Join News Letter

Iraq War

Peak Oil

Climate Change

US Imperialism

Palestine

Communalism

Gender/Feminism

Dalit

Globalisation

Humanrights

Economy

India-pakistan

Kashmir

Environment

Gujarat Pogrom

WSF

Arts/Culture

India Elections

Archives

Links

Submit Articles

Contact Us

Fill out your
e-mail address
to receive our newsletter!
 

Subscribe

Unsubscribe

 

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.


 

 

Google
WWW www.countercurrents.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Search Our Archive



Our Site

Web