Buddha and Bodhisattva

Following a concise narration of the Buddha’s life and message in the first two chapters, the thesis in this book seeks to establish that the Buddha’s original message was Vedantic. The heravada drift, away from the mother-church of Hinduism, was eventually reversed by the home-coming syncretism off the Mahayana. The prratyutpannavastu (context) of the Jataka anecdotes have been integrated with the life and message of the Buddha. The Bodhisattva concept of a spiritual aspirant blossoming into a saviour of mankind is closely parallel to those off the Saptarshi and Avatara in Hinduism. Swami Vivekananda has been hailed as the Buddha’s Spirit reborn in the modern era. The last chapter sums up a Hindu view of the spiritual and socials message of he Buddha and Bodhisattva.