hemelvaart 3

the ascension of Christ
was neither the first...
nor was it the last !

in 16th century India (!!)
Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
(literally: ´great Lord with Krishna consciousness´) 
in a little village in Bengal ascended as well !

there are by the way other - remárkable - similarities between 

hís life and spiritual mission and that of our Lord Jesus Christ!

for instance...

1. at the end of Chaitanya's life, his ´human form´ Nitai received a heavy blow on the forehead - just as our Lord Jesus Christ received on his head the crown of thorns ...

2. blood thereby flowed all over his head, but not for a moment was he angry; after receiving such a fatal blow, still chanting and praising the name of the Lord !

3. 'You hit me with the pot, in return I will give you love' was his reply... doesn this reminds us of Matthew 5:38-40: ´You have heard that it was said, Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth. But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also...

4. When Chaitanya as Nimai, i.e. in his divine form, comes to Nitai´s recsuce and wants to punish his attacjers, his human form Nitai objects: 'Have you forgotten the purpose of Your present appearance? You have come this time to give only love, not punishment. O Lord, I beg You, save their lives! Let them live, my Lord!´

5. Nitai's argument to that effect: 'They are not doers, just instruments. Yoú are the doer, O Lord! You have made them do what You wanted to demonstrate!"... Isn't that the same as Christ's: ´Father, forgive them, because they don't know what they are doing´?

6. And the answer from Nimai, the God in Chaitanya - exactly as God did because of the kindness of Jezus: ´Because of your kindness, they are today free from the cycle of birth and death!´

7. just before Chaitanya's ascension, there is the encounter with a... criminal! Very similar to the story of the 'good murderer' in the Bible. The message here even more explicit: 'Beg forgiveness from him against whom you have committed crimes. If he kindly forgives you, then you will be free from the cycle of birth and death´...

8. Third parties do assure this man: ´As you have touched the feet of the Lord, you have no more worries´... A variation on: ´Your faith has saved you!´

9. "Who who worship Lord Gauranga become my life and soul" ...

10. Chaitanya's beloved is called Vishnupriya, the ´physical love´... Reminds us of Jezus' lover Mary Magdalene? ... Vishnupriya is anyway the one, ´who massages His feet' ... 

11. When Chaitanya 'steps out of life' and Vishnupriya discovers, just as Mary Magdalen, she ´runs to His mother´ and cries: ´I can't find him!´ ... His mother then running after Him, just as appalled as Vishnupriya, aka Mary Magdalen, was.

12. God is called a 'friend of the poor', 'friend of the Gopis', and 'lover of Radharani' ... He went into the temple, and then was found no more...