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I am always intrigued by how similar the stories of Jesus Christ and Krishna are. Both had to take shelter from evil forces and both were brought up care taker parents. The only difference is Krishna was born 5000 years ago and Jesus about 2000 years ago. I believe there are lot of practices in Christianity which seem to have been taken from Hinduism. What other practices might have been taken from Hinduism ?

Its common to borrow the good practices from other religions, but if you borrow something and don't give due credit and start labeling the religions as pagan then there is a problem. Case in point is the decoration of Christmas tree - it was borrowed from the so-called pagan religion without giving due credit.

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  • Are you saying that the stories of Jesus and His life were borrowed from Lord Krishna's life? What similarities did you find in their lives other than the one you mentioned, which is a weak one?
    – Sai
    Commented Jul 16, 2015 at 15:22
  • I agree with Swami Vishwananda. Plagiarism is a wrong word to use here. A religion might adopt practices from another religion, but you cannot call it stealing. It is not a crime. If that is not what you are asking, please edit your question.
    – Suhasini
    Commented Jul 17, 2015 at 9:33
  • In "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" translated by W. Y. Evans-Wentz, there is an long Addenda with 2 sections that will interest you. One is titled 'Northern and Southern Buddhism and Christianity' and the other is titled 'The Medieval Christian Judgement'. Evans-Wentz goes into a lot of detail between similarities of Buddhism and Christianity, but only touches on Hinduism. He also discusses how these Buddhist influences arose in Christianity. Good reading if your interested in Asian influences.
    – Swami Vishwananda
    Commented Jul 17, 2015 at 9:56
  • Besides some passing similarities, your "hypothesis" is completely wrong historically. There is no actual supporting evidence whatsoever. And your point about the Christmas tree is ridiculous. Christmas tree decoration is not in any way a religious practice--it's a cultural tradition.
    – AdityaS
    Commented Jul 17, 2015 at 19:04
  • You probably should not hang your hat on any "similarities" you hear about between Jesus and any other character. See these two posts: Claimed similarities between Jesus Christ and Horus and other Gods and How do Christians respond to and/or explain the similarities between other societies' Gods and that of Jesus
    – user3345
    Commented Jul 18, 2015 at 6:39

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There are several correlations or similarities between the two lives, but I think plagiarism is too strong a word. I think the Lord manifested Himself in both persons and choose to make the lives similar. One could also argue the scientific axiom "Correlation is not causation" - simply because two events exhibit similarities does not mean that one is the cause of the other.

Swami Vivekananda says (Complete Works, V1, Lectures and Discourses, Krishna also here - http://cwsv.belurmath.org/volume_1/vol_1_frame.htm):

A few words about the life of Krishna. There is a great deal of similarity between the lives of Jesus and Krishna. A discussion is going on as to which borrowed of the other. There was the tyrannical king in both places. Both were born in a manger. The parents were bound in both cases. Both were saved by angels. In both cases all the boys born in that year were killed. The childhood is the same. ... Again, in the end, both were killed. Krishna was killed by accident; he took the man who killed him to heaven. Christ was killed, and blessed the robber and took him to heaven.

There are a great many similarities in of the New Testament and the Gita. The human thought goes the same way. ... I will find you the answer in the words of Krishna himself: "Whenever virtue subsides and irreligion prevails, I come down. Again and again I come. Therefore, whenever thou seest a great soul struggling to uplift mankind, know that I am come, and worship. ..."(Gita IV. 8; X. 41.)

At the same time, if he comes as Jesus or as Buddha, why is there so much schism? The preachings must be followed! A Hindu devotee would say: It is God himself who became Christ and Krishna and Buddha and all these [great teachers]. A Hindu philosopher would say: These are the great souls; they are already free. And though free, they refuse to accept their liberation while the whole world is suffering. They come again and again, take a human embodiment and help mankind. They know from their childhood what they are and what they come for. ... They do not come through bondage like we do. ... They come out of their own free will, and cannot help having tremendous spiritual power. We cannot resist it. The vast mass of mankind is dragged into the whirlpool of spirituality, and the vibration goes on and on because one of these [great souls] gives a push. So it continues until all mankind is liberated and the play of this planet is finished.

Some people have seen similarities between some of the practices also. It is difficult to say if one is derived from the other as any evidence has been lost in time and there is a certain commonality to the human experience. But as some examples, Christians have their Eucharist which in their ceremony food is offered to God and then given to the individuals to eat. In pujas, Hindus offer food to God and then it is given to them to eat as prasadam. Additionally, there are all the other elaborate elements of ritualistic worship that are similar (incense, lights, etc.).

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