CHAPTER 23.
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Levi
Jesus and Lamaas among the sudras and visyas. In Benares. Jesus becomes a pupil of Udraka. The lessons of Udraka.
Now, Jesus with his friend Lamaas went through all the regions of Orissa, and the valley of the Ganges, seeking wisdom from the sudras and the visyas and the masters.
2 Benares of the Ganges was a city rich in culture and in learning; here the two rabbonis tarried many days.
3 And Jesus sought to learn the Hindu art of healing, and became the pupil of Udraka, greatest of the Hindu healers.
4 Udraka taught the uses of the waters, plants and earths; of heat and cold; sunshine and shade; of light and dark.
5 He said, The laws of nature are the laws of health, and he who lives according to these laws is never sick.
6 Transgression of these laws is sin, and he who sins is sick.
7 He who obeys the laws, maintains an equilibrium in all his parts, and thus insures true harmony; and harmony is health, while discord is disease.
8 That which produces harmony in all the parts of man is medicine, insuring health.
9 The body is a harpsichord, and when its strings are too relaxed, or are too tense, the instrument is out of tune, the man is sick.
10 Now, everything in nature has been made to meet the wants of man; so everything is found in medical arcanes.
11 And when the harpsichord of man is out of tune the vast expanse of nature may be searched for remedy; there is a cure for every ailment of the flesh.
12 Of course the will of man is remedy supreme; and by the vigorous exercise of will, man may make tense a chord that is relaxed, or may relax one that is too tense, and thus may heal himself.
13 When man has reached the place where he has faith in God, in nature and himself, he knows the Word of power; his word is balm for every wound, is cure for all the ills of life.
14 The healer is the man who can inspire faith. The tongue may speak to human ears, but souls are reached by souls that speak to souls.
15 He is the forceful man whose soul is large, and who can enter into souls, inspiring hope in those who have no hope, and faith in those who have no faith in God, in nature, nor in man.
16 There is no universal balm for those who tread the common walks of life.
17 A thousand things produce inharmony and make men sick; a thousand things may tune the harpsichord, and make men well.
18 That which is medicine for one is poison for another one; so one is healed by what would kill another one.
19 An herb may heal the one; a drink of water may restore another one; a mountain breeze may bring to life one seeming past all help;
20 A coal of fire, or bit of earth, may cure another one; and one may wash in certain streams, or pools, and be made whole.
21 The virtue from the hand or breath may heal a thousand more; but love is queen. Thought, reinforced by love, is God’s great sovereign balm.
22 But many of the broken chords in life, and discords that so vex the soul, are caused by evil spirits of the air that men see not; that lead men on through ignorance to break the laws of nature and of God.
23 These powers act like demons, and they speak; they rend the man; they drive him to despair.
24 But he who is a healer, true, is master of the soul, and can, by force of will, control these evil ones.
25 Some spirits of the air are master spirits and are strong, too strong for human power alone; but man has helpers in the higher realms that may be importuned, and they will help to drive the demons out.
26 Of what this great physician said, this is the sum. And Jesus bowed his head in recognition of the wisdom of this master soul, and went his way.