Cry Of Christ
By Dr. Udit Raj
11 January, 2004
Countercurrents.org
Christ
was born in an ordinary Jewish family at Bethlehem in what is today
the territory of Palestine. The family did not have enough financial
support to educate him like the contemporary clergymen. There was something
unique in him and his approach was different from the rest. But sometimes
Christ's contribution is devalued and that needs to be brought out.
Among the world's four major religions, his position and teachings stand
out as being different.
There are many in
Hinduism who played an incarnative role like Christ and important among
them are Krishna and Rama. All Hindu gods and goddesses are armed to
protect themselves and their subjects taught a doctrine of tit for tat.
When Arjun was surrendering before the mammoth army of the Kauravas,
of whom his many relatives and friends were a part, Krishna exhorted
him to fight, and so he did. Similarly, Rama had to battle to eliminate
his enemies. In their activities, a concern for the poor and hungry
is absent. Most of their actions were either for properties, possession
of women folk or for maintaining their ego.
It is somewhat difficult
to sketch the thrust of their (Rama and Krishna) teachings but justice
and love have no space. Egged on by a Brahmin, Rama beheaded Sambuk,
a Shudra sage. And Krishna justified the existing social system. On
the contrary, Jesus' teachings stood for extending Love to the enemy.
Nowhere can anyone trace an occasion when he sought to spread his message
by force, coercion and psychological vendetta.
Jesus showed in
his life what he preached and practiced. When Jesus was being crucified,
he prayed to God to forgive those who crucified him. His love for the
poor and deprived was more exemplary than anyone, and he believed and
taught the people that the kingdom of God exists in the poor and hungry.
Prophet Mohammed
fought against the evil system. He used both words and swords to bring
down idol worship and meaningless rituals and trivial blood sacrifices.
He led his army at several occasions to teach what he believed. His
methodology differed greatly from Christ; may be circumstances demanded
so. Buddha differs greatly from the rest. To him what was important
was the sufferings caused by violence, the social system and calamities
of nature. Sometimes his teachings are called agnostic because he did
not bring the spiritual elements in his campaign. He exhorted that if
causes were known then its removal was also possible - and he recommended
the Eight Fold Path to do that.
Coming to the application
side of Jesus' teachings, many infirmities and interpolation have occurred
and its worst form was the age of Papacy when Church embodied political
power. There was hardly a misdeed which did not happen in the age of
Church domination! However, the Protestant reformation under Martin
Luther and the Counter Reformation by Ignatius Loyola challenged misdeeds
in the church. The so far established notions enforced by the clergy
were challenged by pointing out that it was trivial to have religious
agents in order to contact the Divine as man was born in the image of
God.
Degeneration and
misinterpretation are possible with all teachings but not carrying reforms
and rectification in the area is of big concern. Should we say that
reform and renaissance are inherent traits of Christ teachings? It is
difficult to conclude like this. Among the four major world religions,
Christianity is prone to flexibility and this may be the reason for
its fast and vast dissemination. In the South Asian sub-continent, religions
are applied through restricting the physical movement and normal expressions
of a human being. A cause is not important but a woman not covering
her torso is the central activity. Religious practices are expressed
through outfits like robes, turban, beard and the like.
When Joan of Arc
was battling for her people, she was captured and raped, but when she
was asked about it, she answered that her soul was more important than
her body. She even went to the extent of looking after wounded enemy
soldiers. This is true religious expression. But in our sub-continent,
if a woman is raped, she is finished psychologically and sociologically
no matter how much her worth is.
Jesus was very considerate
to prostitutes also. Once he saw Maria of Bethany was being pelted with
stone for adultery. Jesus himself was tactically implicated in the case
by the Priests. He asked, "Is there anyone here who has not sinned?
If so, only he cast the first stone at her." The place was deserted
in seconds. This very Maria followed him until his crucifixion and even
after that. Jesus won a human being by his unending mercy to all.
Christianity has
had a real impact in Europe and America. American President George W.
Bush is a devout Christian, but is he up to the mark to the teachings
of Christ? He is fiercely engaged in Iraq and many other parts of the
World to discipline them by force and modern technology than by love,
as Christ preached. The Church has to strive hard to reinforce the message
of the Gospel in Christian countries.
Christian missionaries
were the first to open the gates of education in India for Dalits after
many millennia. Jyotiba Phule demanded education from the British rulers
and he had ardent faith in Christian missionaries. If Christian missionaries
had not opened educational institutions for all, it would have been
unlikely that Dr. Ambedkar would have existed. The Sangh Parivar and
other Hindu outfits cry and shout that Christian missionaries are converting
Dalits to Christianity but had they ever bothered about what they do.
If Christian missionaries
were to find a widow, a leprosy patient or a blind, perhaps it would
be the happiest moment for them, as they would have found an opportunity
to serve the poorest of the poor. If a Hindu priest finds one of these
unfortunates, he concludes that their suffering is because of their
sin in the past life. Till today, numerous temples banned entry for
the Dalits, what to talk about welcoming leprosy patients and widows.
Recently the works
of Christian missionaries have forced these people to pretend to serve
the deprived, but their hearts have not changed. They are pretending
to be so just to stop conversions to Christianity lest the Dalits seek
liberation. Jesus Christ said that the deprived and exploited could
remain happy because God ensured Heaven for them.
Jesus Christ has
taken the cause of the social system. Born as a higher caste Jew, in
the ancestral and kingly clan of David, Jesus did not have any hesitation
to take water from a Samarian woman, an outcaste woman - which gives
a notion that there is no caste or creed before the might of thirst
and hunger.
But alas, in our
country, casteism has always placed its ugly hand in the way of the
food sharing system. Untouchability is observed in not taking food from
a lower caste man, and the people show a frantic haste to maintain the
tradition instead of rectifying anomalies. Even in the First War of
Independence in 1857, Indians could not unite against the rotten caste
system. Had they been aware of the unity of Indians above caste system,
the revolution would have found place with the successful American and
French Revolutions.
Like any other heavenly
incarnation, Jesus Christ too had disciples to spread the message of
his Gospel. His disciple, the Apostle Thomas, came to India in A.D 52
to spread his Good News. But unfortunately, Christianity
could not save itself from caste discrimination. Still in some places,
there are separate churches for upper caste Christians and the Dalits.
They fail to grasp the teachings of Jesus when he said that the poor
have reason to be happy because they are poor. But educational and health
institutions controlled by Christians do not think so in case of Dalits.
Thus they have done a great favor to save the caste system by not following
Christ in letter and spirit. If they correct this, it will be nothing
less than gold with a sweet fragrance.