Jesus And Reincarnation

[Guest guest]

Jesus And Reincarnation

 

 

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BY JAGANNATHA TIRTHA

 

EDITORIAL, Aug 15 (VNN) — The Old Testament ends with the

directly

spoken words of God: "Behold! I will send you Elijah the Prophet

before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord."

(Malachi 4:5). Here, God Almighty, speaking for Himself, is saying

that the soul of Elijah is coming again to Earth. This directly

implies that Elijah's soul will reincarnate as someone new.

 

Several centuries later, in Luke, an angel appears in front of

Zechariah, the Father of John the Baptist, and announces: "...and he

shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, and shall turn

the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the disobedient to

the wisdom of the just: and make ready a people prepared for the

Lord." So God Himself, as well as the angel sent of the Lord,

predicted the birth of John, formerly Elijah. This is also confirmed

by much other Scripture, as we shall see. To understand the travels

of the soul, all we have to do is think about it without prejudice.

In John's case scenario, there are two distinct bodies in time and

space, with one and the same individual soul. This directly refers to

the process of transmigration of the soul, that is, reincarnation of

the individual spiritual being.

 

But, God Himself and the angel sent by the Lord were not the only

ones alluding to this spiritual phenomena. With regard to the

specific questions of his disciples concerning John, Jesus was

glorifying the divine qualities of John, ending with: "And if you

will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come." (Matthew

11:14). Then in his own way of saying, "If you have a brain, then

just try to understand it," Jesus declares, "He who hath an ear, let

him hear, let him hear." Similarly, the disciples later asked

him, "Then why do the Scribes say that Elijah must first come?" Jesus

replied: "Elijah is to come, and he is to restore all things: But I

tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not know him, but

did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer

at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he was speaking

to them of John the Baptist. (Matthew 17:10-13). This is the same

basic testimony that is found in Mark 9:11-13. A very similar

Scriptural evidence is Luke 1:17, another reference to the angel of

the Lord. Also, Luke 7:26-27 corroborates Jesus's testimony that John

was formerly Elijah, as the words are almost identical to Malachi

4:5, and the reference cannot possibly be taken any other way.

Conclusively, John the Baptist was the reincarnation of Elijah.

Jesus, by his using these words in this very simple and lucid manner,

could not have meant anything else. He was not speaking in allegory

or parables in these instances. Jesus was speaking directly

concerning reincarnation.

 

In this way we can clearly understand that Jesus Christ taught the

doctrine of reincarnation, also known as transmigration of the

soul. "NO!" My Christian friends protest. But did not Jesus also cast

the demonic spirits called 'Legion' that inhabited the body of a

tormented man into the bodies of swine? And did not this forced

embodiment drive the swine crazy, and then prompt them to jump off

the cliffs into the sea? Does this also not mean that spiritual

beings can and do inhabit all creatures, such as the pigs in

question? Was this not a form of punishment for those miscreant

spirits who had challenged Jesus's authority? Do we also not

understand that there are pigs around us dressed as human beings? We

all know people like this.

 

And, did not Jesus also imply reincarnation when he asked his

disciples: "Who do you say I am?" (Mark 8:27) Some of his disciples

answered "John the Baptist," others said "Elijah," and still others

said "perhaps one of the Prophets." By asking this question, Jesus

was asking his disciples to consider who he had formerly been in

previous lives. Some contemporary authorities speculate that Jesus

may have previously been Ramanujacarya, Lord Brahma, the Prophet

Elisha, Prahlada, Haridas, and/or Melchisedec. Regardless of the

speculations concerning who Jesus may or may not have formerly been,

it is clear that Jesus asked these questions in a non-argumentative,

Socratic fashion in order to stimulate the intellectual acuity of his

disciples to think about the topic of reincarnation. Otherwise, there

is no purpose or logical reason for Jesus asking such a question,

specifically in this particular manner. The teacher wants the

students to think about such concepts and to figure things out, based

upon Scriptural evidence, by mulling things over and arriving at

logical conclusions. "Who by taking thought, can add one cubit to his

stature?" By bringing up these topics once in a while, Jesus would at

least stimulate his intellectually gifted disciples to think about

the body as the shell only, as completely distinct from the soul, the

real, eternal 'self'. Jesus was encouraging us to use our brains, our

God given intelligence.

 

Based upon his words in the Holy Bible, it is a conclusive fact that

Jesus Christ taught reincarnation. Unfortunately, at the Second

Council of Constantinople in about 530 AD., the assembled Priests

forever banned the doctrine of reincarnation as heretical, even

though it was a widely understood aspect of both Judaic and Christian

theology up to that time, implying also that it had permeated the

Catholic Church, and was of such significant, widespread, and

ingrained belief that the Catholic Clergy had to deal with it by

pronouncing it 'heretical'. The fact that the Catholic priesthood did

not understand the doctrine of transmigration of the soul, how it

worked as a part of an All Merciful God's design to eventually

liberate all souls, is a testament to the level of spiritual

awareness of the day. Over the centuries, many were tortured,

mutilated and killed for observing such different blasphemous ideas,

deemed "heretical" by the 'Church". Today, the topic of reincarnation

cannot even be brought up at a Sunday service in a Baptist, Catholic

or Protestant church, although Jesus clearly taught the doctrine.

 

Both the Talmud and the Kabbala of the Jews, as well as Jesus's own

words referenced 'transmigration of the soul' as part of a natural

and very obvious spiritual understanding. The idea was that God, in

His Own Heart, was unlimitedly kind hearted, and gave the individual

soul chance after chance, life after life to improve his sense of

devotion, the ultimate goal of all religion. As Jesus states, "The

pure in heart shall see God." How then can one see God unless his

motives are pure, and his devotion constant and unalloyed? As perfect

devotion usually does not become manifest in one lifetime, the

Supreme Lord, in his wisdom and kindness gave the soul the

opportunity to gradually progress. This life was the result of one's

past life's 'karma', or good and evil deeds. "As you sow, so shall

you reap." (Jesus) Your future life was the result of this life's

pious and impious activities as well. "Behold! I am coming and my

reward is with me, to award each according to his works." (again,

Jesus) You could immediately attain salvation by becoming perfect in

devotion, in conduction with God's grace. "We are saved by grace, not

works." But works are taken into account, just as an employer gives

promotion based upon dedication, hard work, and results. "And I will

give unto every one of your according to your works." (Rev. 2:23)

Jesus taught the law of 'karma', action and reaction, cause and

effect, and that works and devotion would be taken into account at

one's time of 'judgment'. As action and reaction is a law of the

physical sciences, it is also an unseen law of the metaphysical

sciences as well. Because reincarnation of souls is spiritual law,

there is no contradiction between that doctrine and Christianity

today. Contemporary Christianity simply has to grow and mature. The

10 % tithe is not enough. One cannot buy the Kingdom of God with 10 %

of money or 10 % mentality. It is time for Christians to become

enlightened activists and devotional participants instead of mere

silent observers, watching the world go to Hell from the sidelines.

 

If Jesus did teach this doctrine, then where did he learn it? Many

authorities and scholars have researched that Jesus traveled to India

to find the truth. It is a Biblical fact that there are 18 missing

years from the life of Jesus Christ as taught within the Holy Bible,

from the time he was 12 to the time he was 30 and undertook his

missionary activities. According to some of these historical

investigators, at this time, he was getting his own higher education

with the Vaishnava Brahmin priests in Jagannatha Puri, India. There,

in Puri, Jesus studied all the Vedas, the Srimad Bhagavatam, the

Bhagavad Gita, and the processes of mystic yoga which teach the

healing arts, levitation, etc. There is also much physical evidence

to suggest that Jesus retired to India after the crucifixion.

 

If we want to follow the path of Jesus Christ, we have to abandon our

prejudice and take advantage of the ancient Vedic culture. In India,

and now around the globe, the topmost authoritative book in the world

on the science of the 'transmigration of the soul' is the Bhagavad

Gita As It Is, as originally spoken by Lord Krishna, and meticulously

translated into English by His Divine Grace, A. C. Bhaktivedanta

Swami. "Who is this Krishna person anyway?", we might reasonably ask.

This can be easily answered by anyone who is observant. If one

understands linguistics in even a very basic way, one can immediately

see the resemblance of the names, KRISHNA and CHRISTOS (CHRIST).

There is a very logical reason for this. In Sanskrit, "Krishna" is a

name for God, the same Supreme Lord of the Bible, to which Jesus

referred as 'God the Father'. "Christ" in the English, has it's

derivative in the Greek "Christos", which is further derived from the

Sanskrit "Krishna". KRISHNA OR CHRIST, the name is the same. In

Jagannatha Puri, as a teenage apprentice, Jesus studied the Bhagavad

Gita and all the Vedas with the Brahmins there in the tradition of

Vaishnavism. In this way, Jesus learned the complete science of

the 'transmigration of the soul' from learned Brahmins.

 

It may then be asked then, "Why didn't Jesus teach this?" Well,

apparently from Scriptural reference, Jesus DID teach reincarnation.

But, down through the centuries, pure transcendental knowledge as

presented by Jesus Christ, was changed, perverted, misunderstood,

omitted, or simply brushed aside. As far as many details of higher

knowledge, Jesus states, "There is more that I can tell you but you

cannot bear to hear it at this time." This is a clear indication by

Jesus himself that upon his return, there will be much more to learn.

Logic dictates that God and the Kingdom of God are unlimited.

Therefore, we will be learning newer and newer aspects of the

Absolute Truth forever. We should not think that we know everything

about God, spiritual matters, or the kingdom of God. Otherwise, how

will Jesus be able to teach us anything when he returns for his

church?

 

So, when Jesus Christ refers to John the Baptist as being the

reincarnation of the Biblical prophet Elijah, we should not be very

much surprised. Jesus was an enlightened human being, and not just a

believer of some faith, like the average Christian, Jew, or Hindu.

Jesus was not a lay person, but was situated in perfect knowledge of

all things, such as the identity of God, the spiritual world which

lays beyond the purview of our limited senses, and all spiritual

phenomena like reincarnation. Being from the spiritual world, his

overview was not limited to the material knowledge available. His

vision was literally 'beyond the clouds'. That is why Jesus is called

the spiritual master and why we are called the servant of the

spiritual master. We have only our Earthly sense perceptions to guide

us, until we fine tune our spiritual perception. Unfortunately, 2,000

years ago, Jesus was mistaken to be an ordinary human being by

average citizens like ourselves, because he performed many ordinary

human dealings in addition to his 'miracles'. For example, he worked

as an ordinary carpenter, banging hammer on nails, etc. Most people

perceived Jesus Christ in an indifferent manner, or sometimes in a

negative way due to his extremism and outrageous sayings. The people

of the day largely ignored him because by external appearances, this

Jesus appeared just like an ordinary human being. I often speculate

that this may again be one of the many problems that Jesus might face

upon his return... the predictability of the masses to relegate Jesus

to a common man. Concerning this point, Jesus commanded us

to "Watch!" This command by Jesus to watch implies that Jesus's

coming would be powerful, but not immediately recognizable, not

obvious. Regardless how Jesus makes his appearance again in human

society, it is more than obvious that he will have new things to

teach us about everything pertaining to spiritual matters.

 

All this speculation aside, there are other relevant reference

materials pertaining to Jesus's travels in India. One interesting

book, if not completely in line with the Vedic conclusions of the

Vaishnava disciplic succession, is called "Jesus Lived In India", by

Holger Kersten. This book makes for interesting reading, historically

researching Jesus's travels away from the Mediterranean area, both

before and after the crucifixion. There are also other literatures

describing Jesus's travels there. According to the Acquarian Gospel

of Jesus the Christ, supposedly documented from the akashic records

(permanent records on a type of spiritual audio tape in the ether),

Jesus lived in Puri with the Vaishnava Brahmins. There is also

Nicolas Notovitch's writings concerning Jesus's Travels in Tibet. The

last two books document well Jesus's travels in both India and Tibet,

but have their limitations, aside from not coming to the implied

Vedic conclusions as Jesus learned them, Narayano paro vyaktat. "Lord

Narayana Krishna is a priori to the cosmic manifestation."

Nevertheless, Jesus's presence in India is a conclusive fact based

upon these and other documentations. If one travels to the many

different places of Jesus's pilgrimages to India, he will find many

monuments commemorating Jesus's appearance there as St. Issa, or Yus

Asef. Apparently, Jesus was a learned scholar, as well as a traveler,

healer, mystic yogi, and enlightened spiritual master.

 

Sometimes, my Christian friends strongly object to my ideas, which I

have only chronicled, based upon my own 25 years of Scriptural

digging and the research of others. That Jesus taught the doctrine of

reincarnation within the Holy pages of the Holy Bible is obvious. As

Jesus put it, "Having ears, they hear not. Having eyes, they see

not." In spite of the obvious, most Christians today reject the

science of the soul's travels in this world as 'Hindu' or 'Buddhist',

instead of factual spiritual law. This is quite odd really, because

the science of reincarnation permeated early Christianity for

hundreds of years. I recommend that instead of rejecting the concept

of reincarnation, it would better suit intelligent, truth seeking

Christians and all individuals everywhere to investigate Jesus's own

words in more depth. What we want is the truth, the whole truth, and

nothing but the truth. It is also worthwhile to investigate the most

authoritative literature on the subject, the Bhagavad Gita As It Is.

Why should one use only this particular translation? As Jesus himself

studied with the Vaishnavas, and taught the Vaishnava conclusion,

that God is ultimately a Person, the Supreme Person, the best copy of

the "Bhagavad Gita" available today which provides the most clear and

concise information on the subject of pure devotion is the "Bhagavad

Gita As It Is". The conclusions of this translation verify that Lord

Krishna is the Supreme Person, God the Father, and not just a

mythological folk hero or 'Hindu' god. Most other non-Vaishnava

copies of the Bhagavad Gita fall into many pitfalls of spiritual

misunderstanding. Generally, they come to erroneous, impersonalistic

conclusions, usually relegating Lord Krishna to some imaginary figure

on some imaginary battlefield. Sometimes the impersonalists relegate

Lord Krishna's position to that of an avatar of Vishnu, an expansion

of the white light, or a mythological hero created in the minds of

common villagers. But just as a sincere Christian knows that Jesus

was the Son of God, a real person, with form, intelligence, real

feelings and emotions and his own unique spiritual personality, we

can also conclude by investigating the Vaishnava literatures that

Lord Krishna is a factual person, the person to whom Jesus attributed

his own strength, power, knowledge and mystic opulence. It is

therefore beneficial to us to accept only those views that are non-

envious of either the position of Jesus Christ, the Son of God or

Lord Krishna, God the Father. The old saying goes... "Milk touched by

the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects." The envious,

impersonalistic or atheistic conclusions of non-advocates should be

scrutenizingly avoided. We must utilize our intelligence, which God

has given us, to try to understand the more than obvious similarities

between Christ and Krishna. Why would Jesus have studied Krishna

consciousness with the Brahmins at Puri if there was nothing to be

learned there? Out of the thousands of different philosophical

branches of the original Vedic culture that Jesus had access to in

India, he specifically chose the path of Vaishnavism as truthfully

representative of the final authority concerning Absolute Knowledge.

In addition, how can any rational human being overlook the obvious

etymological similarity in the names "Krishna" and "Christ"?

 

Why throw the baby out with the bath water, rejecting the logical and

reasonable science of the transmigration of the soul because of

preconceived ideas, Westernized traditional church doctrines, or

personal prejudice? If Jesus taught us to love our neighbors, and our

neighbors happen to be Jews, Hindus, Hare Krishnas, Muslims, and

Buddhists, we would only be helping ourselves by understanding the

way others think about God in their own way. It is only to our own

advantage to study other religions and the many different ways others

perceive the Supreme Being. Like university professors, we can study

other scriptures and religions with the view of finding corollaries

as well as differences. Because God is ONE, the underlying

similarities of all religions outweigh the differences in doctrines

and protocols. Studying the religions of others helps us become

better, more enlightened Christians. We can truly 'Love one another'

better by understanding how others think, and giving up our personal

feelings of hatred and animosity on account of religious differences.

Enthusiasm without knowledge is simply fanaticism. And, knowledge

without passion is dry speculation. A perfect Christian will have

both the enthusiastic passion of his convictions tempered by the

sword of knowledge and wisdom. Jesus commanded his real followers

to "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Pretend Christians cannot love

others who are different than themselves. In this regard, Jesus

teaches, "If you love only your own kind, then what is the profit?

For do not the sinners and common folk do the same?" In this manner,

Jesus was encouraging us to grow to spiritual maturity by embracing

and accepting others who are different than ourselves. Christians who

are sincere and honest with themselves will recognize their own

personal prejudices along these lines, and do whatever necessary to

uproot their inner misgivings of others, whom Jesus commanded them to

love. We would all be surprised that the internals of all religions

are the same. God and service to God is the central, underlying

theme. The externals prevent us from considering others as our

brothers and sisters, who all have God as our common Creator. Jesus

taught this truth. If we are real Christians we will embrace others

in love, regardless their personal spiritual convictions. If we are

spiritual frauds, then we will discard others, falsely thinking

ourselves superior in some way, against Jesus Christ's orders.

 

If the history books are true, and Jesus studied in several Krishna

temples, then why not try to understand these higher levels of

spiritual understanding called Krishna consciousness? Jesus himself

stated: "There is more that I could tell you, but you cannot bear to

hear it at this time." This is a clear indication that when Jesus

comes again, he will further enlighten us as to the mysterious

identity of God the Father, the nature of the spiritual world, and

the higher, invisible, and more subtle principles governing spiritual

life in general. We may protest that we already know God and are

sufficiently educated in spiritual matters, but Jesus does not teach

this. Jesus states, "None hath seen the Father, except the Son." He

also states: "I have spoken these things in parables and cryptic

meanings, but the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you

in figures, but shall tell you plainly of the Father." (John 16:25)

 

This is a clear indication that at the present time, we are not in

full knowledge, and that when Jesus comes again, he will enlighten us

as to the nature of all pure, infallible knowledge coming from the

Absolute Kingdom of God, where God is the Absolute Highest Truth, One

without a second, the Mystery Person we know only as God Almighty.

Both my research and intuition tells me that Jesus will reveal Lord

Krishna to be that Supreme Person, the Supreme Personality of the

Godhead. Time will tell. Along with the eventual revelation by Jesus

of this Mystery Person known as the Supreme Lord, many of the

mysteries of Heaven and Hell and much detailed spiritual phenomena

such as reincarnation will be revealed. Jesus told us he would

return, and his returning implies all this and more, much much more.

We have a lot to look foreword to.