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| EDITORIAL December 3, 1998 VNN2607 Jesus Christ Is Lord Brahma? BY VAISHNAVA DASA EDITORIAL, Dec 3 (VNN) — This article is not in any way intended to diminish the glories of Lord Jesus Christ. It is a fact that most western Vaisnavas first conception of God came through the teachings of Jesus Christ and therefore we should pay our respects to him. However the article written by Mahaksa Prabhu in my humble opinion contained many unqualified conclusions concerning the teachings of Jesus Christ and the relationship between him, his parents, and his followers. There were too many speculative conclusions to mention them all so in this article I will take only one of them to show how teaching such things is a faulty process and should be abandoned. It is useless to jump to conclusions not based on the teachings of Guru, Shastra and Sadhu. It will only cause confusion and should not be followed. Following the instructions and example of our Acaryas and using the above process to clarify and prove what is absolute truth and what is proper siddhanta is a perfect process and must be followed by all those devotees who want to broadcast the glories of Lord Caitanya and act as preachers in His mission.Other wise we run the risk of arriving at faulty conclusions at best and sahajiyaism at worst. If we add our own concocted conclusions the highest goal of life will be lost to us. To illustrate how using the criteria of Guru, Shastra and Sadhu is perfect I will take a controversial subject to show how even a small neophyte devotee like myself, devoid of much brain power, can arrive at the proper siddhanta. The subject matter will be whether or not we have fallen from Vaikuntha. I do not mean to side tract the main issue here or open a debate on the subject but rather I just want to show how perfect the system of Guru, Shastra and Sadhu is and how this can be employed in any controversial subject matter concerning what is proper siddhanta and what is absolute truth. I do not think there is anyone on either side of the jiva tattva issue who will argue that our Srila Prabhupada in some cases said we have fallen from Vaikuntha and in other cases said we cannot fall from Vaikuntha. The point cannot be proven or disproven simply by reading the works of our guru in this case.Both sides can take the words of our guru to use for his side of the argument. But we still have shastra and sadhu to help us clarify the proper siddhanta In shastra we find it can be interpreted both ways. Both sides in the jiva tattva issue can quote scripture to put forward their argument. This means now we must go to sadhu.The present day sadhus as well as those of the past are all in agreement on this truth, teaching we did not fall from Vaikuntha, that no one falls from Vaikuntha, although some may be sent. You will not find any misunderstanding in any of the Gaudiya Maths run by many stalwart sadhus and pure devotees, on this subject. You will not find any Acarya (some one please correct me if I am wrong here aside from the so-called ISKCON gurus who are confused about this issue and teach we have fallen from Vaikuntha as well as many other concocted conclusions that have no basis in reality. Even the Acaryas of the other Vaisnava Sampradayas are not confused by this issue and know that no one falls from Vaikuntha So all sadhus in India are teaching the proper siddhanta concerning jiva tattva, that is that no one falls from Vaikuntha. And in the west only a confused few are teaching we can fall from Vaikuntha. And even some of the confused ones are reconsidering their stand. So what tips the scale on the Jiva tattva issue is the teaching of sadhu. I hope I have made my point here. So now using the perfect process of consulting Guru, Shastra and Sadhu I would like to ask Mahaksa Prabhu how he came to the conclusion that Lord Jesus Christ is Lord Brahma? As I said I will take only one of his conclusions. Don't get me wrong here. To be honest I think it would be wonderful to find out Lord Jesus Christ is Lord Brahma. It would be a very helpful in converting Christians to Gaudiya Vaisnavism and my point is not to try to disprove that Jesus is Lord Brahma but rather to show that mental speculation and unverifiable conclusions are useless. Mahaksa Prabhu please do not feel offended. There were many truths spoken in your writing but I sincerely feel you should consult other vaisnavas before continuing your preaching. I humbly beg you to find a siksa guru who can help you. I have read most of Srila Prabhupads books and it is clear that he was very respectful of Lord Jesus Christ and considered him to be a pure devotee and servant of God. In one place Srila Prabhupada says that Jesus Christ came from Brahmaloka But I have never read anywhere that Srila Prabhupada said that Lord Jesus Christ was an incarnation of Lord Brahma.Is there anyone out there who ever heard Srila Prabhupada say that Jesus is Lord Brahma? So, I ask where is Guru teaching this conclusion? Also another point in this connection. We find in the life of our recent Acaryas that they had knowledge of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. It is a fact that Thakur Bhaktivinode was interested in Christianity and read the Bible. It is also a fact that he was instrumental in spreading the movement of Mahaprabhu to the west and encouraged his initiated disciple, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, to spread Caitanya's movement to the west.If Jesus was Lord Brahma do you think these two Acaryas would not have employed that knowledge in order to convert the Christians of the west? Do you think they would have overlooked what some vaisnava in the west seems to have found on the tip of his nose? How could that be possible? If it were true it seems they would have mentioned it somewhere in their writings. But they never did. Now we take shastra. Is there anywhere in scripture that concludes that Jesus was Lord Brahma? We find in the Bible that Jesus is called Òthe only begotten son of God.Ó To stretch this to mean that he was born from the naval of Lord Vishnu to me seems to be far fetched. I am not a Biblical scholar so if some one has more information please bring it forward. I believe there is another verse in the Bible where Jesus says that one of his days is equal to a thousand ages. That verse verifies what Srila Prabhupada taught, that Jesus came from Brahmaloka, not that he is Lord Brahma. So even if we take the Bible to be revealed scripture there is pretty shabby evidence pointing to the conclusion that Jesus is Lord Brahma. As far as I know there is no mention what- so-ever of Jesus in any of the Vedas. Again if I am wrong some one please correct me here. Lastly but not least we have sadhu. Are their any sadhus, present or in the past that teach that Jesus was Lord Brahma? If there are please enlighten this ignorant fool. I would love to find out that in reality Jesus is Lord Brahma. If some one has evidence of this please bring it forward and enlighten the world. If teachers of Gaudiya Vaisnavism are allowed to come to conclusions not based on the teachings of Guru, Shastra and Sadhu then really we have no way to check anything they are teaching do we? If we follow blindly such teachers where will they lead us? At best they will lead us to a lower goal at worst to hell or sahajiyaism which is worse than hell where everything is taken cheaply and imagined. Even if Jesus really was Lord Brahma it seems to me it would be reckless and would set a bad precedent to openly teach it since it cannot be verified by Guru, Shastra and Sadhu. It would open the door within our sampradaya for mental speculators to put forward their own concocted ideas and push them off as the absolute truth as is the case with the sahajiyas. We pay our respects to all the devotees and servants of God. But as Gaudiya Vaisnavas we should aim toward the highest goal. We should go for the best thing. The process has already been given to us. We do not need to change it or modify it in any way. It is already perfect and has been handed to us in an uncontaminated state. All we need do is accept the process as has been given to us. We do not need to add the picture of Jesus next to Radha Krsna and Mahaprabhu on our altars or chant his name. We do not need to worship or chant the names of even the residents Vaikuntha. Not everyone who chants the Holy Name will go to the same place. Even if chanted purely the conception must be correct or we will end up at a lower place. How to arrive at the highest destination has already been given to us. Any thing less should be rejected. That which was sanctioned by Lord Caitanya and intimately known by Sri Svarupa Damodara. That which Srila Rupa Goswami served with his own hands to the devotees. That which Ragunatha das Goswami tasted and that which was protected by Srila Jiva Goswami our Tattva Acarya is what we should accept. Nothing more and nothing less. If anyone can conclusively prove that Jesus was Lord Brahma please come forward and do so. It would be a great revelation. Falling at the feet of the Vaisnavas I beg to be forgiven for any offense I have committed or any misconception I may have ignorantly put forth in this writing. This story URL: http://vnn.org/editorials/ET9812/ET03-2607.html NEWS DESK | EDITORIALS | TOP |
