Keshava Temple, Somanathapura
1 Semitic Paradigm – an ‘Indian’ perspective (Sept 12, 2020)
Dr. P. Subbanna Bhat
2 • Semitic & Spiritual Paradigms (19)
• Opinions (22)
3 The Semitic group . . .1
Islam Adam,. . .Jesus, Mohammad Christianity Holy Quran Adam,, . , . Moses, . .Jesus Bible (Old) (39/46/51 -books) Bible (New Testament) Judaism Adam, Abraham, , . .Moses Tanakh (24 Books)
Jehovah≡Heavenly Father≡Allah Adam + Eve ⟹ Humans Man has dominion over Creation ( Animals, Flora, Fauna . . .) 4 The Semitic Paradigm . . . 67
o Semitic religions are Creedal religions – faith systems – centered around one ‘True God’, the ‘Chosen Prophet’, and a ‘Holy Book’ .
o All three Semitic religions share the same world view:
Ø ‘One God’ – a ‘Jealous God’ – who brooks no partners.
Ø Neither Man nor Creation is Divine (same stuff as God ).
Ø Man has dominion over all Creation.
Ø God communicates only through an intermediary (Prophet)
5 The Semitic Paradigm . . . 68 o One has only one life. (Karma and Rebirth do not exist). After death, one remains buried until the day of Judgment . After Judgment, sent to either Heaven or Hell – forever.
o Each is an ‘Exclusive’ and ‘Self righteous’ Creed – based on teachings of its own Prophet (Moses, Jesus, Mohammad)
o ‘Proselytism’ – conversion to the Creed – is a holy act, in all Semitic religions. Aggressive Proselytism – conversion by any
means – is a basic credo with both Christianity and Islam. 6 Semitic & Spiritual Paradigms (19)
7 God created man from the dust. . .1
o In the beginning God created* the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. o And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. o So God created mankind in his own image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. o Then the Lord God formed a man [Adam] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. ---[Genesis, 1, 2, 3,7 ] *Note: Man is not Divine substance !
8 Nicene Creed: Father, Son and Creation . . . 2
The Nicene Creed, . . . was originally formulated at the Council of Nicaea (325AD) and amended in the First Council of Constantinople in (381AD) was accepted as the universal creed of Christendom by the First Council of Ephesus (431AD). . . takes elaborate care by repeating several redundancies to assert that the Son (Jesus Christ) is of the same substance as the Father – which is different from the Creation:
o "We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of his Father, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father. By whom all things were made ... Who ... was incarnate and was made human ..."
---- [http://reluctant-messenger.com/origen6.html] 9 The Lord pervades the Universe . . . 3
स एव सव य भतू ं य च भ यं सनातनम ् I ा वा तं म ृ यमु ये त ना यः प था वम ु तये II९ II Everything (एव सव ) is Brahman (स ). Indeed, It is all that was (य भतू ं), and will be (भ यं). It is eternal (सनातनम)् . Knowing That Brahman alone ( ा वा तं) , one transcends death (म ृ यं ु अ ये त); there is no other way (ना यः प था) for liberation ( वम ु तये) .
मया तत मदं सव जगद य त म ू तन ा I म था न सवभ तू ा न न चाहं त े ववि थतः II९-४ II This whole Creation (इदम ्सव ) is pervaded (ततम ्) by Me in My un- manifest (अ य त – not perceptible by senses) form; all beings reside in Me (म था न) (I support this world– व वाधारम ्) , but I am not conditioned (अवि थतः ) by them ( तषे ु ). 10 The Jealous God. . .4
The God of Semitic Paradigm, is a ‘jealous God’. He is ‘unique’ and ‘exclusive’. Does not accept ‘partners’ – to share the devotion of his followers. The first 03 of the 10 commandments are about the ‘only God’ : o “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” o “You shall have no other gods before me.” o “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” [Exodus 20:1-6] 11 ---[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus20&version=NIV] ‘Their abominable practices’ . . 5
In the Old Testament, the jealous God (Jehovah) gives explicit instructions for destruction of gods of other (conquered) nations:
“But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God. ----[Deuteronomy, 20:16-18]
12 The One behind all. . . 6
येs य यदेवता भ ता यज ते दयाि वताः I तेs प मामेव कौ तेय यज य व धपवू क म ् II९-२३ II ----[ ी भगव गीता, ९-२३] Even those devotees (ये भ ता) who, endowed with faith ( धयाि वताः ) , worship (यज ते ) other forms of gods (अ यदेवता भ ता ) , they worship (यज ते ) Me alone (मामेव), � ��������, by improper methods (अ व धपवू क म)् .
य य वभ ू तम स वं ीमदिू जत मेव वा I त देवावग छ वं मम तेज sश संभवम ्II१०-४१ II ----[ ी भगव गीता, १०-४१] Whatever and wherever (यत ् यत)् is glorious ( वभ ू त ), prosperous ( ीमत)् or powerful ( ऊिज त) in the Creation, all those manifestations (तत ् ) , you ( ) must ( ) know ( ) happen ( ) as part स वं वम ् एव अवग छ संभवम ् 13 of My (मम ) splendor (तेज sश). Vedas proclaim : ‘ एको देवः’ . . 7
The Vedas declare : ‘One is the God’ residing in the heart all :
एको देवः सवभ तू षे ु गूढः सव यापी सवभ तू ा तरा मा I कमा य ः सवभ तू ा धवासः सा ीचेता के वलो नगुण च II ----[ वेता वतर उप नषत ् , ६.११] . . . God is One – hidden in all beings, all pervading, the inner Self of all beings, presides over all actions, all beings reside in Him. He is the Witness, the pure Consciousness; he is Single – free from the three ����� (�����, �����, �����) of Nature. ई वरः सवभ तू ानां देशऽे जनु त ठ त । ामय सवभ तू ा न य ा ढा न मायया ॥ १८-६१॥ ----[ ी भगव गीता, १८-६१] The Lord resides in the heart of all beings; but is imperceptible to the deluded beings riding the giant wheel of Maya.. 14 ‘Idols, . . provoke me’ . . .8
“They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols . . . . “And I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend my arrows on them; they shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence; I will send the teeth of beasts against them,. . .. ---- [Deuteronomy, 32:21-25]
यो यो यां यां तनं ु भ तः धया चत ु म छ तI त य त याचलां धां तामेव वदधा यहंम ् II७-२१II ----[ ी भगव गीता, ७-२१] “In whatever form (तनं)ु the devotee seeks to worship with faith I render ( वदधा म) stability (अचलां) to his faith (त य धां ). 15 No scope for ‘Innovation’ . . 9
“Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do.
You shall not add to it or take from it.”
----[Deuteronomy,12:32]
इ त ते ानमा यातं गु या गु यतरं मया I वम ृ यतै दशषे णे यथे छ स तथा कु II१८-६३II ----[ ी भगव गीता, १८-६३] I have given you the most sacred and most secret knowledge ; now consider all of what I said in its entirety, subjecting it to critical evaluation, and make your own decision
16 The evangelical mission. . . 10 o Pope Paul-VI directed his team (Dec 08,1975) : “. . . The Gospel message is, therefore, necessary; it is unique; it is irreplaceable. It does not admit of any indifference, of any accommodation to the principles of other religious beliefs or of any compromise, for on it depends the whole issue of man’s salvation and in it are contained all the splendors of divine revelation . . . .We wish to affirm once again that the essential mission of the Church is to evangelize all men. . .” [Evangelii nuntiandi, the Proclamation on Evangelization in the Modern World, Dec 08,1975, pp.1, 13,14] o Said Swami Vivekananda in America (1893): "I do not come to convert you to a new belief. I want you to keep your own belief; I want to make the Methodist a better Methodist; the Presbyterian a better Presbyterian; the Unitarian a better Unitarian. I want to teach you to live the truth, to reveal the light within your own soul.”
[Swami Vivekananda, CW, Vol.- V, “Sayings and Utterances”, Item17 82] ‘Momins’ and ‘Kafirs’? . . . 11
o Quran, 9.5: "Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war.”
ये यथा मां प य ते तां तथैव भजा यहम ् । मम व मा नवतु ते मन ु याः पाथ सव शः II ४-११ II ----[ ी भगव गीता, ४-११] In whatever manner people surrender ( प य ते) to Me, I reciprocate (भजा यहम)् them accordingly; ( after all,) all beings (मन ु याः सव शः ) follow (अनवतु ते ) different paths (व मा ) that lead to Me alone, O Pārtha. 18 ‘Faith’ or ‘Karma’?. . . 12
Islamic faithful entitled for eternal sojourn in Paradise in spite of being a criminal ! Said Prophet Muhammad : ‘Whoever said "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah" and has in his heart good (faith) equal to the weight of a barley grain will be taken out of Hell. And whoever said, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah" and has in his heart good (faith) equal to the weight of a wheat grain will be taken out of Hell. And whoever said, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah" and has in his heart good (faith) equal to the weight of an atom will be taken out of Hell.’ ----[Muhammad Sahih al-Bukhari, (1:2:43)]
कृ तं वामव ट य वसजृ ा म पनु ः पनु ः I भतू ाम ममं कृ नमवशं कृ तवे श ात ्II९-८ II ----[ ी भगव गीता, ९-८ ] Resorting to the force (अव ट य ) of My own ( वाम ्) �������� ( कृ तं - माया) – and not because of the will of beings (अवशं - helpless, governed by the Law of Karma ) – I project ( वसजृ ा म) this (इमं ) whole of (कृ नं ) multitude of beings 19 (भतू ामम ्) again and again ( वसजृ ा म पनु ः पनु ः ). ‘Hell’ to unbelievers?. . . 13 o Quran, 98.51: "The Jews and Christians and the Pagans will burn forever in the fire of hell. They are the vilest of all creatures."
In Vedanta, Life is governed by the cosmic Law of karma:
भतू भावो भवकरो वसग ः कम सं तः II८-३ II Karma is the force behind the birth of beings. ----[ ी भगव गीता, ८-३ ]
वभावजेन कौ तेय नब धः वेन कम णा ॥ १८-६०॥ One’s Nature ( वभाव) is conditioned by the cumulative karmic residue.
----[ ी भगव गीता, १८20-६०] ‘Faith’ Vs ‘Shraddha’. . . 14
Kalimah Tawheed kalimat at-tawḥīd (Word of Oneness):
(There is) no god except Allah – One is He, no partners hath He. His is the Dominion, and His is the Praise. He gives life and causes death, and He is Living, who will not die, never. He of Majesty and Munificence. Within His Hand is (all) good. And He is, upon everything, Most Able. --- [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Kalimas]
धावान ्लभते ानं त परः संयतेि यः I ानं ल वा परां शाि तम चरेणा धग छ त II४-३९ II ----[ ी भगव गीता, ४-३९ ] One with subdued senses (संयतेि यः ), full of faith ( धा) and devotion to the cause (त परः), quickly attains (अ धग छ त ) knowledge ( ानं); and as a consequence attains Supreme Peace (परां शाि त) very soon (अ चरेण) 21 ‘Deen’ Vs ‘Dharma’. . . 15
Qur'an, Sura 4 (An-Nisa), ayat 136[2]: "O ye who believe! Believe in Allah and His Messenger, and the scripture which He hath sent to His Messenger and the scripture which He sent to those before (him). Any who denieth Allah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers, and the Day of Judgment, hath gone far, far astray. ” --- [ http://www.islamawareness.net ]
यतोs यदु य नः ेयस स धः स धमः I ---– [वशै े षक स ू , १.१.२] धम – the abstract Principle that guides the individual through the worldly activities (to attain अथ , काम – अ यदु य), always keeping one on the right path directed towards the supreme goal ( मो – न: ेयस ्)
धारणात ् धम इ याहु धम धारय त जा I ----[महाभारत , कण पव , ७२: ५८] ‘. . . Dharma is that (principle) which sustains people (Society)’. 22 ‘Salvation’ Vs ‘Moksha’. . . 16
“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life [Paradise], others to shame and everlasting contempt [Hades]” ---- [Daniel 12:2]
Moksha is Jnanam:
सव भतू थमा मानं सव भतू ा न चा म न I संप य म परमं या त ना येन हेतनु ा II १० II ---[ कै व योप नषत ् , १० ] Perceiving that ���� , which exists in all beings (भतू थमा मानं), and in which all beings exist (भतू ा न च आ म न), one attains ( संप यन ्) the supreme Brahman ( म परमं); there is (या त) no other way (ना येन हेतनु ा) – for liberation. 23 ‘Religious Activity’. . . 17
Mark 16:14-18 : “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.. . .”
Matthew 10.34-39 : “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. . .”
Quran, 9.5: "Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war.”
Quran, 48.29 : "Mohammed is Allah's apostle. Those who follow him are merciless for the unbelievers but kind to each other." 24 ‘Religious Activity’. . . 18
स वा स जायते ानं रजसो लोभ एव च I माद मोहौ तमसो भवतोs ानमेव च II १४-१७ II Knowledge arises from Sattwa ( स व ) , greed from Rajas ( रजस ्) , heedlessness, delusion and also ignorance arise from Tamas ( तमस ्) .
ऊ व ग छि त स व था म ये त ठि त राजसाः I जघ यगुणव ृ था अधो ग छि त तामसाः II १४-१८ II Those who always abide in Sattwa go upwards (ऊ व ग छि त ) ; the Rajasic dwell in the mid-level (म ये त ठि त) ; and the Tamaasic, abiding in abominable delusion, go downwards (अधो ग छि त ). 25 The ‘Last Prophet’ . . . 19 o Says Mohammad: “... I have been given superiority over the other prophets in six respects: I have been given words which are concise but comprehensive in meaning; I have been helped by terror (in the hearts of the enemies); spoils have been made lawful to me . . . ; I have been sent to all mankind; and the line of prophets is closed with me” . ---[ Book of Prayer, Hadith 4, 1062]
धमस ं थापनाथा य संभवा म यगु े यगु े II ४ - ८II ----[ ी भगव गीता, ४ - ८] o According to Vedanta, Creation is eternal. God is above Creation, but enters it repeatedly, either in response to the call of the devotee, or on his own volition, for his own reasons, as AVATAAR.
26 Opinions (22)
27 Maharshi Dayananda on Jehovah. . .1
Maharshi Dayananda Saraswati’s assessment of Jehovah
णे त ु टः णे टः त ु ट ट णे णे I अ यवि थत च य सादोऽ प भय करः II
[The Semitic God is] pleased at one moment, displeased in the very next, difficult to predict, and difficult to appease. His is of deranged mind – even his ‘favors’ are really terrible.
---[Sitaram Goel, “Hindu Christian Encounters ”, VOI, 1986, Chapter 11. (p.53 of 272, online edition, Voice of Dharma/books/)]
28 Semitic God. . .2
“. . . . Even today, the question retains its importance. Is the Allah of Quran a spiritual being ? Or is he some sort of mental and vital formation, a hegemonic idea ? Does he represent man’s own deepest truth and reside in his innermost being ? Or is he a projection of a less edifying source in man’s psyche? Is he discovered when a man’s heart is tranquil, desire-less and pure ? Or does he originate in a fevered state of mind ? Is his source the samadhi of the yoga bhumi, or some sort of a trance of non-yogic bhumi ? In the yoga darshana, this distinction is fundamental but it is not much remembered these days.”
----[ Ram Swarup, “Hindu view of Christianity and Islam”, p.22-23 ]
29 Yogic and Non Yogic Samadhi. . .3
“. . . .. Vyasa, the great commentator of Yogadarshana . . . Tells us that the mind has five habitual states or planes (�ℎ� ���) : �� �ℎ� (inert), ��ℎ���� (restless, or probably it is �����ℎ���� means contracted), ����ℎ���� (scattered), ��� ��� (one-pointed), and ������ℎ� (halted). He makes a further pregnant statement that �����ℎ� is natural to mind on all �ℎ� ��� (������ℎ����); but he adds a warning that the �����ℎ�� of the first three �ℎ� ��� are non- yogic and only the �����ℎ�� of the last two �ℎ� ��� are yogic. Only the yogic �����ℎ�� leads to spiritual development.”
----[ Ram Swarup, “Hindu view of Christianity and Islam”, p.103 ]
30 God of Yoga-bhumi. . .4
“. . . .. The god of ���� − �ℎ� �� of �� ������� yoga is free, actually and potentially, from all limiting qualities like desire, aversion, hankering, ego and nescience (ignorance); free from all actions, their consequences, present or future, active or latent . . . He is untouched by ����ℎ� − ����� − ���� �� − � �ℎ��� .”
----[ Ram Swarup, “Hindu view of Christianity and Islam”, p.104-5 ]
31 God of kama-bhumi. . .5
“. . . .. The god of non-yogic ���� − �ℎ� �� is different. . . He is a ‘jealous god’, as he describes himself in the Bible. And he “whose name is Jealous” is also of “fierce anger” ( ��ℎ ). He commands his chosen people that when he brings them to the promised land and delivers its people into their hands, “Thou shall smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them . . . Thou shall destroy their alters, and break down their images, and cut down their grooves . . . For thou art an holy people unto the Lord ”
He promises to his people : “I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries”; and they return the sentiment : “ Do I not hate them, O lord, that hate thee ? Yea, I hate them with perfect hatred” ----[ Ram Swarup, “Hindu view of Christianity and Islam”, p.105 ] 32 God of kama-bhumi. . .6
“. . . .. The Allah of the Quran exhibits about the same qualities. He is god of wrath (�ℎ����); on those who do not believe in him and his prophets, he wreaks a terrible punishment (��� � �� − ����). In the same vein, he is also a mighty avenger. (�����’� ������ �). He is also a god of “plenteous spoils” (���ℎ��� ������� ). He tells the believers how he repulsed their opponents and caused them to inherit the land , the houses and the wealth of the disbelievers, and the land they had not trodden . [Quran, 33.27].
He follows the spirit of Jehovah who promised his chosen people that he would give them “great and goodly cities they builded not, and wells they digged not, vineyards and olive trees they planted not” [Deut. 6.10-11].
----[ Ram Swarup, “Hindu view of Christianity and Islam”, p.10533 ] God of kama-bhumi . . .7
“. . . .. Allah is merciful too, but his mercy extends to the believers only. According to a Hadis, the prophet said that there “would be people among Muslims with as heavy sins as a mountain, but Allah would forgive them, and he would place in their stead the Jews and Christians”
. . . On the day of Resurrection Allah would deliver to every Muslim a Jew or a Christian and say: “That is your rescue from Hell-Fire” ---[Quoted from “Sahih Muslim”, 6665-6669] ----[ Ram Swarup, “Hindu view of Christianity and Islam”, p.105-6 ]
Abu Musa' reported that Messenger of Allah said: “When it will be the Day of Resurrection Allah would deliver to every Muslim a Jew or a Christian and say: ‘That is your rescue from Hell-Fire’.” [Sahih Muslim, 6665] 34 Swamiji on Islam . . .8
Swami Vivekananda :
"The yogi says there is a great danger in stumbling upon this (super conscious) state. In a good many cases, there is the danger of the brain being deranged, and, as a rule, you will find that all those men, however great they were, who had stumbled upon this super conscious state without understanding it, groped in the dark, and generally had, along with their knowledge, some quaint superstition. They opened themselves to hallucinations. Mohammad claimed that the Angel Gabriel came to him in a cave one day and took him on the heavenly horse, Harak, and he visited the heavens. But with all that Mohammad spoke some wonderful truths.”
----[Swami Vivekananda, “Complete Works”, Vol-I, p.184] 35 Swamiji on Islam . . .9
Swami Vivekananda :
“ . . . and think of the great evil that has been done through his fanaticism ! Think of the millions massacred through his teachings, mothers bereft of their children, children made orphans, whole countries destroyed, millions upon millions of people killed!... So we see this danger by studying the lives of great teachers like Mohammad and others. Yet we find, at the same time, that they were all inspired. Whenever a prophet got into the superconscious state by heightening his emotional nature, he brought away from it not only some truths, but some fanaticism also, some superstition which injured the world as much as the greatness of the teaching helped." ----[Swami Vivekananda, “Complete Works”, Vol-I, p.184] 36 Swamiji on Islam . . .10
Swami Vivekananda :
"Therefore we at once see why there has been so much narrow-mindedness, the part always claiming to be the whole; the little, finite unit always laying claim to the infinite. Think of little sects, born within a few hundred years out of fallible human brains, making this arrogant claim of knowledge of the whole of God’s infinite truth ! Think of the arrogance of it ! If it shows anything, it is this, how vain human beings are. And it is no wonder that such claims have always failed, and, by the mercy of the Lord, are always destined to fail.
----[Swami Vivekananda, “Complete Works”, Vol.II, pp. 369-70] 37 Swamiji on Islam . . .11
Swami Vivekananda :
“ . . . In this line the Mohammedans were the best off; every step forward was made with the sword – the Koran in the one hand and the sword in the other: ‘Take the Koran, or you must die; there is no alternative !’ You know from history how phenomenal was their success; for six hundred years nothing could resist them, and then there came a time when they had to cry halt. So, will it be with other religions if they follow the same methods."
----[Swami Vivekananda, “Complete Works”, Vol.II, pp. 369-70]
38 Unity below Diversity. . .12
Swamiji, presenting a “Paper on Hinduism” at the Parliament of Religions, Chicago, on Sept 19,1893:
“ . . . Unity in variety is the plan of nature, and the Hindu has recognized it. Every other religion lays down certain fixed dogmas, and tries to force society to adopt them. It places before society only one coat which must fit Jack and John and Henry, all alike. If it does not fit John or Henry, he must go without a coat to cover his body. The Hindus have discovered that the absolute can only be realized, or thought of, or stated, through the relative, and the images, crosses, and crescents are simply so many symbols – so many pegs to hang the spiritual ideas on. It is not that this help is necessary for every one, but those that do not need it have no right to say that it is wrong. Nor is it compulsory in Hinduism." ----[Swami Vivekananda, “Complete Works”, Vol-I, pp. 11] 39 Swamiji on idolatry . . .13
Swamiji, presenting a “Paper on Hinduism” at the Parliament of Religions, Chicago, on Sept 19,1893:
“ . . . One thing I must tell you. Idolatry in India does not mean anything horrible. It is not the ‘mother of harlots’. On the other hand, it is the attempt of undeveloped minds to grasp high spiritual truths. The Hindus have their faults, they sometimes have their exceptions; but mark this, they are always for punishing their own bodies, and never for cutting the throats of their neighbours. If the Hindu fanatic burns himself on the pyre, he never lights the fire of Inquisition. And even this cannot be laid at the door of his religion any more than the burning of witches can be laid at the door of Christianity."
----[Swami Vivekananda, “Complete Works”, Vol-I, pp. 11] 40 ‘Dominion over Creation’ . . . 14
. . . Since the start of the Judeo-Christian tradition, the West broke away from Nature and began regarding as so much inanimate matter to be exploited (a polite word for plunder). That unfortunate attitude, which has resulted in the ruthless abuse we see all over the world, can be traced all the way to the Old Testament and Genesis. On that fateful sixth day, Jehovah proclaims,
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”, and said to the newborn man, “ Fill the earth and subdue it”. ---[Genesis 1:26 , 1:28] -----[Quoted by Michel Danino, ‘The Indian Mind, then and now’, pp.81-82 ] 41 Accursed Earth ?. . . 15
. . . Jehovah did not stop there; for some mysterious reason, he seems to hold the earth responsible for man’s sins. After generously cursing various nations through a succession of fire-spewing prophets, he turns his wrath to our poor planet:
“Say to the southern forest: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: I am about to set fire to you, and it will consume all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched.” [Ezekiel 20:47]
“I will make the land of Egypt a ruin and a desolate waste among devastated lands.” [ Ezekiel 29: 10-12]
“See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants . . . The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered” [ Isaiah 24:1-3] “Cursed is the ground because of you” [Genesis 3:17] -----[Michel Danino, ‘The Indian Mind, then and now’, pp.8142 -82 ] So said the Mahatma. . .16
Addressing some Christian missionaries in Calcutta on 21 July 1915, Mahatma Gandhi had said :
“Today my position is that though I admire much in Christianity, I am unable to identify myself with orthodox Christianity. I must tell you in all humility that Hinduism, as I know it, entirely satisfies my soul, fills my whole being and I find solace in the Bhagavadgita and Upanishads that I miss even in the Sermon on the Mount”
-----[“Christian Missions: Their Place in India”, (A collection of the Mahatma’s sayings on Christianity), Navajjivan Press, Ahmedabad, 1941, p.51]
--[Sitaram Goel, “ Papacy, its Doctrine and History” VOI , pp.100-101 ] 43 So said the Mahatma. . .17
Regarding the Jesus Christ, he had already expressed his opinion in his autobiography:
“I was then re-reading Arnold’s Light of Asia. Once we began to compare the life of Jesus with that of Buddha. ‘Look at Gautama’s compassion !’, said I. It was not confined to mankind , it was extended to all living beings. Does not one’s heart overflow with love to think of the lamb joyously perched on his shoulders ? One fails to notice this love for all living beings in the life of Jesus.”
----[“Christian Missions: Their Place in India”, (A collection of the Mahatma’s sayings on Christianity), Navajjivan Press, Ahmedabad, 1941, p.29]
----[Sitaram Goel, “ Papacy, its Doctrine and History” VOI , pp.100-101 ] 44 Lest we forget . . .18
“Hindus were masters of many spiritual disciplines; they had many Yogas and they had a developed science of inner exploration. There had been a continuing discussion whether the ultimate reality was ‘dvaita’ or ‘advaita’. It would have been very interesting and instructive to find out if any of these savants of Yoga ever met, on their inner journey, a Quranic being, Allah (or its original, Jehovah of the Bible), who is jealous of other Gods, who claims sole sovereignty and yet whom no one knows except through a pet go- between (the prophet), who appoints a favourite emissary and uses the latter’s mouth to publish his decrees, who proclaims crusades and jihad, who teaches to kill the unbelievers and destroy their shrines and temples, and to levy permanent tribute on them, and to convert them into zimmis, into ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water’. . . . ”
45 ----[ Ram Swarup, “Hindu view of Christianity and Islam”, p.22-23 ] Religious Perversion . . . 19
Swami Vivekananda framed the “Rules and Regulations” of the Ramakrishna Math in 1897-98 . . . . Under the “plan of work for India” it reads:
“ For whoever goes out of the Hindu religion, is not only lost to us, but also we have in him one more enemy. It is well known in history what great harm was done during Muslim regime by the renegades who becomes enemies and destroyed their own hearth and home. . . The cause of the great danger lies in the fact that, with the destruction of the foundation of the life of an individual or a nation, that individual or nation is also destroyed. The life of the Aryan race is founded on religion. If that is destroyed, the downfall of Aryan race is inevitable [p.24]...... Great efforts should be made to bring even Muslims and Christians into the Hindu fold. [p.26]” ----[“Rules and Regulations of Ramakrishna Math” , Translation from original Bengali (1967), pp. 24,26.]46 Sri Ramakrishna on ‘sin’. . .20
Sri Ramakrishna, did not have even a remote knowledge of the dogmas of Christianity. The only dogma, that of the original sin, which was presented to him by some disciples, he repudiated with repugnance.
“ . . . ‘Once someone gave me’, he said on October 27, 1882, ‘a book of the Christians. I asked him to read it to me. It talked about nothing but sin’. Turning to Keshub Chunder Sen, who was present, he continued, ‘Sin is the only thing one hears at your Brahmo Samaj too. . . . He who says day and night, I am a sinner, I am a sinner, verily becomes a sinner. . . . Why should one only talk about sin and hell, and such things?’ . . . . "
[Sitaram Goel, “History of Hindu-Christian Encounters’, VOI,1989, pp.82-83.] ----[Original : M.,‘The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’, Volume 1, 1985, p. 138.]
47 ‘Children of immortal bliss’. . .21
Swamiji, presenting a “Paper on Hinduism” at the Parliament of Religions, Chicago, on Sept 19,1893: “ . . . Hear, ye children of immortal bliss! even ye that reside in higher spheres! I have found the Ancient One who is beyond all darkness, all delusion: knowing Him alone you shall be saved from death over again." "Children of immortal bliss" — what a sweet, what a hopeful name! Allow me to call you, brethren, by that sweet name — heirs of immortal bliss — yea, the Hindu refuses to call you sinners. Ye are the Children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. Ye divinities on earth — sinners! It is a sin to call a man so; it is a standing libel on human nature. Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free, blest and eternal; ye are not matter, ye are not bodies; matter is your servant, not you the servant of matter. " ----[Swami Vivekananda, “Complete Works”, Vol-I, pp. 11] 48 Sri Ramakrishna on Sanatana Dharma. . .22
Sri Ramakrishna's view of Hindu religion and Sanatana Dharma:
"Hindu religion alone is the Sanatana Dharma. Various creeds you hear now a days have come into existence through the will of God and will disappear again through his will. They will not last for ever. Therefore, I bow down at the feet of even the modern Devotees. The Hindu religion has always existed and will always exist." ----[The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Vol.II, p. 642]
49 Veera Narayana Temple, Belavadi
50 References
1. Ram Swarup, “ Hindu view of Christianity and Islam” , Voice of India, 2. Sita Ram Goel, “ Calcutta Quran Petition”, Voice of Dharma 3. Koenraad Elst, “ Negationism in India”, Voice of Dharma, New Delhi 4. S.Radhakrishnan, “Eastern religions and Western Thought” 5. Swami Vivekananda, “Complete Works”, Vol. II and Vol. IV 6. D.S. Margoliouth, “ Mohammad and the Rise of Islam”,1900 7. Michel Danino, “The Indian Mind Then and Now”, Auroville Press, 2000 8.
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