Bible Stories

‘Two thousand years ago,’ wrote Swami Sivananda, ‘Divinity incarnated upon this planet to show all humanity the glorious path to everlasting life by actually living the divine life upon this earth. Jesus was … the divine power and love incarnated … ‘

This response to Jesus Christ, which would echo the sentiments of millions of Hindus, is the result of two centuries of Christian service in India by the world-wide church. The Hindu mind today accepts the divinity of Christ, but not that he is unique. Jesus is looked on as one of the many incarnations of divinity - by some even as the greatest of them. In other words, Jesus has been reinterpreted from the Hindu standpoint, which believes that all human souls are divine. As Hindus see it, most remain ignorant of their true nature, but some, such as Jesus, transcend the normal illusion and realize their divinity. This acknowledgement of Christ’s divinity means at best little more than accommodation to their view of life; at worst it may beguile Christians into accepting Hindu monism or polytheism.

Christians and Hindu reform

How sincere Hindus can acknowledge Jesus‘ divinity, but not submit to his lordship, is a problem which can best be understood if we see it in historical perspective.

The first great impact Jesus made on the Hindu mind was in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when Christian missionaries courageously took the initiative in advocating a number of social reforms to liberate the downtrodden in India from the oppressive Hindu social order. This missionary activity produced three results:

Hundreds of thousands of Hindus accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour and openly became his followers.

Great Hindu reformers, such as Rammohan Roy, Chandavarker, Telang, Renade, Keshub Chandra Sen, Jotiba Govinda Phule, Behramji Malabari, who followed the missionary initiative, studied the Bible diligently. Many of them preached from it regularly in an effort to reform their society. These men admitted their indebtedness to Jesus, though they did not become Christians.

* A few great reformers, such as Swami Dayanand Saraswati, accepted the need to reform Hinduism, but reacted sharply against Jesus. They wrote and preached against him to prevent Hindus from becoming Christians. This reaction, born of insecurity, continues to this day in some quarters, though in a milder form.

When the Hindu reform movement took on a nationalistic character in the twentieth century, the leadership of the movement passed entirely from Christian hands into Hindu hands. This was because the Christians were not prepared to take the reform movement to its logical end - national independence. At this point, even though Hindu leaders, such as Mahatma Gandhi, continued to study, follow and instruct others in his life and teaching, Jesus ceased to be an issue in the national debate.

After India became independent in 1947, the Indian Church became a defensive and insecure minority. Then the Hindu attitude to Jesus ceased to be hostile or convinced. Instead Hindus either became indifferent to Jesus or saw him simply as a great historical figure with little relevance for today.

Now, however, since independence, nationalism and reform movements have failed to satisfy the Hindu heart. A new search for answers, for a saviour, has begun. In small pockets of India where Christians are fulfilling their mission courageously, Jesus is coming back to the centre of the stage. It is quite conceivable that, by the close of this century, Jesus will once again become the central issue of debate in India and Hindus will once again choose for or against him.

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