Christ is our Guru. Hang the Christians - Srila Prabhupada
BY: KSHAMABUDDHI DASA
May 31, HIGH SPRINGS, FLORIDA (SUN) — Undoubtedly, Srila Prabhupada appeared to have a high regard for Christ. However, what he knew about Christ was nothing that came from Vedic scriptures, as there is nothing in the Srimad Bhagavatam or any other text of the Gaudiya canon with any documentation or description of any Christ avatar. The mystery however is how it is that Srila Prabhupada ever came to accept Christ as a shaktyavesha avatar on the basis of the Yavana and Mleccha scriptures which Srila Prabhupada himself declared were not Vedic shastra and which he said were manufactured by people sometime in the last few thousands years.
Otherwise, Srila Prabhupada pointed out many times that no one should be accepted as an incarnation of Godhead unless he has been mentioned as such in the authorized Vedic shastra. Christ seems to be an exception that Srila Prabhupada was willing to make. There is no mention of any Christ avatar in Srimad Bhagavatam or other Vedic literature. Apart from Srila Prabhupada’s validation, based upon the hearsay of the Yavana scriptures that Srila Prabhupada has in fact rejected as human invention, there is no authoritative Vedic support for any such Christ avatar.
Apart from Jesus and Mohammed, neither of whom are mentioned in any of the shastras of the Gaudiya canon, Srila Prabhupada was always very critical of any native Hindu avatar that was not mentioned in shastra. Srila Prabhupada was very ungenerous towards any particular Hindu “avatar” that preached his own interpolation of Brahman, meditation or yoga even when such systems included authentic Hindu gods or avatars within the cult.
Did Srila Prabhupada have a double standard for Hindu “avatars” and the Arab avatar and the Jewish avatar? He certainly never gave any such endorsement of any such popular Hindu avatar that preached a religious system that did not strictly conform to any of the recognized Vedic Sampradayas - Rudra Sampradaya, Sri Sampradaya, Brahma Sampradaya or Hamsa Sampradaya.
Which Sampradaya did Jesus come in?
Indeed, that is the mystery. Otherwise, the Gaudiya acaryas have never before acknowledged any religious system that did not descend from one of these four recognized Vedic shastra based Sampradayas. Why is now Christ and Mohammed an exception? The mystery is unsolved in the minds of many. Where is the Jesus or Mohammed avatar mentioned in any authentic Vedic scripture? The so-called Bhavisya Purana references to Christ have long since been exposed by Indologists to be forgeries or misinterpretations. Only the beguiled Christian propagandists have the audacity to make such a claim.
Could there be any sort of diplomacy or compromise on the part of Srila Prabhupada in this regard? Why did Srila Prabhupada recognize as shaktyavesha avatar two figures that have been deified in the Yavana scriptures, which he said were man made scriptures with no Vedic authenticity? Indeed, such an enigma is very mysterious, at least for some.
One thing we do have though, as documented statements from Srila Prabhupada, are his very ungenerous and unkind remarks in regards to those “Christians” who claim to be the followers and adherents to Christ and his teachings. In fact, Srila Prabhupada minced no words or comments in his scathing review of the actual status of modern “Christians”.
Let’s revisit a Srila Prabhupada conversation and his remarks in regards to Christ and the so-called “Christians” who have unjustly claimed the honor of being the followers of Christ.
Room Conversation
April 2, 1977, Bombay
Tamal Krsna: "So your answer to his question, "Do you consider the message of Jesus Christ to be universal?" You say yes.
Prabhupada: Yes.
Tamal Krsna: Because he says, "Thou shall not kill."
Prabhupada: Yes.
Tamala Krsna: But none of them are following.
Prabhupada: No, all bogus, and going on in the name of “Christian”.
Tamal Krsna: And he says he lived in our temples (a person who wanted Tamal Krsna Maharaja to present some questions to Srila Prabhupada), but he is not satisfied with the Christian faith and he is finding a great deal of satisfaction now living in our temples.
Prabhupada: First of all become Christian, that you are following all the Ten Commandments. "Judge not others lest you be judged."
Tamal Krsna: His second question is, "Considering that the Bible describes Jesus as the savior of the people of God, not only of Israel but of every man's sins, does it not minimize his actual position to say that he is simply an avatar, and does it not contradict the teachings of the Bible?" First of all he says, “Isn’t that minimizing him to say that he's an avatar”?
Prabhupada: We accept him as avatar, shaktyavesha-avatara, empowered incarnation of God. That we accept.
Tamal Krsna: Yeah. He says, "Like any other revealed scripture, the Bible's teachings are absolute, but are they to be understood literally or symbolically, and are they applicable for all men?"
Prabhupada: Literally, not symbolically.
Tamal Krsna: He says, "What is the actual meaning of the sacrifice of the cross, Jesus dying on the cross? "
Prabhupada: It has no meaning. The people were so rascal that they attempted to kill him because he was speaking of God. So we can understand the pollution of the then society, how intelligent they were. He had to deal with such rascals that he was speaking about God and the result is that they wanted to kill him first. He preached, "Thou shall not kill, " and they killed him first. This is their intelligence. Now people are advanced in these doctrines.
Tamal Krsna: He says, "Did Jesus die on the cross to redeem all the sins of the world? "
Prabhupada: This is another sinful thought-Jesus has taken contract for ridding your sinful activities. That's a plea, what is called plea for the sinners, that they will continue acting sinfully, and Christ will take contract to counteract. This is most sinful conviction. Instead of stopping sinful activities, we have given contract to Jesus Christ to counteract it.
Tamal Krsna: So these people are not actually getting free of their sins unless they stop sinning.
Prabhupada: Then what is the use of his preaching? They will continue sinful activities, and Jesus Christ will take contract for saving them. How nonsense idea this is! Bhavananda, do you think it is good idea?
Bhavananda: Not a good idea, Srila Prabhupada.
Prabhupada: Nonsense rascals. These people should be immediately hanged. "Our religion is very good." What is that? "We cannot stop acting sinfully, and Christ has taken contract. He will save us."
One thing that we need to understand here is that Srila Prabhupada thought that somebody wanted to crucify Christ for preaching about God. However, any of us who have studied Christian theology and scripture knows that Christ was not actually crucified for preaching about God, but for claiming to be the only Son of God and the Messiah of the Jewish prophecy. Judaism is historically accepted as a monotheistic religion, which propounds the concept of ONE supreme God. The Jews were not against God, but they were against the idea that this Jesus of Nazareth was the prophesied Messiah who was to come and become the spiritual king of the Jews.
Whether or not Christ himself claimed to be the one and only Son of God and the Messiah of Jewish prophecy, or whether this was an invention of the apostle Paul, is something up for debate and discussion, but the books of the New Testament proclaim that in fact Christ was crucified for being proclaimed the Messiah of Jewish prophecy, either by himself or by his zealot disciples. Christ was NOT crucified for preaching about God, despite what Srila Prabhupada might have said about the matter.
The Romans, in concert with the Jewish orthodoxy, crucified Christ because his followers were touting him as the Messiah of Jewish prophecy that had come to ascend to the throne as the religious king of the Jews. The Jews could not accept that the Messiah was someone outside of orthodox Jewish discipline, so they opted to instigate the Romans to crucify this imposter that they thought was degrading the Jewish tradition. Srila Prabhupada’s claim that they crucified Christ for preaching about God just betrays Srila Prabhupada’s meager acquaintance with the Yavana scriptures and the Judeo-Christian faith. Any Judeo-Christian student knows well that Christ was not crucified for preaching about God. He was crucified, according to the New Testament, for being proclaimed as the ONLY Son of God and the Messiah of Jewish prophecy.
Srila Prabhupada’s claim that Christ was crucified for preaching love of God is just factually incorrect according to the Judea-Christian tradition and scriptures. He was crucified because his followers were proclaiming him as the ONLY Son of God and the Messiah of Jewish prophecy that was to come and lead to Jews to paradise in heaven. The Jews had no problem with God. They were a very rigid and orthodox tradition that, unlike the Hindus of India, were strictly monotheistic in their religion.
This claim of Srila Prabhupada that Christ was crucified for preaching about God is just not in accord with the Judeo-Christian tradition. According to all accounts of the Judeo-Christians, Christ was crucified NOT for preaching theism but because his followers were advertising him as the Messiah of Jewish prophesy. Srila Prabhupada’s claim that Christ was crucified for preaching theism is just factually incorrect.
Of course, we know that Srila Prabhupada was raised in a very devout Vaishnava family and that his father was very protective of his son and did not want him exposed to the Yavana and Mleccha propaganda in the form of “Christianity”. Unlike Bhaktivinoda Thakur, who was a searching soul who experimented in a number of religious conceptions before embracing Gaudiya theology, Srila Prabhupada was raised in a very rigid Gaudiya Vaishnava family that restricted, as far as possible, Srila Prabhupada’s acquaintance with the Yavana and Mleccha religious propaganda. As such, we cannot fault Srila Prabhupada for having a shallow and meager acquaintance with the Yavana-Mleccha propaganda.
In preaching to the western world of Yavana-Mleccha religious dominations, Srila Prabhupada was obliged to make some concessions. Srila Prabhupada was stuck between a rock and a hard place as he came to propagate Gaudiya Vaishnavism in the western world. His acquaintance with Judeo-Christian religion was meager, which is nothing to his detriment, but in fact one of his outstanding glories. Yet, he was faced with the daunting task of propagating Gaudiya Vaishnavism in the western world of Judeo-Christian faiths.
That Srila Prabhupada in fact had a very poor acquaintance with Judeo-Christian beliefs is in fact a great testimony to his very strict and rigid Gaudiya Vaishnava upbringing. Even Bhaktivinoda Thakur did not have such a pristine and rigid Gaudiya Vaishnava heritage. Srila Prabhupada is nothing less than any previous acarya of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. From within the womb, Srila Prabhupada was being groomed for his great mission to take Gaudiya Vaishnavism to the world. His lack of knowledge and experience with the Judeo-Christian belief system is nothing at all to his discredit. He did as well as can be expected for a great soul whose whole life was steeped in Gaudiya Vaishnavism with a minimum amount of exposure to the Yavana-Mleccha teachings of the Judeo-Christian traditions.
As such, we have to conclude that Srila Prabhupada in fact made compromises in his statements concerning Christ. He accepted the concept of Christ, yet he gave no recognition at all to the so-called “Christians” who preach and advocate a pseudo-religion all over the world in the name of Jesus Christ.
Srila Prabhupada said, “They should be hanged”. We have the quote and the reference in the official ISKCON archives and knowledge base.
Srila Prabhupada acknowledged Christ but he condemned the “Christians”. He expressed his feeling that in fact “all bogus, going on in the name of “Christian”.
So, let’s not forget about the innocent animals that Srila Prabhupada felt great compassion for. He was very much against the animal slaughter that goes on in the name of Christianity. Srila Prabhupada suggested that all these animal killers should “be hanged”.
Well, that is not going to happen, but at least we can protest this slaughter of innocent animals that is going on in the name of Christianity. As Srila Prabhupada recommended “these people should be hanged”.
So, Srila Prabhupada has recommended hanging “Christians” who promote, endorse and practice animal slaughter in the name of “Christianity”. If we can’t really find it in ourselves to hang them from a tree, we can at least hang their bogus belief system in the media and in so doing try in some small way to stand up for the right to life for all the innocent animals in the world.
Love God, love your fellow man and love the animals. Love the planet. They can’t always protect themselves, so somebody has to stand-up against “Christian” bigotry and defend the rights of the innocent animals.
Hang these “Christians” who advocate animal slaughter. That was the opinion of Srila Prabhupada. It is not hatred for anyone or anything that is at the bottom of this concept.
It is love and compassion for innocent creatures that is at the bottom of the “hang these Christians” movement. Hang those who abuse the innocent and indefensible. That is the noble Vaishnava ideology. Hang’em high. Hang the cruel and insensitive that have no compassion on the poor defenseless creatures of the world. That was the teaching of Srila Prabhupada.
Haribol!
