Why are there differences in the Gospels written by different Apostles?

[Shri Anil asked: Pādanamaskāram, Swāmi! I am giving two instances of differences in Jesus’s life history as depicted in the gospels. The gospels written by Mathew and John did not mention about Jesus ascending to heaven after He appeared to the disciples following His resurrection. But the gospels written by Mark and Luke mention Jesus’s ascending to heaven. In the gospels written by Mathew and Mark, it is mentioned that both the thieves mocked at Jesus while on the cross to save Himself. But in the gospel by Luke, it is written that out of the two thieves crucified along with Jesus, one criticized Jesus while the other prayed to Jesus to give him a chance to be with Him in heaven, which Jesus sanctioned. Also, there is no mention of rebirth by Jesus in any of the four gospels. Swāmi, do these differences in reporting the gospel matter to us in the spiritual path? Please grace us with Your reply. At Your Divine Feet –anil]

Swāmi replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Analysis will solve this problem. Disciples have different mentalities and their mentalities are reflected in their recording of different points. One may feel that some points are very important and another may feel that the same points are negligible. Due to this, the first one mentions those points with a lot of emphasis while the other leaves out those points. This is the reason why God said that He will directly come down to preach spiritual knowledge in a systematic way (Jñānī tvātmaiva...—Gītā). Spiritual knowledge is very important because it is like a torch light. If the torchlight points even in a slightly different direction, the followers may get diverted to the wrong path. When Kṛṣṇa preached the Gītā, sage Vyāsa recorded it and there was no deviation in it because sage Vyāsa Himself was also a Human Incarnation of God.

Regarding Jesus going to heaven or not is not at all important because Jesus was an Incarnation of God and He is the Lord of heaven. The important point is, whether or not we will go to heaven. Hence, the differences in the gospels about Jesus’s ascending to heaven is not a significant point. Regarding the thieves, whatever may be the fact of incident, the resulting concept is not affected in anyway because if the thief is not reformed through realization, God will not show grace on him. If the thief is reformed, God will certainly bless him. Regarding rebirth, the actual version of Jesus had both sides. He said that human rebirth is rare and that it exists only for a soul who has sincerely followed the spiritual path throughout its life, but who could not complete his effort. For such a good soul, granting human rebirth is justified. It also shows the omnipotence of God, in that He is capable of granting human rebirth. Apart from this, Jesus also said that souls after judgment may permanently go to either heaven or hell, in which case, there is no rebirth for such souls.

Hinduism says that there is rebirth for every soul, but it does not necessarily mean human rebirth. Besides, permanent heaven and hell exist on earth too. The soul is given immediate fruits for the intensely good or bad deeds in this present life itself. For the public, these fruits received by souls on earth stand as proof of the fact that every soul must inevitably enjoy the fruits of his or her deeds. The overall meaning is that hell and heaven exist in the upper worlds and hell and heaven also exist on earth. The question of rebirth is immaterial because, ultimately, the concept that good fruits are enjoyed in heaven and bad fruits are enjoyed in hell does not changed at all! The only point is that the enjoyment of the fruits forever in the upper worlds does not require rebirth, whereas, the enjoyment of the fruits on earth requires rebirth after death.

The actual story is as follows. The process is based on the reduction of the intensity of the fruit enjoyed. The most intense deeds of a soul yield the most intense fruits to the soul, here itself, in this very life. But hell and heaven are present in the upper world and they are energetic worlds. Souls, which are basically awareness, reach these worlds covered in energetic bodies after leaving their physical bodies here on earth. In the upper worlds, souls are given the fruits of their intense deeds. After enjoying (or suffering) the respective fruits in the upper worlds, the intensities of the fruits in the soul is reduced to some extent. With the residual fruits (karma śeṣa) the soul is reborn on earth, where it enjoys the residual fruit on earth. But the soul again does deeds on earth and the fruits are added to the list of pending fruits that are to be enjoyed in the future. This makes the cycle of deeds and fruits endless.

Hinduism also clearly speaks about the inevitable rebirth of a soul, but it also stresses on the fact that human rebirth is extremely rare. The Gītā speaks about rebirth (Dhṛvaṃ janma mṛtasya ca) and Śaṅkara speaks about the extreme rarity of human rebirth (Jantūnāṃ nara janma durlabhamidam). This concept of rebirth is highly misunderstood. People falsely think that human rebirth is a certainty. What is actually said in the Gītā is only that rebirth is inevitable. It does not mean that it will be a human rebirth. Due to this misunderstanding, a false concept has developed that there is no hurry to put forth spiritual effort in this human birth since the soul will get endless human rebirths, again and again. This is a very dangerous false consequence of that misunderstanding.

To avoid this, the four disciples of Jesus thought that it is best to project the concept that there is no rebirth at all and that the soul has to face the final single judgment at the end of this life itself. As per the judgment, the soul then has to go to hell or heaven permanently. If in the academic system, students are told that there will only be one final examination at the end of the academic year, they will get serious about their studies and might at least get passing marks. However, if they are told that even if they fail, they can reappear for the exam repeatedly every semester, they will lose their seriousness for their studies and will certainly fail the exams! Hence, eliminating the concept of rebirth was a good idea that forced people to follow the paths of justice and devotion to God in a very serious manner. The cycle of animals is clearly a distinct hell on earth. Even in the human world, you can find some souls suffering the pain of hell and others enjoying the pleasures of heaven.

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| Shri Datta Swami | Why are there differences in the Gospels written by different Apostles? | Vyaasa Gita Giita Jnani tvaatmaiva Dhrivam janma nritasya cha Jantuunaam nara janma durlabhamidam karma shesha

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