Question: A reader submitted a question that he is very troubled by something he read at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hinduism-jesus-christ-pushkar-aazaad-astrologer, which claims that ancient Hindu writings predicted Jesus even before the Bible did, that Hindu writings also spoke of a savior being crowned with a crown of thorns, and that Hindu writings foretold the name of Jesus, among other claims.
Response: None of these claims are true. The author of these claims, who identifies himself as an astrologer named Pushkar, is making outwardly false claims that can easily be shown to be false.
Here are some responses to the Linkedin article in which Pushkar makes several false claims that would have the effect of undermining the legitimacy Christianity, if the claims had been true, while elevating his own personal and unique version of Hinduism. A review of the claims that he makes shows that he is consistently inaccurate and that his claims are demonstrably, verifiably and outwardly false.
Let’s review his claims in the order in which he gives them.
False claim 1 from Pushkar:
“I have gleaned the following scriptural references from Hindu scripture books about Christ. These Hindu scriptural passages show clearly that Christ was born to a virgin, is holy and blameless, he suffered and died, and redeemed the sinners by shedding his holy blood.” - Pushkar.
The short answer is that none of the Hindu writings have anything to do with Jesus, as this article will explain later with examples. Also, Pushkar is making the claim that the Hindu writings are predictive, that they foretold details about Jesus. They did not. The Christian Bible is stunningly unique in that it does offer predictive prophecies. In fact, it is estimated that about one-fourth of the Bible is predictive prophecy. The Bible contains more than 300 predictive prophecies in the Old Testament about Jesus Christ. The Hindu writings do not function in this way. They are not predictive, as Pushkar falsely claims.
False claim 2 from Pushkar:
“All the Hindu scriptures which are referred are written in Sanskrit language and the Vedas quoted here are written between 2000 and 1500 B.C. The Upanishads are written between 10th century and 2nd century B.C.” – Pushkar.
None of this is provable. None of it. Some scholars claim that the Vedas were orally composed as early as 1,500 to 1,200 BC, as in 3,500 to 3,200 years ago, but we simply have no way to prove that they were. The oldest known copies of the Vedas are actually from about 1,000 AD to about 1,300 AD. In other words, the oldest known physical copies of the Vedas are actually only about 1,000 years old, or younger.
Given the actual physical evidence, we have no way of knowing that the Vedas were ever committed to writing during ancient times. The oldest physical copies that we have are actually 1,000 years younger than the New Testament, as in 1,000 years after the New Testament. We have no way of knowing whether the Vedas that were written 1,000 years ago bear any resemblance to the Vedas that were transmitted orally more than 1,000 years ago.
As for the Upanishads, the oldest known manuscripts appear a few centuries after the oldest known manuscripts of the Vedas. In other words, the oldest known physical manuscripts of the Upanishads are even more recent than the Vedas. Again, we have no reliable way of knowing whether any of the Upanishads that were written less than 1,000 years ago bear any resemblance to what might have been orally transmitted beforehand.
The goal here is not to disrespect the Hindu writings but to address the false claims that are being made by Pushkar. He made the claims, they are false, and one has the right to expose these false claims. Again, no disrespect is intended for Hindu writings. The Hindu writings are not responsible for the false claims that Pushkar is making and they are not to blame for the false claims that Pushkar is making.
False claim 3 from Pushkar:
Pushkar writes: “After creating the sky, waters, and the earth, the supreme spirit of the Lord almighty thought “I created the worlds. Now to provide for and to save these worlds I have to create a savior.” Thinking thus He gave birth to a man from himself. (Ithareya Upanishad 1.1.3)”
At first glance, this “translation” offered by Pushkar does appear to resemble the accounts of the Bible, but Pushkar’s translation is completely wrong, misleading and false. A literal English translation of Ithareya Upanishad 1.1.3 would yield something very different than what he claims:
“When this Person (the Self) sleeps, as it were, then he takes the vital breaths (pranas) to himself. The people (the sense organs and faculties) do not know him there --where he rests, as it were. Gathering these vital forces, he himself rests. Therefore the vital breaths surround him, watching over him as he sleeps.” – a literal English translation of Ithareya Upanishad 1.1.3.
For reference, the more common English spelling for Ithareya would be Aitareya.
False claim 4 from Pushkar:
“The following quotations speak clearly about Jesus Christ. The second quotation even mentions the name of Jesus. ... ‘Yeesh moorti parapta nitya shuddha shivakari: Yeesha masih itticha mam nama prathishtatham’ ... ‘The revelation of God who is eternal, Holy, Compassionate and giver of salvation; who dwells within our heart is manifested. His name is yeesha Masih [Jesus Christ].’ ” - Pushkar.
Here, Pushkar falsely claims that the Bhavishya Purana, in Bharath Khand, in verse 31, prophetically reveals the name of Jesus. This again is completely false. Pushkar not only uses a completely unconventional way of referring to a book, chapter and verse citation, which has the effect of inhibiting someone who wanted to double check his claim, he then quotes and translates something that simply does not exist anywhere in actual Hindu writings. There is no verse that says what Pushkar is claiming. He is not quoting from actual Hindu writings at this point.
At this point, I’m going to skip over many of the other false claims that Pushkar is making, because they follow the same pattern as the examples given above, and focus on his false claim about a “crown of thorns”.
False claim 5 from Pushkar:
“The crown of thorns was placed on his head: ‘The sacrificial victim is to be crowned with a crown made of thorny vines’ (Rigveda 10.90.7, 15).” – Pushkar.
Again, this sounds like the Christian story, but again it does not actually exist in Hindu writings. Again, Pushkar is quoting something that does not appear in actual Hindu writings. His claim is completely false. Here is the actual text for Rigveda 10.90.7, 15:
“That sacrifice they sprinkled upon the sacred grass, the Purusa who was born at the beginning. With that (sacrifice) the gods performed the sacrifice—the Sadhyas and the ancient Rsis as well. ... By sacrifice the gods performed the sacrifice; these were the first rites (dharmas). They reached the height of heaven, where dwell the ancient Sadhyas, the divine ones.” - Rigveda 10.90.7, 15.
As you can see, this is completely different from the false translation offered by Pushkar. And this, again, is a pattern that appears and reappears throughout his article on Linkedin.
Again, this response is in no way seeking to offend anyone’s views of Hindu writings. This response is focused solely on the false claims being made by a writer who identifies himself as Pushkar the Astrologer and to show that his claims are completely false and verifiably false.