remote influence of the Munis (holy saints of India)"? According to Renan: "Babylon had become for sometime a true focus of Buddhism. Boudasp (Bodhisattva, another name of Buddha) was reputed as a wise Chaldean and the founder of Sabaism, which means, as its etymology indicates, Baptism". He also says: We may believe at all events that many of the eternal practices of John, of the Essenes, and of the Jewish spiritual teachers of the time were derived from influences then existing, but recently received from the far East" – meaning India. Thus we can understand that there was an indirect influence of the Buddhist monks upon the mind of Jesus through the Essenes, and especially through John the Baptist.
Although Jesus never pretended to have created the world, nor to govern it, yet his followers worshipped and loved him as the Messiah; and later on the writer of the Fourth Gospel identified him with the ‘Word’, or Logos of Philo, about the latter part of the third century of the Christian era. According to the Synoptic Gospels, the idea of the advent of the end of the world and of the reign of justice and the kingdom of God grew so strong in the mind of Jesus that apparently it forced him to think that he – the Son and the bosom friend of his Father – must be the executor of God’s decrees and that through him such a Kingdom of Justice and Goodness should be established. This thought gradually led him to believe that, as he was the Son of God, he should be the Universal Reformer, and was born to establish the Kingdom of God.
The fundamental principles of the religion of Jesus, however, were purity, self-denial, control of passions, renunciation, non-attachment to wealth and to earthly things, intense faith, forgiveness and love for enemies, and the realization of the unity of the soul with the ‘Father in Heaven’. During the one year of his public life as a spiritual teacher, Jesus taught his disciples these principles and showed them the way to practise them by his living example. But all these grand ethical and spiritual doctrines, upon which the religion of Jesus was founded, were practised for nearly three centuries before Christ by the Buddhist preachers in Babylon and Syria, and they were taught in India for ages before that. The same ideas were inculcated by the Vedic sages, by the Vedanta philosophers, and afterwards by the Avataras, or incarnations of God, like Rama, Krishna, Buddha (547 B.C.) Sankara, Chaitanya, Nanaka, and also by Ramakrishna of the nineteenth century. If we study the lives of these men, we find that, like Jesus, each one of them lived a pure, spotless and unselfish life of renunciation, always loving humanity and doing good to all.
Those who have read the doctrines of Buddha know that the ethical teachings of Jesus seem like repetitions of what Buddha taught. Those who have read the Bhagavad Gita (the Song Celestial), will remember that the fundamental principles of Krishna’s teachings were purity of heart, self-denial, control of passions, renunciation, love towards enemies, forgiveness, and the realization of the unity of the soul with the Father. In short, the religion of Christ was taught before him by Buddha and Krishna in India. Like Jesus the Christ, Krishna said in the Bhagavad Gita: "I am the path. Follow Me and worship one God. I existed before the world was created. I am the Lord of all". And again: "Giving up the formalities of religion, come unto Me; follow Me; take refuge in Me. I shall free thee from sins and give eternal peace unto thee. Grieve not".
But although Jesus the Christ did not teach a new religion, still he came to fulfil and not to destroy. He gave a new life to the old truths, and by his wonderful personality impressed them upon the minds of his own people.