No
one has moved the popular minds as Jesus Christ did two thousand years ago with
his intensely practical teachings. He inspired, healed, and transformed many,
and he continues to inspire millions by virtue of the tremendous spiritual
energy that he left for the world. Every time we feed a hungry, nurse a sick, care
for a needy, or simply chant the name of Jesus, that energy is multiplied.
Profound were his teachings; concise
were his words, and yet they spoke volumes. It has been said that if the doings
and sayings of this great master had all been written down, it would be enough
to fill the world!
Who was Jesus? Was he a historical
person? What was his mission? Was he unique in history? These are the questions
discussed here in the light of the testimonies of some great minds as well as
the sayings of Jesus himself.
As the saying goes, “The tree is known by its
fruits.” The best critique on the life of Jesus is his own life; which reveals
that he was no ordinary being. He was indeed an avatar—a divine incarnation in
human form, using his body for the good of humanity; that was his only
connection with this world. Listen to his own words, “ye are from beneath. I am
from above.” “I and my Father are one.”
Naturally, Jesus had no faith in the
passing life of this world. He always pointed to a “higher life, not this
life.” Jesus never entertained any physical ideas in him. Neither did he have
any family ties, unlike us humans. Listen to this passage from a lecture on
Christ that Swami Vivekananda gave at Los Angeles in 1900: “He had no other
occupation in life, no other thought except that one that he was Spirit. He was
disembodied, unfettered, unbound Spirit.” In short, Jesus had nothing to call
“me” or “mine.” He was perfectly selfless. He was the ideal.
There have been many who have taken Jesus to be a
historical person. How can we drag an ideal down to the human level? The best
tribute we can pay him is to worship him as God only. Consider John’s gospel
statement where he makes it clear that the same word that was “in the
beginning,” and “was God” was made flesh in Christ—meaning that Jesus was not
merely a man born to Joseph and Mary, but he is the eternal Truth, one with the
Father. This is further validated by Jesus himself: “Before Abraham was, I am.”
Why did Jesus descend into this
world? In fact, Jesus testifies in his own words the purpose of his mission,“Think
not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfil.”
The law, the eternal truth of religion preached
by prophets before, already existed in the Jewish faith. Jesus came to
galvanize humanity with a new interpretation, a new vision. That’s all. And in
doing so, he was merely upholding the eternal spirit of the Jewish faith. More precisely, Jesus came to show the path to
salvation.To fulfill his mission, Jesus taught extensively with the sole intent
to instill a true spiritual sense among the people so that they are better positioned
to strive after the truth of God.
It is a fact of history that Jesus
was a divine incarnation; but it is also a fact of history that there were
other incarnations as well. Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and Sri Ramakrishna were
divine incarnations with identical teachings. Those who regard that Jesus was
unique in history base their belief mostly upon this statement of Jesus, “I am
the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
But when we
study other incarnations, we find similar statements from them too. For
instance, Krishna says: “I am the goal of the wise man, and I am the way.” “I
am the end of the path, the witness, the Lord, the sustainer. I am the place of
abode, the beginning, the friend and the refuge.” Similar statements can be
traced to Buddha as well.
The problem comes when we are swayed
more by a literal interpretation of the letters than by their deeper spiritual
meaning. Bear in mind that whenever the incarnations use the words “I” or “me,”
they are not asserting their ego but their divinity only, which is one with the
Godhead. Of all the incarnations, none have ever implied their personality with
such words as “I” or “me.”
Now the question remains: why would God descend as man
more than once?For the answer, let us turn to Bhagavad Gita where Krishna says:
“Whenever virtue subsides and immorality prevails, I make myself a body. For
the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the
establishment of Dharma, I come into being, in every age.” Accordingly, all the
incarnations appeared on the world stage at a critical point in time. Most
important, it is always the same supreme Spirit that empowers all incarnations,
regardless of the place or the age of their appearance.
Every incarnation, therefore,
becomes the way, the truth, and the life. He who came as Rama, as Krishna, and
as Buddha, came as Christ, and later as Sri Ramakrishna. When we worship one,
we worship the other as well. For they are all different manifestations of the
one supreme Truth, like one wine in many bottles.We canapproach the supreme
Truth only through one of its manifestations. We seek the Father through
Christ. Ultimately, the search for Christ is the search for the Father—the
supreme Truth.
Shri Mathew Idikulla wrote to Almayasabdam: It is my understanding that you are part of an active reform movement that takes aim at reforming the Catholic Church. It is true that the Church, Catholic or Protestant, has been in the business of misguiding the faithful right from the beginning with wrong teachings. Not only that, the Church has also sanctified its peculiar teachings by conveniently attributing them to Jesus Christ, all of which with the sole intent to establish its power and authority upon the masses. Unfortunately, the Church has succeeded in its endeavor. In the words of Leo Tolstoy, the Church is Christianity as we know it, not as Jesus knew it; and Christianity is nothing more than the Church. Listen to what Tolstoy says about Church in general:
ReplyDeleteThe Church as a church, whatever it may be—Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian—every church, in so far as it is a church, cannot but strive for the same object as the Russian Church.
That object is to conceal the real meaning of Christ’s teaching and to replace it by their own, which lays no obligation on them, excludes the possibility of understanding the true teaching of
Christ, and what is the chief consideration, justifies the existence of priests supported at the people’s expense.
The Church has always been the villain, and it continues its long reign unbending, while its vices flourish unabated. We can’t blame the Master, Jesus Christ, for this conspiracy. He came, delivered his message, and departed. But the believers are left in a dilemma where they find it a huge task to sort out the genuine teachings of Christ from an equally huge mess of dogmas and doctrines that the Church has fabricated for the faithful over the years.
I am attaching an article that I believe could possibly remove at least few of those misconceived notions from the minds of the faithful. If you believe that the article justifies my claim, you may post it in your Almayasabdam. If you do, please let me know. Thanks for reading my article. It’s a short one since no body reads lengthy articles anymore. Wishing you both a merry Christmas and a happy New-Year,