A few days ago, I watched a documentary about Indian Hinduism.
I thought it would be a typical introduction to a religion, but it was not.
The more I watched, the more strangely captivated I became.
The colorful rituals, the dances and songs directed towards the gods, and the philosophical structure embedded within were much deeper and more complex than I expected.
Among them, what caught my attention the most was... an unbelievable story.

The explanation was that Hinduism can accept Jesus as a god.
I was momentarily in disbelief, thinking, 'What does this mean?' and doubting my eyes.
Jesus, who was considered a symbol of Christianity and a central figure of Western civilization, is... a god in Hinduism.

Upon further investigation, I was surprised to find that within Hinduism, there is a tolerant structure that accepts even figures from external religions as 'avatars' of the divine.
In Hinduism, the concept of 'avatar' refers to the form in which a god manifests in the world, with well-known avatars being figures like Krishna and Rama.

However, some Hindu philosophers view Jesus as such an avatar of the divine.

This is not simply a matter of multicultural respect.
From their perspective, Jesus is a 'divine being,' and his teachings and way of life are sometimes interpreted as the embodiment of Hindu ideals (love, sacrifice, salvation).

I grew up in Korea and was relatively open to religion, but the idea of Jesus being a 'Hindu god' was difficult to accept with familiar Christian thinking or Eastern perceptions. However, the more I pondered, the more I realized that this is not so much about inter-religious integration but rather an expression of Hinduism's flexibility and inclusiveness.

Hinduism does not insist on a single answer.
Their universe is structured such that various gods derive from a single reality (Brahman).
Thus, there is a philosophy that 'there is one god, but the forms are infinite.'
Under this philosophy, Jesus, Buddha, and Muhammad can all be understood as different faces of Brahman in some sense.

In fact, this is a very shocking yet deeply reflective perspective.
The concept of 'absolute truth' that we think of is merely one 'approach' here.
Hinduism does not necessarily deny that but rather states, 'that can also be a truth.'

On the other hand, just because Hindus do not 'reject' Jesus does not mean that everyone follows him. For them, Jesus can be one of many gods and a respected figure like Krishna or Rama, but he is not necessarily a unique or absolute being.

This subtle difference was very intriguing.

They accept without competing.

We argue over who is right, but Hinduism blurs that question and unfolds a logic of coexistence.

Thinking about it, this resembles the characteristics of the land of India.
In a land intertwined with thousands of languages, hundreds of ethnicities, and various classes and cultures,
it may have been inevitable to choose a way where 'not one answer' but 'different truths coexist side by side.'

I am not a religious person.
However, I have a keen interest in how humans perceive the divine.
From that perspective, Hinduism surprisingly resonated deeply with me.
In particular, their open-mindedness in accepting Jesus as part of the divine and their multi-layered view of divinity seem to provide an insight that dismantles the extreme dichotomies faced by modern society — whether progressive or conservative, Eastern or Western, orthodox or heretical — all those binary thoughts.

Our society increasingly sharpens its thoughts against each other.
'Difference' is often interpreted as 'wrong,'
and it is all too common not to acknowledge one another.

In such a world, the Hindu perspective feels even more mature.
"Jesus can also be a god."
This one sentence may be the most concise expression of their long-standing wisdom that 'truth is one, but its forms can be many.'

And suddenly, I thought.
The heart that can accept Jesus as a Hindu god.
Isn't that generosity what we need more of right now?