The Old Testament ends
with the directly spoken words of God: "Behold! I will send you
Elijah the Prophet before
the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." (Malachi
4:5). Here, God Almighty,
speaking for Himself, is saying that the soul of Elijah is coming
again to Earth. This directly
implies that Elijah's soul will reincarnate as someone new.
Several centuries later,
in Luke, an angel appears in front of Zechariah, the Father of
John the Baptist, and
announces: "...and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of
Elias, and shall turn
the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the
wisdom of the just: and
make ready a people prepared for the Lord." So God himself, as
well as the angel sent
of the Lord, predicted the birth of John, formerly Elijah. This is also
confirmed by much other
Scripture, as we shall see. To understand the travels of the
soul, all we have to do
is think about it without prejudice. In John's case scenario, there
are two distinct bodies
in time and space, with one and the same individual soul. This
directly refers to the
process of transmigration of the soul, that is, reincarnation of the
individual spiritual being.
But, God Himself and the
angel sent by the Lord were not the only ones alluding to this
spiritual phenomena. With
regard to the specific questions of his disciples concerning
John, Jesus was glorifying
the divine qualities of John, ending with: "And if you will
receive it, this is Elias,
which was for to come." (Matthew 11:14). Then in his own way of
saying, "If you have a
brain, then just try to understand it," Jesus declares, "He who hath
an ear, let him hear,
let him hear." Similarly, the disciples later asked him, "Then why do
the Scribes say that Elijah
must first come?" Jesus replied: "Elijah is to come, and he is
to restore all things:
But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not know
him, but did to him whatever
they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their
hands." Then the disciples
understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
(Matthew 17:10-13). This
is the same basic testimony that is found in Mark 9:11-13. A very
similar Scriptural evidence
is Luke 1:17, another reference to the angel of the Lord. Also,
Luke 7:26-27 corroberates
Jesus's testimony that John was formerly Elijah, as the words
are almost identical to
Malachi 4:5, and the reference cannot possibly be taken any
other way. Conclusively,
John the Baptist was the reincarnation of Elijah. Jesus, by his
using these words in this
very simple and lucid manner, could not have meant anything
else. He was not speaking
in allegory or parables in these instances.
In this way we can clearly
understand that Jesus Christ taught the doctrine of
reincarnation, also known
as transmigration of the soul. "NO!" My Christian friends
protest. But did not Jesus
also cast the demonic spirits called 'Legion' that inhabited the
body of a tormented man
into the bodies of swine? And did not this forced embodiment
drive the swine crazy,
and then prompt them to jump off the cliffs into the sea? Does this
also not mean that spiritual
beings can and do inhabit all creatures, such as the pigs in
question? Was this not
a form of punishment for those miscreant spirits who had
challenged Jesus's authority?
Do we also not understand that there are pigs around us
dressed as human beings?
We all know people like this.
And, did not Jesus also
imply reincarnation when he asked his disciples: "Who do you
say I am?" (Mark 8:27)
Some of his disciples answered "John the Baptist," others said
"Elijah," and still others
said "perhaps one of the Prophets." By asking this question,
Jesus was asking his disciples
to consider who he had formerly been in previous lives.
Some contemporary authorities
speculate that Jesus may have previously been
Ramanujacarya, Lord Brahma,
the Prophet Elisha, Prahlada, Haridas, and/or
Melchisedec. Regardless
of the speculations concerning who Jesus may or may not
have formerly been, it
is clear that Jesus asked these questions in a non-argumentative,
Socratic fashion in order
to stimulate the intellectual acuity of his disciples to think about
the topic of reincarnation.
Otherwise, there is no purpose or logical reason for Jesus
asking such a question,
specifically in this particular manner. The teacher wants the
students to think about
such concepts and to figure things out, based upon Scriptural
evidence, by mulling things
over and arriving at logical conclusions. "Who by taking
thought, can add one cubit
to his stature?" By bringing up these topics once in a while,
Jesus would at least stimulate
his intellectually gifted disciples to think about the body
as the shell only, as
completely distinct from the soul, the real, eternal 'self'. Jesus was
encouraging us to use
our brains, our God given intelligence.
Based upon his words in
the Holy Bible, it is a conclusive fact that Jesus Christ taught
reincarnation. Unfortunately,
at the Second Council of Constantinople in about 530 A.D.,
the assembled Priests
forever banned the doctrine of reincarnation as heretical, even
though it was a widely
understood aspect of both Judaic and Christian theology up to
that time, implying also
that it had permeated the Catholic Church, and was of such
signifigant, widespread,
and ingrained belief that the Catholic Clergy had to deal with it
by pronouncing it 'heretical'.
The fact that the Catholic priesthood did not understand the
doctrine of transmigration
of the soul, how it worked as a part of an All Merciful God's
design to eventually liberate
all souls, is a testament to the level of spiritual awareness
of the day. Over the centuries,
many were tortured, mutilated and killed for observing
such different blasphemous
ideas, deemed "heretical" by the 'Church". Today, the topic
of reincarnation cannot
even be brought up at a Sunday service in a Baptist, Catholic or
Protestant church, although
Jesus clearly taught the doctrine.
Both the Talmud and the
Kabbala of the Jews, as well as Jesus's own words referenced
'transmigration of the
soul' as part of a natural and very obvious spiritual understanding.
The idea was that God
was, in His Own Heart, unlimitedly kind hearted, and gave the
individual soul chance
after chance, life after life to improve his sense of devotion, the
ultimate goal of all religion.
As Jesus states, "The pure in heart shall see God." How then
can one see God unless
his motives are pure, and his devotion constant and
unalloyed? As perfect
devotion usually does not become manifest in one life, God, in his
wisdom and kindness gave
the soul the opportunity to gradually progress. This life was
the result of one's past
life's 'karma', or good and evil deeds. "As you sow, so shall you
reap." Your future life
was the result of this life's pious and impious activities as well. You
could immediately attain
salvation by becoming perfect in devotion, in conjuction with
God's grace. "We are saved
by grace, not works." But works are taken into account, just
as an employer gives promotion
based upon dedication, hard work, and results. "And I
will give unto every one
of your according to your works." (Rev. 2:23) Jesus taught the
law of 'karma', action
and reaction, cause and effect, and that works and devotion would
be taken into account
at one's time of 'judgement'. As action and reaction is a law of the
physical sciences, it
is also an unseen law of the metaphysical sciences as well.
Because reincarnation
of souls is spiritual law, there is no contradiction between that
doctrine and Christianity
today. Contemporary Christianity simply has to grow and
mature. The 10 % tithe
is not enough. One cannot buy the Kingdom of God with 10 % of
money or 10 % mentality.
It is time for Christians to become enlightened activists and
devotional participants
instead of mere silent observers, watching the world go to Hell
from the sidelines.
If Jesus did teach this
doctrine, then where did he learn it? Many authorities and scholars
have researched that Jesus
travelled to India to find the truth. It is a Biblical fact that there
are 18 missing years from
the life of Jesus Christ as taught within the Holy Bible, from the
time he was 12 to the
time he was 30 and undertook his missionary activities. According
to some of these historical
investigators, at this time, he was getting his own higher
education with the Vaishnava
brahmana priests in Jagannatha Puri, India. There, in Puri,
Jesus studied all the
Vedas, the Srimad Bhagavatam, the Bhagavad Gita, and the
processes of mystic yoga
which teach the healing arts, levitation, etc. There is also
much physical evidence
to suggest that Jesus retired to India after the crucifixion.
If we want to follow the
path of Jesus Christ, we have to abandon our prejudice and take
advantage of the ancient
Vedic culture. In India, and now around the globe, the topmost
authoritative book in
the world on the science of the 'transmigration of the soul' is the
Bhagavad Gita As It Is,
as originally spoken by Lord Krishna, and meticulously
translated into English
by His Divine Grace, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. "Who is this
Krishna person anyway?",
we might reasonably ask. This can be easily answered by
anyone who is observant.
If one understands linguistics in even a very basic way, one
can immediately see the
resemblance of the names, KRISHNA and CHRISTOS
(CHRIST). There is a very
logical reason for this. In Sanskrit, "Krishna" is a name for
God, the same Supreme
Lord of the Bible, to which Jesus referred as 'God the Father'.
"Christ" in the English,
has it's derivitive in the Greek "Christos", which is further derived
from the Sanskrit "Krishna".
KRISHNA OR CHRIST, the name is the same. In Jaganatha
Puri, as a teenage apprentice,
Jesus studied the Bhagavad Gita and all the Vedas with
the brahmanas there in
the tradition of Vaishavism. In this way, Jesus learned the
complete science of the
'transmigration of the soul' from learned brahmanas.
It may be asked then, "Why
didn't Jesus teach this?" Well, apparently from Scriptural
reference, Jesus DID teach
this. But, down through the centuries, pure transcendental
knowledge as presented
by Jesus Christ, was changed, perverted, omitted, or simply
brushed aside. As far
as many details of higher knowledge, Jesus states, "There is
more that I can tell you
but you cannot bear to hear it at this time." This is a clear
indication by Jesus himself
that upon his return, there will be much more to learn. Logic
dictates that God and
the Kingdom of God are unlimited. Therefore, we will be learning
newer and newer aspects
of the Absolute Truth forever.
So, when Jesus refers to
John the Baptist as being the reincarnation of the Biblical
prophet Elijah, we should
not be very much surprised. Jesus was an enlightened human
being, and not just a
believer of some faith, like the average Christian, Jew, or Hindu.
Jesus was not a lay person,
but was situated in perfect knowledge of all things, such as
the identity of God, the
spiritual world which lays beyond the purview of our limited
senses, and all spiritual
phenomena like reincarnation. Being from the spiritual world, his
overview was not limited
to the material knowledge available. His vision was literally
'beyond the clouds'. That
is why Jesus is called the spiritual master and why we are
called the servant of
the spiritual master. We have only our Earthly sense perceptions to
guide us, until we fine
tune our spiritual perception. Unfortunately, 2,000 years ago, Jesus
was mistaken to be an
ordinary human being by average citizens like ourselves,
because he performed many
ordinary human dealings in addition to his 'miracles'. For
example, he worked as
an ordinary carpenter, banging hammer on nails, etc. Most
people perceived Jesus
Christ in an indifferent manner, or sometimes in a negative way
due to his extremism and
outrageous sayings. The people of the day largely ignored
him because by external
appearances, this Jesus appeared just like an ordinary human
being. I often speculate
that this may again be one of the many problems that Jesus
might face upon his return...
the predictability of the masses to relegate Jesus to a
common man.
All this speculation aside,
there are other relevant reference materials pertaining to
Jesus's travels in India.
One interesting book, if not completely in line with the Vedic
conclusions of the Vaishnava
disciplic succession, is called "Jesus Lived In India." This
book makes for interesting
reading, historically researching Jesus's travels away from
the Mediterranean area,
both before and after the crucifixion. There are also other
literatures describing
Jesus's travels there. According to the Acquarian Gospel of Jesus
the Christ, supposedly
documented from the akashic records (permanent records on a
type of spiritual audio
tape in the ether), Jesus lived in Puri with the Vaishnava
Brahmanas. There is also
Nicolas Notovitch's writings on Jesus's Travels in Tibet. The
last two books document
well Jesus's travels in both India and Tibet, but have their
limitations, aside from
not coming to the implied Vedic conclusions as Jesus learned
them, Narayano paro vyaktat.
"Lord Narayana Krishna is a priori to the cosmic
manifestation." Nevertheless,
Jesus's presence in India is a conclusive fact based upon
these and other documenations.
If one travels to the many different places of Jesus's
pilgrimages to India,
he will find many monuments commemorating Jesus's appearance
there as St. Issa, or
Yus Asef. Apparently, Jesus was a learned scholar, as well as a
traveller, healer, mystic
yogi, and enlightened spiritual master.
Sometimes, my Christian
friends strongly object to my ideas, which I have only
chronicled, based upon
my own 25 years of Scriptural digging and the reasearch of
others. That Jesus taught
the doctrine of reincarnation within the Holy pages of the Holy
Bible is obvious. As Jesus
put it, "Having ears, they hear not. Having eyes, they see
not." Still, most Christians
today reject the science of the soul's travels in this world as
'Hindu' or 'Buddhist'.
This is quite odd really, because the science of reincarnation
permeated early Christianity
for hundreds of years. I recommend that instead of rejecting
the concept of reincarnation,
it would better suit intelligent, truth seeking Christians and all
individuals everywhere
to investigate Jesus's own words in more depth. What we want is
the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth. It is also worthwhile to investigate the
most authoritative literature
on the subject, the Bhagavad Gita As It Is. Why should one
use only this particluar
translation? As Jesus himself studied with the Vaishnavas, and
taught the Vaishnava conclusion,
that God is ultimately a Person, the Supreme Person,
the best copy of the "Bhagavad
Gita" available today which provides the most clear and
concise information on
the subject is the "Bhagavad Gita As It Is". The conclusions of
this translation verify
that Lord Krishna is the Supreme Person, and not just a
mythological folk hero
or 'Hindu' god. Most other non-Vaishnava copies of the
Bhagavad Gita fall into
many pitfalls of spiritual misunderstanding. Generally, they come
to erroneous, impersonalistic
conclusions, usually relegating Lord Krishna to some
imaginary figure on some
imaginary battlefield. Sometimes the impersonalists relegate
Lord Krishna's position
to that of an avatara of Vishnu, an expansion of the white light, or
a mythological hero created
in the minds of common villigers. But just as a sincere
Christian knows that Jesus
was the Son of God, a real person, with form, intelligence, real
feelings and emotions
and his own unique spiritual personality, we can also conclude by
investigating the Vaishnava
literatures that Lord Krishna is a factual person, the person
to whom Jesus attributed
his own strength, power, knowledge and mystic opulence. It is
therefore beneficial to
us to accept only those views that are non-envious of either the
position of Jesus Christ
or Lord Krishna. The old saying goes... "Milk touched by the lips
of sa serpent has poisonous
effects." Why would Jesus have studied Krishna
consciousness with the
brahmanas at Puri if there was nothing to be learned there? Out
of the thousands of different
philosophical branches of the origian Vedic culture that
Jesus had access to in
India, he specifically chose the path of Vaishnavism as truthfully
representative of the
final authority concerning Absolute Knowledge. In addition, how can
any rational human being
overlook the obvious similarities in the names "Krishna" and
"Christ"?
Why throw the baby out
with the bath water, rejecting the logical and reasonable science
of the transmigration
of the soul because of preconceived ideas, Westernized traditional
church doctrines, or personal
prejudice? If Jesus taught us to love our neighbors, and
our neighbors happen to
be Jews, Hindus, Hare Krishnas, Muslims, and Buddhists, we
would only be helping
ourselves by understanding the way others think about God in
their own way. It is only
to our own advantage to study other religions and the many
different ways others
perceive God. Like university professors, we can study other
scriptures and religions
with the view of finding corrollaries as well as differences.
Because God is ONE, the
underlying similarities of all religions outweigh the differences
in doctrines and protocals.
Studying the religions of others helps us become better,
more enlightened Christians.
We can truly 'Love one another' better by understanding
how others think. Enthusiasm
without knowedge is simply fanaticism. And, knowledge
without passion is dry
speculation. A perfect Christian will have both the enthusiastic
passion of his convictions
tempered by the sword of knowledge and wisdom. Jesus
commanded his real followers
to "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Pretend Christians
cannot love others who
are different than themselves. In this regard, Jesus teaches, "If
you love only your own
kind, then what is the profit? For do not the sinners and common
folk do the same?" In
this manner, Jesus was encouraging us to grow to spiritual maturity
by embracing others who
are different than themselves. We would all be surprised that
the internals of all religions
are the same. God and service to God is the central,
underlying theme. The
externals prevent us from considering others as our brothers and
sisters, who all have
God as our common Father. Jesus taught this. If we are real
Christians we will do
this. If we are spiritual frauds, then we will discard others, falsely
thinking ourselves superior
in some way, against Jesus Christ's orders.
If the history books are
true, and Jesus studied in several Krishna temples, then why not
try to understand these
higher levels of spiritual understanding called Krishna
consciousness? Jesus himself
stated: "There is more that I could tell you, but you cannot
bear to hear it at this
time." This is a clear indication that when Jesus comes again, he
will further enlighten
us as to the mysterious identity of God the Father, the nature of the
spiritual world, and the
higher, invisible, and more subtle principles governing spiritual
life in general. We may
protest that we already know God and are sufficiently educated
in spiritual matters,
but Jesus does not teach this. Jesus states, "None hath seen the
Father, except the Son."
He also states: "I have spoken these things in parables and
cryptic meanings, but
the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures,
but shall tell you plainly
of the Father."
This is a clear indication
that at the present time, we are not in full knowledge, and that
when Jesus comes again,
he will enlighten us as to the nature of all pure, infallible
knowledge coming from
the Absolute Kingdom of God, where God is the Absolute
Highest Truth, One without
a second, the Mystery Person we know only as God Almighty.
My intuition tells me
that Jesus will reveal Lord Krishna to be that Person, the Supreme
Personality of the Godhead.
Time will tell. Along with the eventual revelation by Jesus of
this Mystery Person known
as the Supreme Lord, many of the mysteries of Heaven and
Hell and much detailed
spiritual phenomena such as reincarnation will be revealed.
Jesus told us he would
return, and his returning implies all this and more, much much
more. We have a lot to
look foreward to.
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