V.

1.  In the course of his fourteenth year, young Issa, blessed by God, journeyed beyond the Sindh and settled among the Aryas in the beloved country of God.

2.  The fame of his name spread along the northern Sindh.  When he passed through the country of the five rivers and the Radjipoutan, the worshippers of the God Djaine begged him to remain in their midst.

3.  But he left the misguided admirers of Djaine and visited Juggernaut, in the province of Orsis, where the remains of Viassa-Krichna rest, and where he received a joyous welcome from the white priests of Brahma.

4.  They taught him to read and understand the Vedas, to heal by prayer, to teach and explain the Holy Scripture, to cast out evil spirits from the body of man and give him back human semblance.

5.  He spent six years in Juggernaut, Rajegriha, Benares, and other holy cities; all loved him, for Issa lived in peace with the Vaisyas and the Soudras, to whom he taught the Holy Scripture.

6.  But the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas declared that the great Para-Brahma forbade them to approach those whom he had created from his entrails and from his feet:

7.  That the Vaisyas were authorized to listen only to the reading of the Vedas, and that never save on feast days.

8.  That the Soudras were not only forbidden to attend the reading of the Vedas, but to gaze upon them even, for their condition was to perpetually serve and act as slaves to the Brahmans, the Kshatriyas, and even to the Vaisyas.

9.  "Death alone can free them from servitude," said Para-Brahma.  "Leave them, therefore, and worship with us the gods who will show their anger against you if you disobey them."

10.  But Issa would not heed them; and going to the Soudras, preached against the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas.

11.  He strongly denounced the men who robbed their fellow-beings of their rights as men, saying: "God the Father establishes no difference between His children, who are all equally dear to Him."

12.  Issa denied the divine origin of the Vedas and the Pouranas, declaring to his followers that one law had been given to men to guide them in their actions.

13.  "Fear thy God, bow down the knee before Him only, and to Him only must thy offerings be made."

14.  Issa denied the Trimourti and the incarnation of Para-Brahma in Vishnou, Siva, and other gods, saying:

15.  "The Eternal Judge, the Eternal Spirit, composes the one and indivisible soul of the universe, which alone creates, contains, and animates the whole.

16.  "He alone has willed and created, He alone has existed from eternity, and will exist without end; He has no equal neither in the heavens nor on this earth.

17.  "The Great Creator shares His power with no one, still less with inanimate objects as you have been taught, for He alone possesses Supreme Power.

18.  "He willed it, and the world appeared; by one Divine Thought, He united the waters and separated them from the dry portion of the globe.  He is the cause of the mysterious life of man, in whom He has breathed a part of His Being.

19.  "And He has subordinated to man, the land, the waters, and animals, and all that He has created, and which He maintains in immutable order by fixing the duration of each.

20.  "The wrath of God shall soon be let loose on man, for he has forgotten his Creator and filled his temples with abominations, and he adores a host of creatures which God has subordinated to him.

21.  "For, to be pleasing to stones and metals, he sacrifices human beings in whom dwells a part of the Spirit of the Most High.

22.  "For he humiliates them that labor by the sweat of their brow to gain the favor of an idler who is seated at a sumptuously spread table.

23.  "They that deprive their brothers of Divine Happiness shall themselves be deprived of it, and the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas shall become the Soudras with whom the Eternal shall dwell eternally.

24.  "For on the day of the Last Judgment, the Soudras and the Vaisyas shall be forgiven because of their ignorance, while God shall visit His wrath on them that have arrogated His rights."

25.  The Vaisyas and the Soudras were struck with admiration, and demanded of Issa how they should pray to secure their happiness.

26.  "Do not worship idols, for they do not hear you; do not listen to the Vedas, where the truth is perverted; do not believe yourself first in all things, and do not humiliate your neighbor.

27.  "Help the poor, assist the weak, harm no one, do not covet what you have not and what you see in the possession of others."