A Defence of the Bible: Ch. 1a – Introduction & Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism has no single founder, no single scripture, and no commonly agreed set of teachings. Throughout its extensive history, there have been many key figures teaching different philosophies and writing numerous holy books. For these reasons, writers often refer to Hinduism as 'a way of life' or 'a family of religions' rather than a single religion.[2] It is based around one central and impersonal god, Brahman (also known as ‘Brahma’), who is held to be infinite, eternal, and the cause, source, material and effect of all creation. Essentially, god is everything and everything is god. There is no single founder, no specific theological structure and no central religious organization.[3]

The following historical information on Hinduism has been taken from A Spectator’s Guide to World Religions by John Dickson.[4]

Hinduism is based upon three overlapping groups of historical writings:

Vedas: 1500–500 BC

Upanishads: 1000–300 BC

Smriti (Manu Smriti): 500 BC–AD 300

Vedas (1500­–500 BC)

There are four foundational books, which, if published, would fill a bookshelf. These books basically dictate a ritualistic practice involving animal sacrifices and fire offerings, as well as the priest drinking of a hallucinogenic plant juice.

The Vedas require a belief in many and varied gods and among them is the god Soma, which is associated with the plant juice the priest drinks.

The Indian religion that developed out of the Vedas and belief in these writings is still a basic tenet of Hinduism.

Upanishads (1000–300 BC)

These writings came about when Indian gurus began to reflect on their religion and sought to make sense of the world in the light of that tradition. These writings, in terms of theology, far outweigh the Vedas.

The Upanishads introduce the idea, and this is the corner stone of Hinduism, that there is a mysterious background force known as Brahman. To Hindus, Brahman is the ultimate and only reality in the universe. From Brahman everything in the universe came and to Brahman everything in the universe will return. Everything originates from Brahman: creation, human beings, the gods, etc. All these things flicker for a while and then return to their source where they are absorbed in the ultimate and only true reality.

Connected with the idea of Brahman is the concept of the ‘Atman’ or soul. This is the ‘inner you,’ the real life-force that exists in every living creature. It is that part of you that is from Brahman.

Every Hindu wants his soul to return to Brahman. However, his soul may be caught up in an endless cycle of reincarnation. That is, dying and then being reborn as some other creature. This, they believe, happens to all living creatures, including insects.

Smriti (500 BC–AD 300)

These writings reveal the Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty. At the center of this massive mythological epic is the battle between cousins, after which almost the entire race is destroyed. Just before the battle, a long and detailed conversation breaks out between the hero of the story, Prince Arjune, and his advisor, Krishna, who turns out to be an incarnation of the god Vishnu. In this conversation, which is known as the Bhagavad-gita, the good god Krishna endorses the hierarchical view of humanity consisting of four levels of people or castes:

1.       Priests— they form the top level in Indian society with nearness to the ultimate life-principle of the universe, which is Brahman.
2.       Warrior kings—in contemporary Indian society, these people belong to what we would call the upper–middle class.
3.       Common people— these make up the bulk of the Indian society and are involved with industry and commerce.
4.      Servants (Sundras) — their role is simply to serve the three upper castes. A servant can only hope that his or her karma, i.e. the good things they do in life (see discussion below); will cause a promotion to the above order in the next life.

There are only three possible ways of escaping the endless cycle of birth and rebirth so that the person can return to Brahman.

1.       Path of Duties— that is, to faithfully continue one’s duties. And ones’ ‘duty’ depends on which caste the person belongs to.
2.       Path of Knowledge —this can be attained by contemplation and religious realization of the soul’s oneness with Brahman.
3.       Path of Devotion —this requires devoting one’s self completely and utterly to one of the many gods.

Within Hinduism, there is an exceedingly wide variety of gods to potentially worship, each with its own characteristics, statues and symbols before which to pay homage. If, for example, one wants to pray for knowledge and understanding, one would pray to the god Sarasati. One might pray to the god Moksha to obtain grace. Many Hindus worship their own village god or goddess. However, to say that Hinduism is a polytheistic religion with an unknown and unnamed number of gods would not be entirely correct. Many Hindus view their religion as monotheistic, with only one Supreme Being (Brahman) who is formless and impersonal. All other gods and goddesses are simply facets of this one god. This Supreme Being is viewed as the god of all other religions and equal to all existence or the ultimate reality.

Even though the Hindu religion could be viewed as monotheistic, it does appear to be embraced within it a trinity of three gods: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

Karma

Karma is the concept that all of a person’s actions in life stick to his soul in such a way as to determine his soul’s re-existence in his next incarnation. For example, good karma means that the person goes up the order in the next life and bad karma means he goes down. The ultimate goal of a Hindu is not to come back as something better the next time round, rather it is to escape the need to come back at all by going into Brahman.

Whilst karma is the entrapment of one’s soul in this endless cycle, Moksa is the release from it so that one can enter into the reality of Brahman, the source of true existence.

Hindus believe that the universe appears and disappears every twenty-four million years—twelve million years of existence and twelve million years of non-existence. This raises the question of how non-existence, or nothing, is able to bring about existence, that is, something.

Below are some of the major deities of the Hindu religion.[5]

Brahma symbolizes the aspect of the Supreme Reality that brings forth the creation. For this reason, Hindus call Brahma creator of the universe. He is the first member of the Hindu trinity that also includes Vishnu and Shiva. His divine consort is Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning and Knowledge. Goddess Saraswati provides Brahma with knowledge that is necessary for the process of creation. 

The four faces of Brahma represent the sacred knowledge of the four Vedas and this is the most prominent feature of any image of Brahma. The four faces, therefore, symbolize that Brahma is the source of all knowledge necessary for the creation of the universe. The four arms represent the four directions and thus represent the omnipresence and omnipotence of Brahma. 

Vishnu (or Krishna) represents the aspect of the Supreme Reality that preserves and sustains the universe. Although there are variations in images and pictures of Vishnu, he is generally symbolized by a human body with four arms. In his hands he carries a conch (shankha), a mace (gada), and discus (chakra). He wears a crown, two earrings, a garland (mala) of flowers, and a gem around the neck. He has a blue body and wears yellow clothes. Vishnu is shown standing on a thousand-headed snake (named Shesha Nag), and the snake stands with its hoods open over the head of Vishnu. 

Shiva represents the aspect of the Hindu Supreme Being (Brahman of the Upanishads) that continuously dissolves to recreate in the cyclic process of creation, preservation, dissolution and recreation of the universe.

Other major deities are goddess Durga, Ganesha and goddess Saraswati.

This has been a very brief overview of Hinduism. It is a very complex religion invented over many hundreds of years, and for those who are unfortunate enough to have been born into the servant class from which there is no escape, it is very repressive.

The hardcover book, A Defence of the Bible by Gary Baxter, BSc (Hon). PhD may be purchased at http://adefenceofthebible.com/ or http://www.word.com.au/details.aspx?productid=584934

Published by Bible Truth For You. (http://bibletruthforyou.org)

About Gary Baxter

Doctor Gary Baxter completed his PhD in synthetic organic chemistry, in 2 years and seven months, written and submitted, at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia from where he entered the workforce and after a few years started his own business which offered an analytical chemistry service. This grew to include environmental analysis and thirty qualified chemists. The business was sold and another business was commenced, this time manufacturing topical creams and ointments in compliance with and under the control of the Therapeutics Goods Administration. He has now retired with his sons running the business. The topic of apologetics and creation has always inspired Gary. As well, he spent 17 years being involved with Bible Study Fellowship and many years as a Sunday school teacher.

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