03/07/2007
Marcos
My family is Christian but I enjoy very much reading your books and answers here. I would like to know what you can suggest to a Christian as me as when referring to love, if I do not practice your religion, Hinduism?. Is it different?. I like very much everything your write about Bhakti yoga and of service to others, and of the love, but I ask myself if in order to live like this I need to change my religion of Christian to Hindu?
03/09/2007
Swami Ramakrishnananda

In the Gospel of Saint John, chapter 17.12,17 Jesus Christ left a very clear command…”My command is that you love one another as I loved you.” And “these things I send you so that you love one another”…

And this love does not remit only and solely to the members of a determined religious organization, or to the believers of a determined religion that consider themselves something like members of a club that owns The Truth. Christ is exposing the Divine love, not a type of passion or selfish attachment that we wrongfully call “love”. Jesus Christ is exhibiting the divine love of the father, of all of us, it is the love of whom created the hair of the Christian as well as the hair of the Jew, the hands of the Christian just like of the Muslim, the feet of the Christian just like that of the communist and atheist, and Jesus gives us a “command”, to love one another in the same way he loved all of us…

In other words to love like Jesus loved…

To this aspect of the master we refer to in Hinduism as “Acharya” or he who teaches through personal example, not asking of us something that he himself is not able of doing, he sets the example…

In the Gospel according to Saint John Chapter 15, from verses 9 to 17 it is impressive, we are asked to love ourselves, to love everyone…

Karma yoga is to serve humanity seeing The Lord behind every creature, and Jesus Christ tells us in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, chapter 25, verse 40…”I assure you that whenever you have did it with the smallest of my brothers, you did it with me”… 

If you can notice what it says here it is impressive for its clarity and directness, serve other, everyone, humanity, seeing The Lord behind every one of those you serve, when you help the helpless, it Jesus whom you help, when you feed the hungry, it is Jesus whom you feed, when you help the needy you are helping The Lord directly…

No dear Marcus, it is not necessary to change your religion, what The Lord asks us is not to change one “ism” to another…

What is asked of us is much more profound, a change of heart, a true transformation…