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VII - THE GĪTĀ AND THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE
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year to the shore of the Red Sea, that is to say, somewhere near Alexandria during the life of Christ. In short, there is now no doubt whatsoever that Buddhist monks had started entering Jewish countries two or three hundred years before Christ; and once the fact of this intercourse is admitted, it naturally follows that Buddhism was principally responsible for the renunciatory Esi religion, and later on, for the renunciatory and devotional Christian religion finding entry into the Jewish countries. The English writer Lilly has drawn this very inference; and he has mentioned in his book the similar opinions of the French scholars Emile Bournouff and Rosni in support of his opinion *; and Prof. Sedan, who was the Professor of Philosophy at Leipzig University in Germany, has also expressed the same opinion in his books on this subject. The German Professor Schroeder has said in one of his Essays that the Christian religion is not exactly similar to Buddhism ; that, though there may be a similarity between the two in some matters, there is a great deal of dissimilarity in other matters; and that, therefore, the opinion that the Christian religion was derived from the Buddhistic religion cannot be accepted. But, as this statement is irrelevant, it does not carry any weight whatsoever. It is nobody's case that the Christian and Buddhistic religions are similar to each other in all respects; because, if such were the case, nobody would have said that these two religions are different from each other. The principal question is, what was the reason for the renunciatory devotional Christian religion being promulgated as an improvement on the fundamentally purely Activistic Jewish religion; and when one thinks of the history of the Buddhist religion, which was undoubtedly more ancient than the Christian religion, it does not appear historically logical to say that the renunciatory principles of Ethics and Devotion in Christianity were discovered by Christ independently. There is no information to be found in the Bible as to what Christ was doing from the 12th to the 30th year of His life, or where He was during that period. And it is quite clear that He must have spent this time in the acquisition of knowledge, in religious meditation, and in travel. Therefore, it is impossible to say definitely
* See Lilly's Buddha and Buddhism pp. 158 ff
| SR No. | 011090 |
| Book Title | Bhagvad Gita Rahasya or Karmayoga Shastra VOL 02 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bhalchandra S Sukhtankar |
| Publisher | R B Tilak Puna |
| Publication Year | 1936 |
| Total Pages | 767 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 74 MB |