Monotheism and Hinduism
By Gopal Saraswat, June 1999

The root cause of religious strife is this notion that there is but one god
- and mine is the one.

While monotheism, technically, is the belief that there is only one god, in
practice, you always have the suffix 'and mine is the one'. The worst form
of monotheism is Islam, wherein the Quran explicitly admonishes Muslims to
'smite the necks of the disbelievers' and, by hook or crook, convert all of
mankind to Islam. Somewhat less cantankerous is Christian monotheism, which
claims that only Christians can go to heaven. Jewish monotheism, because
Jews do not proselytize, is no more than a mild irritant because of its airs
of superiority. Hindu monotheism, on the other hand, is typified by Shree
Krishna in the Bhagwad Geeta: 'Whoever you worship, you worship Me' !

The monotheism of Semitic religions is bound to lead to strife, and it's
history is proof that it does. If you believe that there is only one god,
the very fact that someone else believes in a different god is going to
offend you, because it will strike you as a direct challenge to your own
belief. Polytheists, on the other hand, have no reason to be offended if
someone else worships a different god. Since they believe that there are
many gods, they respect even those gods whom they themselves do not worship.
Hinduism explicitly states that all sincere paths to salvation will bear
fruit.

Is Hinduism monotheistic ? "Hindu theism is inclusive and accepts both
monotheism and polytheism as the one Divine with many names, forms, and
functions" explains Dr. Vamadeva Shastri. "Biblical monotheism, on the other
hand, is exclusive - ours is the only true God and all other Gods or all
other views of Divinity are false."

Once monotheism becomes exclusive, it turns religious sentiment into a
poison that causes conflict - crusades, jihads, and final solutions.

From an atheist's point of view, there is not one iota of evidence that gods
are anything more than the creation of man's mind. If you can't be an
atheist, you should at least be a polytheist because it makes no sense to
kill each other under the militant certainty that your hallucination is
superior to that of the next guy.

Does a modern Hindu have more difficulty than, let's say, a Christian in
reconciling his religious beliefs with the times ?

"At the highest philosophic level, Vedanta is Atheistic. There is no God,
unlike the case in most other religions. There is only the impersonal
Bramhan which has an infinite set of attributes, and these attributes are
coincidental with the attributes of the natural universe ... Some of these
attributes are symbolically represented by gods and goddesses which can then
be worshiped by individuals, depending upon their needs and state of
development. These gods and goddesses are symbols and therefore only of
limited utility. They are hooks that you can hang your concepts on. No one
with any degree of intellectual sophistication really believes that there
are gods and goddesses." -- Atanu Dey in 'What Hinduism Means to Me'.

Bramhaand means universe in Sanskrit. Elsewhere, Atanu says "The statement
'Aham Bramhosmi' expresses that notion exactly: I am the God".

Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, states that there is nothing beyond
the physical universe, and that the "I" within you is god. Although
Objectivists are atheists, they "would be embarrassed to be seen crusading
against god", according to Ayn Rand.

It may come as a surprise to many to learn that Hinduism is a religion of
action. Karma is the running net total of the positive and negative actions
of a being. It is only through positive Karma - an accumulation of positive
deeds - that a Hindu can achieve successful reincarnation and eventual
release from the cycle of rebirth. In contrast, Christianity holds,
according to Saint Paul, that "[salvation] is the gift of God: Not of works,
lest any man should boast." If salvation could be earned by good deeds, than
Christ's death would not have been necessary. Thus, even someone who has
committed the most heinous of crimes can go to heaven by sincerely repenting
and accepting Jesus as his savior.

Much has been said and written about the Hindu caste system. What is not
well-known is the fact that there is more to the Hindu caste system than
Brahmans(Brahmins) and Untouchables. Most Hindus are either Vaishya or
Shudra. In modern terms, that is roughly equivalent to businessmen and
workers. According to Manu, "By his honest trade and industry, [the Vaishya]
keeps all the others alive. Without him, society could not exist". According
to the Vaishya code, a man must *work* for material things, and pray for
spiritual ones.

While Christianity teaches that money [or the love of money] is the root of
all evil, and Islam fails to comprehend the business rationale for interest,
Hindus worship Laxmi, the goddess of wealth ! Every Vaishya enterprise
displays the Sanskrit phrase "Shubh Laabh", which means "Profit Is
Auspicious" !

Copyright @ 1999 Gopal Saraswat. All rights reserved. This article may be
reproduced by individuals and non-profit organizations,
provided it is reproduced in its entirety and this notice is prominently
displayed.

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