Hindu Appreciation of Christ — Swami Bhaskarananda

Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on December 23, 2012.

In this talk, Swami Bhaskarananda reflects on Jesus Christ from a Hindu perspective and explains why the Ramakrishna monastic tradition reveres him as a divine incarnation. Drawing on the Hindu teaching that divine incarnations are innumerable, he distinguishes between God’s equal presence everywhere and the varying degrees to which divinity is manifested in different beings, emphasizing compassion, unselfishness, and spiritual awakening as marks of an incarnation. He recounts Sri Ramakrishna’s acceptance of Jesus through a vivid spiritual experience, and presents Christ as a “window” through which one may perceive the same divine Reality honored in other sacred lives.

The lecture also highlights Jesus’ teachings on purity of heart, love, and inner perfection, relating them to Hindu ideals of seeing divinity in all. Swami Bhaskarananda discusses Christ’s humility, moral courage, and sense of justice, including his response to those who sought to punish others harshly. He then offers a Hindu interpretation of the resurrection in terms of a profound yogic state, underscoring the transformative spiritual power attributed to divine teachers. The talk concludes with an invitation to the Society’s Christmas Eve worship and a prayer for harmony and peace.