Hindu Scriptures:
Among the several sacred scriptures of the Hindus are the Vedas, Upanishads and the Puranas.
Let’s get a brief introduction about them.
1. Vedas:
The word Veda is derived from vid which means ‘to know’,
knowledge par excellence or sacred wisdom. There are four principal divisions
of the Vedas (although according to their number, they amount to 1131 out of
which about a dozen are available). According to Maha Bhashya of Patanjali,
there are 21 branches of Rigveda, 9 types of Atharvaveda, 101 branches of
Yajurveda and 1000 of Samveda).
The Rigveda, the Yajurveda and the Samveda are considered to be more ancient books and are known as Trai Viddya or the ‘Triple Sciences’. The Rigveda is the oldest and has been compiled in three long and different periods of time. The 4th Veda is the Atharvaveda, which is of a later date.
Modern historians have adopted chiefly two methods to
determine the date of the Vedas: the first is based on the astronomical
references in the scriptures and the second on the morphology of the language
of the same. They conclude the date to be between 4000BC to 2500BC. Similarly,
there are differing opinions regarding the places where these books were
compiled and the Rishis to whom these Scriptures were given.
Irrespective of these differences, the Vedas are considered
to be the most authentic of the Hindu Scriptures and the real foundations of
Hinduism.
2. Upanishads:
The word ‘Upanishad’ is derived from Upa meaning near, Ni
which means down and Shad means to sit. Therefore ‘Upanishad’ means
“sitting-down-near”. Groups of pupils used to sit near the teacher to learn
from him the secret doctrines.
According to Samkara, ‘Upanishad’ is derived from the root
word Sad which means ‘to loosen’, ‘to reach’ or ‘to destroy’, with Upa and ni
as prefix; therefore ‘Upanishad’ means Brahma-Knowledge by which ignorance is
loosened or destroyed.
The number of Upanishads exceeds 200; though the Indian
tradition puts it at 108. There are 10 principal Upanishads. However, some
consider them to be more than 10, while others 18.
The Vedanta meant originally the Upanishads, though the word
is now used for the system of philosophy based on the Upanishad. Literally,
Vedanta means the end of the Veda, Vedasua-antah, and the conclusion as well as
the goal of Vedas. The Upanishads are the concluding portion of the Vedas and
chronologically they come at the end of the Vedic period.
Some Pundits consider the Upanishads to be more superior to the Vedas.
3. Puranas:
Next in order of authenticity, are the Puranas, which are the most widely read scriptures. It is believed that the Puranas contain the history of the creation of the universe, history of the early Aryan tribes, life stories of the divines and deities of the Hindus. It is also believed that the Puranas are revealed books (of divine origin) like the Vedas, which were revealed simultaneously with the Vedas or sometime close to it.
Maharishi Vyasa has divided the Puranas into 18 voluminous parts. He also arranged the Vedas under various heads.
Chief among the Puranas is a book known as Bhavishya Purana. It is called so because it is believed to give an account of future events. The Hindus consider it to be the word of God. Maharishi Vyasa is considered to be just the compiler of the book.
4. Itihaas:
The two epics of Hinduism are the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
A. Ramayana:
According to Ramanuja, great scholars of Ramayana, there are more than 300 different types of Ramayana: Tulsidas Ramayana, Kumbha Ramayana. Though the outline of Ramayana is same, the details and contents differ.
Valmiki’s Ramayana:
Unlike the Mahabharata, the Ramayana appears to be the work of one person – the sage Valmiki, who probably composed it in the 3rd century BC. Its best-known recension (by Tulsidas, 1532-1623) consists of 24,000 rhymed couplets of 16-syllable lines organized into 7 books. The poem incorporates many ancient legends and draws on the sacred books of the Vedas. It describes the efforts of Kosala’s heir, Rama, to regain his throne and rescue his wife, Sita, from the demon King of Lanka.
Valmiki’s Ramayana is a Hindu epic tradition whose earliest literary version is a Sanskrit poem attributed to the sage Valmiki. Its principal characters are said to present ideal models of personal, familial, and social behavior and hence are considered to exemplify Dharma, the principle of moral order.
B. Mahabharata:
The nucleus of the Mahabharata is the war of eighteen days fought between the Kauravas, the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra and Pandavas, the five sons of Pandu. The epic entails all the circumstances leading upto the war. Involved in this Kurukshetra battle were almost all the kings of India joining either of the two parties. The result of this war was the total annihilation of Kauravas and their party. Yudhishthira, the head of the Pandavas, became the sovereign monarch of Hastinapura. His victory is supposed to symbolise the victory of good over evil. But with the progress of years, new matters and episodes relating to the various aspects of human life, social, economic, political, moral and religious as also fragments of other heroic legends came to be added to the aforesaid nucleus and this phenomenon continued for centuries until it acquired the present shape. The Mahabharata represents a whole literature rather than one single and unified work, and contains many diverse things.
C. Bhagavad Gita:
Bhagavad Gita is a part of Mahabharata. It is the advice given by Krishna to Arjun on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. It contains the essence of the Vedas and is the most popular of all the Hindu Scriptures. It contains 18 chapters.
The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most widely read and revered of the works sacred to the Hindus. It is their chief devotional book, and has been for centuries the principal source of religious inspiration for many thousands of Hindus.
The Gita is a dramatic poem, which forms a small part of the larger epic, the Mahabharata. It is included in the sixth book (Bhismaparvan) of the Mahabaharata and documents one tiny event in a huge epic tale.
The Bhagavad Gita tells a story of a moral crisis faced by Arjuna, which is solved through the interaction between Arjuna, a Pandava warrior hesitating before battle, and Krishna, his charioteer and teacher. The Bhagavad Gita relates a brief incident in the main story of a rivalry and eventually a war between two branches of a royal family. In that brief incident – a pause on the battlefield just as the battle is about to begin – Krishna, one chief on one side (also believed to be the Lord incarnate), is presented as responding to the doubts of Arjuna. The poem is the dialogue through which Arjuna’s doubts were resolved by Krishna’s teachings.
CONCEPT OF GOD IN HINDUISM:
Hinduism is commonly perceived as a polytheistic religion. Indeed, most Hindus would attest to this, by professing belief in multiple Gods. While some Hindus believe in the existence of three gods, some believe in thousands of gods, and some others in thirty three crore i.e. 330 million Gods.
Now, you might wonder, why I’m moving any further with this since I’ve already made clear my opinion about the existence of only ONE God and Hinduism is polytheistic.
It’s because, if you ask a learned Hindu, who is well versed with the scriptures, he’ll insist that a Hindu should believe in and should worship only one God.
A common Hindu believes in the philosophy of ‘Pantheism’. Pantheism considers everything, living and non-living, to be Divine and Sacred. The common Hindu, therefore, considers everything as God. He thinks trees, sun, moon, monkey, snake and even human beings as manifestations of God!
But I always insist on a point, that IF YOU WANT TO
UNDERSTAND A RELIGION, STUDY THE RELIGION, NOT THE FOLLOWER. So let’s see what
the scriptures say regarding the existence of a SINGLE God.
CONCEPT OF GOD IN HINDU SCRIPTURES:
BHAGAVAD GITA
The most popular amongst all the Hindu scriptures is the Bhagavad Gita.
Consider the following verse from the Gita:
“Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.”
[Bhagavad Gita 7:20]
The Gita states that people who are materialistic worship
demigods i.e. ‘gods’ besides the True God. Understood? Let’s go further.
UPANISHADS:
The Upanishads are considered sacred scriptures by the Hindus.
The following verses from the Upanishads refer to the Concept of God:
“Ekam evadvitiyam”
“He is One only without a second.”
[Chandogya Upanishad 6:2:1]
“Na casya kascij janita na cadhipah.”
“Of Him there are neither parents nor lord.”
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 6:9]
“Na tasya pratima asti”
“There is no likeness of Him.”
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:19]
The following verses from the Upanishad point to the inability of man to imagine God in a particular form:
“Na samdrse tisthati rupam asya, na caksusa pasyati kas canainam.”
“His form is not to be seen; no one sees Him with the eye.”
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:20]
VEDAS
Vedas are considered the most sacred of all the Hindu scriptures. There are four principal Vedas: Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samveda and Atharvaveda.
The following are some verses from Vedas about concept of God:
“na tasya pratima asti
“There is no image of Him.”
[Yajurveda 32:3]
“shudhama poapvidham”
“He is bodyless and pure.”
[Yajurveda 40:8]
“Andhatama pravishanti ye asambhuti mupaste”
“They enter darkness, those who worship the natural elements” (Air, Water, Fire, etc.).
“They sink deeper in darkness, those who worship sambhuti.”
[Yajurveda 40:9]
Sambhuti means created things, for example table, chair,
IDOL, etc.
"O friends, do not worship anybody but Him, the Divine One. Praise Him alone." (Rigveda 8:1:1)
Why Idol worship is wrong?
First of all. Why do you want to worship an idol? Can it
benefit you? Can it harm you? ‘No’ is the answer to both the questions.
Idol is just a man made object which depends on man for even a slight move. Why
at all would you give it the highest and the best position by worshipping it
when you have got the ability to make it and break it. Think about it.
Idol worship is wrong because idols are artifacts. They are
multifarious forms that human desire is focused on instead of the one
invisible God.
The reason why idol worship is wrong is the same reason why
worshipping animals or the sun or moon or even angels is wrong. It is because
it displaces worship of the creator with worship of creatures. This is often
combined with desire for material rather than spiritual things, like the
precious materials that the idols are made of.
With regard to Hinduism, although the foundational thinking is pantheistic, there is every indication that in ancient times the Vedas did not recommend idol worship.
Is it right loving father of your friend than your father?
Will you hang a photo of a monkey instead of the photo of your father in your wall?
You can see many problems with it, if you think deeply. And that is against the rules set by god. If you start worship idols, you will automatically deviate from the path of your creator.
CONCLUSION TO HINDUISM
Only a brief study of Hinduism is enough to prove that there are inconsistencies in Hinduism. Hindu philosophy of Pantheism, i.e., to say everything is God, clearly violates all the above scriptures. All of the above verses clearly say that there can be no image or body or likeness of God. They clearly say that people who worship other elements as God or worship Demigods are moving away from the right path into darkness.
The Rigveda, the one considered most sacred by the Hindus, states in Book 1, hymn 164 and verse 46:
“Sages (learned Priests) call one God by many names.”
[Rigveda 1:164:46]
The Rigveda gives several different attributes to Almighty God. Many of these are mentioned in Rigveda Book 2 hymn 1.
Among the various attributes of God, one of the beautiful attributes mentioned in the Rigveda Book II hymn 1 verse 3, is Brahma. Brahma means ‘The Creator’.
We have no objection in taking Brahma as the God. However, the problem comes when it is said that Brahma has four heads with each head having a crown. This is too ungodly. Why will god need heads? And that too, four heads? If four heads are better that just one, then surely ten are still better. And in case you want to argue me saying that it’s just a ‘roop’ (form or image) of Brahma or god, it goes against so many HINDU SCRIPTURES stated above.
Example:
Describing Almighty God in anthropomorphic terms also goes against the following verse of Yajurveda:
“Na tasya Pratima asti”
“There is no image/likeness of Him.”
[Yajurveda 32:3]
Another beautiful attribute of God mentioned in the Rigveda Book II hymn 1 verse 3 is Vishnu. Vishnu means ‘The Sustainer’. Here again, I agree to call God as Vishnu. But then, the problem comes that the popular image of Vishnu is that of a God who has four arms, with one of the right arms holding the Chakra, i.e. a discus and one of the left arms holding a ‘conch shell’, or riding a bird or reclining on a snake couch. I can’t accept this. Why will god need arms to do his work? How can you limit God’s powers to four arms? What if all his four arms are occupied? Can’t he do anything else then? And don’t tell me it is his ‘Form’ or ‘Roop’; because it goes against Svetasvatara Upanishad Chapter 4 verse 19.
“Na tasya pratima asti”
“There is no image/likeness of Him”
[Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:19]
So now, tell me how a person can practically follow Hinduism completely. I mean, will he go with the philosophy of Pantheism? Or will he satisfy the verses stated above? Ambiguous situation, isn’t it? You will HAVE to give up on one of them. Or at least agree that it has been corrupted.
And there are many problems with the concept of God in Hinduism. For example, we had learnt at school that the gods drank ‘amrut jal’ i.e. a drink that gives immortality. If they had not drunk this, would they have died?? Can God die? Who subjected them to this death? If they were helpless against their own deaths, they cannot be taken as gods.
However when we consider the principles of Semitic
religions, we find that a messenger was sent to every civilization whether big
or small and many of them were given the scriptures. Some people do raise
questions regarding the possibility that maybe Rama and Krishna were prophets
of God and Vedas are revelation of God. Well, we do get some hints about these
things in parts of Vedas. But without any concrete proof, we can’t really say
anything for sure. It might be true. But it can’t be confirmed. But even if I
take them to be messengers of God and Vedas as words of God, they were all
meant for that particular civilization and that particular age. Today the
religion and its scriptures are no more in their pure state and this corrupted
state is certainly too ambiguous to be followed.
