Can Jesus be called Shiva?

[Ahimsa]

Jesus is the Christ: Can Jesus be called Shiva?

Hindus already say that, like the Buddha, Jesus is an avatar of Vishnu. This is natural enough since Vishnu is the Preserver and Jesus is the Saviour. Gandhi, for his part, who revered Jesus as much as Krishna and Buddha, considered him to be a divine manifestation among others but could not consider him to be unique and certainly not to be God in any proper sense.

Jesus can be called Shiva in the sense of “auspicious” and “beneficent” since the Gospel accounts show him to be such. Jesus cannot be called Shiva in the Puranic sense since the stories of the Puranas are not the stories of the Nazarene. But there are other meanings of the word ‘Shiva’.

The recently discovered school of Indian thought called ‘Kashmir Shaivism’ places simple awareness as the Ultimate Reality and calls this consciousness ‘Shiva’. Now, consciousness (samvit) is not ignorant of itself. The self-awareness of consciousness (vimarsha) is the realisation that “I am” (aham), which is the supreme Word (paravac). Furthermore, Shiva is not static but vibrant (spanda) and, being unlimited act, takes pleasure in doing what is improbable and impossible. Shiva takes on the form of limited human beings and even the form of inanimate objects. Consciousness can be interpreted as love since consciousness states, “I am” and does not say, “I am not”. It cannot say: “I am not this wretched person” but says; “You are my very self”.

Jesus is the supreme Word, the Logos, who delights in doing what is impossible, namely to take on the form of the slave and to die. Jesus who often proclaims ‘I am’ is in this sense Shiva.

 

[strngrnrth]

Jesus isn’t one avatar among many. He is God’s only begotten Son.

 

[Ahimsa]

Jesus isn’t one avatar among many. He is God’s only begotten Son.

Does that mean that Christ has not manifested in more than one way?

 

[LilyM]

Does that mean that Christ has not manifested in more than one way?

What exactly does ‘avatar’ mean, though? Does it mean ‘reincarnation’ or something else? And how exactly is the avatar related to the original god? See we don’t believe that Jesus is simply a ‘reincarnation’ or ‘form’ of God - but also the SON of God the Father. There’s a relationship of begetting rather than just incarnation.

Isn’t Krishna supposed to be an avatar of Vishnu? Do Krishna worshippers have the same view of Krishna’s relationship to Vishnu that we do of the relationship between God the Father and Christ, ie ‘who sees me sees the Father’, ‘the Father and I are one’, ‘all authority has been given to me on earth (by the Father)’? As far as I know they don’t.

Do Krishna worshippers have devotions or offer worship direct to Vishnu or do they simply restrict themselves to honouring Krishna and believe that they are automatically honouring Vishnu in so doing, or do they just not bother honouring Vishnu at all?

And doesn’t the concept of ‘avatar’ imply that the relevant god can and will in future come back in other forms too? We certainly don’t believe that God is going to come back in any other form at any future time than the ones He has already had to date - namely a) Jesus Christ and b) the Holy Eucharist.

 

[Dauphin]

Does that mean that Christ has not manifested in more than one way?

The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity assumed human nature in only once instance.

 

[mercygate]

Does that mean that Christ has not manifested in more than one way?

In Christian theology, the answer is yes. Christ has not “manifested” in more than one way.

I certainly appreciate the correspondence between the Hindu “trinity” and our own, but would consider it to be a product of natural religion. We are all hard-wired to relate with our Creator. The intimations of God that come to the seeking heart, even without Divine Revelation, count for a great deal of resonance across cultures and across the spectrum of religious beliefs.

Christianity is unique in its historical underpinnings. To the mind of the ancient religious traditions, shuch as Hinduism, this makes us naive. But as the old saying goes, “That’s our story, and we’re stickin’ with it!”

 

[jesusluv]

No, Jesus cannot be called Shiva. He can be called Jesus in whatever language you speak, that will suffice. I realize you aren’t calling him Shiva, just generalizing.

 

[rad]

I have indian friends they said in india or in the usa …if some one want’s to becomes pregnant they go to the shiva temple or temple the woman about the men im not sure and worship shiva linga the sexual organ…a fertillity rite of some kind… how does someone compare shiva with christ because of this,Maybe i missunder stood what they said to me…???im confused…

 

[notsmart]

I am just glad God found some way to somehow, give those who lived before christians or Jews to know a way to seek something, something selfless, and for a reach to good, without having the benefit of any Jews or Christians to “help”

That is only a testament to how much God loves.

But, now that we know about Jesus why bother with this?

 

[D_M]

Many pagan religions have recognized Jesus as a god, demigod or some other divine manifestation whom they would would rank together with the pantheon of gods.

That is to say, they did not deny that Jesus was a god, but they still saw no reason why this god should have been placed alone and the others eliminated as the christian religion required.

In ancient Rome, christians were often crticizied for their exclusivity of their one ‘Jesus god’.

It should not be too much of a surprise that this practice also exists in modern pagan India which has a religion very similar to what existed in the rest of the ancient idolatrous world.

Idolaters (and this unfortunately includes some number of Hindus that practice this) who worship idols do not worship God, but rather they worship satan, and I think that is the reason why St Paul included them with fornicators, practicing homosexuals, etc. as people who cannot attain eternal life.

Psalms 95:5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols; but the Lord made the heavens.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Do you not know that the unrighetous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.

But the question does come to be considered though here:

is that even though all the gods worshipped by the Hindus and others who practice idolatry are actually demons, when they worship Jesus as one of the gods or as some divine manifestation are they still worshipping the devil or are they the honouring God?

And that’s an interesting point to consider, and the best I can do is cite what St Paul wrote about the topic of the worship of idols

1 Corinthians 10:14-21 Therefore my beloved, shun the worship of idols. I speak as to sensible men; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the practice of Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

…So… to make a long answer shorter, if what St Paul says is true that one cannot drink the cup of the Lord and honour the idols at the same time, I would then judge the answer to the above question is that no, Jesus cannot be called Shiva, nor honoured in any pagan cult that practices idolatry (even if this one happens to be a major religion).

 

[bpbasilphx]

Does that mean that Christ has not manifested in more than one way?

**No, He has not.

Vishnu and Krishna and Shiva are other names for Satan.

Kali is Sataness.**

 

[eucharist04]

No we can not, why:

Philippians 2:9-11,

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

To call Jesus by any other name is satans way of getting rid of a name that makes him fearful. Jesus’ name is above all names:thumbsup:

 

[eucharist04]

What about “Yeshua”?

Yeshua is Jewish for Jesus, which is the same name, both means God saves

 

[LDNCatholic]

What about “Yeshua”?

You have a point, but Jesus, Yeshua, Yasu, Isa, Iesu, etc are all just dialectic variants on the one name.

Shiva, Krishna, Brahma, Ganesh, Hanuman, Kali, Vishnu et al are different names, with different meanings.

 

[LDNCatholic]

Shiva-’‘Auspicious one’’
Vishnu- ‘‘One who is everywhere’’
Krishna- ‘‘Blue’’, has been interpreted as ‘‘all attractive one’’

 

[LDNCatholic]

“Messiah” has a different literal meaning than “Yeshua”, yet they are both still applied to the incarnation of the “Logos”, which has yet another literal meaning.

Messiah and Logos are titles, the name he went by on Earth was Yashua.

 

[philialeaf]

Is it Catholic teaching that the “false gods” that people of other religions believe in are actually demons? If so where can I find it in Scripture and/or Catechism? Thank you!

 

[eucharist04]

You have a point, but Jesus, Yeshua, Yasu, Isa, Iesu, etc are all just dialectic variants on the one name.

Shiva, Krishna, Brahma, Ganesh, Hanuman, Kali, Vishnu et al are different names, with different meanings.

Jesus is the name above all names. These others you quote, will one day bow before the name of Jesus. Those hindu names you quote may have different meanigs, but they are nothing but false gods. Only in Jesus and only in him has God chosen to reveal himself.

 

[LDNCatholic]

I have no problem with those terms being applied to Christ.

Me neither. However one must be careful not to cause scandal by publicly associating the names of pagan Gods with the One True God, as this may encourage people into worship of Hindu deities, or other religions.

And if you don’t read Sanskrit, why would you apply their words to your prayer?

 

[bpbasilphx]

Is it Catholic teaching that the “false gods” that people of other religions believe in are actually demons?

Psalm 95:5 LXX: “The gods of the nations are demons.”