Influences From India
Paramahansa Yogananda writes in Man’s Eternal Quest (1975),
“The ideals of Christ are the ideals of the scriptures of India. The
precepts for Jesus are analogous to the highest Vedic teachings, which
were in existence long before the advent of Jesus.” This does not take
away from the greatness of Christ but rather, “it shows the internal
nature of truth, and that Jesus incarnated on earth to give to the
world a new expression of Santana Dharma (eternal religion,
the eternal principles of righteousness).” The book of Genesis is an
exact parallel to the older Hindu concept of the creation of our
universe. The Ten Commandments of Moses, biblical legends and the
miracles of Christ, all have parallel themes to the earlier Vedic
literature of India. Yogananda believes that the teachings of Christ in
the New Testament and those of Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita are in fact
corresponding teachings.
It is a common belief
among scholars that Jesus Christ traveled in India before he became a
spiritual teacher. No mention is made of him in the New Testament from
his twelfth to thirtieth year. Indian records show that Jesus lived and
studied there during the fifteen “unaccounted” years of his life in
India, which explains the parallels of Christ’s teachings with
Yoga-Vedanta doctrines. It is believed that Jesus journeyed to India to
visit the three “wise men from the east” who paid homage to him at his
birth. Yogananda tells us that these wise men from the east were guided
to the Christ child by the divine light of a star, not a physical
luminary, but a star of the omniscient spiritual eye. He further
explains that the “third eye” is in the forehead between the eyebrows
(the 6th Chakra). It is a metaphysical telescope through which one can
see to infinity in all directions simultaneously, beholding with
omnipresent spherical vision whatever is happening in any point of
creation. Jesus referred to it as “The light of the body is the eye: if
therefor the eye be single, the whole body shall be full of light.” By
the guiding light of the spiritual eye, the Wise Men found, recognized
and honored the infant Christ as a soul of a divine incarnation. See
U.M.S. Chakra’s and Aura’s Course.
The name and title of Jesus is found in Sanskrit, an ancient spiritual
language of creation. Yogananda writes, “The words Jesus and Isa (pronounced ‘Isha’) are substantially the same. Is, Isa, and Iswara
all refer to the Lord, or Supreme Being. ‘Jesus’ derives from the Greek
form of the name Joshua or Jeshua, a contraction of Jehoshua, ‘help of
Jehovah’ or ‘Savior.’” Christ Consciousness in Sanskrit is Kutastha Chaitanya.
Paramahansa Yogananda explains that the title of Christ is also found
in India. He conjectures that Jesus was possibly given the title
“Krishna” while visiting India. Both titles imply divinity, avatars in
union with God. An avatar is a being who, while residing in physical
form, can experience unity with Christ Consciousness, or Kutastha Chaitanya,
the Intelligence of God omnipresent in creation. This consciousness is
also called “the only begotten Son of God” because it is the perfect
reflection in the creation of the Uncreated Infinite. Creation is like
the body of God, and his consciousness omnipresent therein is called
Christ Consciousness. He is aware of whatever we do within his
universal form. Yogananda states, “The wonders of God’s creation… is
the unique potential of human beings to attain the omniscience of
oneness with Christ Consciousness.”