Q: Praying to Krishna… to Christ… to Shiva… to the Divine Mother…? If Krishna was a human being who attained Christ/Krishna consciousness then we should not pray to Lord Krishna, as Jesus stated: “You should not worship a man, but only the Father.” Shouldn’t we only pray to Father-God?
Krishna was not a human being, nor was Jesus. They were avatars, which means they had transcended all the worlds and entered into total, conscious union with the Absolute: Brahman. They were Brahman–as are we, but we do not yet realize it. So all difference between them was erased, through the distinction as individuals remained. Avatars are far greater than our limited concepts of God.
Jesus said: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). The same is true of any avatar. Not that they are the Father in an absolute sense, but that the Father is revealed in them. When Swami Sivananda walked into the room, God entered the room–God in manifestation, that is. As the Absolute, God/Brahman was always there. But for us relative beings his entrance elevated our consciousness.
The question of prayer has mostly to do with our own samskaras and preferences. How do you pray to a transcendent, infinite non-dual Being? You are not transcendent, infinite or non-dual in your present consciousness. Really, there is no need to pray unless a person feels like it. What we must do is invoke our own eternal being which is a wave in the ocean of Infinite Being. And SOHAM is the eternally emanating consciousness/vibration of that Infinite Being. So by the japa and meditation of Soham we can realize That with which we are one, and which we essentially are.
Related to “Praying to Krishna and Christ”:
- Incarnations of God – Avatars: The Sankhya View (With Surprising Christian Insights)
- Podcast: Moksha, the Seven Levels of Consciousness, and Avatars
- Messiahs vs. Avatars
- Read about Krishna’s teachings in The Bhagavad Gita for Awakening.