The Soul of Christ...

The soul of Christ is the light of the universe.

Bowl of Saki, August 27, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan:

Truth is the soul of religion. When Jesus came to earth he did not say, 'I have
brought you a new religion never heard of by you or your ancestors.' He said he
had not come to give a new law but to fulfill the law; in other words, 'I have
come to continue giving you that which you have received before and have not
understood.'

There are scriptures that mankind regards as religious scriptures, but imagine
how little of that message a book can contain, and how much more must have been
given that was never written in a book! If books were sufficient, then the book
of Abraham or the earlier books that were kept as scriptures could be
sufficient, but it was not the book. The messenger, whenever he came, came to
give the life, the living spirit, the divine light that can shine like the sun
during the day, so that no soul with the slightest spark of sincerity could ever
doubt the truth and unity of the message.

The divine message has always been sent through those fitly endowed. For
instance when wealth was esteemed the message was delivered by King Solomon;
when beauty was worshipped, Joseph, the most handsome, gave the message; when
music was regarded as celestial David gave his message in song. When there was
curiosity about miracles Moses brought his message. When sacrifice was highly
esteemed Abraham gave the message. When heredity was recognized, Christ gave his
message as the Son of God. When democracy was necessary, Muhammad gave his
message as the Servant of God, one like all and among all. ...

All Masters from the time of Adam till the time of Muhammad have been the one
embodiment of the Master-ideal. When Jesus Christ is represented as saying, 'I
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end,' it is not meant that either the
name or the visible person of Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, but the
Master-spirit within. It was this spirit which proclaimed this, moved by its
realization of past, present, and future life, confident of its eternity. It is
the same spirit which spoke through Krishna, saying, 'We appear on earth when
Dharma is corrupted,' which was long before the coming of Christ. During his
divine absorption Muhammad said, 'I existed even before this creation and shall
remain after its assimilation.' In the holy traditions it is said, 'We have
created thee of Our light and from thy light We have created the universe.' This
is not said of the external person of Muhammad as known by this name. It refers
to the spirit which spoke through all the blessed tongues and yet remained
formless, nameless, birthless and deathless.

But the blind world, absorbed in its phenomena and impressed by a certain name
and form, has clung to the name, forgetting the true being. It is this ignorance
which has divided the children of men into so many divisions and separated one
from the other by their own delusions: whereas in reality there exists one
religion and one single Master, the only God. ... There has been one Teacher
only, and He alone will be. All the names which the world has fought over, are
His names, and all the physical forms that have won the adoration of the
truth-seeking world are His forms