Gandhi and Jesus – The history

Gandhi and Jesus – The history

Debi Prasad Choudhary

Los Angeles

About Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein said, "Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in flesh and blood walked upon this Earth.” Perhaps he, like many physicists, was skeptical of “history recordings”, which often presents the perspective of historian and not so much what happened. Also, there is no way to verify them in an active manner like we do in physics. Gandhiji's¹ last words were supposed to be “Hay Ram²” (है राम - Oh God). That is the version of girls escorting Gandhi to the evening prayer site. Recently, I came across the version of another person from my native state of Orissa, who was working as a gardener in Birala House³, where Gandhiji was killed. He did not hear any such words, he heard only a sound of pain some thing like “Ahhh..”. Gandhiji was falling down on to the ground after three bullets entered his frail body from a point blank distance.

I can imagine the situation. My father says, when Gandhiji used to fast in New Delhi, people in my remote town, that is located 1674 km away, were fasting!! On his 100^th birthday, when I was in class 5^th, our entire village worshipped him like a God. So, I can imagine the situation at his death site. I imagine an absolute shock that could have put many people in blank mind. Even, two associate of Gandhi-killer could not believe what happened, as the entire world was rushing towards the Birala House. So, constructing the exact historical account of what Gandhiji said at the time of death is futile. I rely on my image of Gandhiji and believe that he said “Hay Ram”, because any other version is equally true or false.

Like Gandhiji, I am equally fascinated with the life of Jesus Christ, who walked upon this earth with flesh and blood some 2000 years ago. My interest in this character got renewed today after attending a very interesting and enjoyable lecture by Dr. Bart D. Ehrman from University of North Carolina on “Does The Bible Present a Historically Accurate View of Jesus?” I draw parallel to Gandhiji’s death in history to illustrate how difficult it is to get the facts in the history of important moments. Dr. Ehrman said that the account of Jesus’s death by two apostles does not match. One of them write that Jesus said “"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do”. The other apostle says, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” In one case, Jesus seems to be in full control of the situation and generous, in the other he is helpless. Similarly, other apostles say different things that are not consistent, perhaps factually.

Let us, for a moment, imagine the situation of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, when he was nailed on a cross and hanged. The gruesome feeling, fear and shock of seeing a man, whom one loves and admires, in such a situation would haunt any body throughout the life. The apostles, who were admirers and followers of Jesus, would be undergoing through the trauma of this very moment in the rest of their life. After 40 or 60 years they finally decide to write these accounts, may be to free their minds from this intense feeling. It is hard to imagine, what they went through these years. Each of them would have thought about the events of that day continuously. (I myself think of my grand mothers death and cremation after 44 years). So, in their mind they attribute “thoughts” to what Jesus “said” and “could have said”. While writing down, they summarized what they thought it was. It was their account, what happened is immaterial to them. Future historians did not matter to their emotional account. After 2000 years of the death of Jesus, it may be unwise to determine what exactly he said at the time of that gruesome moment.

So, like in Gandhiji’s case, I makeup for myself. As Dr. Ehrman said, Jesus was not divine. May not be divine, who knows how is divine. But, I think he was a great man, a leader. If the apostles were his followers, he cannot be ordinary. If “some things” of what are said and written can be attributed to him, he was a great man. He was definitely wise. He felt for poor and suffering. He imagined a better life for all. Like many, this character impressed me throughout my life. So, I would like to think his last words were "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do".

According to oriental thinking, whenever righteousness in the society is diminished, God appears to establish it by protecting the gentle and eliminating the wicked⁴. It may be a fantasy for some, but I think these great men, like Budha, Srikrishna, Jesus and Gandhi appear among us to serve this purpose. To give hope to hopeless. What else an ordinary individual has to live until death in many places where war, deadly disease, hunger and exploitation are rampant? They die, for them nothing else happens until than. The stories of these great men are relevant and history is irrelevant for them.

¹Gandhiji: Mahatma Gandhi was also called Gandhiji in reverence.

² Ram: Ram is believed to be an incarnation of God in Indian subcontinent. Ram lived a life of most ideal human and ruled the nation in righteous manner. The period of his ruling is known as “Ram Rajya” or “Kingdom of Ram”. Gandhiji was most fond of Ram and wanted India to be like Kingdom of Ram after independence from British.

³Birla House: This is the house in New Delhi where Gandhi lived after independence of India and conducted evening prayer. After prayer, he talked about the unity of Hindus and Muslims, who were rioting following the partisan.

⁴This part is paraphrased from the Bhagabat Gita (Chapter 4, verse 8): परित्राणाय साधुनाम विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम , धर्म संस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे (paritranaya sadhunam 
vinasaya ca duskrtam 
dharma-samsthapanarthaya 
sambhavami yuge yuge)

SYNONYMS: paritranaya--for the deliverance; sadhunam--of the devotees; vinasaya--for the annihilation; ca--also; duskrtam--of the miscreants; dharma--principles of religion; samsthapana-arthaya--to reestablish; sambhavami--I do appear; yuge--millennium; yuge--after millennium.

TRANSLATION: In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.

(These materials are taken from the book “Gita As it is” By A. C. Bhaktivadent Prabhupad)