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F E E L A T H O M E www.azindiatimes.com PAGE - 12 Jan 2019 1-844-AZINDIA ..from page 1 Krishna = Christ By Sundaranand Mahadevan sundaranand.mahadevan@gmail.com God is not a Person, God is Intelligence. God (Intelligence) resides in each one of us. All forms of the division are human imagination and will lead to violence. This seed thought has taken me a long way, developed a deep desire to read scrip- tures. I am remembering my Tamil teacher today and the love he had shown me when I was deep in anguish and pain outside the classroom, his love has turned me to Bhagavan Ramakrishna, through the Tamil essay contest. I spent close to four decades reading a variety of teachings, I am open to all of them and I am convinced with the equation Krishna = Buddha = Christ = I Am With Christmas and New Year in the air, I am going to focus my attention on Krishna and Christ. I have borrowed ideas from many teachers, some key ones from my beloved Osho. The similarity in the name: Don’t you see and feel the rhyme in their names? Krishna is also called “ Krsta ”, meaning “attraction”. In Tamil, Christ is called “Kartha”, a modified version of “ Krsta ”. Kartha also means “the doer”, meaning that all actions, good and not so good, stem from the energy of God alone, the energy borrowed from God alone. The similarity in birth, life, and death: • They were immaculately conceived. • They arrive into this world as foretold in prophecies. • One is born in a barn (Jesus) and the other in a prison (Krishna). • They were born when the world was deep asleep. • They were born when the world was in deep darkness, signifying the time of their birth and a need for the revival of Truth, the only reason God descends in a human form. • They survived death at birth/childhood by divine intervention, Jesus from the clutches of King Herod and Krishna from King Kamsa. • One is a shepherd (Jesus), the other is a cowherd (Krishna), both lead and gives attention to the ones who have lost their way. • They died using sharp equipment, a Roman soldier stabbing a spear to con- firm Jesus death on the Cross while Krishna dies from an arrow shot from Jara’s (hunter) bow. • They die as foretold in the prophecies. While similarities in name and in birth/death are worthy, the key and the only relevant thing for all of us is the similarity in their teachings. The above two kin- dles our emotion while the similarity in knowledge leads us from darkness to light, from death to immortality. Similarities in teaching: John 8:42 <=> Jesus said to them, “ If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. " BG 4:7 <=> Whenever there is a decline in righteousness and an increase in un- righteousness, O Arjun, at that time I manifest myself on earth. Jesus uses the word “God” and “Father” while Krishna is direct and uses “I”. We have to be careful and not look through the eyes of judgment. It does not mean that Krishna is the God and Jesus is His Messenger. We have to see “God”, “Fa- ther” and “I” as synonyms, equal to “All-Pervading Consciousness”. John 14:6 <=> Jesus answered, “ I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. " BG 10:2 <=> Neither celestial gods nor the great sages know my origin. I am the source from which the gods and great seers come. Both of them have the similar message “I am the Way and Truth”. We cannot see the word “me” or “I” as a person, Jesus or Krishna. The idea of saving oneself by “accepting” a person may have a transient therapeutic value. If I am ridden with guilt and pain, it gives me some relief, a psychological trick. In that sense, it has a value, however, it is just a placebo. Then, if it is not mere acceptance, What does it take to enter the Kingdom of God? Mark 12:29-31 <=> ‘ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength .' The second is this: ‘ Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these. ' BG 6:29-30 <=> The true yogis, uniting their consciousness with God, see with the equal eye, all living beings in God and God in all living beings. For those who see me everywhere and see all things in me, I am never lost, nor are they ever lost to me. When we see ourselves in all beings and all beings in ourselves, then alone, we discover liberation, we enter the Kingdom of God. This is the Ultimate Truth. Are we all ready for this? Every other action we undertake or another result we strive for is a mockery of both Jesus and Krishna. Matt 6:6 <=> But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. BG 2:58 <=> One who is able to withdraw the senses from their objects, just as a tortoise withdraws its limbs into its shell, is established in divine wisdom. Both Jesus and Krishna establishes the prerequisite for entering the Kingdom of God: mastery over sense organs and mind. The reward is liberation. So, I do not personally believe in the second coming of Jesus or Krishna. However, I truly believe (trust pending verification) that if we focus on cleansing our mind and master our mind/senses, we are taking the first step into spirituality, Krishna calls it Karma Yoga. Jesus had descended to liberate, but he sends John first to cleanse people and be ready. John taught Karma Yoga while Jesus taught Jnana Yoga. That is why John said “ The Kingdom of God is within reach ” while Jesus said, “ The Kingdom of God is within .” John 6:35 <=> Jesus declared, “ I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. " BG 10:8 <=> I am the origin of all creation. Everything proceeds from me. The wise who know this perfectly worship me with great faith and devotion. Once again both of them are very clear that if we go to the Truth, there is no re- morse or anxiety, Jesus uses a mystical word “bread” and “hunger” to indicate “origin” and “the ending of the search”. When will we end the search? We end the search when we discover the Truth. When I was a young boy, while reading Bhagavan Ramakrishna, I was struck by the truth “ There is One God ”. As I started to explore further, I stumble upon a greater Truth, a minor refinement in word but a giant movement in Conscious- ness that “ There is one Only God ”. When you are hungry, the food and you are separate. When you consume the food, the hunger is gone because the eater and the eaten have become one and the same. In the same way, the hunger for truth will only end when we identify and abide in the Truth. So, it is not necessary to just understand Christ = Krishna , it is only a reward when you understand that Krishna = Christ = I Am On this auspicious month, we take the following message seriously: Our goal is to come together and share our teachings and help each other in discovering the Truth, without claiming superiority of our own religion and culture. The word is “hope”, meaning “ together we can make it better for all of us ”. “ Amen, ” / “ Om ”, see they also rhyme the same !!!