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Vyasa
Vyasa was another great Avatar who brought to humanity the message that death is not the end. The impact of such an apparently simple concept was enormous, since it meant that the possibility now existed for identification with a higher immortal self rather than with the physical-plane life only.
The Buddha
There were many other lesser teachers between the time of Vyasa and the Buddha, but the Buddha was a major teacher who came to the East bringing enlightenment, the answers to the many questions which plague and puzzle humanity about its own existence. He came "to lay the foundation for a more enlightened approach to life, giving the teaching which would open the door to the work of the Christ who would, He knew, follow in His steps." (Alice Bailey, The Reappearance of the Christ)
By giving out the Four Noble Truths, He answered man's question: why? He taught that man's suffering was of his own making, and that the focusing of desire on the material and the ephemeral caused all despair, hatred and competition, and was why "man found himself living in the realm of death -- the realm of physical living . . . " His life, example and teachings prepared the way for the Christ. Coming approximately 500 years before the Christ, the Buddha was a manifestation of the Wisdom aspect of God, just as the Christ is the embodiment of the Love aspect. These two great Avatars continue to work together, the Buddha aiding and supporting Maitreya, the Christ, in His present mission to the world.
It is interesting to note that He who is known as the Buddha worked through His disciple, the Prince Gautama, in a way similar to that in which Maitreya, holder of the office of the Christ, overshadowed the disciple Jesus, who acted as His vehicle in Palestine. The Master Djwhal Khul says (in The Reappearance of the Christ) that, around about the time of the Christ's return, the Buddha will send two trained disciples to reform Buddhism -- this at a time when the Master Jesus will be taking certain initial steps towards reassuming control of His church. Buddhism, along with other religions, awaits the coming of another great teacher. He is known as Maitreya Buddha, the Fifth Buddha in the continuing line of divine revelation.
Krishna and Sankaracharya
Sri Krishna and Sankaracharya, two great Avatars, were both previous incarnations of Maitreya. Krishna appeared around 3000 BC, and Sankaracharya lived in about 800 BC. Sankaracharya gave "deep instruction upon the nature of the Self," while Sri Krishna, by demonstrating the need to control the astral, emotional nature, opened the door to the second initiation. In Palestine, working through the disciple Jesus, Maitreya the Christ completed the work of the Buddha by manifesting the Love aspect of deity.
A comparison of all religions shows their common elements. "Eventually a new world religion will be inaugurated which will be a fusion and synthesis of the approaches of East and West. The Christ will bring together not simply Christianity and Buddhism, but the concept of God transcendent, outside His creation, and also the concept of God immanent in all creation." Both approaches will come together in a new religion based on the Mysteries of Initiation and an informed knowledge of the Science of Invocation of Deity.
Gautama Foresaw the coming of Maitreya
"Now in those days, brethren, there shall arise in the world an Exalted One by name Maitreya (the Kindly One) an Arhat, a Fully Enlightened One, endowed with wisdom and righteousness, a Happy One, a World-knower, the Peerless Charioteer of men to be tamed, a teacher of the devas and mankind, an Exalted One, a Buddha like myself. He of His own abnormal powers shall realize and make known the world, and the worlds of the devas, with their Maras, their Brahmas, the host of recluses and brahmins, of devas and mankind alike, even as I do now. He shall proclaim the Norm, lovely in its beginning, lovely in its middle, and lovely in the end thereof. He shall make known the wholly perfect life of righteousness in all its purity, both in the spirit and in the letter of it, even as I do now. He shall lead an Order of Brethren numbering many thousands, even as I do now lead an order of Brethren numbering many hundreds." (Gautama the Buddha in DIGHA NIKAYA)
Lol!! I asked for a bike for Christmas and all I got was a menstrual cycle.