Jesus through Hindu eyes

[Guest guest]

Jesus through Hindu eyes

by Shaunaka Rishi Das

 

I've an Indian friend who, when he was seven, moved with his family

from India to England where he was enrolled at a new school. On his

first day he was asked to speak to the class about a saint from his

Hindu tradition. Enthusiastically he began to tell the story of the

saint called Ishu, who was born in a cowshed, was visited by three

holy men, performed many amazing miracles, walked on water and spoke

a wonderful sermon on a mountain. Of course, he was telling the

story of Christ. But he was bewildered to hear that the teacher laid

claim to Ishu for herself and her friends and she let him know that

this was her Lord and her story, not his. He was very upset about

this, because Ishu's tale was his favourite story.

 

You see, in a sense, Hindus don't really see Jesus as a Christian at

all. (Of course Jesus didn't either because the term had not been

used during His lifetime). In Hindu thought church or temple

membership, or belief is not as significant as spiritual practice

(which is called sadhana in sanskrit). As there is no Church of

Hinduism everyone holds their own spiritual and philosophical

opinions. It is difficult then to understand someone's spirituality

simply by looking at their religious trappings. So, in India it is

more common to hear someone ask, " What is your practice (or

sadhana)? " than, " What do you believe? "

 

Then when we ask how we can see spirituality in Hindus, the answer

comes, by behaviour and practice. We can ask are we humble, are we

tolerant and are we non-violent, and can we control our senses and

our mind? Are we aware of others suffering and are we willing to

give up our comfort to help them? Looking at these criteria Jesus

measures up as a Sadhu, a holy man. He preached a universal message,

love of God and love of brother, which was beyond any sectarianism

or selfishness. Jesus was one of those people who appealed from

heart to heart, and that's what makes him such a good Hindu Saint.

In my particular tradition, and among other Hindus, He is seen as

much more, as an Avatar, specifically a Shaktavesha Avatar or an

empowered incarnation. This means that God has sent Him to us for a

specific mission to fulfil God's will on earth.

 

When I was 14 I began a personal and serious study of the New

Testament. I wanted to understand what Christ had to say about

things so I paid particular attention to the words of Jesus Himself.

I can see now that the whole direction of my life was determined by

this formative study and by the thoughtfulness invoked by it.

 

I read such passages as Luke 5: forsake all and follow me. I

remember distinctly, as a 14 year old developing my own

understanding of what that meant. I had formed a sense of mission

and vocation by reading the Bible, seeing that the love of God

should be shared with others. The greatest commandment, to love the

Lord our God with all our heart, all our words and all our deeds,

and love our neighbour as ourselves struck me as an instruction, as

a plea and actually, as a necessity. Considering how to do to that,

how to forsake all and follow God out of love, has provided me my

greatest challenge in life.

 

As a young boy, that meant giving up sitting in front of the TV with

my cup of coffee, 2 sugars and a biscuit (these were the comforts of

my life at that time). It meant to go down to the town centre of

Wexford, my hometown, stand in the Bullring, and preach the glory of

love of God to all who wanted to hear it. From my reading of

Christ's words and the example of his life, I knew that is what I

was called to do, but did I do it? No, I couldn't. That surrender to

God I had to postpone. The instructions and teachings of Christ were

crystal clear to me but I wasn't having an easy time trying to

follow them. (Isn't it funny how it sometimes seems easier to fight

for our principles than to actually follow them). Thus my script was

written, the challenge laid down, a challenge that Christ had posed

to the whole world. " He who has ears let him hear " , he would say. I

seemed to have those unfortunate ears.

 

Christ was different. He was radically different. He preached for

three years and got killed for it. He gave everything. A friend

betrayed him. We have all had some experience where someone we trust

turns on us but imagine how we would feel if a friend betrayed us to

death? Does the word forgiveness spring to mind? Not in my case, but

it comes a close second. In Hindu scripture it says that forgiveness

is the principal quality of a civilised man, and civilisation is

measured in terms of spiritual qualities rather than economic or

scientific advancement. It's quite clear to me where Jesus hung his

hat on that issue.

 

For instance in our civilised world who would get away with going to

a funeral, approaching the chief mourner and asking him to surrender

everything to God NOW, as Jesus did. When the chief mourner

replied, " But I've got to bury my father " , Christ said, " let the

dead bury the dead " . (I wonder what the tabloids in those days had

to say about that?). Of course, Jesus didn't get away with this

either but he had the courage of His convictions, He spoke the

truth, the absolute truth to a materialistic society and risked life

and limb for His mission. I wonder how He might fare today with His

uncompromising stand on Hypocrites and whited sepulchres? For

instance if he was to visit Belfast he might have problems being

heard unless He declared first if he were a Catholic or a Protestant

Christian.

 

And how did an Irish chap like me become a Hindu priest? Why not a

Catholic priest or at least a Christian of some sort. There is

certainly a great range of Christian sects to choose from these

days. Maybe they are becoming as diverse as the Hindus? Anyway, I

first encountered Hindu spirituality through the Vaishnava tradition

of the great medieval saint Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, that's a lot

of words that boil down to mean I met the Hare Krishnas. At the age

of 18, in Dublin I bumped into a shaven headed, saffron robed fellow

and visited his temple ashram, his monastery, so to speak. I had

been visiting all kinds of religious groups – Christian and

otherwise but these were surprisingly serious chaps.

 

They rose at four in the morning for prayer, study and chanting. By

the time breakfast came at 8.30am I felt like I had done a full

day's work only to find that the full day's work was just about to

begin! The captivating thing for me though was the fact that every

act was to be offered to God with love, every word spoken in His

favour, every song sung for His pleasure, every dance for His eyes

and all food prepared and offered first for His taste. Along with

this went an ancient philosophy that answered more questions than I

had ever asked. But what got me about these devotees of Krishna was

what I saw as their practice of Christianity, even though they

didn't actually call themselves Christians.

 

They banded together in small groups, sung the praise of God with

drums and loud clashing cymbals, wore flowing robes, abandoned the

material world and preached in the public market places. That's

actually a description of the early Christians but the Krishnas did

this as well. I loved the chanting of Hare Krishna. I'm sure you

have seen the devotees chanting in public somewhere. They chant

Sanskrit names of God Hare, Krishna and Rama, meaning 'spirititual

happiness', 'all attractive person' and 'reservoir of pleasure'.

Lovely names and they form a prayer to be engaged in the service of

God.

 

The idea of chanting God's name, any name we choose to chant, is

that we come into direct contact with God Himself, as his name and

His Person are not different, the Hindu story goes. (But don't take

my word for it. The proof of the pudding is in the eating). I think

it was the spontaneous happiness produced by the music, the chant

and the dancing that touched my heart so much and it continues to do

so to this day. For me it was " Hallowed be thy name " in practice.

The practice may look strange to some but that is not the point. I

suppose it depends on our cultural view but nuns may look just as

strange as naked Sadhus. Is that a reflection of their spiritual

qualities or just their dress sense? To me this spiritual practice

was being performed in the essential spirit of Christianity.

 

If we look in the Hindu scripture, Bhagavad-gita, we hear Lord

Krishna asking us to abandon all our sectarianism and just surrender

to Him, in love. He vows to protect us from evil and from fear. I

hear the same " forsake all and follow me " message, the same call to

surrender and the same reassurance.

 

Jesus shows this struggle of surrender during his evening in the

garden of Gethsemane. His sincere appeal to the Lord to let the cup

pass from him, although He was willing to go through with His

Father's command. I have always found myself in this kind of

dilemma, although without the same willingness to do the needful

that Christ had. All of us who struggle with spirituality wonder if

we are capable of making the effort, or if we are doomed to failure

and hypocrisy? Can we meet the challenge? Christ's example is so

relevant for all of us who want to practise a spiritual life, and

even for those who just want to be good. But how many of us are

willing to sacrifice our desires in favour of the will of God, even

in small ways.

 

When we look at his experience during his traumatic arrest, trial

and crucifixion we see a man at peace within Himself and with the

world. He was condemned for his zeal and for his perceived threat to

society, because he was misunderstood. I have experienced that to a

lesser degree in my life - being condemned for being a Hare Krishna,

for being different and incomprehensible. I have been spat at and

derided, but not crucified. I have no idea what Jesus had to give

up, in His early thirties, so that I, in my early forties, could be

inspired to follow the Godly path.

 

The fact is I can see myself in Jesus. I recognise and empathise

with His life, His temptations and His suffering. But I can see a

lot more in Him than my faltering attempts at spirituality. I can

see someone transcending the materialism of this world. Hindus as

much as anyone talk much about this noble ideal but it is a true

celebration when someone, anyone of any tradition begins to make

sense, spiritually. And so many of us don't seem to make sense

spiritually.

 

We can acquire a religious reputation, be addressed by religious

titles. We can easily learn to say the right thing and wear the

appropriate clothes and chant the right passwords for all religious

occasions, and look passably good. But the example of Jesus and

other saints challenge any insincerity in our heart, any duplicity

and hpocrisy. They display another level of faith, a level called

love and their love is beyond our need to be right about everything,

to dominate others and to demand them to conform to our perception.

They are humble.

 

It's about a deep change of heart. It's about knowing God as a

friend and as a lover. It's about being happy to love God with the

full trust that He will take care of us in all circumstances, just

as a small child will trust their father or mother. It's about

accepting absence of god in our lives as enthusiastically as His

embrace.

 

It's difficult for us to neatly categorise Jesus, this love of God,

as a Christian or a Jew. He talked only of His Father and he was not

enamoured of politics, religion or wealth as He experienced them.

God's service was His life, His love and his religion.

 

Remember my Indian friend who loved Ishu so much? What about him?

Was he a follower of Christ? Could he have a personal relationship

with God? Would he have to " bath in the blood of the Lamb " first? (a

terrible option for vegetarians). These are important questions

though, " Can a Hindu follow Jesus? " ; " Can a Hindu love god with all

his heart and soul? " ; " Do you have to be a Christian to follow

Christ? " ; even " Who owns Christ? " .

 

The Sanskrit word acharya means 'one who teaches by example'. For

Hindus, Christ is an acharya. His example is a light to any of us in

this world who want to take up the serious practise of spiritual

life. His message is no different from the message preached in

another time and place by Lord Krishna and Lord Chaitanya. It would

be a great shame if we allowed our Hinduism, our Islam, our Judaism

or indeed our Christianity to stand in the way of being able to

follow the teachings and example of such a great soul as Lord Jesus

Christ.

 

Jesus through Hindu eyes

by Shaunaka Rishi Das

 

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