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Jesus in the Aquarian Gospel
By: Pradeep Sharma
To some believers of the [Christian] faith
the Aquarian Gospel is thought to
be a book of great antiquity that verifies
that Jesus journeyed to India in
his youth. A general impression among some
people seems to abound that Jesus
came to learn from the wise in India and
that he also visited temples and
worshipped God [Krishna] there. Nothing however
could be farther from the
truth.
The Aquarian Gospel is not actually a Christian
gospel recognized by
religious scholars. This pretence of a Christian
gospel is the recent work
of a 20th century American named Levi H.
Dowling that he supposedly
channeled from the Akashic [universal] records
in 1908.
In the Aquarian Gospel where it is mentioned
that Jesus went to Puri [in
India] it also says that Jesus criticized
the Deity of Lord Jagannath. We
have noted that the Aquarian Gospel takes
the same stance against the Deity
of Lord Jagannath and Vedic Culture as did
the bulk of missionaries in India
during the 18th and 19th centuries. Possibly
Dowling's intent was to gain
acceptability for his literary creation among
the Christian critics of
Jagannath. In any case the Aquarian Gospel
casts Jesus in the role not as
one who came to India to learn or to worship
God in the temples but to
criticize Vedic theology and tradition.
Jagannath Temple in Puri
Chapter
24 of the Aquarian Gospel states:
"In
Puri, Jesus asks the Brahmins about caste.
The Brahmins explain that according to
the shastra [Vedic scripture], the Brahmins
came from the mouth of Parabrahma [God],
the kshatriyas [kings] from the arms, the
vaishyas [farmers] from the thighs and
the shudras [workers] from His feet.
"Jesus
exclaims that Parabrahma is not a God of
justice and of right; for with his own
strong hand he has exulted one and brought
another low. The Brahmins become angry
at his blasphemy and with threats of
violence, drove him from Puri."
Chapter
26 of the Aquarian Gospel states:
"During
the Rathayatra festival [temple procession],
Jesus witnesses the cart [float] of Jagannath
being pulled and says: "Behold,
a form without a spirit passes by; a
body with no soul; a temple with no altar
fires. This car of Krishna is an empty
thing, for Krishna is not there. This
car is but an idol of a people drunk
on wine of carnal things. God lives not
in the noise of tongues; there is no
way to him from any idol shrine. God's
meeting place with man is in the heart,
and in a still small voice he
speaks; and he who hears is still."
"The
people ask Jesus, "To whom
shall we bring gifts? Where shall we
offer sacrifice? Jesus replies, "Our
Father-God asks not for needless waste
of plant, of grain, of dove, of lamb.
That which you burn on any shrine you
throw away. No blessings can attend
the one who takes the food from hungry
mouths to be destroyed by fire. When
you would offer sacrifice unto our God,
just take your gift of grain, or meat
and lay it on the table of the poor.
From it an incense will arise to heaven,
which will return to you with
blessedness.
"Tear
down your idols; they can hear you not;
turn all your sacrificial altars into fuel
for the flames. Make human hearts your
altars, and burn your sacrifices with the
fire of love."
The
above reference certainly contains a mixture
of both pleasing and disturbing words.
Such is the handy work of Dowling. Throw
in a few words at the end like "human hearts", "love" and "sacrifice" to
make it sound like
something acceptable, but the gist of the
above quote, if indeed true,
certainly makes Jesus out to be exactly like
the Christian missionaries in
India, biased and offensive.
We have come across some information that
some people are saying that Jesus
was a pure devotee of Krishna, but according
to the Aquarian Gospel, Jesus
is cast in the light of being one who does
not accept the Deity form of God
[Krishna]. This idea is unacceptable — that
a pure devotee comes to India,
but only finds fault in the Deity and learns
nothing.
Our conclusion is that the so-called Aquarian
Gospel is a fine work of
religious fiction that aligns itself perfectly
with the typical prototype of
Christian anti-Vedic theology. It certainly
casts no good light upon Jesus.
Pradeep
Sharma
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