Book Review: Mahathi’s “Hare Krishna”- by Leonard Dabydeen
Author: Mahathi – Book: Hare Krishna
Mahathi
Mahathi is the author’s pen name. His true name is Mydavolu Venkatasesha Sathyanarayana.
Publisher: Prowess Publishing, May 2, 2017 Pages (Print Length) Paperback 402 pages
ASIN B071VDC76Y
ISBN 978 161 813 284 Kindle Paperback. See Availability below
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Comments
Special “THANKS” to Editor, Cyril Bryan on the publication of this book review. It is also shared with The Boston Literary Magazine.
~Leonard Dabydeen
Thx to Mr. Dabydeen for his book review.
I have a few comments. First, a couple words need explanation.
Incarnation in Hinduism means the ‘descent’ of the Omnipotent God (Brahman as Isvara and Vishnu) – or a subset thereof, as I like to think of it – in human form for a specific purpose (as the Christ in Christianity; furthermore there is a remarkable link between Christ and Christna/Krishna). This incarnation in Sanskrit is called ‘Outar’/Avatar. More on this below.
In the quote: “…fractured society and its social ills make us inhuman in a human world. This is Adharma. And only by following the Dharmic path alone can bring eternal peace and prosperity to the world.”
In simplest terms, “Dharma” = ‘Natural Universal Law’ derived etymologically from Sanskrit “dhr’ to hold or bind together – the universe as an unity. (Thus, Hinduism’s proper name is: Sanatan Dharma = Eternal Law; “Hindu” is a geographic name). So, in a fractured (adharmic) world Krishna (speaking as God incarnate) says in the Bhagavad Gita that he returns (reincarnates) from time to time when adharma is too prevalent in order to urge and spread ‘dharmic’ behaviour – which also means prosecuting a ‘righteous war’ as is detailed in the Mahabharata. (see Guyanese, Sharon Maas/Westmaas/ Aruna Sharan’s: Sons of Gods – The Mahabharata Retold, as a much reduced novel of the huge epic). https://www.amazon.com/Sons-Gods-Mahabharata-Sharon-Maas/dp/1441490167
The correspondence between Christ and Christna/Krishna has been noted by numerous scholars including the late Tom Harpur, former U/T prof of Greek and New Testament and theologian, and Louis Jacolliot in his 1876 book: The Bible in India. Jacolliot was a French jurist in India during the time France held colonies in India. He studied Sanskrit and the Indian religions. You can get it as a free ebook or can get an edited hard copy (by Ravi Prakash Arya) where the spelling of the Sanskrit names are properly transliterated. One important point Jacolliot made is that Krishna is the commonly used spelling, but he properly chose to use Christna following Sanskrit grammar. https://www.bing.com/search?q=the+bible+in+India+Jacolliot&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&pq=the+bible+in+india+jacolliot&sc=0-28&sk=&cvid=2FDF514FBCD344469B766DA57739496B
In fact, Jacolliot (seemingly a mulatto) claims with good support, relying especially on how Sanskrit names morphed into Egyptian, Greek, Latin and Hebrew, that the religions of Egypt, Greece, Rome/Italy and the Abrahmic religions plagiarized the Vedic religion – Hinduism. Manu (the primeval MAN and ancient Law Giver of Indian origin; the word ‘man’ is derived from said Manu) morphed into Manes, Minos and Moses.
Similarly, he argues that it is Krishna’s teachings which Jesus studied and that he was assigned the “Christ” to reflect Christna/Krishna by the apostles/followers. He also queried (as I also do) why Jesus’ ministry began when he was age 30. He was most likely sudying ancient religions.
And, Noah’s flood is taken from the legend of Manu. (this you can google).
(St Augustine later, c350CE, said that what is called the Christian religion existed among the ancients.)
Most of this I already knew, but what surprised me (currently reading the book) is that the Adam and Eve story is also out of Sri Lanka. Adam is derived from Sanskrit “Adima” meaning the ‘first’ or ‘original’ and Heva means ‘to complete’, so that Heva complements Adima who combined to be the first human ancestors.
Incidentally, a mountain peak in Sri Lanka is called “Adam’s Peak”, which early mariners used as a guide. Furthermore, there is a ‘bridge of rocks’ linking Sri Lanka with India. That bridge is called Adam’s Bridge (Google it). That bridge is said to have been made by Lord Ram (another earlier avatar) using an army of monkeys to help him get to Lanka to retrieve his wife Sita who was abducted by Ravana.
(Another fact of interest which will support Jacolliot’s thesis is that there are two cities in Italy on opposing coasts, called Rome and Raveena, just as Rama and Ravana were opposites!
Two important points to note in the Adima-Heva (Adam-Eve) legend is that it is the MAN, Adima, who violated God’s instruction, NOT the woman, Eve, in the Abrahamic Bible and tradition is blamed as the prime actor of “Original Sin”. In fact, God was soft on Heva, promising that one of her female progeny would be the Mother of the ‘Redeemer’ (Christna/Krishna and other outars).
Here is another tidbit (not in the book) to unfortunately shake up the faithful. Abraham, the father of the tribes, and father of the Biblical traditions had a wife, Sara. Well, in Hinduism, the Creator function (as father) of the universe is assigned to Brahma, whose consort is Sarasvati. Drop the “A” in and rearrange the last two letters in Abraham, and the “vati” in Sarasvati and see what you get – a clear correspondence with Hindu beliefs.
BTW: Maintenance is assigned to the ‘Son”, Vishnu) and (dissolution/regeneration to Shiva. Even the CERN particle accelerator in Switzerland pays homage to Shiva by having an effigy of Shiva – as Nataraja –Lord of Dance (representing the ‘dance’ of subatomic particle – in the foreground.
See how this Hindu Trinity likely influenced the Biblical Trinity? Oh, and the God particle they were seeking – the BOSON – is named after and Indian scientist, Satyendra BOSE (but he got no award); (and, the Bose audio speakers are named after another Bose).
(‘Avatar’ in English from Outar; in fact the movie, Avatar, uses some Hindu ideas such a winged inhabitants – replicating ‘Garuda’ the mythological vehicle of LordVishnu; also the tails on the inhabitants are reminiscent of the monkey army of Ram, in the Ramayana epic.
Veda Nath Mohabir
In the above, I rushed through only a sample of correspondences between Christianity/Abraham/Moses with the Vedic religion/Hinduism. Louis Jacolliot deals with many more such as the ‘virgin’ birth of Jesus and Krishna and both were in danger of being killed by a tyrant king. Anyone not worried about their faith shaken should read his work, as am impartial observer. (link above).
Just a day after the above posting, I googled ‘Adima’ and ‘Heva’ and was surprised that this original Adam and Eve story has already been all over the internet with multiple hits.
https://www.google.ca/search?source=hp&q=+Adima+%26+Heva&oq=+Adima+%26+Heva&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i22i30k1j0i22i10i30k1.93464.104438.0.106711.12.12.0.0.0.0.294.1545.4j7j1.12.0….0…1.1.64.psy-ab..0.12.1534…0j0i131k1j0i10k1j0i13i30k1.ZzTEnr1uznM
Similarly, Louis Jacolliot’s book (The Bible in India) is archived in a number of scholarly institutions. This free Google one (can be read online) seems is taken from a ‘Harvard College’ library. https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=cywYAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA20
.Veda Nath Mohabir