To Light a Thousand Lamps - The Theosophical Society

88 / TO LIGHT A THOUSAND LAMPS
believing in him can they be saved. Three conclusions, apparently
incompatible; yet when we view them as three ways
of looking at Jesus, we get a fairly rounded picture of what
he represents.
Simply put, the idea that Jesus came to be a light to the
world and to ‘‘save us from our sins’’ shows us how we could
save ourselves, how we could free ourselves from bondage and
from the tomb of material things — not that we could do
whatever we like and then just before we die repent, shift the
burden of our guilt on him, and be saved forever and forever.
Gautama Buddha, too, was a light to the world. In fact,
when we compare the well-known incidents in the lives of
Gautama and Jesus we find an astonishing correspondence:
both were born of a virgin mother; both were schooled in
and drew inspiration from the sacred traditions of their respective
homelands, and rebelled against the orthodoxy of
their respective priesthoods; both cut through all barriers of
class and religious bias and accepted as disciples whoever
was earnest of heart. Emphasis on the ‘‘light’’ within by
both Jesus and Gautama assured a divine equality of opportunity
to every human being: to Brahman and outcaste,
Sadducee and leper, king, courtesan, and fisherman. Notably,
Jesus’ transfiguration when ‘‘his face did shine as the
sun, and his raiment was white as the light’’ is reminiscent
of Gautama’s enlightenment and his attainment of final nirvana
when the color of the Tathāgata’s skin became so ‘‘clear
and exceeding bright’’ that his robes of cloth of gold lost
their splendor.* Last but far from least, their coming to
*Matthew 17:2; Mahā-Parinibbāna-Sutta, iv, §§48‒50.