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Parallel Texts

Friday, September 25, 2015

Hinduism: Week 2

Parallel Texts
Friday, September 25, 2015

Below are a few astoundingly parallel passages between sacred texts from Hinduism and sacred texts from Christianity. I hope this short introduction will encourage you to seek much further on your own.

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“You are the field. I am the Knower of the field in everyone. Knowledge of the field combined with its Knower is true and full knowledge.” —Bhagavad Gita 13:1

“When both your spirit and the Holy Spirit bear a united witness, you will know that you are a child of God.” —Romans 8:16

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“Just as a reservoir is of little use when the whole countryside is flooded, Scriptures are of little use to the illumined man or woman, who sees the Lord everywhere.” —Bhagavad Gita 2:46

“You yourselves are our letter . . . not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God written on your hearts. . . . Written letters bring death, but the Spirit brings life.” —2 Corinthians 3:2, 6

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“My true being is unborn and changeless. I am the Lord who dwells in every creature. Through the power of my own appearance, I manifest myself in finite forms.” —Bhagavad Gita 4:5-6

“In the beginning was only Being; One without a second. Out of himself he brought forth the cosmos and entered into everything in it. There is nothing that does not come from him. Of everything he is the inmost Self.” —The Chandogya Upanishad, Chapter 6, 2:2-3

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through him all things came to be, and not one thing had its being but through him. . . . And the Word became flesh and dwells among us.”  —John 1:1, 3, 14

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“A person is what his deep desire is. It is our deepest desire in this life that shapes the life to come. So let us direct our deepest desire to realize the Self.” —The Chandogya Upanishad, Chapter 3, 14:1

“So this is how you should pray. . . . May we do your will on earth as it is done in heaven.” —Matthew 6:9-10

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“There is nothing that does not come from him. Of everything he is the inmost Self. He is the truth; he is the Self Supreme. And you are that! You are that!” —The Chandogya Upanishad, Chapter 6, 2:3

“I give them eternal life, and they will never be lost, and no one can steal them from me. . . . Nor can anyone steal them from the Father.  Know that I and the Father are one.” —John 10:28, 30

“He is with you, he is in you. . . . On that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” —John 14:17, 20

Gateway to Silence:
The Christ in me sees the Christ in you. Namaste.

Image credit: Dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Bhagavad Gita; The San Diego Museum of Art Collection
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