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The Katha Upanishad is an ancient scripture from India. It is the story about a young boy named Nachiketa, who saw his father sacrificing away all that he possessed. He saw their goods being given away and their cattle being roasted. Curiously he asked, “To whom will you give me?” His father, being annoyed by his son who disturbed his ritual sacrifice, replied gruesomely, “To death!”
Nachiketa, instead of rebelling against his father, reminded him, “Papa, before a tree grows and before we enjoy the fruit, its seed is buried first.” Nachiketa also felt that it was of no use to sacrifice a cow, if that cow couldn’t give birth and be milked.
Off he went, but when he reached the house of death, there was no one to welcome him. For 3 nights he waited in the silence of darkness. When Yama (the ruler of the dead) realized that Nachiketa had been waiting for 3 days without food, Yama appeased Nachiketa, “I will give you 3 gifts, each gift for a night that you have been waiting. Tell me what you want.”
In ancient times, it was considered a serious crime if you had someone waiting at your doorstep without giving him water or a seat. Yama, now had to atone for his sin of keeping Nachiketa waiting for 3 nights. Yama would not be successful if he had sin, so he had to persuade Nachiketa to forgive him. (The purpose of Yama’s existence is to welcome people to death and the last thing Yama wanted was this lad Nachiketa preventing his continuous success.)
The 3 gifts Nachiketa asked for were:
Yama had no problem giving Nachiketa the first 2 requests. But Yama did not want Nachiketa to know the secret of life after death. Deceitfully, Yama asked Nachiketa to request for herds of cattle, horses, a long life on earth and a vast kingdom. But Nachiketa realized all this was vanity. All of these, the chariots with its horses and a vast kingdom with glittering gold will all vanish, and Yama will possess all of these at the end, no matter how long he loans it to us. Nachiketa politely replied, “Keep all these to yourself.”
Yama, having no choice, revealed it to Nachiketa. It was “OM”.
The mission given to Jesus was to teach man how to get eternal life. Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him, should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Jesus experienced utter darkness for 3 days before he rose again. On Thursday, after eating the last supper with his disciples, he was betrayed by his own disciple, Judas. During the trial by the leaders, the soldiers mocked Jesus. On Friday, when he was crucified, he cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.” (Matthew 27:46) On Saturday, he lay buried in the tomb.
This is what Nachiketa experienced. His father was angry with him. He was rejected and alone.
At the end of the 3rd night, Jesus rose from the dead. Nachiketa too was at the house of death for 3 days.
Jesus also taught, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24), which is almost exactly what Nachiketa said.
Whenever Hindus pray, they start their prayer by saying, “OM”. This means that “OM” is a name or a title bestowed to someone. Who is this someone? Eventhough the Upanishads do not explicitly say that this refers to Jesus, the vast amount of similarity proves that “OM” refers to Jesus. Who else died and came back to life after 3 days?
After Jesus rose from the dead, he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,… (Luke 24:45)
When Moses asked God, "What shall I tell them if asked your name?", God's reply was 'I AM WHO I AM' (Exodus 3:14). In the original Hebrew, there were 4 letters that have been transliterated as 'YHWH'. These are usually pronounced as Yahweh or Jehovah.
Before Joseph was married to Mary and when he found that Mary was pregnant, he wanted to quietly divorce her. But in a dream, an angel told him that she was conceived by the Holy Spirit and that he should name the child Yashua. The name 'Yashua' is derived from 'Yahweh' and 'Shava' which means 'cry for help'. The Hebrew word 'Yasha' means savior. The Jesus who saves us from our sins is the same 'I AM' who revealed himself to Moses and saved the Israelites from their slavery when they were in Egypt building the pyramids.
The words for 'I AM' in different languages are closely related to the Savior Jesus. For example, 'I AM' in French is 'Je suis'. In the Malay language, it is 'Saya', except that the syllables are in reverse.
In Sanskrit, the word 'OM' is related to the self. 'Soham' is a Hindu phrase meaning 'I AM HE' or 'I AM THAT'. 'SOHAM' has the sound of 'S', the letter used for 'SAVE' and 'SHAVA'.
In Tamil, 'I AM' is 'இருக்கிறேன்'. The first letter,'இ' pronounced 'Ee' is the first letter used for Jesus (இயேசு). The 2nd letter, 'ரு' has the 'r' sound which is used for Savior (இரட்சகன்)
In English, if we don't mind being grammatically wrong we can use 'I is' to show the similarity. If we insist on being grammatically correct, then we have to use 'Immanuel' to show the similarity to 'I AM'. 'Immanuel' is the name given to the Messiah in Isaiah 7:14
© Selva Harris
2017