God without "dropping the body" (as the Hindus say), and regained creation-consciousness plus God-consciousness, can constantly see the universe springing from the Om-point which is in everyone. For the Eastern philosophical concept of the spiritual aspect of creation is that the whole universe, known and unknown, has come out of a point in the microcosm, which may be called the Creation-point.

What we are trying to make clear is that the process of evolution, reincarnation and spiritual advancement is so linked with Soul-realization that in the end, it is found that cause, effect, time, space, birth and death, suffering and happiness are all mere imagination! The play of Maya in creation.

Let us now examine the early Christian concept of Self or God-realization. The author's father and other scholars at the beginning of this Century found the early Christian beliefs to be quite different from those of orthodox Christianity today; and as more and more discoveries of lost or hidden manuscripts come to light, the greater will be the present-day discrepancies.

To quote from Conybeare's* book, Myth, Magic and Morals, on a passage regarding the Gnostic beliefs, we read: "The Gnostic believers of the Second century figured the Christhood as a pre-existent heavenly aeon that had struck down from the highest through the many intermediate grades of being and entered Jesus at the Jordan." He also explained that amongst other sects, the Ebonites or Christians of Palestine clung obstinately to the belief that Jesus only attained divinity at the time of the Baptism. The same idea was held by the Armenians, who not only believed that Jesus was anointed by the Spirit, and became Christ, but also that John the Baptist ordained him by laying his hand on his head, imparting to Him the triple dignity or grace of King, High Priest and Prophet. This accords with the Hindu idea of Self-realization. John the Baptist was the master of Jesus and enabled him to realize his own Perfection. It should be stressed that John denied any messianic role for himself, for he stated: 'But one mightier than I cometh, the lachet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose."

We can therefore understand the reluctance of the Early Christian sects to accept the doctrine of the Virgin Birth, which the Church introduced in the Second Century. The Early Church Councils as an attempt to make Christianity essentially a Western religion dominated and sponsored by Rome, attempted to suppress all Eastern concepts, especially the theory of reincarnation, and Rome in her desire to present Jesus as an unique figure, **resented all parallels or similarities in the history of other spiritual teachers.

*D. F. Conybeare, MA., LL.D., F.B.A. published by Watts & Co., London, 1910.

** Typesetting error on hardcopy page put the rest of this last sentence on line 5 of the next page by mistake. I moved it here where it belongs. 1959 second edition of Civilization or Chaos. On page 9, para 2, line 7 webmaster-JK