23 And after many days he reached the mighty Himalayas, and in the city Kapivastu he abode. 24 The priests of Buddha opened wide their temple doors for him. CHAPTER 32. _Jesus and Barata. Together they read the sacred books. Jesus takes exception to the Buddhist doctrine of evolution and reveals the true origin of man. Meets Vidyapati, who becomes his co-laborer._ Among the Buddhist priests was one who saw a lofty wisdom in the words that Jesus spoke. It was Barata Arabo. 2 Together Jesus and Barata read the Jewish Psalms and Prophets; read the Vedas, the Avesta and the wisdom of Guatama. 3 And as they read and talked about the possibilities of man, Barata said, 4 Man is the marvel of the universe. He is a part of everything, for he has been a living thing on every plane of life. 5 Time was when man was not; and then he was a bit of formless substance in the molds of time; and then a protoplast. 6 By universal law all things tend upward to a state of perfectness. The protoplast evolved, becoming worm, then reptile, bird and beast, and then at last it reached the form of man. 7 Now, man himself is mind, and mind is here to gain perfection by experience; and mind is often manifest in fleshy form, and in the form best suited to its growth. So mind may manifest as worm, or bird, or beast, or man. 8 The time will come when everything of life will be evolved unto the state of perfect man. 9 And after man is man in perfectness, he will evolve to higher forms of life. 10 And Jesus said, Barata Arabo, who taught you this, that mind, which is the man, may manifest in flesh of beast, or bird, or creeping thing? 11 Barata said, From times which man remembers not our priests have told us so, and so we know. 12 And Jesus said, Enlightened Arabo, are you a master mind and do not know that man knows naught by being told? 13 Man may believe what others say; but thus he never knows. If man would know, he must himself be what he knows. 14 Do you remember, Arabo, when you was ape, or bird, or worm? 15 Now, if you have no better proving of your plea than that the priests have told you so, you do not know; you simply guess. 16 Regard not, then, what any man has said; let us forget the flesh, and go with mind into the land of fleshless things; mind never does forget. 17 And backward through the ages master minds can trace themselves; and thus they know. 18 Time never was when man was not. 19 That which begins will have an end. If man was not, the time will come when he will not exist. 20 From God’s own Record Book we read: The Triune God breathed forth, and seven Spirits stood before his face. (The Hebrews call these seven Spirits, Elohim.) 21 And these are they who, in their boundless power, created everything that is, or was. 22 These Spirits of the Triune God moved on the face of boundless space and seven ethers were, and every ether had its form of life.