(To watch an illustrative 6 minute slideshow video narration of this text by yours truly, click here.)
The Christmas
story about the birth of Jesus Christ is famous all over the world. The gospels
are telling us how Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem shortly before the
birth of Christ. They were poor and suffered many hardships, culminating in
having to stay and give birth in a stable. After the birth, the Holy Family had
to flee to Egypt as the newborn’s life was threatened by the cruel king Herod.
Afraid of the prophecy that he will lose his throne to new King of the Jews,
Herod was desperately trying to kill all newborn male children under two in the
village of Bethlehem.
In the case of Krishna,
the King in question was not Herod but Kamsa. As the Srimad Bhagavatam says,
after the wedding of Krishna’s parents, as Devaki and Vasudeva were being
driven home by Devaki's brother King Kamsa, a prophetic unembodied voice
announced that the 8th child of his sister would kill him. Cruel King Kamsa
drew his sword to kill his own newly married sister, but his new brother-in-law
Vasudeva convinced him that he would deliver all his offspring to him as they
were born. Vasudeva was known for keeping his word, as were most people in
those days 5000 years ago, and Kamsa refrained from his heinous deed for the
time being. Later on, just to be on the safe side, Kamsa threw the couple into
the dungeon for several years, and killed each child as they were born. So,
just like Herod, Kamsa, too, committed the crime of infanticide. But all his
plans failed because Lord Krishna appeared to Devaki and her husband Vasudeva
in His four-armed form of Vishnu as Devaki’s eighth child. The inconceivable
mystic potency of Krishna made all the shackles and locks on the prison doors
to come open and the guards to fall asleep, allowing Vasudeva to escape from
jail and bring newborn Lord Krishna to safety. Even after Krishna was taken
elsewhere, Kamsa sent numerous terrible demoniac creatures to kill the child.
But all of them were destroyed by Krishna one after another
from the time He was an infant. God is always the supremely powerful God, even
in His infant stage. Similarly, the
infant Jesus was also saved from the wrath of cruel emperor Herod. Mary and
Joseph were warned by means of an angel, urging them to flee with the child to
Egypt.
The resemblance of the lives of Christ and Krishna doesn’t end there. Both grew up among simple people and continued to have special bonds to simple folks throughout their lives. Christ recruited his disciples from fishermen while Krishna grew up among cowherds in the small village of Vraja. During all of Krishna’s life Radha, a "gopi" or cowherd girl, was to be the woman closest to his heart. Both Christ and Kṛṣṇa were seen as embodiment of love, peace and understanding; both performed miracles of various kinds.
This book was written by my guru in 1985, who happened to be the son of a Baptist minister and the first disciple of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, who spread the science of non-sectarian universal God consciousness all over the world in the 60’s and 70’, and so is uniquely qualified to compare the two great spiritual traditions.
To purchase a new hardbound copy of this rare out of print book, click this link: Christ and Krishna : The Path of Pure Devotion | eBay You can also stream or download the entire audiobook narrated by yours truly for free by clicking here.
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