Russian Archbishop calls Krishna "Satan"

A friend emailed this to me.

Russian Archbishop calls Lord Krishna 'Satan'
UK Bureau
London, December 6, 2005
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5983_1566453,00430005.htm

Hindus are shocked and outraged to read the views of the Russian Orthodox Church on Lord Krishna, who is revered by over one billion Hindus worldwide as the Supreme Lord, said an ISCKON press statement.

According to it, in a letter to the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, dated November 29, 2005, the Archbishop Nikon of Ufa and Sterlitamak from the Russian Orthodox Church called Lord Krishna "an evil demon, the personified power of hell opposing God", and "a livid lascivious youth".

The Archbishop further requested the Mayor to ban construction of the proposed Krishna temple in Moscow saying it would otherwise become "an idolatrous disgrace erected for the glory of wicked and malicious 'god' Krishna".

"Construction of the temple (a satanic obscenity destined to be built right in the heart of the Orthodox Christian country of Russia) to Krishna offends our religious feelings and insults the thousand-year religious culture of Russia where the overwhelming majority of people, Christians and Muslims including, consider Krishna an evil demon, the personified power of hell opposing God", said the Archbishops letter.

"The shower of offences that Archbishop Nikon decided to publicly pour on Lord Krishna caused us intolerable pain and evoked bitterness and indignation in our hearts," said Sanjeet K. Jha, the president of the Association of Indians in Russia.
Aside from displaying stunning ignorance of the world's oldest religion, it is also evident from the statement that the Russian Orthodox Church is still embedded in the dark ages of religious exclusivity, which has no place in today's increasingly pluralistic society.

To call Lord Krishna 'satanic' is not only sacrilegious in the eyes of Hindus; it is also patently ridiculous as any student of Hinduism knows; for Krishna is famous as the slayer of demons, Bhagavad-Gita (4.7-8).

In contrast to the Russian Orthodox Church's stance, Hindus respect Jesus Christ, who is predicted in the Vedas, the ancient Hindu scriptures, as a specifically empowered personality.

"We respect all religions", said Bimal Krishna das, General Secretary of the National Council of Hindu Temples (UK) and the Russian Orthodox Church has nothing to fear from Hindus. "We think the Archbishop may gain some fresh insights into his own Christian faith by reading Krishna's words in the Bhagavad-Gita," he said.

My dear respected readers,

Today is a sad day in the history religion! For the Archbishop Nikon of Ufa and Sterlitamak from the Russian Orthodox Church has shown that he has no understanding of Hinduism (The Vedas) and no understanding of this statement of Jesus from Mark 9:40 "For he that is not against us is on our part." Also for he that is not against us is for us.” (Luke 9:49-50).

There is no question that the Hare Krishna movement and a large number of Hindus accept Jesus Christ (Isha in Hebrew), please review this quote from the founder of the Krishna movement, His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

"In the Christian religion, Jesus Christ claimed to be the son of God and to be coming from the kingdom of God to reclaim conditioned souls. As followers of Bhagavad-gita, we admit this claim to be true. So basically there is no difference of opinion. In details there may be differences due to differences in culture, climate and people, but the basic principle remains the same-that is, God or His representatives come to reclaim conditioned souls."
(Raja Vidya Chapter 6 :Knowledge of Krsna's Appearance and Activities)

In fact, the Jewish and Hindu (Vedic) religions are saying the same thing. using almost the same language root. Their calendars are only about 300 years apart (after 5000 yrs) And, the most important name of God for every Jewish person is the name El KNA, Who every Hindu knows as Kana another name of Krsna. Of course Archbishop Nikon most likely does not know that in some parts of India Krishna is know by the name Krista and Kristen, there are many more variations and loving nicknames. To explain Jesus to a Hindu is really a simple matter when you understand the Vedas.

A detailed linguistic and philosophical comparison can be found on the internet at http://www.equalsouls.org/ and www.soultoosoul.com/blog I quote Dr. Nathan Katz from Florida International University, "Rather than postulate a common source, I might attribute these affinities either to historical borrowing indeed, there has been many more interactions between India and Judaic civilizations then is commonly supposed or to inherent similarities of the human mind." From Dr. Katz's review of "The Rabbi and I, Equality Based On The Soul"

I personally invite Archbishop Nikon to India to commence a dialogue.

Thank you and praying for God's mercy.

William Glick

 

::sigh:: Why am I not surprised by all this?

When will they ever learn...when will they ever learn...love=inclusion not disclusion.... ::sigh:: My friend here would say, "What would Jesus do? He'd bitch slap you right now..."...lol..well on a less silly note...he's surely be ashamed...that's for sure... ::sigh::
I will never be able to understand stuff like this...

 

It's the usual story I'm afraid. Orthodox Christianity, like other mainstream churches make noises about 'ecumenism' and 'inter-faith dialogue' then a prominent churchman comes out with something like this.
The Pope too has lashed out at Hinduism, saying it offers 'false hope' and represents 'an eternal circle of hell'.

The conflict between Hinduism and Christianity seems to revolve around certain Christian dogmas - mainly the neccessity of Jesus sacrificial death, and claims of exclusivity - they believe Jesus to be the one and only divine incarnation. They also believe that salvation is only possible because he died on the cross.

Only one more thing - I'm not actually sure about the similarity claimed here between the Hebrew and Sanskrit languages - Sanskrit is more similar to Latin in many ways, and nor do I have the least idea what is meant in saying their calendars are the same or similar.

 

The beauty of it is that this might be a great sadhana for the archibishop. Remember the fam,ous statement from srimad bhagavatam - kenaapi upayena manah krishne niveshayet. By any means absorb your mind in Krishna. This cn be done through love and it can be done through hatred also (like Kamsa, Shishupala, and co.) and the either way you are liberated.

 

If so then when they condemn the Devil are they absorbing their minds in him?
Actually, I doubt that the Archbishop spends much time thinking of Krishna - and also, I expect he's engaged in worship of Jesus, who he says is the antagonist of Krishna. So he's worshipping a half-truth at best -

This also raises the question of what or who is actually meant by the Devil or Satan. Some say the name Satan is a changed form of Shaitan, a deity of the ancient middle-east who is identified with Shiva. The form of the devil as shown with horns etc is derived from the forms of pre-christian deities like the Greek Pan, or the Celtic Herne or Cernanous.

Myself I think the Orthodox are just worried about 'competition'.

 

It is fear that drives these people to make such comments

Many christians fear that Hinduism is far more attractively packaged
and marketed and the large number of converts in the west has scared the
church in Russia to some extent.



All fanaticism is false, because it is a contradiction of the very nature of God and of Truth. Truth cannot be shut up in a single book, Bible or Veda or Koran, or in a single religion. The Divine Being is eternal and universal and infinite and cannot be the sole property of the Mussulmans or of the Semitic religions only, – those that happened to be in a line from the Bible and to have Jewish or Arabian prophets for their founders. Hindus and Confucians and Taoists and all others have as much right to enter into relation with God and find the Truth in their own way. All religions have some truth in them, but none has the whole truth; all are created in time and finally decline and perish. Mahomed himself never pretended that the Koran was the last message of God and there would be no other. God and Truth outlast these religions and manifest themselves anew in whatever way or form the Divine Wisdom chooses. --- Sri Aurobindo

 

Absoring your mind in anything is a gradual process brought on by constant contemplation of it. So eventually, yes, that would happen.

Undoubtedly. I was attempting in part to be humorous, Bill, apparently I failed. But just imagine a temple right across from the Archbishop's house. He would see it every day, hear the chanting, watch people coming and going... Surely if he is so vehemently anti-Hindu, it would bother him to the point of obsession. I just think it is a comical image.

Actually shaitan is not really associated with Shiva. Shaitan is never mentioned in Hindu scriptures, it is more a product of folklore and quite closely resembles the devil. The word shaitani means wickedness, cruelty, evil deeds. None of that is associated with Shiva, whose very name means auspicious, good, and pure.

I think it is more that they feel their beliefs are threatened. Religious diversity is often accompanied by an exposure to, and possibly acceptance of philosophical insights from other traditions. The closed mind always fears that which may open it to new and beautiful things, destroying much treasured bigotry and the comfort of the "I alone and right" stance.

 

the russian archbishop meant to say santa but he slipped... krishna's roots are amongst the eskimo people whose memory was brought to india with the migration of the aryan tribes to the indian subcontinent

 

I understand Mr. C over on the Christianity board very well, because I have a cousin who is a slightly earlier edition from the same batch of clones. This cousin became born again around 1988, and we "discussed" religion extensively until I stopped it cold seven or eight years ago. Fairly recently we were sitting in Starbucks talking about a mutual acquaintance who had passed away young from alcoholism, and he came out with..."I wonder why God gives some people the tendency toward alcohol and drug addictions". For a moment I ignored my vow never to talk about religion with him again, and replied, "Well, if you'd let me explain the concepts of reincarnation to you in some detail, you might find at least a theoretical answer". His response was to kind of choke, glare at me for a second, then shake his head and very quickly say "no way". Previously, his reaction to the subject of reincarnation was to automatically go on the offensive and aggressively condemn the idea. To even passively consider, by listening to me, that the subject might have relevance to his question was completely taboo to him.

Good insights into the closed mind, Bhaskar.

 

The mentality is quite understandable, spook. It is even logical in a way. Once the mind is holding on to a belief so aggressively, it's entire world view is structured around that belief. So to even admit that there is a possibility of maybe being not fully accurate, would be to shake the foundations of one's entire world.

 

Doesn't this behavior partially cut the mind off of God?

 

I do see the funny side..

I don't mean to imply any connection between Shaitan, who seems to have been a god of ancient sumer and Hindu traditions. The co-incidence of the word shaitani is just co-incidence. The equation of Shaitan and Shiva comes from theosophy if memory serves.

From a slightly humerous point of view again though, I bet if you showed the Archbishop a picture of Shiva he'd think it was the devil - Shiva's even got the trident..and the serpent...

 

Mm...and the snakes....Genesis anyone?

 

On the topic of Genesis and snakes - in virtually every 'old' culture in the world the snake or serpent is a symbol of knowledge - in judeo/christian/islamic religion it is a symbol of evil and the 'evil one'.
But - according to some of the Gnostic sects of the early christian era, the serpent in the garden of Eden was not Satan, but Christ.
Also, Quetzalcotl (sp!!), the 'messiah' of the Maya and Aztec cultures is often shown in the form of a plumed serpent.
There's also the significant image of Gopala dancing on the head of Kaliya, king of serpents.
Kundalini? 'Dragon power'?

I say nothing of the 'psychological' or Freudean implications.....

 

We read this book called Biophilia by E.O. Wilson and it has this whole chapter about why humans evolutionarily have natural tendancies to shy away from snakes...to respect them for their power and wisdom and also to fear them....its really interesting...that's what made me think of it...also the whole time we were talking about this ...I kept thinking of the second Harry Potter...lol...

 

Oh, also...in Autobiography of a Yogi...Paramahansa Yoganandaji talks about how his guru explained Genesis to him...and he symbolized the snake as maya or ignorance.... ::shrug:: I just remembered that.

 

It's been said that snakes both attract and repel at the same time....they certainly are fascinating. Myself, I quite like them.

The Gnostics had it kind of in reverse from Sri Yukteshwar - they thought that Yaweh the creator was maya - or in fact a being on a lower plane than the true God - the 'demiurge' - who sought to imprison Adam and Eve in ignorance. Hence it was the tree of knowledge from which they were forbidden to eat. Christ appeared as the serpent to give knowledge of the true God - and so that they should 'be as gods, knowing good and evil'.

I don't say this is correct or not - but it's a variation on the usual interprepation, and there may be some significance.

 

We keep children from the truth until they need (are ready) to know it.

 

Too bad, the archbishop couldn't vibe with Yogananda's words of bridging Krishna and Christ, he basically said they were saying the same thing, and being a devottee of Babaji and his gang, as well as many other gurus, including Christ, I certainly buy into his arguments



The following prayer I make in the hopes of healing these devisions of paths that lead to the same place,

here now

Yogananda put Jesus pretty much first in this prayer, I think to appeal to the unity of religions he wanted to establish... After all he was well aware of christians promoting thier guy as the best, the only divine incarnation, and so on... so by making Jesus first, he is trying to appeal to the west, because we get so hung up on Jesus.


"O Spirit, Saints of all Religions, Jesus Christ, Supreme Master Babaji, Great Master Lahiri Mahasaya, Master Swami Sri Yukteswarji, Paramhansaji-Guru-Preceptor, I bow to You All. Free my life from all obstacles and give me material, mental, and spiritual development."
Yogananda Prayer

 

Selections from Whispers from Eternity by Paramahansa Yogananda

-The Melody of Human Brotherhood:

"Heavenly Spirit, we are traveling by many right roads to Thine abode of light. Guide us onto the highway of Self-knowledge, to which all paths of true religious beliefs eventually lead.
The diverse religions are branches of Thy one immeasurable tree of truth. May we enjoy the luscious fruits of soul realization that hang from the boughs of scriptures of every climb and time.
Teach us to chant in harmony the countless expressions of our supreme devotion. In Thy temple of the earth, in a chorus of many-accented voices, we are singing only to Thee.
O Divine Mother, lift us on Thy lap of universal love. Break Thy vow of silence and sing to us the heart-melting melody of human brotherhood.”

*********

-O Lord, I have long been engrossed in material things. Enthralled by their outward forms, I failed to perceive within them Thy creative Spirit. The starry single eye of my soul insight is now being opened. Through it may I behold creation ashine with Thy glory.
Bless me, that I ever see the Eastern star of wisdom. May it gleam before my human eyes, alike in daylight and in gloom.
Let my wise thoughts follow the wondrous star that leads of the Christ Child of Infinity.
*********
-To worship Thee, O Spirit, with a myriad of living thoughts of devotion we have built a universal shrineãdomeless, immeasurable. In reverence niches we place lustrous wisdom lamps from all temples, tabernacles, viharas, pagodas, mosques, and churches.
The commingled incense of our divine yearnings soars in spirals from the bowl of our hearts. In the unutterable language of love we pour out to Thee our paeans of praise.
Within our silenced beings the mighty organ of Aum plays the canticle of all aspirations, the lament of all tears, and the swelling shout of all joys.
In this wall-less soul structure we, Thy children, are united. We feel the grace of Thy pleasure, O Father of All! Amen, Hum, Amin, Aum.
*********

-I say my prayers on beads of love, strung together with everlasting threads of devotion. I hold on to no single Name„God, Spirit, Brahma, Allah, Heavenly Father, Divine Mother--for All are Thine.
I invoke Thee sometimes as Christ, Krishna, Shankaracharya, Mohammed, Buddha, Moses, and other prophets; for I know Thou hast delighted, and wilt ever delight, in revealing Thyself in different forms.
In Thy cosmic play on the stage of the centeries in Thy myriad appearances, Thou didst take many Names; but Thou has only one Nature: Perennial Joy.
**********

-O Christ, beloved Son of God! thou didst embark on a storm-tossed sea of prejudiced minds. Their cruel thought waves lashed thy tender heart.
Thy trial on the Cross was an immortal victory of humility over force, of soul over flesh. May thine ineffable example hearten us to bear bravely our lesser crosses.
O Great Lover of Error-Torn Humanity! In myriad hearts an unseen monument has arisen to the mightiest miracle of love--thy words: 'Forgive them for they know not what they do.'
Mayest thou remove from our eyes the cataracts of ignorance, that we see the beauty of thy message: ñLove even thine enemies as thyself. Sick in mind or asleep in delusion, they are still thy brothers.
O Cosmic Christ, may we, too, conquer the Satan (used in this sense to symbolize maya) of divideding selfishness that prevents the gathering in sweet accord of all men in the one fold of Spirit.
As thou art Perfection, yet wert crucified, teach us not to resent the inevitable tests of life: the daily challenge to our fortitude by adversities, our self-control by temptation, and our goodwill by misunderstanding.
Purified by contemplation on thee, innumerable devotees perfume their lives with emanations from thy flower soul. O Good Shepherd! thou leadest thy countless flock to the evergreen Pastures of Peace.
Our deepest aspiration is to see the Heavenly Father with open eyes of wisdom as thou dost; and to know like thee that we are verily His sons. Amen.