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UNITED STATES, December 18, 2003: Ever wonder how and why some Hindus end up celebrating the birth of Jesus? You can find out in this lengthy and sometimes misleading article by Stephen Prothero on Beliefnet.com. “Today in Hindu homes and temples across the United States,” he writes with considerable exaggeration, “a striking image of divinity is on display. Dressed in a flowing white robe, his long hair pulled back, this holy man sits, half-lotus style, eyes cast down in meditation. Painted in the 1920’s by Eugene Theodosia Oliver, a Catholic, in keeping with instructions from a Hindu monk, the image is called Christ the Yogi, a Hindu. Congregants at the San Francisco Vedanta Society, where the original Christ the Yogi hangs, revere Jesus as a ‘great Yogin’ with highly developed ‘psychic powers.’ These congregants trace their lineage back to Ramakrishna, an Indian mystic from West Bengal, who was graced with a vision of Jesus while meditating on the Madonna and Child in 1874. The Ramakrishna Order burst onto the American scene when Swami Vivekananda arrived at the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. Vivekananda lectured widely across the United States, spreading Ramakrishna’s gospel of religious unity. Today Vedantist celebrate the birth of the ‘Oriental Christ’ every Christmas Eve and in Vedanta societies nationwide, they continue to revere Jesus as a divinity today. Not all American Hindus are Jesus lovers. Most recent immigrants from India come and go to their local temples without thinking of Jesus, much less worshiping him. But members of groups such as the Vedanta Society and Swami Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship have repeatedly reincarnated Jesus as the ‘Oriental Christ.’ “

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