Parallels between Hinduism

and Judaism
Rajiv Joshi
God’s name

Isha Yeshu
Temple architecture
Temple architecture

Both temples have a veil that

separated the garbh(holy of holies)
from the rest.
Homa and Incense

God commanded the priests to

burn incense on the golden altar
Hindus create a homa kunda
every morning and evening, the
where they offer aahuti. The
same time that the daily burnt
smoke of the aahuti and Incense
offerings were made. The incense
rises up as prayer to God
was to be left burning continually
throughout the day and night as a
pleasing aroma to the Lord.
Bhasma/Budhi (Ashes) for purification
Shiva who dwells in graveyards
applies budhi on his body. Budhi is
the ashes of cremated bodies.
Worshippers of Shiva now use
bhasma as a substitute for budhi.
Eleazar the priest must then take a stick of
cedar,[b] a hyssop branch, and some scarlet yarn
and throw them into the fire where the heifer is
burning.
Then someone who is ceremonially clean will
gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit
them in a purified place outside the camp. They
will be kept there for the community of Israel to
use in the water for the purification ceremony.
God’s Created beings

Devata Angels
(Agni, Vayu, Surya, Indra…) (Michael, Gabriel..)
Devata Putra

In those days, and for some time after,

giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for
whenever the sons of God had
Devata + Human Women = intercourse with women, they gave
Men of great strength birth to children who became the
heroes and famous warriors of ancient
(eg Pandavas) times. Genesis 6
10 days of religious festival in fall

Jewish new year begins with Rosh

Navaratri followed by Dussehra.
For many this is also beginning of
new year (business community)
People fast during Navaratri
10th day is day of victory of good
over evil
Shana in fall with 10th day being a
high holy day (Yom Kippur)
Jews fast the day before Yom
Kippur.
10th day is day of atonement, the
day when God will forgive sins
resulting in spiritual victory
Festival of lights

Deepavali Hannuka
Cow worship
•
• 2 SoAaron said, “Take the gold rings from the ears
of your wives and sons and daughters, and bring
them to me.”
• 3 Allthe people took the gold rings from their ears
and brought them to Aaron. 4 Then Aaron took the
gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape
of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed,
Hindus consider cow sacred and “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out
worship it of the land of Egypt!” Exodus 32

God was angry with the cow worship and struck

down 3000 people. Jews don’t worship cows
anymore but they did it once in their history
God born in humble environment

Krishna was born in Jail

Yeshu was born in barn
Assasination attempt when 2 yrs old
Kamsa wanted to kill Krishna but
did not know who he was. He sent
Putani to kill all children under 2
yrs old by breast feeding with
poison tipped nipples
Herod was furious when he realized
that the wise men had outwitted him.
He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in
and around Bethlehem who were two
years old and under, based on the wise
men’s report of the star’s first
appearance
Mathew 2
Fled from city of birth

Yeshu was taken to Egypt to

Krishna was taken to Gokul after
protect from Herod’s soldier who
birth so that he can be protected
were trying to kill all children
from Kamsa
under 2 yrs old in Bethleham
Akshaya Patra
When Draupadi ran out of food
for the guests, Krishna rescued
her by turning 1 grain of rice into
food enough to feed all the guests
in the story of Akshayapatra
• As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This
is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds
away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some
food.”
• 16 Yeshu
replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them
something to eat.”
• 17 “Wehave here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they
answered.
• 18 “Bringthem here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people
to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish
and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves.
Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them
to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples
picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men,
besides women and children.
Mathew 14
Many Brides

Yeshu is considered the groom and all the

Krishna had thousands of brides believers are the bride. Given that there are
hundreds of millions of believers, Yeshu has
Gopikas many brides
Story of flood

Story of Manu
Story of Nu (Noah)
Similar sounding Names

• Adami (Man) • Adam (Man)

• Abraham and Sara • Brahma and Saraswati
• Nu (Noah) • Manu
Karna and Moses

Karna was put in a basket after his

Moses was put in a basket and
birth and floated down Ganga
floated down the Nile river.
The evil one with 10 heads
Ravana the evil king was depicted
as someone with 10 heads with
10 crowns.
Then I saw a beast rising up out of the
sea. It had seven heads and ten horns,
with ten crowns on its horns. And
written on each head were names that
blasphemed God. Revelation 13
The coming anti-christ (the evil one) will
rule over the 10 kings of the earth.
Sun’s time extended
In Mahabharat war, in order to kill
Jayadratha, Krishna extends Sun’s
time to create 2 sunsets.
• On the day the LORD gave the Israelites victory
over the Amorites, Joshua prayed to the LORD
in front of all the people of Israel. He said,
• “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon,
and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.”
• 13 So the sun stood still and the moon stayed
in place until the nation of Israel had defeated
its enemies.
Death by Piercing

Bhisma was pierced by arrows and

Yeshu was pierced and nailed to
nailed to the ground
the cross
Crossing a Sea

Rama built Ram Setu across the God parted the red sea to help
sea to reach Lanka with the help Israelites escape from the
of monkeys Pharaohs army.