Christology
in Indian Traditional Approach
Jesus as Advaiti
Advaita
means non-dualism Vedanta means the conclusion of the Vedas. 7th century saint
Adi Shankara propounded. Its roots can be traced to the Upanishads, the Brahma
Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita and many schools of Shaivism. Shankara summarized his
entire philosophy of Advaita in his work Brahma Jnanavali Mala as follows:
Brahma
satyam jagat mithyaa, jivo brahmaiva naparah
“Brahman
is the only truth, the world is illusion, and there is ultimately no difference
between Brahman and individual self.” In a nutshell, this is what Advaita
Vedanta is about.
Swami
Vivekananda pictures the spirituality of Jesus as Advaitic, as the
realization of his identity with the Brahman, and explains away the dualism in
his teachings about a Personal God as a concession to the necessity of dealing
with the uneducated masses and his disciples at their level, thus proving the
Swami’s stages of growth in spirituality. He viewed everything from the perspective
of Advaita Vedanta. He attempted to bring Advaita and Christ on the same
platform so that humanity can be united in terms of spirituality. By bringing
great figures on the equal platform their contributions are compromised.
K.P.
Aleaz is the first Indian theologian who
proposed Jesus as Advaiti. According to him, Jesus had a non-dual relation with
God the Father and he is inspiring all the humans also to have the same
relation with God through the renunciation of the lower self. Jesus shows us
the way to become perfect, he shows us our true nature which is divine; he
brings us to realization which involves the regaining of the lost selfhood. The
central lesson of the life of Jesus to an Indian is the understanding of the
false antithesis between human person and God. Jesus was a yogi of the highest
type who practiced all the yogas namely Karma, bhakti, raja and jnana. Jesus as
an incarnation had constant vision of God and through samadhi, he realized the
identity and unity of the individual self with the Supreme Self. The difference
between a human person and Christ is a difference in manifestation; but as
Absolute Being there is no difference between the two. The resources of God
which were available to Jesus are open to all and if we struggle as he did, we
will develop the God in us. What Jesus does is setting an example by showing
the path of perfection. The Neo-Vedantic interpretation of Christ is related
with religiocultural expression of India and it further helps in developing
Neo- Vedantic Christology.
K.P.Aleaz
Christology based on Neo-Vedantic theme presents Jesus having non-dual relation
with God and it challenges humanity to follow these footsteps thus to find God
in us.
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