25. HINDU WORLDVIEW
BY DR. EARL PARVIN
INTRODUCTION 3/3/18
The importance of understanding a Hindu Worldview becomes obvious with the realization that not only is Hinduism the way of life for most of India’s masses, but the population is also exploding so that by 2025 India will be 1.42 billion [17%] as compared to China’s 1.4 billion inhabitants, thus becoming the world’s largest country. The US will be third largest with 327 million or less than one fourth that size [5%].
India has the largest number of Hindus, with temples in all of the 638,000 villages. [A saying in India, ‘do not live in a place without a temple’]. America has the second largest number of Hindus, with over 100 temples listed on internet serving as points of pilgrimage for 2 million Hindus, out of a population of over 330 million Americans.
It is amazing to realize how many Americans believe in ‘a former life’ experience which is the doctrine of classical transmigration of the soul, a major teaching of Hinduism, based on the doctrine of Karma, which they believe, controls all of life. One of the means of controlling the direction of Karma is to practice yoga, which is widely taught here in America as a form of mind control and exercise, which has Hindu roots. The Huffington Press suggests that the number of Americans practicing Yoga is growing. TIME Magazine suggest 85,000 workers use it to improve productivity. [Jan 2017 p.23] Health clubs [75%] offer Yoga in their programs. The Yoga Journal suggests that ‘twenty million Americans practice yoga regularly and swear by its rejuvenative effect’. Most are women and are willing to spend $10 billion yr. Some doctors prescribe it for their patients for a number of maladies, such as stress headaches. [NOTE: it invokes Hindu gods]
India is an ancient country of contrasts, which has been the seedbed for numerous religions, with greatly differing teachings from monotheism to polytheism, self-denial to self-indulgence and pacifism [Ghandi] to violence. Certainly there are those who try to reconcile these differences and bring them together within their own ranks. An illustration of this, is the religion of the Sikhs, which draws from Islam and Hinduism. [There are more than 250,000 Sikhs in North America attending 100 temples or gurdwaras. Their god is a literal ‘book’, called the Granth Sahib. Amazingly he is put to bed at night, covered with a different lovely cloth provided by devotees, attended at night and fanned all day and has a van dedicated to his transportation.]
India is made up of many different people groups and languages. The ancient peoples were the Dravidians whose lives were evidently controlled by priest-kings and a fertility cult, explicitly described in the Vedic literature, in which the bull, the phallus and ritual, blood sacrifice played a significant roll. By the 1500s BC, the Aryan invaders brought in the social stratification of the caste system, built on religious duty. Out of the 4 original casts: [Brahman, Warrior/Chiefs, Traders & Servants] have exploded to 3,000 casts. The lowest cast was the Outcaste or Dalits, [now officially called ‘Scheduled Casts] and the highest was that of the Brahman priests. [Ghandi said the cast system was evil]. Along with the priestly system came the temples, where the mystical rituals were performed in seeking to manipulate the gods [animistic] to give them what they desired. These sacred rites and rituals were not written, but only communicated by the mendicant to the devotee, through years of apprenticeship. People taught better worship in temples, where Bodhisatvas [saints] ‘stored their excess karma’.
The life of the average
Indian is dominated by rigorous attention to appeasing the many gods as depict
as idols. God sought to warn His people to avoid idolatry. These are man-made
gods versus the God of the Bible who revealed Himself to man. Idolatry is to be
avoided because: “Everyone is senseless and without
knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud;
they have no breath in them” [Jer 10:14]. “But those who trust in idols,
who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’
will be turned back in utter shame” [Is 42:17]. “Do not
turn to idols or make metal gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God” [Lev 19:4]. “You saw among them their detestable
images and idols” [Du 29:17]. “worthless idols” [I Sam
12:21]. “male shrine prostitutes” idols” [I K 15:12]. “land
is full of idols; they bow down” [Is 2:8]. ““Tell us, you idols,
what is going to happen” [Is 41:22]. “collection of idols” [Is
57:13]. “full of idols” [Acts 17:16]. “accustomed to idols” [I
Cor 8:7] “turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God” [I Th 1:9]. “did
not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver,
bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk” [Rev
9:20].
THE PRESUPPOSITIONS:
1. THE NECESSITY OF FAITH
Remember the definition of faith. “Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence”. Hinduism is based on the ancient teachings of the Upanishads of an Ultimate Reality. This UR is a metaphysical concept, which states that in the midst of change there is something which is changeless. In the universe that changelessness is called Brahman [the UR]. [Sun rises & sets daily to do it again]. The changeless element in living things is called Atman. [Man sleeps then awakes. Trees grow, & remain].The goal is to unite the Atman of life with the Brahman of the universe and stop all change. Some suggest that to attain this merger is tantamount to non-existence or nihilism. [Bible teaches “entropy” & “renewal”: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” [II Cor 4:16].
Whatever, this process takes eons of time and numerous ‘transmigrations or reincarnations of the soul’. Some say it takes 8,400,000 rebirths. The ‘direction’ of the rebirth is determined by Karma. Thus, Karma becomes the excuse for whatever takes place in the current life, blaming a former life, and effectively eliminating any personal responsibility. [Smacks of predestination = predetermined by god; therefore, I am not responsible because Karma determined it].
There is no creed in Hinduism, but there are plenty of gods.
2. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD [The Hindu sees god as an Accountant who keeps records Karma]
In Exodus 20:3 we read, “You shall have no other GODS before me”. Notice that gods is plural and thus speaks to the subject of Hindu polytheism and its 33 crores of gods, thought to be 330,000,000. Out of this pantheon, three [the Hindu ‘Trimurti’ or Trinity] are the most important, Brahma [no n], the creator god, Vishnu, the preserver, and Shiva [supreme god], the destroyer. All of the Hindu gods are animistic, around which has grown up a great collection of myths, consorts and sacred animals.
The gods are depict in various idols. The dancing Shiva, for instance shows a dancer within a vertical circle, bordered by flames of fire representing the illusory, transitory nature of the world, the dancer has four arms and a raised left leg, depicting release from the world of change, The right foot stands on a demon, signifying his destruction. Shiva wears a crescent moon on his head and snakes wrapped around his body, both signifying Shiva’s endless life-giving powers. Shiva’s matted locks signify the Ganges river, which is thought to flow from heaven, purifying the land. Shiva is understood to have prevented a destructive flood upon the earth. Shiva has a third eye on his forehead, signifying he is the Great Yogi or ascetic, also that he is the omniscient all-seeing one. He is wearing two earrings, one the ‘linga’ or male phallic symbol and the other the ‘yoni’ or symbol of the female generative organ. These symbols may be seen in temples in India on their altars. His weapon is called, “Trishula”, a trident representing the Hindu Trinity.
Shiva may be the ‘oldest of Hindu gods.
The god Ganesh is depict with a man’s body and elephant’s head. The story goes that Ganesh was guarding the house while his mother took a bath. When Shiva came home and wanted in the house, Ganesh would not let him go in, so Shiva decapitated him. His mother was devastated, so Shiva repented and gave him the first head available, which was that of an elephant, and revived him. Ganesh is celebrated as important for any new undertaking.
The god Agni [the Hindu Jesus {1 Tim 2:5}] is mediator between the gods and men, whose symbol is fire. He is present at weddings in a burning dia or dish of oil. Each morning the man goes out to meet the rising sun with a burning dish of oil. At death the body, after preparation by soaking in the Sacred Ganges river is committed to Agni by burning it on a funeral pyre prepared by the sons. [The burning of the cadaver has a sad history in Hinduism called ‘Suttee’, outlawed]
Hanuman is the monkey god, worshipped in temples dedicated to them. He has a reputation for kindness and great learning. Students revere him. His strength is said to be prodigious.
The snake has been worshipped from ancient times. The cow is revered, but does not seem to be worshipped. It is the sacred duty of the Hindu to protect them as they wander aimlessly.
The gods are believed to abide in 4 sacred sites called Dhamas, [however there are thousands] which are major points of pilgrimage.
In Hinduism it is said, “God is never far away”, but does not indicate which one. [Paul told the people of Asia, “man-made gods are no gods at all,” [Acts 19:26]. Israel was told not “to make any kind of idol” [Du 4:25]. The Psalmist said, “God is in heaven…their idols are silver & gold, made by the hands of men. They cannot see, hear, speak… those who make them & trust them will be just like them” [Ps 115:3-8].
3. THE WORD OF GOD
In Hinduism there are three main sources of divinely revealed sacred literature. The oldest is the Vedas, which are a collection of ancient hymns, such as are the Psalms of the Bible. The Vedas, however, tell of myths and legends about the importance of sacred rituals for appeasing the myriads of gods by means of a complicated sacrificial system, of fertility rites and the importance of the cow as a universal creative principle. One of the gods is Agni, who is the sacred fire, thought to be the protector of the household. He is also the mediator between the gods and men. The Vedas teach of life after death for those who performed the proper, precise rites during their lifetime. If they failed, then at death, the soul was born-again by transmigration to a new host where the baggage of negative Karma was to be outweighed by positive Karma, by performing proper ritual, pilgrimages, etc.
Second is the Upanishads, which are stories of philosophers who practiced extreme self-denial to attain religious perfection, or to discover the ‘secret doctrine’ of how to reach the Ultimate Reality and stop the endless transmigration of the soul. This secret knowledge is hidden in the esoteric symbol ‘OM’, which is the universal symbol of the ultimate in religious meaning or total Reality.
The third, is the Bhagavad-Gita, in which is found the story of Krishna, one of the ten manifestations of the god Vishnu. Krishna is the god of the Hare Krishna sect, numbering 100,000 US, with thirty centers and seven farms where they practice an ascetic life style and eat a vegetarian diet. Their lives consist mainly of performing endless chores, rituals and chanting of the name Hare Krishna 16,000 times daily for merit. [The prophets of Baal used this {I K 19:26}; Bible forbids vain repetition {Mtt 6:7; Ec 5:2}] Another of the avatars or manifestations of Vishnu is Buddha, purported to be the originator of Buddhism. The final avatar is Kalki, who, when the world has become totally corrupt, will come on a white horse, with flaming sword to judge the wicked and reward the good and bring in a Golden Age. [Reminiscent of the Muslim Mahdi, or Christian Messiah?] Many are the teachings within the fold of Hinduism.
It is interesting to note that there are two ‘Historic Classifications’ of the texts: “Shruti” that which was heard and 2nd “Smitri” that which was remembered” [Reminiscent of Islamic classification].
Allahabad is the 2nd oldest city in India, and located strategically at the confluence of 3 rivers: the Ganges, Yamuna and Sarasuati, thus playing an important role in the life of the Hindu gods, their exploits & sayings, which have been collected as their Scriptures. The city has a history of publishers. Allahabad is Persian, meaning “Place of God”.
THE STANDARD OF TRUTH
The standard of truth for the Hindu is to perform with ritualistic perfection, the daily rites with accuracy as his religious duty or Dharma. At some occasion, such as a crisis or for some rite of passage, there is a Puja, or trip to the temple for ‘worship’ or ritual performed by a priest. Pilgrimages to the seven sacred cities, such as Benares, are considered to be very efficacious. Varanasi [Benares] is said to be the “Spiritual Capitol” or Holiest City. It is said to be founded by Shiva. It is the place to die for emancipation or release from rebirth. [Buddhism was founded here]. Bathing in the Sacred Ganges is very powerful for cleansing. Every action has built into it Karma. Karma is the positive or negative effect of the action, which is accumulative. His goal is to be released from this world with all of its ills and be united with the divine.
5. THE STANDARD OF ETHICAL MORALITY
Ethics is not emphasized in Hindu sacred literature. The suggested reason for this is that such teaching would be superfluous, since all of life partakes of the Ultimate Reality; therefore, all others are part of his true self. Hinduism is thought to be the Universal Religion, and big enough to embrace all religions.
However, in reality, the fear of Karma becomes the standard of all morality. Everything that happens to a person can be attributed to Karma attached to his soul from a former life. Any good fortune or bad fortune is accounted for as Karma from the actions of the one who had the soul earlier.
A serious ethical issue is sought to be addressed. Hinduism has deified sex as being united with the gods. An outgrowth is the matter of Child Brides as young as 4 or 5, more than 50% before 15. Poor parents find a daughter a financial liability; therefore, illegal marriages take place in secret at night. Suttee, now outlawed was a result of abusive older men marrying young girls. They were threatened to be burned alive if their husbands died to escape.
CONCLUSION:
The Hindu Worldview may be expressed as follows:
The tragic goal of the Hindu Worldview, is to see life as transitory and this world as illusory. Yet there is an overriding principle of something permanent in this impermanence. All of life can be explained by the principle of Karma, thus removing any sense of personal responsibility. There is no desire to improve one’s lot, because it has been predetermined by Karma and is seen as religious duty. Everything will be ok in the next life, or the next.
DISCUSSION:
1. Discuss the implications of the practice of ‘suttee’ [the practice of the wife of a deceased man being burned alive on his funeral pyre], from a Hindu Worldview. [This practice was outlawed by the government when the missionaries petitioned the government].
2. Discuss the implications of the practice of taking ‘child brides’ in India from a Hindu Worldview.
3. What are the Biblical implications of the doctrine of Karma?
4. From the standpoint of the Hindu Worldview, why is there no concern about the obvious fixation on sex as seen in the licentious carvings covering the temples of India, temple prostitution, the sexual significance of the high altar in the temples, child brides, etc.
5. Why is the degradation of the Dalit portion of society not being enforced?
6. How would a mother justify murdering her own children and committing suicide in a Hindu Worldview? [The testimony of Mrs. Moonsamy]