“Oh Mother, Lord or Master, I am your son, you are the mother. I have said Arjun, I would bear all the sins on my shoulders. In this battle of eighteen days, no one but I have died uncountable times. When a soldier fell in the battle, succumbed to wounds or death, no one else, it was me. I will flow in the perpetual stream of blood gushing through the wounds of Ashwathama. I am the Life and I will be the Death.”Krishna to Gandhari, Mahabharat.
For long I have been thinking about some sort of similarity between Jesus and Krishna, as I read the Bible and Bhagavad Gita. Some verses from both of them are quite in resonance to each other, and those are the basic ones. Apart from all the romantic and charismatic tags labeled on Krishna, the depth of his character is unfathomable as well. Little do we know about his suffering, as much as we know stories about his lighter side. He saw the death and destruction of his own Yadava family and died accidentally of an arrow shot by a poor hunter. He forgives the hunter and leaves his mortal body with the promise to be reborn again whenever the time demands.
“yadā yadā hi dharmasya
glānir bhavati bhārata
abhyutthānam adharmasya
tadātmānaḿ sṛjāmy aham”
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 Verse 7
Translation: - Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion — at that time I descend Myself.
Jesus of Nazareth as we know, categorically said about the Judgment Day, a day when everyone will be judged by God himself and the righteous will be lifted up to the heavens. Here in this verse he says about his majestic second coming.
"Don't be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father's home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly. When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am."
John Chapter 14: verse 1-4.
Perhaps they both knew that inspite of all the teachings given to humanity, they will continue to do the same blunder and mistakes that they have done for ages. Therefore it was absolutely necessary to protect and award the gift for righteousness to those who have stuck onto the rules till the very end. And they were both very clear of their position as well, both of them considered themselves as the start of a new beginning. They defined their status in this way:-
“antavat tu phalam tesam
tad bhavaty alpa-medhasam
devan deva-yajo yanti
mad-bhakta yanti mam api”
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 7 verse 23
Translation: - Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet.
In another verse, he says :-
“sarganam adir antas ca
madhyam caivaham arjuna
adhyatma-vidya vidyanam
vadah pravadatam aham”
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 10 verse 32
Translation: Of all creations I am the beginning and the end and also the middle, O Arjuna. Of all sciences I am the spiritual science of the self, and among logicians I am the conclusive truth.
Krishna was an incarnation of Vishnu, Krishna was his mortal image. The life of Krishna was very much like a normal human being, naughtiness in childhood, romance in youth and death when the time came. Even though being God himself, he didn’t manipulate anything to his favor, he didn’t try to save his clan (Yadavas) as well. So all that he did during his mortal life was to secure the truth from evil, which was the sole purpose of his incarnation. Jesus the son of a carpenter, was not God, but he was the closest resemblance of Him. When once his disciple Philip asked him that how God looks like he said-“...Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father?' (John Chapter 14 verse 9). So he was the embodiment of God, not God himself, but alike God. Living with him was as if living with God himself, John Chapter 5 verse 20 says-‘We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true--even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.’
And then comes his famous words (John Chapter 14 verse 6) - Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” If one considers the meaning of this sentence from a broader perspective, he was the image of all that is true and right, anyone who follows truth will ultimately meet him, or become like him, for he is the most perfect. For what would others ways or roads be if it isn’t right, and Jesus himself was embodiment of righteousness. So in a way he is the synonym for truth and just, no matter which religion one follows if one remains true and just, he is actually following him.
In Mathew Chapter 17 verse 1-7, we come to know that Jesus transfigured before his disciples and they couldn’t look upto him such was the light and grace- ‘After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4 Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters— one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground, terrified.
7 But Jesus came and touched them. Get up, he said. Don't be afraid.’
Transfiguration of Jesus
Arjuna seeing the divine self of Krishna says:-
“nabhah-sprsam diptam aneka-varnam
vyattananam dipta-visala-netram
drstva hi tvam pravyathitantar-atma
dhrtim na vindami samam ca visno”
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 11 verse 24.
Universal form of Krishna
Translation: - O all-pervading Visnu, I can no longer maintain my equilibrium. Seeing Your radiant colors fill the skies and beholding Your eyes and mouths, I am afraid.
The divine form is not for everyone to see, everyone wants to see God as a human without the brilliant radiance and the extraordinary features. It gives some idea about the infinite and even that understanding is terrifying. That is why Krishna’s childhood friends, his mother never asked him to show his divine self, they took him as a human as one of them. Except this incidence Jesus never showed his divine form to anyone anywhere, till he died on the cross.
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