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OCTOBER, 1873.]
No one knows me. (vii. 26.)
CHRISTIAN TRACES IN THE BHAGAVAD-GITA.
Easy to understand, sweet to do. (ix. 2.)
I am the way, beginning, end. (ix. 18.) "
I make warm, I hold back and let loose the rain. (ix. 19.)
I never pass away from him, nor he from me. (vi. 30.) (Conf. Isa-Upanishad 6 in Bibl. Ind. vol. XV. p. 72).
They who honour me are in me, and I in them. (xix. 29.)
None who honour me shall perish. (ix. 31.)
Gentleness, equanimity, contentment, penance, almsgiving, honour and dishonour, these are the characteristics of beings, and are all of them from me. (x. 5.)†
I am the origin of all, from me everything pro ceeds. (x. 8.).
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Thinking of me instructing one another, ever speaking with me, they rejoice and are glad. x. 9.) Famil
I am the Leginning, the middle, and the end of beings. (x. 20).
Among letters I am A. (x. 33.)
From all sins will I free thee: be not sorrowful! (xviii. 66.)
That the composer of the Bhagavad Gita knew and used the New Testament, the coincidences which have been pointed out between single thoughts and expressions have been sufficient, as I believe, to prove. In confirmation, however, of the results already won, I make the further observation that some larger sections of the Gospel narrative have been imitated in the Bhagavad-Gita. Among these imitations I reckon first and chiefly that of the transfiguration of Christ, farther that of Peter's confession of the divinity of Christ, and also of his own unworthiness to be in the company of the Lord after the miracle of the fishes. To these may also perhaps be added that of the so-called eight beatitudes.
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No man hath scen God at any time. (John, i. 18.) Dwelling in light unapproachable; whom never man saw, nor can see. (1 Tim. vi. 16.)
My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matt. xi. 30; see also Psalm cx. 10.).
Bhagavad Gita.
If light were suddenly to rise from a thousand suns in heaven, that would be like the light of this great Lord. (xi. 12.) Having on (ibid. ii.) heavenly garments and garlands.
I am the way. (John, xiv. 6.) I am the first and the last. (Rev. i. 17.)
and sendeth
He maketh his sun to rise. rain... (Matt. v. 45.)
He dwelleth in me, and I in him. (John, vi. 57.)
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. (John, xvii. 23; also John, vi. 56.) That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John, iii. 15.) The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance. (Gal. v. 22-23.)
Of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things. (Rom. xi. 36.)
Let the word of Christ, dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing each other with psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, in grace sing. ing in your hearts to God. (Col. iii. 16.)
I am the first and the last. Rev. i. 17.)
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending. (Rev. i. 8.)
Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven (Matt: ix. 2.)
That the 11th chapter, in which, at Arjuna's request, Krishna shows himself in his infinite divine glory, in which he comprehends the universe in himself, is a copy of the Gospel narrative of the transfiguration of Christ, is on the one hand probable, because, as has been mentioned above, other characteristic and prominent incidents in the life of the Saviour (as, for example, his persecution by Herod, and the washing of the feet at the last supper, etc.) have been transferred to Krishna, and is confirmed by the expression borrowed from the Gospel with which this glorification of Krishna is related in the Bhagavad-Gita. Compare the following passages:→→
New Testament.
And he was transfigured before them; and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. (Matt. xvii. 2, and conf. Mark, ix. 3.)
With the different epithets in this sloka compare also Hosea, xi. 18; Rev. iii. 14: John, i. 18; Psalm vii. 11, and Heb. xiii. 6; Luke, vii. 24, and xii. 4; Rev. i. 18: Acts, xvii. 28; Col. ii. 8; and John, xii. 24. + Conf. Svetasvatara Upanishad, vi. 5 (Bibl. Ind. a. s. p. 65), and John, i. 1.
