Page:Philosophy of bhagawad-gita.pdf/71

Rh years before the death of his physical body. Christians say that the Logos was made flesh, as it were, and was born as Christ--as Jesus--though the Christians do not go into a clear analysis of the propositions they lay down. There are, however, certain sections of Christians who take a more philosophical view of the question, and say that the divine Logos associated itself with the man named Jesus at some time during his career, and that it was only after that union that he began to perform his miracles and show his power as a great reformer and saviour of mankind.

Whether this union took place as a special case in the case of Jesus, or whether it was such a union as would take place in the case of every Mahatma or Maharshi when he becomes a Jivanmukta, we cannot say, unless we know a great deal more about him than what the Bible can teach us. In the case of Krshna the same question arises. Mahavishnu is a God, and is a representative of the Logos; he is considered as the Logos by the majority of Hindus. From this it must not however be inferred that there is but one Logos in the cosmos, or even that but one form of Logos is possible in the cosmos. For the present I am only concerned with this form of the Logos, and it seems to be the foundation of the teachings we are considering. There are two views which you can take with reference to such human Avatars, as, for instance, Rama, Krshna, and Parashurama. Some Vaishnavites deny that Buddha was an Avatar