Theos-Talk Archives (April 2012 Message tt00077)

http://www.davidpratt.info/jesus.htm


Jesus as avatara
The term âavataraâ signifies the âdescentâ of a divine being who overshadows and works through a human vehicle. Mahatma KH stated that the man Jeshu was âa mortal like any of us, an adept more by his inherent purity and ignorance of real Evil, than by what he had learned with his initiated Rabbis and the already (at that period) fast degenerating Egyptian Hierophants and priestsâ [1]. Jesus wasÂchrestosÂ(good and holy), and becameÂchristos(âanointedâ, i.e. glorified) only when the celestial power began to work through him. As Blavatsky explains:
Western Theosophists accept theÂChristosÂas did the Gnostics of the centuries which preceded Christianity, as do the Vedantins their Krishna: they distinguish the corporeal man from the divine Principle which, in the case of the Avatara, animates him. [2]
ÂÂÂÂTo make a complete avatara, aÂthirdÂelement is necessary: the physical-astral body and the spiritual-divine entity must be linked by a psychological apparatus, which is provided by a master of wisdom with the status of a buddha. Blavatsky and Purucker indicate that in the case of Jesus, it was the adept known in his last incarnation as Gautama Buddha who provided this link [3]. When the Buddha achieved enlightenment, his spiritual self is said to have entered the state of nirvana, while his intermediate self, the bodhisattva, remained after his death in the earthâs ethereal atmosphere as a nirmanakaya so that it could continue to help on human evolution [4].
ÂÂÂÂPurucker explains that avataras are humans of extraordinary spiritual and intellectual powers embodying a divine ray, who have no human karma because they are not the reincarnations of an ordinary human soul evolving on this earth. They are created by an act of white magic at cyclical points in human history for the purpose of introducing the spiritual influence of a divine being into human affairs [5]. The chosen child, even before it is born, is overshadowed by the soul of the Buddha, who watches over and strengthens the body concerned until it can receive the fuller incarnation of the Buddhaâs spiritual and intellectual powers. Somewhat later, usually when the borrowed body has reached adulthood, the soul of the Buddha rises through the ether and links itself with the waiting divinity, and from that instant, which usually takes place during initiation at the time of the winter solstice, the avatara exists as a complete entity and goes about
 its work [6]. Purucker writes:
An avatara usually happens in our world when a divinity is passing through initiation, and a human being provides the vehicle to enable it to descend into what is an underworld to the divine spheres. When a human being undergoes a corresponding initiation, the man descends into the underworld where a denizen thereof cooperates to lend its thinking conscious vehicle to allow the human monad to manifest and work there. [7]
ÂÂÂÂThe gospel Jesus appears to be a patchwork character, partly mythical and partly based on a number of historical characters, including the Talmud Jeshu. As for the avatara Jesus mentioned in the theosophical tradition, Purucker points out that there is no exoteric proof that such a figure did live and teach [8]. He may have been born in 107 BCE [9], and Blavatsky quotes an obscure passage from a âsecret workâ, which could be interpreted to mean that he died in his 33rd year (i.e. in 75-74 BCE) [10].*
*Shankaracharya, the great Vedantic teacher of India, is also said to have been overshadowed by the Buddha. Born in 510 BCE, he chose to die in his 33rd year. A commentary explains: âAt whatever age one puts off his outward body by free will, at that age will he be made to die in his next incarnationÂagainst his willâ [11].
ÂÂÂÂIn the Talmud, Balaam (a name meaning âdestroyer or corrupter of the peopleâ) â who sometimes denotes Jeshu â is said to have died when he was 33 years old. TheÂToldoth JeshuÂindicates that Jeshu outlived Jannaeus, who died between 79 and 76 BCE. He was succeeded by his wife, Salome, who reigned for some nine years and, unlike her husband, was favourable to the Pharisees. It may have been only after Jannaeusâ death that both Joshua ben Perachiah and Jeshu returned to Judea [12].
ÂÂÂÂThe New Testament does not indicate how old Jesus was when he died, though he is said to have begun his ministry at the age of 30. Some of the early Christians gave the time of his ministry as one year. The church father Irenaeus dismissed this and stated that Jesusâ ministry lasted 20 years. The accepted opinion among Christians today is that his mission lasted 3 years, and that he was crucified in his 33rd year [13].
ÂÂÂÂIn theosophical literature, Jesus is said to have been the avatara for the Piscean Age, the age which is now closing as we enter the Aquarian Age [14]. Significantly, the Jesus story contains a great deal of fish imagery. The apostles were known as âfishers of menâ. The early Christians called themselves âlittle fishesâ, and used the Greek wordÂichthysÂ(âfishâ) as a code word for Jesus, as it was seen as an acronym for âJesus Christ, Son of God, Saviourâ. In Johnâs Gospel, Jesus miraculously helps his disciples land a large catch of 153 fish. 153 is a sacred number associated with theÂvesica piscisÂor âvessel of the fishâ, an ancient Pythagorean symbol used by early Christians to represent their faith [15].

Figure.ÂTwo circles, symbolizing spirit and matter, are brought together in a sacred marriage. When the circumference of one touches the centre of the other they generate the fish shape known as theÂvesica piscis. The ratio of length to height of this shape is 265:153, and is known as the âmeasure of the fishâ. It is a powerful mathematical tool, being the nearest whole number approximation of the square root of three and the controlling ratio of the equilateral triangle.

ÂÂÂÂPurucker says that Jesus âcame at a time of a downwards-running cycle in order to sow some seeds at least of spiritual light, preceding a time which was going to be spiritually darkâ. His mission quickly proved to be a failure, because although the cyclic time for an avatara had come, everything was working against the spiritual forces for which he opened the way, and within less than a hundred years the teachings that he had left behind had degenerated [16]. For instance, the doctrines of reincarnation and karma were replaced by the irrational and unjust dogma that belief in Jesus is sufficient to absolve us of all our sins and secure us an eternity of heavenly bliss, while unbelievers will suffer eternal torment in hell.
ÂÂÂÂâChristâ refers to far more than a single man. In his Letter to the Colossians (1:25-8), Paul describes himself as having been assigned the task of announcing âthe secret hidden for long ages and through many generationsâ: âThe secret is this: Christ in you!â As Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy remark, this âis the perennial mysticism of Gnosticism and the Pagan Mysteries â that within each one of us is the one Soul of the Universe, the Logos, the Universal Daemon, the Mind of Godâ [17]. The purpose of our evolutionary pilgrimage is to bring this inner christ or buddha nature to full expression over the course of numberless lives. As Blavatsky puts it:
Christ â the true esoteric SAVIOURÂâÂis no man, but the DIVINEÂPRINCIPLEÂin every human being. He who strives to resurrect the SpiritÂcrucified in him by his own terrestrial passions, and buried deep in the âsepulchreâ of his sinful flesh; he who has the strength to roll backÂthe stone of matterÂfrom the door of his ownÂinnerÂsanctuary, heÂhas the risen Christ in him. The âson of Manâ is no child of the bond-woman âÂflesh, but verily of the free-woman âÂSpirit, the child of manâs own deeds, and the fruit of his own spiritual labour. [18]
ÂÂÂÂBlavatsky relates that she was once in a large cave-temple in the Himalayas with her Tibetan teacher, Morya. There were many statues of adepts and, pointing to one of them, her teacher said: âThis is he whom you call Jesus. We count him to be one of the greatest among usâ [19]. The importance of Jesus is highlighted in the following passage:
all the civilized portion of the Pagans who knew of Jesus honored him as a philosopher, anÂadeptÂwhom they placed on the same level with Pythagoras and Apollonius. .Â.Â. As an incarnated God there is no single record of him on this earth capable of withstanding the critical examination of science; as one of the greatest reformers, an inveterate enemy of every theological dogmatism, a persecutor of bigotry, a teacher of one of the most sublime codes of ethics, Jesus is one of the grandest and most clearly-defined figures on the panorama of human history. His age may, with every day, be receding farther and farther back into the gloomy and hazy mists of the past; and his theology â based on human fancy and supported by untenable dogmas may, nay, must with every day lose more of its unmerited prestige; alone the grand figure of the philosopher and moral reformer instead of growing paler will become with every century more pronounced and more clearly
 defined. It will reign supreme and universal only on that day when the whole of humanity recognizes but one father â theÂUNKNOWN ONEÂabove â and one brother â the whole of mankind below. [20]
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