Hebrew Bible and Bhagavad-Gita - Essay Example

Module Module ID: Hebrew Bible and Bhagavad-Gita By critically examining the history of the world civilizations at large, it becomes evident that almost all societies, cultures and nations followed one religious belief or the other. Consequently, religion and faith maintain universality in their nature and scope. Hundreds of thousands beliefs systems prevail on the face of the earth carrying divergent cult, traditions, worship style and concept of deity (Beckerlegge, 2000). Among these religious beliefs, Abrahamic faiths including Judaism, Christianity and Islam are monotheist faiths, which share almost same mythology, concepts about God, creation, angels, Satan, heaven, hell, life after death, reward and punishment and incarnation etc (Syed, 2003). On the other hand, there are few faiths that are called earthly religions, which are pluralist faiths, and seek inspiration from multiple gods and goddesses; Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism etc come under the definition of this category (Beckerlegge, 2000). Although the teachings and belief system of Abrahamic monotheist faiths and pluralist faiths like Hinduism and others appear to be pole-apart from one another in all respects, yet the researchers observe few commonalities between their scriptures, and declare them the source of the same sacred light enkindling the world with the concept of the Lord. The Old Testament or Hebrew Bible serves as the Holy Scripture for the Jewish and Christian communities, as they claim that it contains the word of God in the form of covenant between the Lord and His favorite nation House of Jacob as well as the commands and decrees God issued in the form of Ten Commandments to Moses determining the code of life to be observed in order to win the Will of God in this life and hereinafter according to the Jewish and Christian faiths and traditions (Dimont, 2003). On the other hand, Bhagavad Gita is regarded as the holy book attributed to the followers of Hindu faith, which serves as a part of the famous epic poem Mahabharata in ancient Sanskrit language, depicting the series of fierce fratricidal battles fought between the followers or representatives of good and evil with great enthusiasm and religious fervor. Jesus Christ is the central figure in according to the Christian faith, which arrived in the world through a unique virgin birth as the Savior of the humanity or Messiah, in order to preach the humanity going astray from the right path of glory and submission to the commandments of the Lord. And in case of non-compliance with his commands by the rebels and non-believers, he would sacrifice his life in order to protect the entire humanity from the wrath of God because of their sins and deviancies they committed in their life on the earth (Damascene, 2009). It is therefore the Christians regard Jesus as the son of God in human form. The same is the feelings of reverence and regard for Krishna in Hindu mythology and their holy book Gita, which declares him as God incarnated for the welfare of humanity, as Krishna is attributed to stating that: “I am birth-less and changeless. I am the lord (Gita, IV: 6); almost the same statement is associated with Jesus Christ, where he views himself as the Lord, which does not experience any change in his person altogether (Malachi 3:6). Thus, both the holy books i.e. Bible and Gita regard Christ and Krishna as gods. It has aptly been observed that Old and New Testaments discuss the belief system and commandments of the Lord, and warn the deviants by narrating the fate of their forerunner nations in past, these Scriptures do not provide any detailed account of Christ’s life; as a result, it is actually Gospel that particularly defines him as deity (Revelation, 22:13), the name and account of which resembles with the Hindu scripture Gita. Since the is no other source more authentic, powerful and accurate than the Gospel, which could provide a detailed account of the life, sayings and journeys attributed to Christ, reading the same is the best possible way of communicating Christ’s holy message to his followers (Littleton, 2001). Gospel is of the view that Christ had come into the world in human form for the eradication of vice and evil prevailing in all societies of the world in their full swing (Latourette, 1975). The same is applied to Gita, which vehemently argues that Krishna entered the world in human incarnation of the god, called Vishnu by the Hindus, in order to strive against evil-doers for the elimination of evil and triumph of goodness over it ultimately (Soumen, 2009). Jesus Christ observed great meekness, modesty and humility while dealing with the others, and did not look down upon the humanity altogether. He also preached benevolence and compassion and claimed that the Son of God had arrived to serve the humanity (Mark 10, 45); the same was the gist of Krishna’s preaching, which state to be humble, meek and kind towards others while serving them (Gita, IV, 34). Consequently, humility, chastity, kindness and equality are the major principles on the concrete foundations of which both Christian and Hindu faiths appear to be standing. Similarly, both Christ (Matthew 11, 29) and Krishna (Gita XVIII, 66) asked their followers respectively to follow them and develop unflinching belief in them in order to obtain eternal success and spiritual uplift. However, there are a few dissimilarities too in both the Scriptures and their spiritual leaders. For instance, Jesus Christ is the real historical figure, who was born out of virgin pregnancy in Nazareth, present day Israel, and started addressing to the people from the cradle while he was only few days old. Jesus Christ was the son of Israelite mother Holy Virgin Mary, and was brought up in front of the eyes of Egyptians and Nazareth people. On the contrary, no Hindu tradition, including Gita, provides any satisfactory details about the birth, childhood and youth of their lord Krishna. In addition, the text and message of Gospel is spiritual in nature, which lays stress upon worshipping of God and following the noble teachings attributed to Jesus Christ. On the other hand, Gita is mere the collection of battles and fratricide fights between the members of one and the same community, i.e. Pandavas and Kauravas, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, which has been compiled by renowned ancient India philosopher Vedavyasa, in the form of verses. Although the Hebrew Bible also describes the Battle of Siddim between Abraham and Elamite Empire (Genesis, 14, 1-12), Moses’ strife against Pharaoh (Exodus, 32, 1-17), the battle between Goliath and David, and many others, yet these fights were fought in the name of Yahweh in order to protect the people of God from the pagans, infidels and disobedient communities. Hence, all these conflicts contained divine motifs behind them, though Mahabharata does not demonstrate any divinity behind the battles in nature. Another important difference, while making Gita’s comparison with the Bible, it looks crystal clear that Bible contains comprehensive details of good and evil, reward and punishment, virtue and sin, and life after death. On the contrary, Gita does not mention the acts that come under the definition of good or evil. For example, fornication and homosexuality are strictly forbidden according to Bible (Leviticus, 18-19), though Gita does not specify anything as sin. In addition, Bible describes human life after death, where the virtuous will be rewarded in heavens, and the wicked would be punished in the inferno after their reincarnation on the Day of Resurrection; while Gita gives a complex and incomprehensive account of seven births on the earth, without mentioning the fate of humans after their eighth birth. Hence, both the Scriptures share few commonalities, but several dissimilarities in the text and interpretations. Works Cited Beckerlegge, Gwilym The World Religions Reader Routledge New York 2000 Damascene, Hieromonk Preaching the Gospel of Christ in the Modern World The Orthodox Word Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood 2009 Web Dimont, Max I. Jews, God and History 2nd Edition New American Library 2003 12-31 Latourette, Kenneth Scott A History of Christianity Volume I Harper Collins 1975 196 Littleton, Mark (2001) Jesus Westminster John Knox Press 2001106 McGinn, Bernard The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism New York: Modern Library 2006 Soumen De, “The Historical Context of the Bhagavad Gita and Its Relation to Indian Religious Doctrines” 2009 Syed, Ameer Ali Spirit of Islam Kessinger Publishing 2003 Walton, John H. Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible Baker Academic USA 2006 Read More