Jesus & Hinduism

My fellow brothers and sisters, today is very special day for me to be here attending this conference organized by the Parliament of World Religion. I feel really humble as I think about Swami Vivekananda who came here exactly hundred years ago in 1893 to attend a similar conference organized by the same Parliament of world religion. To stand here in front of you where one day Swamiji stood and delivered his message would be memorable moment throughout my life. I am really grateful to everyone whose direct and indirect help made it possible for me to be here. I would like to take this opportunity to offer you our love on behalf of my fellow Indians Hindus and Muslims, Buddhists and Sikhs, Christians and Zoroastrians, Jains and Jews and everyone else.

In the last one hundred years since Vivekananda came here, the world has changed a lot. Science and technology has progressed in unprecedented pace. We have landed on the moon and soon we will land on the Mars. Computers are doing miracles but at the same time science has created more lethal weapons which have made the world even more dangerous and vulnerable.

The cold war may be over but people are becoming increasingly self-centered. Religious wars are taking a big toll of our children and youth every day. That is why it has become so more important today to have this world religion conference.The human soul has no color, no shape, no creed or caste. Then why do we need so many religions? Swami Vivekananda explained this hundred years ago through an old Indian hymn "As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea O Lord the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."

I am Hindu, and even within the Hindu religion we have various sects based on different Veda, Vedanta and Upanishadas. All these different Hindu sects coexisted for a long time with mutual respect and cooperation, and they all believe in Bhagavad Gita, a holy book of the Hindu religion. It is not my intent here to explain all the various sects of Hindu religion , but just to introduce to you who I am. I belong to the Nimbarka Vaishnaba sect of the Hindu religion and it is based on philosophy of dualism and non-dualism. People of the sect can be identified by the two white vertical lines on their forehead which is called Tilak, and they also wear a black dot inside these lines. Though swami Vivekananda did not belong to this sect, he was very in the Nimbaraka philosophy.

Many scholars and historians believe that Jesus spent the missing twelve years of his life in India where he came in contact with many Hindu philosophers. Whether that is true or false is not really important, but it is fascinating to find so many similarities between Jesus and Lord Krishna between the Bible and Gita. That is why I thought it is worth discussing this with you my fellow brothers and sisters because we do not compete with each other but we cooperate to bring harmony to bring love and peace to all mankind.
According to the Hindu religion, we human beings are made of twelve sensory organs: five of them are perceptive senses, another five of them are working senses, one of them is mind and the last one is described as lust and greed. Jesus Christ also had only twelve Apostles who represented the twelve human attributes. I have included a simple chart on the next page to show that to you For Jesus Christ, Peter can be symbolized as the human mind where as Judas represents the reed and lust within our own self.
In Bhagabad-Gita chapter 9 verse 34 Lord Krishna says "Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, engage your body in My service, and surrender unto Me, completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me" In chapter eighteen section 66 he says again "Give up all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me I shall protect you from all sinful reactions Therefore you have nothing to fear."
We hear the same thing from Jesus when in Bible Matthew 11 28 he proclaims "Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads and I will give you rest".

We all know that Peter broke his vow three times and needed to be purified three times for lying to Jesus, and a Hindu also at least needs to be born three times before attaining final purification of soul. In Gita Lord Krishna described Nirbana, the salvation, in chapter 11 section 28. As the rivers flow down to the ocean, so all these great warriors enter into Your blazing month and perish".

Jesus echoes the same theme in Bible in Matthew 19.30 "But many who now are first will be last, and many who now are last will be first". There are many more examples everywhere which show how similar Jesus and Lord Krishna were. But it is not Jesus or Krishna alone who shows such similarities. I used this as an example only to show that at the end, all religions are aiming for the same goal to uplift our soul.

Milk is always white, no matter what the color of the cow, its size or shape. Our blood is always red even when externally the human beings look so different. Similarly, at the end we are all equal in the eyes of God. So let us end this session today by praying to Him in our own way, and ask His blessings for peace for all of mankind.

Swami Vrindaban Dasji
Saint from Nimbarka Sect
(The lecture was given at Wrold Religious Conference in Chicago in 1993)

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Life story of Ramprasad Sen

Ramprasad Sen was a great devotee of Goddess Kali. He was born in 1273 Bengali year in a vaidya family at Halishahor near Kumarhat (or Kumarhatta). His Grand father Rameswar Sen, was a pious man. Ramprasad was descendent of his son Ramram Sen.

He married to a gril, name Sarbani (or Sarvani) at the age of 22. His father left this mundane world at the same period. At the time of death, Ramram Sen left nothing for this family. Ramprasad then took a job at the house of Durgacharan Mitra as cashier at Garanhat in Kolkata. His salary was 30tk.

This job does not suit him very much. He was great devotee of Mother Kali. As a result, the whole registry book became full of songs instead of data, calculation etc. He always remained indulged in thinking of Mother Kali. These days did not last long, soon he was summoned by the landlord but Durgacharan Mitra was surprised by seeing these devotional song, poem etc instead of being angry with him. He freed Ramprasad from this job and advised him to go to his house and to be engaged in worshiping. Durgacharan assured him that he would provide thirty taka salary per month as remuneration.

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Life story of Rishi Valmiki

Rishi (Saint) Valmiki is creator/writer of the epic 'Ramayana'. He is also called "Adi Kavi" (oldest poet) of Sanskrit Language. The earlier life of this great saint of Sanatan Hinduism is very interesting. He was the son of Chabyan Muni(saint).He was a robber and he used to rob travelers, passers-by in the deep forest while they were crossing the forest. He hid himself in big trees and bushes and used to attack people suddenly and snatched everything from them. He was familiar as Ratnakar or Robber Ratnakar.

One day Brahma and Narada were crossing the forest. Ratnakar attacked them by his style and started to rob them. Brahma then asked him, "why are you doing so? It is a sinful tasks". Ratnakar replied, "It is my livelihood. I lead my family with this. I share everything, that I robbed, with my family". Brahma said, "Do you think they will share your sin?". Ratnakar said,"Yes, sure, they must share my sin as they are sharing everything that I brought for them". Brahma said,"No, they will not. You can ask them if you don't believe my word but I can confirm you that none of your inmate will share of your sin". Ratnakar thought a while and then decided to go home and ask his family members about this. He then tied Brahma and Narada tightly with a rope in big trees so that they could not leave.

After coming home, he asked one by one to all his inmates whether they will share his sin with him or not and everybody including his parent, wife rejected to share his sin with him besides they told him, "Yes, it is your duty to maintain your family but we never told you to commit crime or take any sinful path to lead your family. So, we are not bound to share your sin". Hearing this, Ratnakar got back his consciousness and realized that what wrong he did.

He then came back to Brahma with distressful mind and begged for the way of emancipation from his sin. Brahma then took pity on him after seeing his condition. He told an way to become free from sin. He told him, Stop this kind of obnoxious work that you did earlier and start to chant "Rama". By chanting the name of "Rama", you will be freed one day by His(Rama) grace and become a great person". The problem started then, due to his huge heinous sinful work, a he could not utter the name of "Rama". Brahma and Narada tried a lot to make him able to utter the name but could not. Brahma then found out a solution and he told Ratnakar to utter the word "Mora". If he could utter the word "Mora" frequently after some time it will hear like "Rama" as the "Mora" is the reversely spelled word of "Rama".

Ratnakar started to chant "Mora" and after some time it becomes "Rama" to hear. In this way, he uttered the name of "Rama" days after days ,nights after nights even years after years. A huge amount of pile of While Ant raised by entangling him but he had no sense to realize that as he was enthralled in chanting. After a long ,long days Brahma and Narada again were crossing the forest. They forgot about Ratnakar. When they were in close of that huge white-ant pile, they only heard the sound of that chanting but could not see anything except that white-ant pile . Suddenly they remembered everything and realized that it was Ratnakar who was chanting the name of "Rama". Brahma then requested Indra (King of God in heaven) to pour rain and after consecutive seven days of raining , the White-ant pile became washed away and by the grace of Brahma , Ratnakar got back his body and became free from his sin. Brahma bestow on him and as he came from a white ant pile, he named him Saint Valmiki (pile of white ant).

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Life story of Sri Ram Thakur

Sri Sri Ram Thakur was a Hindu saint from Bengal, who had followers mostly from East Bengal now Bangladesh and Tripura. He worked among people of various castes and faiths. He is also known as Sri Sri Kaibalyanath to his followers.

He was born in the Bramhin Bidyalankar family at Dingamanik, in Faridpur district, Bangladesh, on 2 February 1860 to father Sri Radhamadhab Chakraborty and mother Smt. Kamala Devi.

As a boy he felt strongly attached to his father's spiritual guide, Sri Mrityunjoy Nyayapanchanan, who is said to have initiated him into the life of an ascetic at Kamakhya. He toured the country and ministered to the spiritual needs of people affected by many famines, the World Wars and the communal riots that surrounded Partition.

He took Mahasamadhi on May 1, 1949 at Chaumohani, a town in the District of Noakhali, Bangladesh. His remains were laid to rest there at a hermitage named 'Samadhi Mandir' at Choumuhani, Bangladesh.

He had entered his mother's womb on the auspicious day of AKSHAYA TRITIYA day which falls once in a year in the month of mid April to mid May, his thread ceremony (poita or janeu sanskar) happened again on Akshaya Tritiya and he also took mahasamadhi on Akshaya Tritiya day only.

Apart from the many minor prophecies Sri Ram Thakur made, on a winter evening in 1938 he suddenly exclaimed, "The stars that rose during the Kurukshetra War are rising again. Millions of people will lose their lives." A few months later World War II erupted. On the morning of 6 August 1945, Thakur, who was then in Feni, lamented "Alas! Alas! What a destruction!" A few hours later an atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. (Source: "Sri Sri Thakurer Sange", a Bengali article by Tulsidas Gangopadhyay)

On the afternoon of January 30, 1948, hours before Gandhi's assassination, Thakur all of a sudden said: "Gandhi will not take birth again!" (Source: "Prachchhanabatar Sri Ramthakurer Prasange", an article by Smt. Binapani Sengupta).

Like this there are many incidences of our beloved Sri Sri Thakur which can be known from various books written by the different devotees of him but among them there are very few books which are considered to be very very important for all of his devotees who want to know more about him, for example Ram Bai Sarane written by Sri Phanindra Malakar, Sri Guru Sri Ram Thakur written by Sri Rohini Mazumdar and Chonna Avatar Sri Ramthakur written by Sri Sadananda Chakraborty etc.

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Life story of Prabhupada A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada appeared in this world in 1896 in Kolkata, India. He first met his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami, in Kolkata in 1922. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, a prominent religious scholar and the founder of sixty-four Gaudiya Mathas (Vedic institutes) in India, liked this educated young man and convinced him to dedicate his life to teaching Vedic knowledge. Srila Prabhupada became his student and, in 1933, his formally initiated disciple.

At their first meeting Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati request Srila Prabhupada to bradcast Vedic knowledge in English.. In the years that followed, Seila Prabhupada wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita, Assisted the Gaudiya Matha in its work, and in 1944 started Back to Godhead, an English fortnightly magazine. Single-handedly, Srila Prabhupada edited it, typed the manuscripts, checked the galley proofs, and even distributed the individual copies. The magazine is now being continued by his disciples in the West.

In 1950 Srila Prabhupada retired from married life, adopting the vdnapnastha (retired order to devote more time to his studies and writing. He traveled to the holy city of Vrndavana, where he lived in humble circumstances in the historic temple of Radha-Damodara. There he engaged for several years in deep study and Writing. He accepted the renounced order of life (sannydsa) In 1959. At Radha-Damodara, Srila Prabhupada Began work on his life’s masterpiece: a multivolume commentated Translation of the eighteen-thousand-verse Sri-mad-Bhagavatam (Bhagauasa Purana). He also wrote easy Journey to Other Planets.

After publishing three volumes of the Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada came to the United States, in September 1965, to fulfill the mission of his spiritual master.Subsequently, His Divine Grace wrote more then fifty volumes of authoritative commentated translations and summary studies of the philosophical and religious classics of India.

When he first arrived by freighter in New York City Srila Prabhupada was practically penniless. Only after almost a year of great difficulty did he establish the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, in July Of 1966. Before he passed away on November 14,1977, he had guided the Society and seen it grow to a worldwide confederation of more than one hundred asramas, schools, temples, institutes, and farm communities.

In 1972 His divine Grace introduced the Vedic system of primary and secondary education in West by Founding the gurukula school in Dallas, Texas. Since then his disciples have established similar schools throughout the United States and the rest of the world.

Srila Prabhupada also inspired the construction of Several large international cultural centers in India. The center at Sridhama Mayapur is the site for a planned spiritual city, an ambitious project for which construction will extend over many years to cone. In Vrndavana are the magnificent Krsna-Balarame Temple and International Guesthouse, gurukula school, and Srila Prabhupada Memorial and Museum. There is also a major cultural and educational center in Bombay. There are beautiful temples in delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Baroda besides many other centers through our India.

Srila Prabhupada's most significant contribution, However, is his books. Highly respected by scholars for their authority, depth, and clarity, they are used as textbooks in numerous college courses. His writing have been translated into over fifty languages. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, established in 1972 to publish the works of His Divine Grace, his thus become the world’s largest publisher of books in the field of Indian religion and philosophy.

In just twelve years, despite his advanced age, Srila Prabhupada circled the globe fourteen times on lecture Tours that took him to six continents. Yet this vigorous schedule did not slow his prolific literary output. His writings constitute a veritable library of Vedic philosophy, religion, literature, and culture.

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Life story of Sri Sri Harichand Thakur

Harichand Thakur was among those social reformer from Bengal region. He was born in 1811AD (Troyodashi day of Falgun month of 1218 Bengali Calender) in Safolidanga village of Gopalganj District(currently in Bangladesh). It was Maha Baruni day. His father's name was Jashamanta Thakur and mother was Annapurna Devi. Jashamanta Thakur was maithilee Brahmin as origin. He was a devoted Vaishnav. Saints and sages always came to his house.

Harichand was the second son of Jashamanta Thakur. His other three sons were Vaishnav Das, Gouri Das and Swarup Das. All of them were Vaishnav. (Some also say that His elder son was Krishna Das)

From the very childhood Harichand was different. He was polite in nature and remained contemplated. He attended schools only for few months. His merit was sharp. He learned alphabet and basic math very quickly but bounded life and bounded study in school did not attract him much. He liked to live with nature. He left school and began to play with other boys in the field and custodian of domestic animals. He was very beautiful and had nice voice of singing. Sometime he sang, sometimes recited Bhagvad Geeta, sometimes he played with cowboys --- all His days were going in this way. He was very dear to all.

Among the cowboys, Braja, Natu and Bishwanath were his very favorite. One day Bishwanath was not present in the field. Natu told that Bishwanath is affected by cholera. Hearing this, he rushed into Bishwanath house. Bishwanath's mother was lamenting. Harichand came close to Bishwanath and pull him by his hand. Sick and fragile Bishwanath wake up easily and became cured. Everybody was surprised by this fact. This incident reveals his divine power.

Day by day, His devotion towards God was increasing and He became a Great character in spiritual world. He began to preach His own doctrine but that was not different from the mainstream dogma of Hinduism rather He tried to continue the love-devotion theory of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. His philosophy was 'Matuaism' and His followers are called Matua. 'Matua' means 'remain in joy' --- those who remain delighted at chanting of Harinam(God's name). Some also say, 'Matua' means those who have consent. Those who have faith in God, respect in Guru,God and affection to chanting God's name --- they are Matua.

Matuaism is believed to be originated from Shankara acharya's monism and chanting, kirtan are the way of prayer. Matuaism believe the theory of 'freeing through devotion'. According to Thakur Harichand, The main theory of practicing religion is rooted in achieving humanity, self-development and mass welfare. Truthfulness, love, chastity are the three main pillars of Matuaism. The aim of prayer should be the experiencing the Truth as well as meeting God. To get blessings of God, it needs love and pre condition of love is chastity. Chesty body and mind helps to grow love internally and then Sri Hari (God) placed Himself in devotees mind.

His fans, followers respect Him as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu is their supreme God. They believe Lord Vishnu incarnated in all the periods of time. He advised His followers to lead a family life. He also had family. In His family life, He had two sons and three daughters. The name of His tow sons were Gurucharan and Umacharan.

He was able to unite the oppressed and lower-class people in the society. He always inspired them to be devoted in the philosophy of Sanatan Hinduism. People regardless of race, religion became His fan and follower. His spiritual philosophy consists of 12 Ajna (Advice/Order). In Bengali 1284(1877 AD), 23rd Falgun, He breathed His last at the age of 66.

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Life story of Dr. Mahanambrata Brahmachari

Dr. Mahanambrata Brahmachari was a famous philosopher, eminent scholar and pioneer preacher of human religion. He was born in the village Khalishakota, district Barisal (currently in Bangladesh), on the 25th December in 1904. His father's name was Kalidas Dasgupta and mother Kaminisundari Devi. They were much regarded in the locality for nobility, scholarship and religious inclination. Their family was middle class Hindu family and of vaidya community (a higher caste in Hindu hierarchy). He was the youngest of son his parents. He had an elder sister and two brothers also. His childhood name was 'Bankim'.

Bankim began his education in a nearby Pathshala Primary School. The period was around 1909-10 and got his basic education. Unfortunately he could not continue there in the end dut to his father's eye problem. Kalidas Dasgupta lost his eye-sight totally and became partially deaf which bound Bankim to dedicate himself in the service of his blind father. He used to recite aloud various scriptures of Hindu Dharma, such as Mahabharat, Upanishad, Gita, Bhagabatam etc. It is heard that His family was very patriotic and they supported The Non-Cooperation Movement initiated by Mahatma Gandhi. It aimed to resist British occupation in India through non-violent means. They boycott British goods and began to spun Charka and war Khaddar since then till attainment of independence in 1947. Bankim gave up English school education being inspired by the clarion call of Deshbandhu C. R. Das who stated English education as 'Slave making machinery'. Then he prosecuted his studies in Sanskrit Tol for 2 years.

Bankim heard about Prabhu Jagadbandhu and had an intention to meet Him. When he got the news that Prabhu has come out of his cottage at Sri Angan, Faridpur town after seclusion for about 17 years and giving 'darshan' to thousands of people, he travelled 80 miles on foot in order to meet Him. This was the most memorable turning point in Bankim's life. His heart received the news as unfailing truth and took Prabhu Jagad bandhu as the towering spiritual personality. A few months later an invisible power drew him again at the feet of Prabhu and by the grace of Sripad Mahendrajee, the chief Sebait of Prabhu, he was able to touch and worship the lotus feet of Prabhu. In 1921, Prabhu Jagadbandhu passed away and Bankim felt a tremendous shock hearing this news.

In 1922, Bankim lost His father. On completion of last rites and rituals for the departed soul Bankim appeared at Sri Angan, Faridpur to become an ascetic saint (Brahmachari) of MAHANAM SAMPRADAYA, the association dedicated solely for propagation of teaching and ideals of Prabhu Jagadbandhu. But Sripad Mahendraji, the then spiritual master and founder president of Mahanam Sampradaya advised Bankim to return home and continue study because of tender age. He suggested him to wait until he sits for Matriculation examination. Bankim respected Sripad Mahandraji's word and he decided to sit for the Matriculation examination. As he was out of touch with English School education for the last two years he had to study a few subjects including English anew. In 1923 he appeared at the Matriculation examination and obtained District Scholarship.

Then he left home for good, came to Sri Angan, Faridpur and was initiated as Ashramite saint by Sripad Mahendraji with the Ashram name, Mahanambrata sole debotation to preach Mahanam. He used to serve the Asram heart and soul. Some time later, Mahendraji, asked him to take admission in Rajendra College, Faridpur for further studies. After performing various duties of the Ashram and attending college-classes he had hardly any time for studies. On many an occasion he had to carry on without mid-day meals because of poor financial condition of the Ashram and his absence during mealtime for attending college classes. With such trials and tribulations he passed B.A. Exam in 1928 with Honours in Sanskrit. As desired by Mahendraji, he studied M.A. in Sanskrit, which he passed from Calcutta University in 1931 obtaining first class first position though appeared in sick bed. At the advice of Mahendraji he studied M.A. in Western Philosophy in Calcutta University and passed the examination honourably.

During the middle of 1933, when the result of his second M.A. exam was yet to publish, Mahendraji as President of Mahanam Sampradaya received an invitation from the President of World Fellowship of Faiths, Chicago, U.S.A. to send delegate to attend and deliver speeches in its conferences. Mahendraji thought this would the best platform to preach the most noble and beneficial teachings, Gospel and ideals of Prabhu Jagadbandhu, which would usher in an era of greatest good to the humanity. He sent Sriman Mahanambrata Brahmachari, though he never addressed any public gathering earlier. Mahanambrataji had to leave for U.S.A. without having full passage money for which he had to suffer from untold mental agony and affliction, cares and anxieties. He ultimately reached Chicago by the sheer grace of Prabhu Jagadbandhu. A true yogi and monk of Mahauddharan order, a vaisnava school of Bengal; named Mahanam Sampradaya Mahanambrata was a philosophy, interpreator, writer, master and 'order by divine right.

In 1947 when the subcontinent is devided into India and Pakistan in , he remained in the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), in order to safeguard and protect the religion and culture of minority Hindus of his motherland. He raised fund and continues reconstruction works of temples and reinstallation of deities. After in 1971, in indipendent Bangladesh, He was present during reinstallation at many places like Dhaka, Narayangonj, Brahmanbaria, Sylhet, Sunamgonj, Faridpur, Chattagram etc. In 1975 he founded Bangladesh Sanatan Dharma Mahamondal to look after the religious and cultural interests and heritages of Hindus, being its founder President.

He died in 18 October 1999 (aged 94).

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