Gita-God-Hinduism

This is again in response to Dr. Naik's commentary on 'Hinduism' from the perspective of Islam. He unfortunately presents his perspective as if it is the only true fact - the only possible truth. It is unfair for anyone to compare one ideology based on the principles of another. The assumptions, the definitions, the boundaries, the prejudices, the contexts, and almost everything differ. In his case, Dr. Naik inappropriately attempts to compare 'Hindu' ideology within the confines of Islamic framework. Islam may be a 'glorious' religion, as Dr. Naik claims, but has its own framework. The attempt to equate it with something else is inappropriate. Here is my perspective about some of the aspects that are beyond the frameworks of most other religions, particularly the Abhramic ones. Vedantic texts discuss ideas that other religions, philosophies, ideologies do not discuss. For example, the idea of punarjanma or divya-janma or avataara (incarnation or rebirth)....

Most 'knowledgeable' 'Hindu's do not find it appropriate to call ' Hindu ' a religion because it is not a communal system, unlike the Abhramic ones. Now, some 'scholars' of Abrahmic religions also claim something similar but that needs us to look into what 'communal' means. In brief 'Hinduism' does not have an originator; it does not have a marked beginning. So, everything that ever was, was in fact "Hinduism" (unlike the ' regional ' tag given much later by some foreigners). Sects started to appear as new 'religions' were founded. However, ' Hinduism ' remained open to the multiple possibilities; in fact, nothing stops a 'Hindu' from adopting Islamic or Christian or Jewish or Buddhist ideas and yet remain open to all possibilities, but this cannot be said of any other religion, because such openness to possibilities is beyond the scope of other religions. As such, most other religions become comm...

This post is in response to a comment by Dr. Somesh Bhargava. I hope to make a separate posting on my perspective of ABRAHAMIC AND 'HINDU' CONCEPTS OF GOD. Thanks Dr. Bhargava, I sincerely appreciate such comments, as they lead to discussions and debates, which I believe help us grow and connect with one another at a deeper level. We may have differences in opinions and inferences or comprehensions but our intentions seem similar. I would invite you to please refrain from using strong words and making sweeping statements. Please educate me, I would be happy to, but please do refrain from passing prejudiced judgments. We can respect each other despite our differences :)  " sangacchadvam samvadadvam " :) Here is Dr. Somesh Bhargava's objection: "Just as "Puja" is not worship similarly "Devta" is not God/god of Abrahamic religion. U must be aware of something called non-translatable as introduced by Rajiv Malhotra in his book "Bei...

One of the most commonly asked question about Hinduism is " Why are there so many 'gods' in Hinduism ". There are many answers to this questions, each of which is as speculative, and as enigmatic, as the other. There are numerous differences and agreements on the number of 'gods'. The following statement is one such from Wikipedia (which appears authentic given the Sanskrit reference from shatapatha-brahmaNa:  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "A popular but unfounded belief has been spread that Hindus have 33 crore (330,00,000) gods. It is a misunderstanding of the Vedic concept of the State, and hence a misinterpretation of the word koti. Thirty-three divinities are mentioned in the Yajur-veda, Atharva-... Tibetan masters who translated Sanskrit texts into Tibetan, rendered koti by rnam which means 'class, kind, category'. The thirty-three supreme deities...

Dr. Naik makes yet another claim that there is no mention of   rebirth in the Vedas . Let us see what the vedic texts have to say. I hope that Dr. Naik knows that Upanishads are part of vedic texts ; and that upanishads provide the real glimpse of inner spiritual truths. I present below some of the instances and mentions of the cycle of birth and death, and of rebirth. In most cases references are indirect hints, which prescribe choosing the permanent over the temporary, and choosing liberation over the cycle of birth and death. However, I focus only on some of those statements that clearly and directly mention the cycle of life-and-death, and rebirth. kaThopanishad: 3rd valli, verses 6 and 7.  "yastu avijnAnavAn bhavati amanaskaH sadA ashuchiH |  na sa tatpadamApnOti saMsAraM chAdhigacChati ||" One who lacks the [spiritual] knowledge, lacks self control, and is 'impure' (foul), will not attain liberation but attains ' saMsAra ' (birth in the material w...

1) Mohammed in AtharvavEda: narasamsha in Arabic mean Mohammed OMG! was my first reaction upon hearing this one!   First of all, Dr. Naik translates an adjective 'narAshamsa' to a proper noun :) He translates narasamsha as praise worthy, and that 'Mohammed' means praise worthy in Arabic, so narasamsha refers to Mohammed in the vedic texts. Oops what a logic - certainly 'praise worthy'!!!!   First of all it is an adjective; it is an attribute of a person being discussed/praised in the Hymn. It is inappropriate to translate an adjective in Sanskrit to English and then that to Arabic as "Mohammed".  He is VIOLATING the very rule that his own 'Guru', Ahmed Deedat, condemns repeatedly in his talks  ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gyf7pRHXGGc ); that this is a sickness; that one has no right to translate the names of people, they should be as they are - why this dichotomy?  Adjective should be treated like an adjective, even Manmohan Singh i...

Dr. Naik starts well with the idea of avAtara, by appropriately quoting the Gita and Bhagavatam, but then goes back to his limiting Quranic perspective. He says: "avatAr is not in the vedas, so it refers to a man that the Almighty God has sent" . With this, he sets the false premise that an avatar is actually a man sent by God, and builds on that. He says that the vedas talk about the Rishis, who are God 'sent' to guide the humankind. He then compares this idea with the prophethood as mentioned in the abhramanic religions, and then connects the two dots - that avataras are actually rishis who are sent by God, in parallel with Quran.  Uff. This is called arm twisting of the truth. This is the another great example of Dr. Naik's koopa maNduka nyAya - a frog from the well attempting to comprehend the ocean with its understanding of the width and depth of the well it was part of .  On the surface it appears logical but is infact absolutely misplaced. This is si...