Krishna, Christ: East and West

The root of the word ‘ gospel ’ in old English is ‘ godspel ’ which means ‘ GOD ’ (good) plus ‘ spell ’ (tale). So gospel in general means the message or teachings of a religios teacher, regardless of time and geographical location.

Take Lord Krishna and Christ, the many-splendoured Apostle- Teachers. Though they wer born in different times, in different climes the twain have interesting similarities in their lives and precepts. Both descended to earth with the same purpose, to raise man to a Higher grade of life, overthrow the forces of ignorance, hatred, selfishness and unrighteousness and redeem the true spirit of humanity.

Kansa, the King of Mathure, and Herod, the King of Palestine, were forewarned that they wold be killed by a child. So they slaughtered children mercilessly. But as Divinity ordained, Krishna and Christ had miraculous births. Krishna was born in captivity and Christ in a manger.
Jesus Christ came to the world to save mankind. And so did Krishna who prached universal brotherhhod, “ Sarva bhta hite ratah”, indulge yourself in the welfare of all creatures. Similarly Christ said, “ Love Thy Neighbour as Thyself.”

Both Krishna and Christ were pacifists. But they also resorted to violence to destroy evil. They were a synthesis of a lamb( as Christ is called) and a lion.
In the Mahabharata, Krishna tries to avoid war before fighting. Christ, in The Sermon on The Mount, preaches humility, peace and nonviolence. But He then pursues Satan in The War in Heaven down to hell and destroys him.
The vision of the Cosmic form that Krishna reveals in The Gita: “ I behold thee as one without beginning, middle or end, ” has its echoes in The New Testament : “ Holy, holy, holy, is The Lord God Almighty, who was, who is and who is to come.”

Time has no power over the names, deeds and words of our Blessed Apostle- Teachers (PBUT)

-C.D.Verma (An Article published in The Hindustan Times)