Question: Why is there a difference between Christ-consciousness, Krishna-consciousness and God-consciousness?

Sri Chinmoy: There is no basic difference between Christ-consciousness, Krishna-consciousness and God-consciousness. They are all one. But when the Christ lived on earth, he adopted some qualities and capacities from earth-life, and Krishna also adopted some qualities and capacities from his earth-existence. When we think of Christ-consciousness we do not separate the human in Christ from the divine in him, and also when we think of Krishna we do not separate the human consciousness from the divine consciousness. In Christ’s case and in Krishna’s case the human itself is divine, and divinity is immortal.

In our human, day-to-day life, we may try to separate Christ-consciousness and Krishna-consciousness, but when we go deep within, we see clearly that they are both the same consciousness. But when this same consciousness accepts human life, it enters into the field of form, and the different experiences that are going to be revealed can and must take different forms.

God-consciousness, which is the source, is always acting in and through each human being and each individual consciousness, but it is only when it acts through manifestations such as the Christ-consciousness or the Krishna-consciousness that it is able to act most powerfully. This is because the Christ-consciousness and the Krishna-consciousness have already established their constant and inseparable oneness with God-consciousness, whereas we ordinary human beings are still far, far away from realising our oneness with God-consciousness.