Christian Claims on The Gita and Shiva

[Guest guest]

"I was recently speaking to a Brahmin who was a teacher of the

Bhagavad Gita. He knowing that I was a missionary discussed the

similarities between the two faiths with respect to the Gita. He

pointed out the parallels in the doctrines of sacrifice, salvation

by faith, and total surrender to God. However he quietly went on to

say that the Gita was written several hundred years before Christ

and probably even Christ might have read the Gita!"

 

 

 

 

Bhagavad Gita

 

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/2104/gita.html

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(Sanskrit: "Song of God"), one of the greatest and most beautiful of

the Hindu scriptures. It forms part of Book VI of the Indian epic

the Mahabharata ("Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty") and is written

in the form of a dialogue between the warrior Prince Arjuna and his

friend and charioteer, Krishna, who is also an earthly incarnation

of the god Vishnu. The poem consists of 700 Sanskrit verses divided

into 18 chapters.

 

The dialogue takes place on the field of battle, just as the Great

War between the Pandavas and the Kauravas is about to begin. The two

armies stand opposing each other, and, on seeing many of his friends

and kinsmen among those lined up on the other side, Prince Arjuna

hesitates. He considers whether it would not be better to throw down

his arms and allow himself to be slain by the enemy rather than to

engage in a just, but cruel, war. He is recalled to his sense of

duty as a warrior by Krishna, who points out to him that the higher

way is the dispassionate discharge of his duty, performed with faith

in God, and without selfish concern for personal triumph or gain.

 

The Bhagavad-Gita goes far beyond the ethical question with which it

begins to consider broadly the nature of God and the means by which

man can know him. The greatness of the scripture lies in its

description of both the end and the means. It gives a synopsis of

the religious thought and experience of India through the ages. It

is a predominantly theistic work, with God identified with Krishna.

 

The avatar concept (God coming into the world in the form of a man)

in Vaishnavism is the influence of Christianity. The various avatars

are later additions. For example, the various versions of the

Ramayana identify Rama with Vishnu as another incarnation. However,

this is not so in its oldest form written by Valmiki. The next

version was Kambar's Ramayana in Tamil where Rama is made an

incarnation. After this other versions in various languages were

written with Rama as an incarnation.

 

In BG VIII:4, Krishna states,

 

The basis of all created things is the mutable nature: the basis of

the divine elements is the cosmic spirit. And the basis of all

sacrifices, here in the body is Myself, O Best of embodied beings

(Arjuna)

 

In BG X:3, Krishna states,

 

He who knows Me, the unborn, without Beginning also the mighty lord

of the worlds, he, among mortals is undeluded and freed from all

sins.

 

And in X:8 Krishna states,

 

I am the origin of all; from Me all (the whole creation) proceeds.

Knowing this, the wise worship Me, endowed with conviction.

 

Scholars have pointed out many other similar doctrines such as God

indwelling man, Trinity, etc. For example Y. Masih in his book

titled, "Shankara's Universal Philosophy of Religion" writes about

the striking similarity between the lives of Krishna and Jesus,

 

The phenomenon of 'Krsnajanmastame' in which the child Krishna is

represented as a suckling at the mother's breast. Nanda, the foster-

father of Krishna had gone to Mathura to pay his taxes (just as

Joseph had gone to Bethlehem for census). Krishna was born in a cow-

shed (Gokula exactly as Jesus was born in a manger); massacre of

infants of Mathura by Kamsa (just as was the massacre of infants by

Herod); Krishna (like Jesus) had raised the son of a window from the

dead; Kubja anointed Krishna just as Mary had done with precious

ointment.

 

I was recently speaking to a Brahmin who was a teacher of the

Bhagavad Gita. He knowing that I was a missionary discussed the

similarities between the two faiths with respect to the Gita. He

pointed out the parallels in the doctrines of sacrifice, salvation

by faith, and total surrender to God. However he quietly went on to

say that the Gita was written several hundred years before Christ

and probably even Christ might have read the Gita!

 

God says in His Word that He gives us weapons to demolish arguments

and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of

God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ

(2 Corinthians 10:5). Nirad Chaudhuri in his book on Hinduism points

out that 'the Gita is written in good classical Sanskrit, and

epigraphic evidence clearly shows that the Gita could not have been

written before the second century A.D.'

 

'The earliest epigraphic evidence on languages employed in India

comes from the inscriptions of Asoka inscribed in third century B.C.

Asoka took care that his messages were intelligible to all and he

used a particular kind of Prakrit. He even translated his messages

to Greek and Aramaic. But, there are no inscriptions in Sanskrit.

The first evidence of Sanskrit is seen around A.D.150 and from the

fifth century A.D. classical Sanskrit is seen to be the dominant

language in the inscriptions.'

 

I pointed this out to my Brahmin friend and concluded that the

doctrines of God coming into the world in the form of a man, He

being our sacrifice, salvation by faith in Him, and our response of

total surrender to God as a living sacrifice are the doctrines of

Christ and these have influenced the writer of the Bhagavad Gita.

 

Nirad Chaudhuri points out that 'the Hindu religious texts with the

exception of the Vedas and their ancillary treatises, are all in

classical Sanskrit. He says that in their present form none would be

earlier than the fourth century A.D'. The Vedas seem to be written

in what he calls archaic Sanskrit , but the X mandala of the Rgveda

is written later. It is in the X mandala that we see the divine and

human aspects of the Prajapati and His sacrifice of himself for us.

 

Several Indian scholars have recently established beyond a shadow of

a doubt the existence of early Indian Christianity from the days of

the first apostles. South India had excellent trade relations with

the Roman empire evidenced by the Roman coins found in excess in

various parts of South India. When there are trade relationships,

cultural and religious exchanges take place. When we study the

development of religion and worship in India, before and after

Christ, we can see that Christ and Christianity totally transformed

religion and worship in India from the first century AD. Saivism

first developed as a monotheistic doctrine and Siva was first called

Isa which is the name for Jesus in the North. The avatar concept

(God coming into the world in the form of a man) in Vaishnavism is

the influence of Christianity.

 

Hindus in India consider Christianity as a foreign religion. However

they do not realize how much early Indian Christianity has developed

and molded their own religion, and, the revealed truths in their own

faith point to Jesus Christ. I pray that we the Christians in India

would take time to understand where the heart of every Hindu is,

and, help guide them to The Truth in Christ Jesus by gently removing

the barriers and obstacles without syncretism.

 

 

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