Is Jesus an avatar of Lord Vishnu?

[atanu]

In Hinduism, everything, sentient and non sentient, is from Vishnu, who, however, is distinct and higher than any manifested thing. He is the Seed and the Seed sower.

Vishnu, has 16 kalas, which when manifested is the complete infinite universe in manifestation. When the kalas are all withdrawn it is pure consciousness, such as of deep sleep. This entity is called Sarvesvara -- all Lord, whose reality is Self-Brahman-Turya.

Avatars are born at times of great distress -- pure consciousness gives rise to a person who is empowered to use the fullness for destruction of evil and mitigation of pain.

On the other hand, most beings like me are born ignorant of their true nature (due to pulls of desire) but are meant to seek the truth.

In Hinduism, Shiva, is again that Supreme Truth, called the Self-Brahman, who takes away all poison of existence, so that the good can become immortal.

From what christians tell me about Jesus, I tend to believe that Jesus embodies/symbolises the sacrifice of Shiva, in the context of another culture.

...

[Madhuri]

Originally Posted by Wannabe Yogi

Also the birth stories of Krishna and Christ have much in common.

Erm, Krishna was born in a prison as the 8th child of Vasudeva and Devaki (sister of a king). They were in prison because of a prophesy that the 8th born would be the one to kill king Kamsa. Vasudeva stole away Krishna to Vrindavana and swapped him with a female baby in the hope that Kamsa would not kill a baby girl. Krishna then grows up as the son of another king, Nanda.

How is this similar to Jesus' birth story?

[Milind2469]

A little search on the net gives this information.

The Gospel According to St Matthew says that King Herod ordered baby boys to be killed, for fear that one of them would grow up to usurp his throne. According to this Gospel, Jesus and his parents escaped to Egypt, returning only after Herod's death.
The only similar story is that of Krishna.
Also Indians (in local languages) pronounce "Christ" as if it rhimes with "Krishna".
Jesus is pronounced as "Isha" or "Yeshu" quite close to "Ish" for God.
By profession, both were herdsmen.

[Madhuri]

Originally Posted by Milind2469

A little search on the net gives this information.

The Gospel According to St Matthew says that King Herod ordered baby boys to be killed, for fear that one of them would grow up to usurp his throne. According to this Gospel, Jesus and his parents escaped to Egypt, returning only after Herod's death.
The only similar story is that of Krishna.
Also Indians (in local languages) pronounce "Christ" as if it rhimes with "Krishna".
Jesus is pronounced as "Isha" or "Yeshu" quite close to "Ish" for God.
By profession, both were herdsmen.

I still think that this is reaching. You can find similarities between anyone if you try.
Overall, Jesus and Krishna have extremely different stories. It doesn't really get much different than those two.

[Riverwolf]

Originally Posted by Wannabe Yogi

Also the birth stories of Krishna and Christ have much in common.

Not really. There's only two or three parallels.

[Riverwolf]

Originally Posted by Milind2469

A little search on the net gives this information.

The Gospel According to St Matthew says that King Herod ordered baby boys to be killed, for fear that one of them would grow up to usurp his throne. According to this Gospel, Jesus and his parents escaped to Egypt, returning only after Herod's death.
The only similar story is that of Krishna.

But only slightly.

And, actually, there's a parallel here to the Greek story of Oedipus, as well. It was prophesied to his father the king that Oedipus would kill him and marry the queen, so the king left him in the wilderness to die. (As per Greek irony, that caused the prophecy to be fulfilled. lol)

There's probably other similar stories throughout ancient stories.

Also Indians (in local languages) pronounce "Christ" as if it rhimes with "Krishna".

So? Krishna means "black"; Christ means "annointed one." The two words have nothing in common.

Jesus is pronounced as "Isha" or "Yeshu" quite close to "Ish" for God.

"Yeshua" is probably a brief form of "Yehoshua", or "Joshua", which, according to brief research, means "salvation."

By profession, both were herdsmen.

Actually, Jesus was a carpenter by profession. Once he started teaching, that profession would be that of teacher. Only metaphorically would he be called a "herdsman", which isn't enough to draw a real parallel to Krishna.

[kaisersose]

Originally Posted by Milind2469

A little search on the net gives this information.
The Gospel According to St Matthew says that King Herod ordered baby boys to be killed, for fear that one of them would grow up to usurp his throne. According to this Gospel, Jesus and his parents escaped to Egypt, returning only after Herod's death.
The only similar story is that of Krishna.

The Jesus story is believed to be crafted from several existing stories. For example, stories of virgin birth, etc., were already applied to Gods before the time of Jesus.

Also Indians (in local languages) pronounce "Christ" as if it rhimes with "Krishna".

They are saying it wrong.

Jesus is pronounced as "Isha" or "Yeshu" quite close to "Ish" for God.

Pronounced that way by whom? I have never heard it said that way.

By profession, both were herdsmen.

When was Jesus a herdsman? The Mahabharata Krishna is not a herdsman either. He is a Yadava prince and king. The Krishna who tends cows comes from other (later) sources.

[YmirGF]

Originally Posted by Madhuri

How is this similar to Jesus' birth story?

Beats me.

[Wannabe Yogi]

Originally Posted by Riverwolf

Not really. There's only two or three parallels.

Things about Krishna and Jesus births that they have in common:

-The killing of the innocents (All male Children) by the local king to get rid of them because he saw them as a threat.
-Both births were Divinely announced. For Christ it was that Angel Gabriel and for Krishna it was that heavenly Gadfly Narada Muni.
-Both were raised by step dads.
-Herders both were a big part of the story for both. Shepherds for Christ and Gopas (herders of cows) for Krishna.
-Both had humble starts even though they were of both from the blood lines of kings.
-They amazed others with their great knowledge even at a very young age.

These are just off the top of my head. Books have be written on this subject.

[Wannabe Yogi]

Originally Posted by kaisersose

When was Jesus a herdsman? The Mahabharata Krishna is not a herdsman either. He is a Yadava prince and king. The Krishna who tends cows comes from other (later) sources.

He lived with the Gopas and took care of cows as a child and a teen. Jesus was not a heardsman. But they played a major part in His birth story.

There are many tie ins with many myths all over the world, both Karna and Moses were put in a basket, sent down the river by their moms. I can give many, many examples of this type of thing from all over the world.