Prof. Jeff Long

Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA.

With this treasure of a book, K.K. Hebsoor has made a much-needed contribution to the dialogue between Vedanta and Christianity.  The Heart of Christ models how a serious interfaith conversation can unfold.  Hebsoor engages with the words of Christ from a perspective rooted in a deep commitment to Vedanta, taking the words of Jesus seriously while at the same time being very clear about the differences between his Vedantic interpretation of these words and the views of mainstream Christianity.  It is only by performing this balancing act–being open to the other, while at the same time not downplaying genuine differences–that true dialogue can advance.  In the spirit of Swami Prabhavananda’s The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta, Hebsoor’s book picks up where that classic work leaves off, and continues with a similar line of thought, based on the Vedantic conviction, expressed by such figures as Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, and Mahatma Gandhi, that there are deep truths to be found in all religions.  The need for interfaith cooperation is more urgent than it has ever been, and is becoming more urgent by the day.  Books like this one certainly have a major role to play in the promotion of such cooperation, engaging with serious differences, while yet doing so in the hope that a deeper harmony may yet emerge.

Jim Hughell

Adjunct Professor of History and World Religions at Mt. Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church, Walnut Creek, California.

There is a Hindu Proverb: “There are hundreds of paths up the mountain, all leading to the same place, so it doesn’t matter which path you take.”  Another way of stating this is from the Rig Veda (1:164:46)  “There is one Truth; the wise speak about it in different ways”. K.K. Hebsoor takes us on two of those paths in his book, The Heart of Christ: Unraveling 9 Hard Sayings from the Bible through the Lens of Vedanta.

In his analysis of the teachings of Christ, he takes eight passages from the Christian Gospels and one from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas and shows how they can be illuminated by viewing them side by side with passages from the Upanishad and other Hindu texts.

He leads us on a spiritual journey different from the religious traditions of the West.  He states, “it is common in Indian tradition to see the sacred everywhere and in everything.  Spirituality isn’t something Hindus think of consciously or in a separate “once a week” kind of way.  It is treated as “common experience;” it is a part of daily life.  Prayer, contemplation, and repeating God’s holy name(s) are part of daily activities.”

Viewing one of the first passages in Genesis (1:27), “So God created man in his own image,” he asserts from a Hindu perspective, that God is in everything and in everyone.  God is not a separate force that exists in some separate reality, such as heaven, but is in this physical reality in each one of us.  From that perspective, to say “God created man in his own image,” really states the obvious, that God is not separate from us, he exists in each one of us and each of us is a part of God. 

One of the suppositions of the spiritual path he alludes to is that “when a spiritual aspirant is ready by virtue of his own self-effort, God himself sends a guru, a spiritual master (living or dead) to those who sincerely seek him.” 

In his final chapter, Belief Versus Experience in the Practice of Spirituality, Hebsoor points out that he never used the word “belief” in the journey on which he has taken us.  From Hinduism, spirituality is an experience of daily life, not some set up rigid calcified structures, as he calls it, “concretized beliefs.”   He asserts that many of the problems of Western society, from mental illness to the occurrence of mass shootings, are the result of these calcified beliefs.

In this book Hebsoor provides a view of Christianity and Hinduism that is more expansive than the traditional Christian view, and leads us to a deeper understanding of Christianity, Hinduism, and the spiritual quest in general.  I recommend this book.  It will challenge your traditional beliefs and lead you further on your path to spiritual growth.