Peter Schmidt: Shape of the image of
Christianity in the Vaishnava News Network (VNN). Journal of Religious Culture
No. 28 (1999)
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Journal of
Religious Culture
Journal für Religionskultur
Ed. by / Hrsg. Von
Edmund Weber
Institute for Irenics / Institut für Wissenschaftliche Irenik
Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
ISSN 1434-5935- © E.Weber
______________________________________________________________________________________________
No. 28 (1999)
Shape of the image of Christianity in the Vaishnava News Network (VNN).
By
Peter Schmidt
1.
Introduction and intentions. 2. Aspects of Christianity. 2.1. Jesus Christ.
2.1.1. Titles; 2.1.2. Character and mission2.2. The Bible. 2.3. Criticism. 2.4.
Bhaktivedanta Swami. 2.4.1. Comparison with Jesus; 2.4.2. Deviations. 3. Final
summary. 4. Sources
1. Introduction and intentions
The Vaishnava News Network
(VNN; Internet-address: http://www.vnn.org/) is a "network of collaborating
Vaishnavas worldwide providing the world Vaishnava community with news and
forums of communication", offering its news service free of charge.
Founded in 1997 by an international group of Vaishnavas it calls itself an
"independent, comprehensive and universal information source and
communication center". Anyone can participate, i.e. write articles for the
VNN which does not censor any news "as long as it conforms with the VNN
Standards of Publication" .
VNN tells the virtual
community about the theological background that, "although primarily
founded by students of A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami, (it) holds no partiality
whatsoever towards any group or divisions of any Vaishnava school" and
"is not affiliated, dominated, funded or controlled by any particular
Vaishnava organization or group other than its correspondents, senior editors
and staff". It is aligned with the philosophical path delineated by their
spiritual preceptors in line with the teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu,
known as Gaudiya Vaishnavism." .
In this essay different
views of Christianity of several correspondents, senior editors and other staff
members of VNN shall be treated. The text sources of the investigation were
confined in time to one calendary year (1998). All relevant writings published
by VNN can be looked up by means of the VNN internal search engine,
concentrating on the key words "Jesus Christ",
"Christianity" and "Bible".
The results in this piece
of work will be compared steadily to the scriptures of the Bengal Swami Abhay
Caranaravinda Bhaktivedanta (1896-1977), briefly called "Bhaktivedanta
Swami" or with the honorary title "Srila Prabhupada", mainly
because of his predominant and fundamental influence on the modern Vaishnava
community, not only in the western world of this outgoing 20th
century. Especially Bhaktivedanta Swami´s conception of an interreligious
dialogue with the Christian faith will be taken into consideration.
With that the author wants
to examine the excution of his plans, the extent of possible changes and the
seriousness performed by Bhaktivedanta Swami´s pupils resp. by ISKCON devotees
introduced after his death.
2. Aspects of Christianity
Throughout 1998 15
VNN-articles of different length and on numerous occasions are found which more
or less deal with Christian subjects. Most of the time the authors speak of
Jesus Christ or the Bible, usually in brief passages, displaying them either on
a pure Vaishnava philosophical background, e.g. by discussing specific issues
of the bhakti philosophy or, in a few cases, presenting their own
interpretations of Christianity.
2.1. Jesus Christ
2.1.1. Titles
Every VNN-article applies
various titles to Jesus Christ. As a rule, all their meanings do not deviate
from those used by Bhaktivedanta Swami himself.
Sometimes Jesus is depicted
in the usual way Christians would name Him, too, such as "Son of God"
(Text 12, 13, and 15), "Lord" (6, 10, 14) or "Messiah" (7).
Once He is described as the "Son of David and Salomo" (10), but most
of the time the authors present Jesus in a way that understands His role in
Christianity through the "translating" lens of a Vaishnava
background: "guru of the Christians" (5), "sadhu" (14),
"acarya" (10) or "pure devotee of the Lord" (1, 12, 13,
15).
A more interpreting point
of view recognizes Him as a real "Vaishnava" (1, 14, 15), who works
as a representative (9, 10, 14) or as a "servant of God" (12).
According to one article, Jesus´ position can´t be outstripped by any other man
on earth, because He was the "most famous human being throughout
history" (10). But one can´t look properly upon the view of Jesus Christ
at VNN without taking into consideration the way His character and devine
mission are presented.
2.1.2. Character and mission
Jesus, a so-called
self-realized, whole soul who has the right knowledge of God (15), functions in
several cases as a historic example for a deeply religious and thus pious
person. He is on His way of purifying Himself by passing conflicts with the
devil (1) and seriously exercising yoga (10) by loving and glorifying His
Father in pure bhakti (10, 14, 15). Having a personality to trust and depend on
(15) and particulary claiming that He was son of God with the power to forgive
sins (13) and reveal the nature of the Father by His own words (15), Jesus is
only doing what the Lord is saying (14). This can be confirmed by His "new
mantra" that He gave to the biblical world, the Lord´s Prayer (10).
For one author Jesus didn´t
care for social customs, i.e. didn´t damn former sinners (13), nor was He
advertising Himself resp. claiming that He is the Father Himself. He rather
went to hell to fulfil His father´s plan (10). Therefore it was easy for Him to
feel the connection with the Supreme Lord while preparing the place for many
devotees to follow Him (15).
One author has fully
adapted Bhaktivedanta Swami´s opinion that Jesus was betrayed and crucified by
impious men and before that had a hard time with people accepting and
understanding His spiritual mood properly (13).
2.2. The Bible
The outstanding importance
of the holy Christian book is accepted throughout all passages of the five VNN
articles mentioning the Bible. Two of them describe it as a shastra (14, 12),
another compares it - following the tradition of Bhaktivedanta Swami - with the
Bhagavad-Gita, saying both are devotional scriptures with the one fundamental
difference that the Bible is not that "clear" in its devine message
(15). For the Vaishnavas the book is "true" and "useful for
Jesus Christ´s teachings" and gives the world "two important
prayers", the Lord´s prayer and the Hail Mary (10).
In three cases the authors
decidedly use quotations (only!) of the New Testament, all of them direct
speeches of Jesus and never mentioned by Bhaktivedanta Swami, always to put
stress on arguments of a purely Viashnavan background. The words are drawn out
of their context, the meanings of the statements are never explained from a
Christian position.
Concretely, in Gaurahari
das´ article (15), a direct comparison of the two scriptures, several passages
of the Four Gospels are used: Matthew 6:24 is stated to prove everyone that
following "the principle of pure devotional service ... is ... that you
have to chose your master."; 10:41 is quoted ("You have to find a person
who is actually a real prophet.") and 11:27 ("Jesus said ...
Vaishnava principles for attaining God consciousness."); there is Luke
4:18 ("Anyone who has realized God becomes whole again and what happens is
that they feel their connection with the Supreme Lord.") and John 14:3
("...very few people had the devotional qualification to go where Jesus
was going.").
One should not forget to
mention that there is one more so-called quotation of the Bible, whose origin
couldn´t be traced back, because the author seemed to have changed the original
version thoroughly: "Jesus was saying here in this next verse,’As the
scriptures say, whoever believes in me streams of life-giving water shall pour
out from his heart.’" (1).
Mahaksa das (10) cites
Jesus only once to underline the duty of loving obedience towards God:
"Whether at home with the Lord and away from the body or at home with the
body and away from the Lord, our business is to serve the Lord." That
sentence resembles Luke 4:8.
Last but nor least, Damodara
das, a pupil of Gaurahari das, an initiating guru, speaks of a so-called
"Jesus´disciple", when he quotes a passage of St.Paul´s second letter
to the Corinthians (2. Cor. 3:3) to confirm the feelings of a scholar towards
holy scriptures: "Like one of Jesus' disciples said, ‘I don't want the
scripture to be carved in stone, I want it to be written in my heart.’ This is
just what I feel like..." (2).
2.3. Criticism
In all articles one can
find a phenomenon that already turns up in the work of Bhaktivedanta Swami.
There is no critical word, no negative remark upon the person, the mission and
the character of Jesus Christ Himself. The only field for objections spoken out
in connection with the Christian religion is the behaviour and the nature of
His followers in every historical epoch.
Generally spoken, Christian
people seem to be unable and not qualified at all to understand the truth of
Jesus´ message of God´s love towards all living beings. Following his great
example Bhaktivedanta Swami, it is again Gaurahari das who detects certain
deficits among the Christians. They have not enough devotional capability to
follow their master Jesus (not only in biblical times), because they think that
just believing in Christ would save them and bring them back to the Godhead.
Neither do Christians (as well as members of other religions, too) worship a
pure devotee of the Lord in a suitable way nor do they understand his real
intentions (15). In another essay Gaurahari das compares the
"materialistic" Christians with the much more "advanced"
Vaishnavas who wouldn´t close their eyes to "new prophets", like the
followers of Jesus Christ (9).
Mahaksa das, too, is
convinced that the Christians as a whole are "eternal materialists",
only interested in missionary achievements while at the same time they only
"serve Jesus´ shadow", something that seems to be "useless and
offensive to Jesus Christ´s teachings" (10). He also critizises that the
Christian scripture canonization had been stopped after the Council of Trient,
whereas he affirms for his religion that all spiritual scriptures of
Vaishnavism are accepted "as valid as the original Vedas" (14).
Besides that there is one
more article completely in the tradition of Bhaktivedanta Swami´s thoughts,
claiming to know the persons to blame for the death of Jesus: His own
disciples, who had accused and betrayed their spiritual master in the worst and
lowest way ever possible (4).
2.4. Bhaktivedanta Swami
2.4.1. Comparison with Jesus
Several authors publishing
at VNN develop a totally new connection between Jesus Christ and their own
founder acarya Bhaktivedanta Swami. All of the aspects of this direct
comparison can´t be found in the complete teachings of this Vaishnava teacher.
More than that, most of the assumptions only now, after Bhaktivedanta Swami´s
death, are made possible, because these statements create a legendarylike aura,
trying to construct relationships in the essence of both persons and their
messages to the world. Jesus´ mission so to say leads directly to the work of
Bhaktivedanta Swami.
First of all, it is
generally assumed that both had "the same ideas", trying to prepare
"a place for many devotees", speaking the absolute truth, polarizing
society and finally not going with public opinion (15).
Therefore it is
comprehensible for the authors that Bhaktivedanta Swami found no other words
than to call Jesus a Vaishnava (14), a pure devotee and a servant of God (12).
It makes sense to them that Bhaktivedanta Swami liberally gave access to Jesus
Christ´s teachings after reading and accepting them wholeheartedly (10). Isa
dasa remembers that Bhaktivedanta Swami even created similarities resp.
identities in the personal names of Christ and Krishna (3).
After all, Mahaksa das
refers to his knowledge of Bhaktivedanta Swami´s habits in speaking about
Jesus. He reports truthfully that Bhaktivedanta Swami had seen no need to
change either religions, as long as, for example, Christians used God´s holy
names correctly. He cites Bhaktivedanta Swami describing his own role as the
leader of "the true followers of Jesus Christ", mentioning his
displeasure that "Christians are not following Jesus". Mahaksa das
comes to the conclusion that Bhaktivedanta Swami´s mission was "not unlike
that of Jesus Christ" (10).
Within the ISKCON-internal
"rittvik-debate" one author is determined to say that during
Christian history there had been no indication that "besides following
Jesus Christ every Christian should take another diksa guru (6).
There is only VNN essay
that mentions another Vaishnava Swami, Bhaktivinode Thakura Swami (1838-1914),
who knows of Jesus Christ. The author Mahaksa das (14) states that already
Bhaktivedanta Swami´s own spiritual master "depicts Lord Jesus Christ as a
Vaishnava, one who worships the supreme source of all energies" and
therefore can be called, thus, a sadhu.
2.4.2. Deviations
Besides countless
additional Bible quotations already mentioned above, one can find several
statements in the VNN articles that deviate from or go far beyond those of
Bhaktivedanta Swami. Nevertheless some of them are set up as new aspects in the
interreligious discussion with Christianity. Principally originating from a
wider, not automatically more truthful range of knowledge, these devotees state
several detailed assumptions about the biblical and Christian history.
The Lord´s prayer and the
Hail Mary are interpreted as important mantras demonstrating pure bhakti (10).
Mahaksa das knows for sure that the Three Wise Men (Mt 2:1f.) were three mystic
travellers practicing bhakti and yoga and finally became enlightened by that
service. Moreover he tells the reader stories about the young Jesus who
allegedly had travelled between the age of twelve and thirty in Bengal, Tibet,
Yucatan and Iraq.
One idea, already known
from Bhaktivedanta Swami, is that Jesus was accused and betrayed by some of His
own disciples. This has been extended in a quite delicate letter by disciples
of the former ISKCON-Swami Harikesa. While publicly threatening with mass
suicide, they compare their own fate with the destiny of Jesus´ most devoted
supporters (4).
Referring to the weak faith
of Jesus´ remaining disciples, another author uncritically states that even His
performance of many wonders and His final resurrection didn´t convince these
people of His spiritual importance (15).
Besides that there are a
few attempts aiming at a serious interreligious dialogue, when one author
arranges a comparative analysis of God´s names in Vaishnavism and Judaism (3)
or when an article of a Christian newspaper is quoted in direct speech for
showing that Christians, too, could be strict vegetarians (11). These are means
about which Bhaktivedanta Swami himself never felt the necessity to think.
Two last but tender ideas
should be presented at the end of this chapter, because their philosophical
background seems to be completely in opposition to that of Bhaktivedanta
Swami´s. First, there is the idea that "all devotees must be willing to be
nailed to the cross" (1). This notion - intentionally ? - could be
understood in a literal or in a symbolical way. Secondly, there is the
determined, nearly aggressive demand not to change one´s faith to Christianity
and to Jesus, not leaving "the process to aim towards the highest
goal", to Vaishnavism. The author Vaishnava dasa strictly argues against
the process of an interreligious dialogue, stating that there "is no need
to add the picture of Jesus on our altars or chant his name" (12). This
concept with all its grave consequences is never to be found in Bhaktivedanta
Swami´s lifelong expectations of a dialogue with Christianity. On the contrary,
he decidedly tried to get a vivid contact with Christian theology and its
authorized representatives.
3. Final summary
There is a scarcely
homogeneous image of Christianity in the analyzed 1998 VNN articles dealing
with or at least mentioning Christian subjects. It could be shown that numerous
Christian and Vaishnavan titles are used for the description of the outstanding
role of Jesus Christ. He is presented in a way not deviating from Bhaktivedanta
Swami´s ideas as a historic example for a deeply religious and pious person,
having the right knowledge of God and thus practicing pure bhakti, trusting in
and accepting the Lord´s plan to prepare the biblical people to follow His
example. Following Bhaktivedanta Swami´s speculation that Jesus was betrayed by
impious, ignorant men who were unable to realize the devine truth in Him, there
is also no reference to the Christian explanation of the liberating meaning of
the cross. Even the resurrection is only presented as a magic, but futile means
to impress the mob.
The Holy Bible is
considered a real but, compared to the Bhagavad-gita, more unclear shastra.
Several, for Bhaktivedanta Swami still unknown passages of the New Testament
are used, but the words again are drawn out of their context and the original
meanings of the statements are never explained from a Christian position. In
the same way Jesus is functional for the proper way of exercising bhakti and
the Bible quotations stand as a sort of proof for the valuable authentity of
the Vaishnava philosophy, most of the time not as an argument for the
reinforcement of an interreligious dialogue with Christianity.
Like before in the work of
Bhaktivedanta Swami, objections to Christianity are only spoken out in connection
with the behaviour and the nature of Christ´s followers in every historical
epoch, even nowadays. Christians, unable or unqualified to understand pure love
towards God, lack devotion and spiritual intelligence, but are full of harmful
materialistic thoughts.
Some VNN authors create a
legedarylike aura around their spiritual master when they find idolizing
similarities between the fates and missions of Bhaktivedanta Swami and Jesus
Christ Himself. Besides that, the remembrance of the Vaishnava teacher always
is truthful, the referrence to other Vaishnava scholars is an exeption.
In the end, several other
statements towards Christianity go far beyond those of Bhaktivedanta Swami.
They confront the reader with astounding new details of the Three Wise Men and
Jesus´ travels in His youth. Besides that there are a few attempts aiming at a
serious and profound interreligious dialogue. Completely in opposition to
Bhaktivedanta Swami´s thoughts is only the idea that deals with the
fundamentally penetrated religious perseverance claimed from all Vaishnavas,
connected with the call for religious seperation from Christianity for the sake
of spiritual success in Vaishnavism.
4. Sources
Text 1:
"New Vine in Old Vessels"; author: Gaurahari das; date of publication:
04.02.1998
Text 2: "My Guru My Life"; author: Damodara das; date of publication:
20.02.
Text 3: "Comparative Analysis of God´s Names"; author: Isa dasa; date
of publication: 11.04.
Text 4: "Harikesa disciples threaten mass suicide"; author: div.;
date of publication: 16.08.
Text 5: " Re: Deepak Vohra´s comments on Sri Rama´s Text; author: div.;
27.08.
Text 6: "Sri Rama´s Defense"; author: Premavicakshana dasa; date of
publication: 30.08.
Text 7: "GBC fail to answer ‘The Final Order’ Pt. 1 and 2"; author:
Krishnakant; date of publication: 10.09.
Text 8: "Guru Parampara Continues Forever"; author: Ananda das; date
of publication: 02.10.
Text 9: "Ecstasy is the answer"; author: Gaurahari das; date of
publication: 18.11.
Text 10: "Lord Jesus Christ Katha"; author: Mahaksa dasa; date of
publication: 19.11.
Text 11: "Garden of Eden was Vegetarian"; author: Salt Lake City
Tribune; date of publication: 22.11.
Text 12: "Jesus Christ is Lord Brahma?"; author: Vaishnava dasa; date
of publication: 03.12.
Text 13: "From Reverence to Vrndavan"; author: Gaurahari das; date of
publication: 03.12.
Text 14: "Lord Jesus Christ is considered Sadhu"; author: Mahaksa
dasa; date of publication: 05.12.
Text 15: "Veda/Bible"; author: Gaurahari das; date of publication: 09.12.
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