Christ-Krishna Connection

December 24, 2009

Good Day Brothers and Sisters,

Its Thursday, 24th December 2009

Dear Brothers and Sisters,On the eve of Christmas, as preparations for celebrating Christmas get underway, Here's taking a look at what some believe are the similarities in the Life & Teachings of Christ & Krishna which has also led many to believe they may be stories about one and the same Here's some info .. Read it and decide for yourself

Christ-Krishna Connection

By Subhamoy Das, About.com

Filed In:

Gods & Goddesses > Lord Krishna

Krishna as Cowherdwww.exoticindia. com

Shri Krishna Lord Shiva Wallpaper Lord Krishna The Bhagavad Gita Bhagwat Gita

Despite their differences, Hinduism and Christianity have great similarities.

And this is particularly prominent in the case of the life and

teachings of the two central figures of these world religions â€” Christ

and Krishna.Similarities in just the names of

'Christ' and 'Krishna' have enough fuel for the curious mind to prod

into the proposition that they were indeed one and the same person.

Although there is little historical evidence, it is hard to ignore a

host of likenesses between Jesus Christ and Lord Krishna. Analyze this!

Both are believed to be sons of God, since they were divinely conceived The birth of both Jesus of Nazareth and Krishna of Dwarka and their God-designed missions were foretold Both were born at unusual places â€” Christ in a lowly manger and Krishna in a prison cell Both were divinely saved from death pronouncements Evil forces pursued both Christ and Krishna in vain Christ is often depicted as a shepherd; Krishna was a cowherd Both appeared at a critical time when their respective countries were in a torpid state Both died of wounds caused by sharp weapons â€” Christ by nails and Krishna by an arrow The teachings of both are very similar â€” both emphasize love and peace Krishna was often shown as having a dark blue complexion â€” a color close to that of Christ Consciousness

Similarity in NamesChrist

comes from the Greek word 'Christos', which means "the anointed one".

Again, the word 'Krishna' in Greek is the same as 'Christos'. A

colloquial Bengali rendering of Krishna is 'Kristo', which is the same

as the Spanish for Christ â€” 'Cristo'.The father of the Krishna Consciousness Movement AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

once remarked: "When an Indian person calls on Krishna, he often says,

Krsta. Krsta is a Sanskrit word meaning attraction. So when we address

God as Christ, Krsta, or Krishna we indicate the same all-attractive

Supreme Personality of Godhead. When Jesus said, 'Our Father who art in

heaven hallowed be Thy name', the name of God was Krsta or Krishna." Prabhupada further says:

"'Christ' is another way of saying Krsta and Krsta is another way of

pronouncing Krishna, the name of Godâ€¦the general name of the Supreme

Personality of Godhead, whose specific name is Krishna. Therefore

whether you call God 'Christ', 'Krsta', or 'Krishna', ultimately you

are addressing the same Supreme Personality of Godheadâ€¦Sri Caitanya

Mahaprabhu said: namnam akari bahu-dha nija-sarva-saktis. (God has

millions of names, and because there is no difference between God's

name and Himself, each one of these names has the same potency as

God.)" God or Man?According

to Hindu mythology, Krishna was born on earth so that the balance of

good in the world could be restored. But, there are many conflicting

theories regarding his Godhood. Although, Krishna's story depicts him

as the ultimate Lord of the Universe, whether Krishna himself is God or

man is still a contentious matter in Hinduism.Hindus believe that Jesus, like Lord

Krishna, is just another avatar of the Divine, who came down to show

humanity in the righteous way of life. This is another point where

Krishna resembles Christ, a figure who is both "fully human and fully

divine." Krishna and Jesus were both

saviors of mankind and avatars of God who have returned to earth at an

especially critical time in the lives of their people. They were the

incarnates of the Divine Being Himself in human form to teach human

beings divine love, divine power, divine wisdom, and lead the benighted

world towards the light of God. Similarity in TeachingsThese

two most admired of religious icons also claim to hold the completeness

of their religions by themselves. It's interesting to note how alike

each one spoke in the Bhagavad Gita and the Holy Bible about the righteous way of life.Lord Krishna says in the Gita:

"Whenever, O Arjuna, righteousness declines and unrighteousness

prevails, my body assumes human form and lives as a human being." He

also says, "In order to protect the righteousness and also to punish

the wicked, I incarnate myself on this earth from time to time." Similarly, Jesus said: "If God were your Father, ye would love me; for

I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of Myself but He

sent me." At many places in the Bhagavad

Gita, Lord Krishna said about His oneness with God: "I am the way, come

to Meâ€¦Neither the multitude of gods, nor great sages know my origin,

for I am the source of all the gods and great sages." In the Holy

Bible, Jesus also utters the same in his Gospels: "I am the way and the

truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If

you really knew me, you would know my Father as wellâ€¦" Krishna advises all men to

continue working for the welfare of the state all through the life:

"That man attains peace who lives devoid of longing, free from all

desires and without the feeling of 'I' and 'mine'. This is the Brahman

stateâ€¦" Jesus too ensures man, "Him that overcometh 'I' will make a

pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out." (freed from what the Hindus call cycle of birth???)Lord Krishna urged his disciples

to follow the art of scientific control of the senses. An expert yogi

can withdraw his mind from old temptations of the material world and

can unite his mental energy with the joy of inner ecstasy or samadhi.

"When the yogi like a tortoise withdrawing its limbs, can fully retire

its senses from the objects of perception, his wisdom manifests steadiness". Christ too delivered a similar directive: "But though,

when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,(withdraw inwards??) and when thy shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in

secret shall reward thee openly." Krishna stressed the idea of the

grace of God in the Gita: "I am the origin of everything, and

everything arises out of Meâ€¦". Similarly, Jesus said: "I am the bread

of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth

in me shall never thirst."