________________
14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS
Jesus Christ and his relationship with Krsna.
"If one loves Krishna, he must love Lord Jesus also. And if one perfectly loves Jesus he must love Krishna too. If he says, "Why shall I love Krishna? I shall love Jesus," then he has no knowledge. And if one says, "Why shall I love Jesus? I shall love Krishna", then he has no knowledge either. If one understands Krishna, then he will understand Jesus. If one understands Jesus, you'll understand Krishna too"
(Srila Prabhupada - Room conversation with Allen Ginsberg, May 12, 1969 / Columbus - Ohio)
http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/aa122200a.htm
Despite their differences, Hinduism and Christianity have great similarities. And this is particularly prominent in the case of the life and teachings of the two central figures of these world religions – Christ and Krishna.
Similarities in just the names of Christ' and 'Krishna' have enough fuel for the curious mind to prod into the proposition that they were indeed one and the same person. Although there is little historical evidence, it is hard to ignore a host of likenesses between Jesus Christ and Lord Krishna. Analyze this!
• Both are believed to be sons of God, since they were divinely conceived • The birth of both Jesus of Nazareth and Krishna of Dwarka and their God-designed missions were foretold • Both were born at unusual places – Christ in a lowly manger and Krishna in a prison cell • Both were divinely saved from death pronouncements • Evil forces pursued both Christ and Krishna in vain • Christ is often depicted as a shepherd; Krishna was a cowherd • Both appeared at a critical time when their respective countries were in a torpid state • Both died of wounds caused by sharp weapons - Christ by nails and Krishna by an arrow • The teachings of both are very similar – both emphasize love and peace • Krishna was often shown as having a dark blue complexion - a color close to that of Christ
Vaishnavites have been trying to prove that Jesus is a myth fashioned out of Krishna story. In trying to do that they have developed a series of lies, partial truths and remotely parallel events to establish that. Here are some of the attempts. There are lots of websites where these are postulated. On closer analysis except for a peripheral similarities the two lifes were totally apart. Several people have answered these pretty well. Here is one which I have summarized.
385
