Jesus As a Reincarnation of Krishna

Imaginary Friends? When we stop thinking in terms of metaphor and we invent literal historical gods, we tap into the world of archetype. To believe everything literally is to follow a religion. To understand as metaphor the rich meaning behind these traditions is what it means to be a mystic...

Hindus believe that Krishna was the eighth "avatar" or incarnation of the god Vishnu - one of the Hindu deities in the Hindu trinity. Hindu scriptures state that Krishna "appeared in all the fullness of his power and glory." Krishna was born sometime between 900 and 1200 B.C. and his religious teachings can be found in the Bhagavad-Gita, one of the sacred texts in Hinduism. The karmic similarities between Jesus and the Hindu messiah named Krishna (1200 B.C.) are many.

There over one hundred similarities between the Hindu and Christian saviors which could easily fill a volume. Some of these similarities are apocryphal which means their source comes from the extra-canonical scriptures of Hinduism.
Identical Life Experiences

(1) Krishna was miraculously conceived and born of the Virgin Devaki ("Divine One") as a divine incarnation.

(2) He was born at a time when his family had to travel to pay the yearly tax.

(3) His father was a carpenter yet Krishna was born of royal descent.

(4) His birth was attended by angels, wise men and shepherds, and he was presented with gifts.

(5) He was persecuted by a tyrant who ordered the slaughter of thousands of infants who feared that the divine child would supplant his kingdom.

(6) His father was warned by a heavenly voice to flee the tyrant who sought the death of the child. The child was then saved by friends who fled with them in the night to a distant country. When the tyrant learned that his attempt to kill the child failed, he issued a decree that all the infants in the area be put to death. Writing about Krishna in the eighteenth century, Sir William Jones stated, "In the Sanskrit dictionary, compiled more than two thousand years ago, we have the whole history of the incarnate deity, born of a virgin, and miraculously escaping in infancy from the reigning tyrant of his country." (Asiatic Researches, Vol. I, p. 273).

(7) The Bible states that Jesus and family fled to Egypt afterward to escape from King Herod. According to the Christian apocryphal text "the Gospel of the Infancy," the family traveled to Maturea, Egypt. Krishna was born in Maturea, India, hundreds of years earlier.

(8) He was baptized in the River Ganges.

(9) The missions of Krishna and Jesus were the same - the salvation of humanity.

(10) Krishna worked miracles and wonders such as raising the dead and healing lepers, the deaf and the blind.

(11) Krishna used parables to teach the people about charity and love.

(12) Jesus taught his disciples about the possibility of removing a mountain by faith. According to tradition, Krishna raised Mount Goverdhen above his disciples to protect his worshipers from the wrath of Indra.

(13) "He lived poor and he loved the poor."

(14) Krishna washed the feet of the Brahmins and transfigured before his disciples.

(15) Krishna's teachings and Jesus' teachings were very similar. The celebrated French missionary and traveler, Evarist-Regis Hucv, who made a journey of several thousand miles through China and Tibet, stated, "If we addressed a Mogul or Tibetan this question, 'Who is Krishna?' the reply was instantly 'The savior of men." According to Robert Cheyne, "All that converting the Hindoos to Christianity does for them is to change the object of their worship from Krishna to Christ." Appleton's Cyclopedia says this about the teachings of Krishna: "Its correspondence with the New Testament is indeed striking."

(16) There is an extra-canonical Hindu tradition which states that Krishna was crucified. According to some traditions, Krishna died on a tree or was crucified between two thieves.

(17) He descended to hell, rose bodily from the dead, and ascended to heaven which was witnessed by many.

(18) Krishna is called the "shepherd god" and "lord of lords," and was considered "the redeemer, firstborn, sin bearer, liberator, universal Word."

(19) He is the second person of the trinity, and proclaimed himself the "resurrection" and the "way to the Father."

(20) He was considered the "beginning, the middle and the end," ("alpha and omega"), as well as being omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent.

(21) His disciples bestowed upon him the title "Jezeus," meaning "pure essence."

(22) Krishna is to return again riding a white horse to do battle with the "prince of evil," who will desolate the Earth.


"How, if you hear that the man newly dead is, like the man newly born, still living man - one same, existent Spirit - will you weep? The end of birth is death; the end of death is birth: this is ordained!" - Bhagavad Gita (The Song Celestial: 2)

"I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again ... no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." - Jesus Christ (John 3:3-8)

So these stories, passed down initially through oral tradition, seem to have bumped into each other and fused together.

From a mystical perspective, man as enlightened being is what we know our higher self to be. Religious tradition tells us to ascribe these traits to a historical person and to worship that person, never believing that we are in fact Divine. To know oneself as a flawed human being and Divine at the same time, this is the meaning of the Christ story and of the story of Krishna. These stories invite us to a deeper understanding of our own spirituality.


Some Portions Courtesy of: Near-Death.com