Bhagavad Gita vs the Bible and Quran
When I stayed in South Korea for about 3 years, all through elementary school, I was first sucked into the world of religion via the Holy Bible (originally written in Greek and Hebrew). For a girl who loved reading, the Bible was just another fun book to try. I didn’t think much of it and unconsciously read the book just for its plot, thrice. Later I came in contact with an actual bible, in the original verse which obviously would’ve made little sense to me had I not read picturesque versions of it earlier.
Let’s take a time jump. I was growing up and back in India, so now I was reading and knowing more about the tales of Ramayan and Mahabharat. I first came to know about The Bhagavad Gita (originally written in Sanskrit) when I entered a bookstore in sixth grade, there, displayed on a mantle with golden pages. I was immediately attracted to it and when I went home that evening, I had something new to research. As it turned out, the Bhagavad Gita was a small part of the Mahabharat itself. Remember the part where Arjun was about to commence war and realized that he was actually at war with his relatives, near and far? Well, he suddenly panicked, and in his fear could not even lift his bow. But the war had to be fought, and good had to prevail. In this crisis, Krishna revealed his true form and eradicated all his doubts via a conversation that paused time, and this conversation is what is known as the Bhagavad Gita.
Wasn’t Mahabharat just a tale written by some sage? This confused me for a while and I somewhat got an idea about the same, a few days before I decided to write this. Vyasa is indeed the author of Mahabharat, who is believed to have been helped by Ganesh, the god of wisdom, to write this epic tale. So technically, this conversation between Krishna and Arjun was Vyasa’s idea.
Note that all this is based on beliefs and speculation, for matters related to such subjects don’t exactly go hand in hand with logic.
We’ll take a pause here and go back to the Bible.
The Bible consists of two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament, or the pre-Jesus and the Jesus era respectively. The Bible consists of a total of 66 different books, 39 of the Old Testament and 27 of the New Testament. It was written over approximately 1500 years, by 35–40 authors, each of their own time. Long story short, it’s about how God created it all, and how Eve was tricked into eating the forbidden fruit that gave her knowledge and consciousness of the world, which gave rise to pain and suffering, followed by how the world was taken over by lots bad people and eventually was given a new hope, a new light through a mortal, or famously known as the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Another point that struck me here, both Krishna and Jesus play a similar role…mortals with divinity. Vyasa and the authors of the Bible play such a role as well. Vyasa wrote about a conversation between Krishna and Arjun whereas the 35 authors of the Bible recorded Jesus’ story and how he kept helping people in need through miracles.
And not just here, let’s go back some more…remember the stories of mischievous Krishna and then how he miraculously would defeat the most horrific of demons? And do you recall how Jesus turned water into wine and healed sick people just through touch?
Perhaps a mere coincidence?
Okay, let’s dive further…Krishna is believed to have been killed by a hunter’s arrow, specifically an arrow that pierced his foot, in his late thirties. Jesus too, was crucified around the same age.
Let that sink in.
While knowing and reeling about all this information, I also came to know about another interesting thing. Cruel, but interesting. For that let’s go to Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler. He hated the Jews. It would be a no-brainer even for the dumbest of men. Why? While there are many other speculations…here’s the one that strikes me particularly.
Recall the 12 apostles of Christ. One of them betrayed him, which of course led to his crucifixion. The one that betrayed him was a Jew. Let that sink in further.
When I was in 9th grade, I finally understood this whole game of religion. I knew Christianity, and I am a Hindu, so Hinduism wasn’t exactly a mystery for me. Then I asked myself, why leave the Quran? What else could the Quran possibly hold that wasn’t in the Bible or the Gita?
The answer is quite simple. Nothing.
In reality, I was looking for more similarities, a bridge…a connection point between the characters of the Bible and the characters of the Gita. So I searched and read the Quran from Google, and found just what I was looking for.
The Quran (originally written in Arabic) is believed to have been written by Prophet Muhammad, who obtained all this knowledge directly from God. God here is one with no shape, or form, quite unlike that of the Hindus. There are countless gods and goddesses for us. In Christianity the concept of God is divided like that of a three-leaved clover…the Father (God), the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit (our very soul).
Interestingly in the Quran, there were many characters and events quite repetitive and similar to that of the Bible, including Moses, Jesus, and Mary. One of the longest chapters of the Quran, The Cow, is nothing but a re-tell of Moses’ story of how by the time he wrote the 12 commandments of God, people started worshipping a cow made of gold.
The Quran was composed after some 500 years of the Bible. The content is very similar to that of the Bible, yet so very different in the way it has been told, written, and composed, it was pretty shocking to me, but at the same time, not so much.
Muhammad is called a Prophet. By definition, a prophet is someone who is believed to have been in close contact with God. He/She is gifted and can talk and listen to God. Hence prophet Muhammad.
But going by this reasoning, we can also say that Jesus and Krishna too were prophets, in a way. Jesus, the prophet of God (believed by Christians to be the son of God himself) Krishna, the prophet of Vishnu (but believed by Hindus to be a reincarnation of Vishnu) and of course, the prophet Muhammad. All these religious scriptures contain and spread the same values as each other. The only difference? Their authors. Jesus didn’t write the Bible, the 35 authors over some time wrote about him in the Bible. Krishna didn’t write the Gita, Vyasa wrote about him via Ganesh. Prophet Muhammad wrote the Quran, not about himself, but directly about God. All three of them acted like messengers of God.
The revelation of all this gives rise to the possibility of unity, all of this being one. The same values, the same messages. Different regions, different messiahs, prophets, gods, and different leaders, but the same writing, same text, and the same feeling of satisfaction after reading. This similarity is important, and it holds great value.
There probably is no concrete outcome to all this, but to know that the principles of every religion aren’t very different from each other is comforting. For me, that was the key takeaway. There are many more speculations, many more legends, and many more holy scriptures with the same content, but that is another story.
Quoting anonymously, “Faith is the evidence of things not seen.”
