Seeing Jesus through a Hindu Lens -A portal to the divine
Many religions gain truth about divinity through revelation. We can use logic to infer the divine exists, but inference isn’t direct knowledge. If the nature of the divine was apparent to our senses, we wouldn’t need inference.
Most of us don’t have direct access to knowledge of divinity. We need an intermediary to reveal the knowledge. The mediator connects the mundane and the divine.
The link to the divine
The connecting link to divinity has both static and dynamic forms. The static form is the scripture. The dynamic form is the saint or prophet. The scripture is a record of the wisdom of the saints. But the saint embodies those divine truths, animating them and bringing them to life in this world.
The divine is a living and dynamic reality. While the scripture can guide us toward it, the saints are the living embodiment of the scripture. Like a tape recording of their words and deeds, the scripture is an indirect representation of divinity.
The scripture contains the teachings of the saints and advice about how to walk in their footsteps and become saintly ourselves. Following their example and their teachings is the way to experience the divine in our own lives.
There are a variety of saints, each with their own conception and presentation of the ultimate goal. They form a continual series of intermediaries through which divine knowledge descends. Jesus, Mohammed, Vyasadeva, Buddha, Guru Nanak, Abraham and many others of varying magnitudes of illumination.
In Hinduism these luminaries are known as Sri Guru. They’re also known as rishi, which means “seer” because they’ve gained a direct sighting of divine truth. The sighting isn’t a visual perception, but an illumination of hidden dimensions of reality.
The knowledge of the rishi transcends the static theory and achieves a direct experience of divinity. But for those who don’t have this direct knowledge and are mired in the darkness of ignorance, a mediator and guide is necessary. They need someone to illuminate the path and point the way.
The message delivered by the different mediators in each religion varies, and outwardly appears to be contradictory. But the message is culturally embedded. It can only be communicated in concepts appropriate for the intended audience.
The limitations of communicating knowledge
Each culture speaks a unique conceptual language. The conceptual maps they use to understand the world and navigate the meaning of our lives encompass religion, ethics and ways of living.
Anyone who doesn’t have direct knowledge of divinity can only understand the message in concepts they’re familiar with. They can only understand the unknown, in terms of the known.
If someone is lost and you want to tell them how to find their way home. You can’t give them instructions in a foreign language, because they can’t access the meaning of the words. You need to use a language they understand and concepts they’re familiar with. You can’t tell them to travel north 50 paces if they don’t understand the concept of north.
And when it comes to knowledge of the divine, something unseen is explained in terms of the seen, something unknown is explained in terms of the known. Which is why the message must be embedded within the cultural and conceptual framework the recipient understands.
The same principle applies to the mediator. Even if the mediator is a fully enlightened being, the knowledge they can reveal is limited by the capacity of their audience to understand.
Communication is reciprocal, both the sender and receiver of any message must have suitable apparatus to understand each other. We can send a perfect transmission but the fidelity of the message will depend on the quality of both the transmitting and the receiving instruments.
The distortion of the message
In the case of divine knowledge, the message filters through a particular consciousness and awareness of the world. Everyone’s mental model is composed of things like their experience, their beliefs, their prejudices. The sum total of all these elements, their ego, has a certain disposition.
These accumulated psychic attributes are the filters which inevitably contaminate and distort any message to make it conform to something we can understand. The interpretation each person places on any transmission must be framed in concepts the mind is familiar with and has in its data banks. The mind can’t go outside the concepts it has available to construct the meaning of any information.
This is why religious experiences are also culturally embedded. When people experience a glimpse of the divine realm, they can only understand its meaning within their particular cultural maps of reality. Christians see Jesus, Muslims see Allah, Hindus see Vishnu.
The transmission is real and they’re sincere in their testimony of its existence, but they interpret its meaning through their own limited awareness of the world.
The identity of Jesus as guru
In the time and culture that Jesus existed, to say, I am one with God was considered the greatest blasphemy. To claim divinity was the worst of sins.
But the Hindu considers it the most profound truth of our existence. One of the great sayings of the Upanishads is Tat Tvam Asi, which means, You are That, You are Brahman, You are Divine.
This is expressing an identity, you are this type of thing. But there are many ways to understand an identity claim. If I say, You are my sunshine, it’s not intended literally. You aren’t identical to sunshine. It’s expressing a more esoteric identity. It identifies you with certain properties of the sun, like bringing light and warmth into my life.
When the Hindu says you are divine, what is the identity being expressed? Does it mean you are identical to God or share some other properties? Some monist Hindu traditions do interpret it as a strict identity, they say your sense of separate identity as an individual will ultimately turn out to be an illusion.
But the dualist or devotional traditions have a different interpretation of the identity between you and God. These devotional traditions are similar in their mood of worship to Christianity.
Love of God is accepted as the highest ideal, the ultimate fulfilment of our existence. In an exchange of love, two individuals are necessary. The identity must be one in spirit or feeling, not one in self.
This is comparable to when Jesus said, “I and the father are one”. Jesus can’t be talking about a strict identify because he also distinguishes himself from God as father. So, we have an identity claim, but the exact nature of that identity requires more explanation.
In general terms Hindu Vedanta and Christianity are grappling with a similar dilemma. How can we reconcile our divinity with our presently mortal nature? In answering that question, we also answer the details of our divine nature because it explains our relation to God, the source and foundation of divinity.
Jesus isn’t identical to the father, but one in essence and nature. He is the way for each individual to realize their own divinity and achieve personal communion with God the father.
Avatar — the divine descends
In Hinduism a similar concept is avatar. Avatar literally means to descend and is generally understood as God taking a form in this world. But the type of form comes in degrees.
God descends directly in his original spiritual form once in every age or yuga. The Bhagavad Gita was spoken by God’s avatar of Krishna. He says, “Whenever there is a decline in dharma and a rise of adharma, I personally appear”.
But as well as these direct incarnations, God descends indirectly in the form of his various powers. And one of those indirect instruments is the guru. This is similar to a proprietor investing control of his enterprise in an intermediary like the managing director. The proprietor only participates indirectly in the practical operation of the project.
The guru has the power to reveal knowledge of divinity. The function of the guru is similar to the function of salvation offered by Jesus. Guru is essential as an intermediary to connect us with God. Guru isn’t identical to God himself but shares in God’s will, they are one in purpose with God.
The guru is human, but also divine. They have two apparently contradictory aspects to their existence. They have one foot in the material world and the other in the spiritual and lead souls from this world to the next. Like a portal to the divine, the guru illuminates the path and allows us to see the divine destination through him.
The disciple can see the divine through the words and actions of the guru. The guru is more than a teacher, he brings the divine to life. To the disciple, the guru is as good as God, one with God, because without that intermediary the disciple can’t connect with God.
Each person chooses their guru by faith. We place our trust in their words and follow their instructions. We adopt their teachings in our lives. We make this choice not only by placing our trust in someone, but also because that person is in harmony with our highest ideals and vision of reality.
This vision is what we consider divine because it transcends all other goals and ideals. The external appearance of contradiction between different guru’s teachings is harmonized by religious pluralism.
Understanding Jesus through the conceptual lens of the Hindu
Jesus says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”.
The Bhagavad Gita says the same of the guru: “To attain divine knowledge you must approach a spiritual teacher with respect, inquiry and service.”
You must approach divinity through the guru, he is essential to make the connection. It’s not only an intellectual transaction between the disciple and the guru. The guru reveals theoretical knowledge and doctrines as well as existential truths. The disciple needs to inquire, but respect and service are also needed.
A disciple is someone who follows a discipline, they must act a certain way. This action is the dynamic form our faith in guru takes when we understand faith as an act of will. We can have a theoretical understanding of the benefits of charity, but we must engage in acts of charity to “be” charitable.
It’s by these living truths that the darkness of our ignorance is dispelled and the light of the divine reveals the inner nature of the world. By faithfully following the teachings of the guru, we gain our own personal sighting of the divine.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Advayataraka Upanishad says, “The syllable gu means darkness, the syllable ru, he who dispels them. Because of the power to dispel darkness, the guru is thus named.”
The divine is presently shrouded from our view and the guru has the power to illuminate it. Guru is the only way to achieve salvation. God and the guru are one in purpose, but many in appearance.
