Read a pair of December 2003 columns by Terry Mattingly about carols: “A Caroling We (Don’t) Go” and “What is a ‘carol’ anyway?”

Kenneth W. Osbeck of Rockford, Mich., is the author of Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions (Kregel Publications, 2002) and Joy to the World: The Stories Behind Your Favorite Christmas Carols (Kregel, 2000).

Christmas music historian Ron Clancy of North Cape May, N.J., produces the “Millennia Collection,” a multivolume set of Christmas music books and CDs.

The Self-Realization Fellowship, which has headquarters in Los Angeles, follows the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) that are based on yoga and on Jesus. The fellowship has temples and meditation centers around the United States.

The painting “Christ the Yogi” hangs at the San Francisco temple of the Vedanta Society of Northern California, where congregants regard Jesus to be a spiritual master who embodied pure love.

Read a Wikipedia article about Jesus that includes how Hindus and members of other religions see him.

Read a biography of Jesus written by Sri Swami Sivananda Saraswati Maharaj, who lived from 1887 to 1963.

Read “What do Hindus Believe about Jesus?” from BeliefNet.

The Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of Boston has held a special Christmas Eve service in which the Nativity story is read and Christmas carols are sung. Contact Swami Tyagananda.