HINDUISM AND CHRISTIANITY
Gaura Krishna
(Mars 1999)
Wars of religions have never stopped poisoning the world and
continue to poison it. Millions of human beings have been killed
in the name of God and in the name of Allah. At the dawn of a
new millennium, when objective knowledge, brought by science,
has pulled down number of dogmas, but also when dazzling egoism
has taken hold of the world, would it not be suitable to look
into what could bring together all the human brothers of this
little blue planet, tiny fragment of dust on looking at the universe?
First of all, we must precise that, here, we do not see Hinduism
or Christianity in the sense of religion as a set of dogmas like
we can see them today, but that we have to go back to the very
emergence of these two thoughts, to take off all the clothes
that have cover them since then, in order to try to come back
to the very essence of each one and to their true foundation,
therefore making a clean sweep of all dogmas with which they
have been dressed up in the course of time.
It is in this way that we must not mistake Christianity for the
religions that are born from it. By Christianity, we mean Christ's
teachings, Jesus' teachings, mainly known through the texts of
the said canonical Gospels (and we have not to just stop at these
gospels), and not the teachings of what is called the Church,
which was born, apart Saul from Tarsus (who was not a direct
disciple of Jesus), mainly from the Emperor Constantine after
300. Therefore, the question cannot be any religious quarrel,
but, on the contrary, a more historical study, more scientific,
more objective.
In the same way, we will not consider Hinduism as what presently
appears externally, but by taking off the different clothes with
which it has been covered. And, to begin with it, the first thing
to do is to take off the first clothe that is his name. The name
'Hinduism' has harmed it a lot and continues to do so, because
it has narrowed it, put it at the level of a particular religion
among others, 'kitchen religion' as Swami Rama Tirtha would say,
when such is not the case. This name of 'Hinduism' still makes
people who don't know it be mistaken about it and they are brought
to judgments that would not be uttered even by children primary
stage children. The name of 'Hinduism' has even done and continues
to do that Hindus themselves narrow 'their' religion, notably
when they use the term 'Hindu dharma ", what would tend
to mean that there are several dharmas, among which the Hindu
one, what is in absolute contradiction with the very bases of
Hinduism.
It is therefore more than necessary, to get a right, correct
and upright understanding, to precise that the word 'Hindu' is
not a Hindu word, but that it has become so only with time. Actually,
'Hindu' is a Persian word. Many Sanskrit words have been conveyed
to Persian, and the similarities are numerous between Vedas and
Zend Avesta. In many words, the Sanskrit 's' has become 'h' in
Persian. For instance, the Sanskrit 'asura ' became 'ahura' (as
in Ahura Mazda). Let us cite again: Yajna become Yasna, Safta
become Hafta, Dasyu become Dahyu, Sa become Ha, Kesri become
Kehri, Sarasvati become Harhvati, etc... Thus, the term 'Hindu'
comes from the word 'sindu', the 'sindhu' being the one who lived
on the other side of the Sind (today Indus). Thus, Persians named
those that we name Indians today with the name 'sindu': those
who live beyond the Sind.. Therefore, the word 'hindu', historically,
does not indicate any religious belonging. And in this, all people
that live presently in Bharat, whatever their religion, could
be qualified as Hindus. 'Amazing', will you say, however such
is the case.
The true Sanskrit name of Hinduism is " sanatana dharma
", which means 'the eternal law'. But here also we have
to take care. Of course, 'law' must not be understood as 'law
created by men', but really in the sense of 'Cosmic Law', 'Scientific
Law of the Universe'. The law that makes the Universe to appear,
to move and to disappear is, actually, an eternal law; this law
that science tries to approach, tiny step by tiny step. And,
in this sense, it could also be said that what science tries
to understand is, nor more no less, than Hinduism. Amazing, will
you say
however such is the case.
Of course, the question is not to to discuss here about the religion
that is called 'Hindu religion', but to understand rightly what
has to be understood by Hinduism, in the same way it is necessary
to understand rightly that what is meant by Christianity cannot
be something else than 'Christ's teachings'. And then, one has
to see in what both can differ. Before coming to this point,
il must be clear, now, that Hinduism is not an actual religion,
but that it is the Religion, if one wants to use this term. But,
in the same way, it could also be called 'Science', what, actually
and ontologically, comes to the same thing. For, for the word
'religion', it is advisable to define it again, so much this
word is damaged now. The word 'religion' comes for the Latin
're-ligare', which means 'to connect, to tie together'. But to
connect what with what? To connect again man with his Being.
And if the question is to connect it again, therefore this means
that it was connected in the beginning but that it has been disconnected.
Semantics is very interesting, in that it has the advantage to
understand. Actually, is it not the teaching of the Genesis,
as well as the teachings of Sanatana Dharma? Such is the first,
and so much important common point. Another particular thing:
What is meant by 'yoga'? What is the meaning of this word? It
comes from the Sanskrit root 'yuj', meaning 'to attach, to bind,
to connect' ! Thus, religion and yoga are terms that are totally
synonyms!
Here we are in a time when West deserts churches and when more
and more people turn towards Hinduism or Buddhism (which, let
us remain, is not a particular religion, but a branch of Hinduism,
Buddha having not (the same as Jesus) created any religion.)
And a time when, in countries where most citizens are Hindus,
people convert to Christianity! As the great Indian sage Yogi
Ramsuratkumar says: "All of us will become Christians, and
all of them will become Hindus! However, the reason of the first
is at the opposite of the other. Westerners' attraction to eastern
religions comes from a void that they meet in themselves and,
therefore, from a real inner search, when, in the other direction,
it is more a question of imitation of West and a question of
absolute ignorance of their own religion. However, it could also
be said that the desertion from the churches in West is due to
the fact that they only know the Church and that they are ignoring
Christianity.
Thus, in both cases, it can be put forward that conversion comes
only from an ignorance of one's own religion. And it is there
that it is interesting to go further.
First, people have an historical ignorance, in West because,
very often, it has ben hidden from them. And, presently, it is
in good taste to do 'intellectual' by systematically denigrating
the bases of Christianity. We see many theories rising about
the non-existence of Jesus as a person. It is true that the quite
contemporary historical relations are rather meagre. It is also
true, for instance, that at Jesus time Nazareth was not existing
and that it becomes difficult to understand that it is spoken
of " Jesus from Nazareth ' ! Il est vrai aussi par exemple
qu'à l'époque de Jésus Nazareth n'existait
pas et qu'il devient alors difficile de comprendre qu'on dise
" Jésus de Nazareth ! " However, there too,
it may be also a translating mistake and that one has to understand
'Jesus the Nazarene'? Scientists have even gone as far as refuting
the Turin Shroud, qualifying it as a fraud after a Carbon 14
test.! Scientists from the British Museum! And this when all
the international studies, particularly by scientists form NASA
etc
all of them and without any doubt, resulted in the
obviousness that the Shroud was really Jesus' shroud. Negating
the Shroud was negating an historical proof of Jesus' existence.
And, of course, media have sounded the bugle: it's a fake, it's
a fake. Since, it has been proved that the test was fraudulent.
However, to make this be known, no bugle has been put at the
mouth again! The Shroud, sublime historical proof , non only
proves the existence, but also the Passion of Jesus as it is
narrated in the Gospels , what, therefore, would run in the sense
of a proof of the latter.
But, when the Church itself has not fought to make the authenticity
of the relic be recognised, it has, since a century, hidden another
part of the story. And what a part! The most important! Christians
don't worry at all when they see that, in the Gospel, one passes
from Jesus at 12 to Jesus at 30 from a sentence to the following
one! The sentence that makes the transition is the vaguest it
is possible to write and it is given by Luke: "And he was
growing in strength and wisdom". And lo, at the following
sentence Jesus is 30. Nobody takes any care of knowing what he
became between 12 and 30! Nobody! Is it not then, between 12
and 30, that a man becomes a man? However none seems to consider
that this has any importance.
Assumptions, weird most of the time, have tried to come up with
an answer, of course. Books have been written about "Jesus
the Essene", etc. Now, it is known that Jesus was in India,
known with the name of Isha (or Issa). We know that many people
will kick. However it is not possible to say something against,
and it is time to shout this truth, known since a century. The
Church has done everything to prevent the spreading of Notovich's
writings, as well as the Gospel of Levi, to speak of them only.
Here and there, of course, one continues to shout it is false,
like even ultras in India. The route of Jesus is known. Crossing
Persia, then Sindh, then arriving at Jagannath Puri, then Varanasi,
Bihar, Tibet, etc. Which Catholic would be able to imagine Jesus
as a Yogi Hindu Master ?
Two of the main 'laws' of life that sanatana dharma expresses
are, on one hand the law of karma, which, in scientific terms,
is stated like this :'very action brings about a reaction', and
on the other hand the law of reincarnation, without which everything
becomes absurd and which, everywhere, is proved by Nature. The
different ecclesiastical councils have erased the statement of
both these laws from Jesus' teachings. However, they are well
and truly stated in the Gospel.
"Not an iota of the law will pass", "who kills
by the sword will perish by the sword." As for reincarnation,
one knows that the Old Testament ends with Malachi who announces
the future reincarnation of Elijah. And one finds in Jesus' mouth:
'John, he is Elijah, who had to come back." Again, one finds
this word to Nicodeme: " One must be born again from the
water and from the spirit
what? You are doctor of the
law and you even don't know this?"
But for sure the most important teaching is the Vedantic teaching
repeated by Jesus. Vedanta tells us that God, Brahman, is our
very being and that, to reach that realisation, we have to kill
our ego. Let us listen to Jesus: "The Kingdom of God is
within yourself". Again: "You must be perfect as your
Celestial Father is perfect". And again: 'Who wants to become
like Me (who am like my Father), let him renounce himself.' So,
Jesus clearly indicates the same teaching: that every human being
is able to become as Him, one with the Father, one with God.
He teaches the unity of all, notably with the well-known sentence:
"Love your neighbour as yourself". The translation
is not totally correct. How would it have been possible for Jesus
to say that man must love his neighbour as much as he loves himself?!
It is however what is understood, when the true sense is "
Love your neighbour as (being) yourself - love your neighbour
because your neighbour is yourself."
It is particular that Hinduism recognizes easily Jesus as a Divine
incarnation, when Christian sects don't recognize neither Rama
nor Krishna, not any other avatar! For the Hindu, the true Christianity
is a family of Hinduism, as well as Buddhism is, the fundamental
teaching is the same. Jesus himself expresses the Vedic sentence:
"Truth is one, sages name it with diverse names', with the
word: "There are several houses in my Father's place."
Everything in the Gospel is purely Vedantic, and it is not possible
to find one word that would not be purely 'Hindu', that is to
say 'universal'.
It would be possible to quote many other examples, like the description
of the Kali Yuga, to make the comparison between Puranas and
Matthew's Gospel (chp. 24) for instance. But, moreover, Jesus
adds some words about the proliferation of sects, typical of
the Kali Yuga when man is lost and when he does not find his
way any more : " Take care that nobody seduces you, for
many will come in, my name saying : 'I'm the Christ', and they
will seduce many. " We are in the middle of this schema.
"You will hear about wars and noises of war, take care of
not been disturbed, for everything has to happen." This
last sentence: "Everything has to happen " refers to
the Cosmic Law: even these wars and theses troubles are written
in the evolution of the Earth. "Nation will make a stand
against another one, kingdom against kingdom; and there will
be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in different locations.
" And one finds: " You will be hated by everybody because
of my name. ". In this time of Kali Yuga, all values are
reversed, ugly is called beautiful, lie and corruption are kings.
" Iniquity will prevail. " Puranas and Gospel fit with
each other on all points in the description of the Kali Yuga.
Kali Yuga, in which we are, is an age of ignorance, and it is
a pity to see Hindus ignoring their religion, as Christians ignoring
their, and to see that both are stuck to blind creeds and dogmas
that, since long, have given rise to a terrible division when
it is about the same Law. At the time of Christ, this separation
between Christians, Hindus an others did not exist. All of them
respected each other, knowing that they expressed the same thing
but that they just used different terms "Truth is one, sages
name it with different names"). Thus, Magi from Persia came
at the time of avatar Jesus' birth. We must tell it, but it is
churches and sects that, like in all times, have divided to rule,
to reach power and wealth. The history of the Catholic Church
is absolutely striking in this. Jesus' message is a message of
Love: "Love each other", but the Church has gone as
far as to the Inquisition, to torture, to the slaughter of civilisations
in all continents. And presently, one finds sects that are pullulating,
taking profit of the ignorance of people to amass fortunes on
Swiss accounts.
But it is certainly the Prologue of John's Gospel that, true
Upanishad, shows the identityof both conceptions of crfeation,
of the manifestation of the Word. There is there a total identity
between Christianity and Veda. "In the Beginning was the
Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God
and
the Word has made Itself flesh." The identity is absolute,
even if, here, only initiates are able to understand these words,
and even if Vedanta goes in details.
If Hindus and Christians were less ignorant, they would see the
obviousness, that is to say that Hinduism and Christianity are
one and the same religion.
Actually, what Jesus rejected was the vertical casteist notion
and Brahmanism, he has always rejected this vertical division,
in the same way that every true Hindu rejects it. The acceptance
of castes in a vertical way is in a total opposition with Hinduism,
and however how many so-called 'Hindus' are living with it! This,
all his life long, all along his teachings, Jesus has vilified.
In Israel, his words against priests, Pharisees, etc. are very
hard. But the so-called Christians, the Catholics, have made
use of these words without applying them to themselves, but in
applying them to Jews (one saw the straw in the other's eye but
not the beam in theirs). What would Jesus say now! Everything
is summarized in this word, which is found in Thomas' Gospel
(logion 39) : "Jésus said: 'Pharisees and scribes
have taken the keys of Knowledge and have hidden them. Not only
they have not come in, but they let only enter those who wanted.
But you, be prudent like snakes and pure like doves. " It
is a résumé, done by Jesus, of what makers of churches
and sects have done: not only they don't understand, but they
prevent others to understand, for instance by doctoring the Gospel
and by removing from it all the part that concerns Jesus' youth.
Many would say that everything has been built on a lie. However
sects cannot last long, when the Cosmic Law, who could go against?
Presently, one attend to two tendencies: the first is the desertion
from 'official' churches in West and to the multiplication of
sects. In order to try to preserve economically its market, the
Church is trying to convert masses in East. Its attempts in North-Eastern
India, often in the way of bandits, are well-known. Sects are
pullulating and they milk naives and credulous. More and more
Westerners who are true seekers of Truth turn to Hinduism.
Why? Because they have not correctly assimilated the teachings
of Christianity, which have been truncated. For they would find
exactly the same. True Hinduism and true Christianity are but
one and the same thing. And this made St Augustine say: "What
is called today 'Christian religion' also existed at the time
of Elders and has never ceased to exist since the origin of the
human kind, until the time when, Christ having come, one begins
to call 'Christian' the 'true religion' that existed before.",
and to Swami Vivekananda: "A true Christian is a true Hindu
and a true Hindu is a true Christian." What is called 'true'
by Augustine is obviously the 'sanatana dharma'. Let us add that
'Christ' being a 'state of being' the state of the realised one,
and not a title, Rama, Krishna and others can also be called
Christ and therefore Hinduism as well can be named Christian
religion
So, it is time, at the dawn of the third millennium when science
will continue to sweep dogmas and superstitions away, for men
to become aware of this fact: Hinduism and Christianity are but
one and the same religion, both of them have been covered with
different clothes and garments, most of the time with power and
money in view. They have to become aware that Jesus' teaching
has been totally truncated by the Church, councils after councils,
and that, presently, Hindus have really little to see with true
Hinduism. But, as Sri Ramakrishna said, a time will come when
all religions will see their clothes taken away and when only
SANATANA DHARMA will remain.
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