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EDITORIAL  Was Christ Brahma? BY TARUN KRSNA DAS EDITORIAL, Jan 15 (VNN) — At February's end, 1975, on a morning walk's end in Miami Beach, we finally mustered up enough courage to ask Srila Prabhupad this philosophically speculative question: "Was/is Jesus Christ an incarnation of Lord BrahmA?" As Prabhupad dipped his head & body into the right rear door of the car ready to return him to our Kumquat Coconut Grove Azram, he firmly replied, "Maybe!" This idea of Jesus possibly being a Middle East advent of Lord BrahmA first came to us 4 years earlier at our 439 Henry St Brooklyn Azram. At that time our 38 North Beacon Street Boston ISKCON Press was moving down to 32 Tiffany Place, Brooklyn. All the press devotees were busy editing & printing Srimad BhAgavatam 2nd Canto, trying hurriedly & sometimes even furtively to keep up with Prabhupad's translation pace. 2nd Canto's first 8 chapters were published at Beacon Street in 7 slim booklets. Chapter 7 & 8 were combined into one slightly thicker booklet. Next came Chapter 9. Chapter 9 was the first one printed at Tiffany Place. Chapter 9 contained something special we had often heard Prabhupad speak of: catuh-zloki, those 4 original nutshell verses, 33-36. Now for the first time we were seeing them face to face, feasting on them with our own eyes. Because these single chapter editions were lightweight, we could easily take them out with us on our daily full-day harinAm-sankIrtan party. We read them every chance we got. While out on sankIrtan one day, one particular zloka struck a cross-cultural chord: yAvat sakhA sakhyur iveza te krtaH prajA-visarge vibhajAmi bho janam aviklavas te parikarmaNi sthito mA me samunnaddha-mado'ja-mAninaH (Bhag 2.9.30) "Oh my Lord, the unborn, You have shaken hands with me just like a friend [as if equal in position]. I shall be engaged in the creation of different types of living entities, and I shall be occupied in Your service. I shall have no perturbation, yet I pray that all this may NOT give rise to pride, as if I were the Supreme." "As if I were the Supreme." Everyday out on sankIrtan we were meeting up with Christians. Some were more aurally receptive. Others claimed, "I never heard of KRSNa. Who's Harry KRSNa? Must be some foreign God (as if God could be foreign). All I know is this: Jesus is not only son of God, he IS God!" Apart from their erroneous advaitavAd conclusion, this Bhagavatam sloka made me think: could Lord Jesus & Lord BrahmA be the same person? Or if not, then could they at least be avatars descending from the same topmost material planet, Brahmaloka or Satyaloka? It certainly made sense to me. After moving into ISKCON's Brooklyn brahmacaryAzram, one of the first things we learned was: "You can speculate philosophically but not mentally." One example of this distinction was often given, "You can read Bhagavad-gItA Chapter 7 & speculate 'HOW' KRSNa is the pure taste of water, but not 'IF' KRSNa is the pure taste in water." In other words, some fundamental faith must be present to transcend the mental platform. Running along those same lines, we thought it wise to consult with Prabhupad himself to get his transcendental point of view. In 2.9.30's purport, Srila Prabhupad explains, "It is possible that some personality within or without the universe, even though extremely powerful, sometimes shows more power than the Lord Himself. Still the pure devotee knows that this power is a vibhUti delegated by the Lord, and such a delegated powerful living entity is never independent. Sri HanumAnjI crossed the Indian Ocean by jumping over the sea, and Lord RAmacandra engaged Himself in marching over the bridge, but this does not mean that HanumAnjI was more powerful than the Lord..." Similarly, due to their Biblical misinterpretation of the verse "I & the Father are one", Jesus Christ is sometimes wrongly refered to as being God himself. Jesus certainly performed many 'miracles' which would lead some less experienced persons to believe he was God Himself. However, according to advaya-jnAna-tattva, advaya-jnAna para-tattva & their true knower Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, Jesus Christ is in the Divine category of zaktyavez-avatar, an empowered agent or Son of God. Son of God is God in quality but not God in quantity. Extremely powerful, yet still subserviant to the Supreme Will of the Almighty Father. These famous BhAgavatam verses below spoken by Srila SUta GosvAmI 5000 yrs ago, most certainly include Jesus Christ: avatara hy asankhyeya, hareh sattva-nidher dvijah, yathAvidAsinaH kulyAH, sarasaH syuH sahasrasazaH (1.3.26) "O brahmanas, the Supreme Lord's incarnations are innumerable, like rivulets flowing from inexhaustible sources of water." rsayo manavo devA, manu-putrA mahaujasaH kalaH sarve harer eva, saprajApatayah smrtah (1.3.27) All RSis, Manus, demigods & descendents of Manu, who are especially empowered, are plenary portions or portions of plenary portions of the Supreme Lord. This also includes the PrajApatis. Prabhupad's (1.3.27) Bhaktivedanta purport: "Those who are comparatively less powerful are called vibhUti, and those who are comparatively more powerful are called Aveza incarnations." Only Begotten Son. This Christian concept can be Vedically harmonized by recalling that this universe's first created being, Lord BrahmA, was born from the Lotus Stem emanating from GarbhodakazAyI ViSNu's navel. Lord BrahmA was born sans need of mother & long before any women even existed (within this universe). Thus, like Jesus Christ, the "Only Begotten Son" term is appropriately applicable. When refering to Christmas in a secular or non-religious or even anti-Christian way, some non-Christians like to abbreviate the very word Christmas by writing Xmas or X'mas instead. Little do they know they are praising the Son of God even more by doing so. How so? The word or Holy Name Christ actually begins with the letter X (Xristos) not only in Ancient Greek, the lingua franca 2,000 years ago, but also in Modern Greek, Russian & many other languages today. So to say or write Xmas or X'mas, as so many non-believers do, is certainly a bonafide abbreviation & actually an apropos first letter spelling correction for Christmas = Xristmas. Ergo Xmas & X'mas are precise personal praises of God & his pure devotee too. Prabhupad did proclaim at least once that Jesus could've easily defended himself by swallowing the entire Roman army. He was that powerful. But he did not. Instead he let them think they were crucifying him. He let His Father's Will be done. Such is the ploy of atheists. They foolishly try to defeat God & His agents at every step. Yet they themselves in turn are defeated when everything is taken away from them & they're forced by their own insatiable lust, anger & greed to leave this present body headed down (adho gacchanti tamasaa) only to accept future births entering long term oblivion aka lower species. When asked how we could pray to Jesus, Prabhupad refered to our Sri Vaisnava Pranam: vancha-kalpa-tarubhyaz ca, krpa-sindhubhya eva ca patitanam pavanebhyo, vaisnavebhyo namo namah I bow down to the holy feet of all pure vaiSNavas, who are like desire trees able to fulfill all devotees' aspirations. The Lord's devotees are comparable to a vast ocean of causeless mercy, as they deliver the fallen souls from material existence. I offer all respects unto them all. Now whether Christmas Day, 25 Dec, be the actual accurate solar calendar birthdate of Jesus? We can still say sans hesitation & with full enthusiasm, "Jesus Christ ki jaya! Jesus Christ avirbhav ki jaya! Srila Prabhupad ki jaya! Samaveta bhakta-vrnda ki jaya! Sri Nitai Gaur Premanande Hari Haribol! Jaya jaya Sri Radhey-Syama"  Comment on this storyContact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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