New book highlights The Gospel of St Thomas

Rajiv Roy *

The book, Christ the Guru – A Vedantic Key to the Gospels, is a commentary on the Gospel by the learned Swami Muni Narayana Prasad in the light of Advaita Vedanta. The disciple of Nataraja Guru and Guru Nitya Chaitanya Yati, Muni Narayana is the head of Narayana Gurukula, a guru-disciple foundation open to all, irrespective of caste, creed, gender, religion or nation and has traveled widely teaching Indian philosophy. He became familiar with the Gospels of Christ, as a fledgling seeker and found them to be deeply stirring. But he wasn't satisfied until he dived deep "... into the depths of Vedanta under the guidance of Nataraja Guru".

The "... ocean of philosophical insight hiding within the words and story of Jesus only became accessible..." to him after he had gone into the depths of Vedanta. The book makes a comparative study of religions and has found place among those, as the author rightly says, "... who are willing to believe with an open mind in the comparative study of religions, being sure that religion is for man, and not man for religion, that is to say, those seekers of truth who are willing to look beyond the superficial differences of our spiritual traditions until they find the core, unitive principles." In fact, person with such an attitude will undoubtedly and convincingly realize "... that the essential content of all religion is one."

The five part book starts with The Gospel According to Matthew followed by The Gospels according to Mark, Luke and John. Muni Narayana in this scholarly attempt has also included the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas in the book in the last part. An interesting facet of this book is that the language and style with regard to Jesus and Advaita Vedanta is attempted "... to explain the wisdom in one cultural frame of reference as found in another." There is marked semblance as the author richly elucidates the language and style to a context familiar to the then Semitic and Mediterranean culture in case of Jesus whereas the language and style of the Advaita Vedanta belong to a context familiar to the Indian culture.

He strikes down all misgivings related to the mystery shrouding "Son of God". While casting beautifully that "Jesus, as seen in the Gospels, always maintains his position as an enlightened seer (rsi). We may also call this the position of a true guru." The author explains that the word guru literally means "dispeller of darkness" and an enlightened seer only would have shown humanity the true nature of life and its goal because Jesus reacted to the natural life situations as a Guru and "... positively teaches his disciples and the general public who follow him."

The self-realized guru par excellence that Jesus is has been demonstrated by the author in his attempt. All human beings have one common thing in them and that is to attain happiness, as the author pointedly says, "... by making use of our unique gift, the thinking mind." He further makes it clear that the purpose of the Gospels is to enlighten those aspiring souls seeking Jesus "... to the heavenly place of wisdom where he resides... From these gospel accounts, we may perceive in his life and words the same absolutist vision that underlies the teachings of Advaita Vedanta. Indeed, attaining paramananda, the ultimate goal of Vedanta, and the coming of the kingdom, described by Jesus, are not two. The essence of this supreme happiness is expressed in the words of Jesus himself when he declares: I and the Father are one. – John 10.29"

With regard to The Gospel of Thomas, the book presents a factual insight into this gospel, which is totally different and away from the four mainstay of Christianity as a religion, that is, The New Testament Gospels, as written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These four primarily narrates the biography of Jesus of Nazareth, his wisdom teachings interwoven in line with his biographic details and ends with his crucifixion and resurrection. The Gospel of Thomas on the other hand contains 114 simple saying of Jesus. "In this Gospel" writes Muni Narayana, "he performs no physical miracles, reveals no fulfillment of prophesy, announces no apocalyptic kingdom about to disrupt the world order, and for no one's sins. Instead, Thomas's Jesus dispenses insight from the bubbling spring of wisdom (saying 13), discounts the value of prophecy and its fulfillment (saying 52), criticizes the concept of an actual end of the world (saying 51, 113), and offers a way of salvation through the wisdom enshrined in his own words."

The four gospels were found to be assisting for the growth of Christian Church, according to biblical historians "... which portray the personal character of Jesus in the best light, were chosen and included in the Bible." Among the discarded was perhaps the one written by Thomas although the works that incorporate Jesus's life and teachings were authored by many. Muni Narayana refers here a papyrus copy of The Gospel by Thomas "... recovered accidentally in 1945 from one of the huge cliffs that flanked the River Nile in Upper Egypt", an area not far away from the modern city of Nag Hammadi.

He then gave a brief account of how the gospel was found by Mohammed Ali and his friends and later have been the relics of the library of the Coptic Church that exists in Egypt to this day. He based this last commentary on the closely examined original Coptic text under ultraviolet light by Mervin Meyer, who prepared a new edition of The Gospel of Thomas. Muni Narayana presents here another side to the crucifixion of Jesus according to certain thinkers who believe that he "... did not die at the cross, but escaped from it and thereafter, along with a few of his disciples, travelled to India." Thought it is certainly not incontrovertibly proven, but this part of Jesus's life is made into a movie "Secret Lives of Jesus" available in the National Geographic Channel, now. There is also a book by Holger Kersten "Jesus Lived in India" known for its thorough, methodical and authoritative examination of the evidence of Christ's life beyond the Middle East before the crucifixion and in India and elsewhere after it.

In his book, Muni Narayana mentions, "According to them (certain thinkers), he (Jesus) died in Kashmir. St Thomas was one among the disciples who reputedly accompanied Jesus on his travel to India. But based on historical facts, it seems more likely that St Thomas reached India, if at all he did, through the trade relations that the Malabar Coast of India had with the Mediterranean region, which existed ever since the pre-Christian era." St Thomas founded four churches in different places of Kerala and is believed to have died at the hillock now known as St Thomas Mount and his mortal remains were buried at Sam Thom Church in Chennai city.

For a non-Christian who wants to realize the spiritual aspects of the Gospels and Jesus cannot get a better intuitive explanation than this book authored by Muni Narayana, which is well and truly an unparallel feat. And for the Christians, whosoever has come across this must-collect book so far, has found a never-found meaning to the Bible. ()