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Re: social justice

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g_prabhu_srinivas • January 20, 2002 


i believe you consider matthew 22:36-40 (KJV) as being the principal 
tenets of christianity -

22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 
22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 
22:38 This is the first and great commandment. 
22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour 
as thyself. 
22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 

i quote the bhagavad gita 12.13-14 (swami prabhupada's translation) -

"One who is not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, 
who does not think himself a proprietor and is free from false ego, 
who is equal in both happiness and distress, who is tolerant, always 
satisfied, self-controlled, and engaged in devotional service with 
determination, his mind and intelligence fixed on Me -- such a 
devotee of Mine is very dear to Me."

i can't see any difference between the gospel according to matthew 
22:36-40 and the bhagavad gita 12.13-14. in fact, the gita seems to 
go further and directs man to love *all* living beings - not only 
one's neighbours, parents etc.

this is regarding the underlying theories of christianity and 
hinduism. translating theory to practice is a different matter 
entirely.

regards,
prabhu.

--- In bhakti-list@y..., greg michel  wrote:
> Pranams,
>  Usually when it comes to discussing hindu bielefs
> often orthodox christans say that it has no sense of
> social justice. They say that theory of karma make
> people fatalistic about their lifes.
> Whatever happens to me is my karma and there is no
> point of counteracting it. For instance lately I have
> heard a story from a christan nun. She was serving
> people in hospital and one day came to her a man from
> lower caste ( sudra, or loer) suffering from stomach
> ache. She find out that he was working for a rich
> landlord but landlord wasn't paying him for his job.
> In effect he was starving and suffering from
> deasise.The nun visted landlord to speak with him
> about the matter. She asked why he wasn't paying the
> man for his job and mentioned that a man was about to
> die. The landlord replied: "It is his karma, and you
> have done a wrong thing by helping him. If he would
> have died  he surely would have attained higher caste
> in his next birth as a effect of his service to me."
> The things has taken place in India in mid sixties.
>  She went on saying, it was on a radio, that vedas
> have no teachings of love. Only Christe commanded "To
> love your neighbour as yourself" or "Whatever you have
> done to this lowest among yourselfs you have done it
> to me". Therfore, she concluded, christian faith
> represents much higher teachings than any hindu sect.
>  Could you comment on this. Is it really true? Are
> there commandments in  Vedas similiar to christan? 
> With best wishes,
> Garga Rsi das
> 
> 
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