In part 3 of his address, he raised 5 ways by which Swami Vivekananda, arguably the most liberal Hindu, tried to convert Westerners to Hinduism. Further, Ravi goes on to subtly say that Hinduism is bereft of Spirituality, God and other aspects. Of these 5 points, we looked at two of them – Guilt and Biological evolution. SV, ravi argues, induced guilt in gullible westerners by playing on their colonial occupation of Asia. The next point is about Biology. Apparently, SV used Darwin’s theory of evolution to justify that Hinduism needed no God. That there is substantial and deliberate misinterpretation in these two points is clear.

Point Three – was that SV had taken relativity and made it seem that Hinduism held no moral absolutes. This is a slightly complex matter, which I shall endeavour to explain to the best of my ability.

Every one of us linked inextricably and as part of the law of Karma, the consequence of what we do comes around – the idea behind the proverb “As you sow, so shall you reap” If you do wrong, you will reap its consequences. Action, by its very nature produces consequences. If you do not seek “actively” the fruits of your good actions and avoid wrong actions, then and only then are you evolving. Otherwise, your cycle of births and deaths continues. The interesting thing to note is that nobody can tell if something is right or wrong. If I provide a physically challenged person always, I may be actually harming him by not allowing him to grow independently. Rules cannot be set in today’s world by 10 commandments.

Since we are talking about re-incarnation, I would like to ask my Christian friends this question honestly (I have a deep reverence for Christianity) – how is that there is only life for you before Judgement day? What about babies who are killed or aborted? How will God judge them? Are there no second chances? Where are these infinite souls coming from? Ok, ok, many questions, but they are all interrelated.

Point Four was that SV took physics to say that there is no prime mover or first cause. Funny. In fact, lord Vishnu says in the Bhagavad Gita, the Song Celestial, that he is the cause of all actions!!! Ravi, can you please point me the exact words of SV which lead to your conclusion?

Point Five – SV took political science (Marxism is the nearest branch I can think of) and said all Hindus are equal. Of course they are equal. The Caste system is a product of human living over the ages. In fact, in the earlier Hindu scriptures, you will not find the distinction. Caste was created as a means of specialization, not the degenerate version popular now.

There are more than 10 million Christians in India and 99% of them are people native to India. How did this happen? Certainly not through real enlightenment. Not to degrade the great work of some of the missionaries, but from a personal experience, I know for a fact that my family servant converted to Christians since they were promised a block of land, schooling for the children and I say this ashamedly, a promise of equality. Where do think tens of millions of dollars from the Vatican to India go to every year?

Please understand this carefully, the converts have not received the inner call. If some Hindu organization gives them a better bargain, I have no doubt they will re-convert. She has confessed to me about this. Then why the big deal about a few thousand westerners converting to eastern religions.

Fear. Fear that another religion will overwhelm the bastions of Christianity. The bitter enmity between catholics and protestants under the seemingly calm exterior. There are hundred denominations, each with its own rituals and ways of preaching. The growing number of converts, primarily through Yoga and Ayurveda (and Software!!!).

Let me make it clear. I am not against Christianity or any religion. I have a great many unanswered questions about all religions, including Hinduism. I am prepared to take your word and your answers at face value. All I ask is a little humility, an open mind and a deep conviction that we are all His Children. And He doesn’t want us to fight over which path we take to reach him, only that we reach him.

I am against someone trying to besmirch Hinduism without really understanding it. How many years has Ravi practiced Hinduism? How many years has he spent under a Guru or has read the Hindu texts? Zilch, I am sure. Then why does he condemn something he doesn’t even begin to understand. I am sure he cannot answer honestly. The people behind him, who have chosen an Indian, a once-upon-a-time Hindu to this may be able to answer. This is my suspicion. Because, if Ravi had truly received Christ’s Inner call, he would be seeking commonalities, not differences.

In future posts, I will delve into specific statements and try and explain my perspective.

Thank you for reading.

It started with this: http://healtheland.wordpress.com/2007/11/09/the-spurious-glitter-of-pantheism-2/, You can actually listen to all the parts – move your mouse over the audiocast and a menu appears.

It is a well-thought out line of attack.

Ravi Zacharias is a forceful speaker. I am not sure of his background and his earlier life, but he seems to have been converted to Christianity, although he has chosen to keep his “Hindu” first name – Ravi.

Now to his speeches. The title has been carefully chosen – no reference to Hinduism, just “pantheism”, which to a casual listener encompasses most of the religions before Christianity. Egyptians, Native Americans, Greeks, Romans, Indians – all of them are pantheistic. But the whole of his talk, not just a few parts, the whole of his talk centres on Hinduism. Why didn’t he simply name it Spurious Glitter of Hinduism? There lies the smart genius 

If he had done so, it would have raised the hackles of thousands of Hindus, in India and abroad. It would have clearly shown that his attempt is not to understand Hinduism or even objectively present it, but to smote it. And how does he do it? A La Marc Antony. First, he presents the essentials of Hinduism – Unity of every living thing, Re-incarnation and Karma, Fatalism, Aatman Siddhi, 3 ways of reaching aatman siddhi, Anything faithfully followed will lead to moksha. This I have no issue with, although the tone seems “patronizing” as he later uses that word!!!

In parts 2 and 3, he seeks to disintegrate Hinduism and by part 3, he tells his audience how they should approach an Indian to convert him!!!

Why are westerners so fond of Hinduism?

Lets take a closer look at Part 3, since that is where the brunt of his message lies.

He asks this question rhetorically – he does not invite a westerner who has practiced Hinduism, but goes on to distort a historical fact by presenting that this all due to the feeling of guilt!!!
First point. Swami Vivekananda (hereafter referred to as SV to save my fingers!!!)
Is supposed to have said, Christians are intolerant and Britain has her feet on the neck of 250 million asiatics and that caused feelings of guilt and people converted to Hinduism.

If I remember correctly, SV was “invited” to speak at the World Religions Conference. He did not go uninvited. Would they have allowed him in? He started off his address saying, “Brothers and sisters of America” – not the words Ravi said.

If he had taken all the philosophies and shown some errors, I would have been fine. But no, he seeks to establish that Hinduism found root in Western society because Christians have been made to feel guilty!! So, if they have been guilt they could have asked Christ for forgiveness. After all, any Hindu will respectfully agree that Christ was the example of forgiveness!!

Following this, he says that the Hindu philosophy admits no God, no provider, no moral absolutes and so on by twisting the words of Swami Vivekananda!!!

Point Two – SV is supposed to have taken Darwin’s theory of evolution and say man is evolving and therefore, “exit the Creator” Excuse me, I thought you said, Hinduism is pantheistic in outlook, but essentially monistic at the start of your talk!!!

The idea was that all souls progress from the lowest species to divinity, which is evolution!!! Every one of us has a spark of divine which has to finally merge in the One divine, that was the message of Vivekananda.

The next post will continue with Points Three to Five. As usual, all rational comments, written in a civilized way are welcome. Vitriolic messages will be summarily deleted. Please read <a href=”http://thehindu.wordpress.com/about-this-blog/” mce_href=”http://thehindu.wordpress.com/about-this-blog/”>About this blog</a> to find out about my zero-tolerance policy.

One of them is on fate and free will. The Law of Karma seems so contradictory in many ways to other Hindu literature (and logic).  Multiple heated discussions with a close friend (who is a staunch believer in free will and modern scientific thinking) haven’t resolved anything to my satisfaction.

Reading Terry Goodkind’s  Sword of Truth added another dimension. His potrayal of fate or prophecy as a result of the choices we made through use of our free will was astounding and sits well with the Law of karma.

I am still not convinced. Does this mean that the past has such a stranglehold on you  that you cannot make use of your free will to get out of the consequences? That basically you have no choice? Let me illustrate with an example. Suppose that my past actions have condemned (!) me to a life of wealth. Do I have a choice in how I earn it - Through my hardwork, honesty and quality of products or by lying and cheating people? Apparently, that too is determined by fate. I am born to be a “thief” and I will not be “rich”. Poof, all incentive to live has vanished.

 Then why should I live and not commit suicide? Because your karma will not be worked out and you will suffer the next time. OK, I suffer. This leads me to the conclusion that what you do now is only for some distant 500 years in the future, as all you previous karma is yet to be worked out then.

Along comes Dr. Svoboda with his article, “Fate and free will” (its no coincidence and is intentional that I have chosen to use the title as a base for mine). He “fuzzies” my mind with different types of karma and raises a thousand questions for every one I previously had.

Looks like I am not fated to receive the answers yet! I should thank Promila at her Synchronicityandsaturn blog for banishing my inertia and re-awakening my interest.

This single quote shows us the reason for so much of the strife in the world today. “I want this, I want that” is driving us. We desire more things, so we need money and power. We sacrifice principles and compassion at the altar of Money to get those things. Are we satisfied? No, now that we have those things, we set our sights higher. A vicious circle.

All major religions, if you really look at it do not look kindly upon wealth. Hinduism, for example, asks wealthy people to look upon their wealth as a “Trust” from God and use it to help others. Islam, prohibits using interest on loaned money to be used for personal use.

As the dying Thrain says to Bilbo after the war with the goblins in “The Hobbit” – “If only more valued food and cheer over the hoarding of gold, the world would be a merrier place.”

http://nitawriter.wordpress.com/2006/11/27/god-doesnt-need-bribing-and-he-doesnt-need-sucking-up-to/

Rituals were invented in the early vedas to keep the mind focussed on God. Even the ritualistic texts maintain that performing rituals without focus on God is a waste. Over a period of time, Spirituality and morality have become separated.

What people will not believe is that the people in the ancient times were still cave men. They feared fire, water, wind, thunder, lightning and other natural forces. What best way to lessen the fear – make them gods and worship them. However, that is not Hinduism at its core.

A Balanced life for the masses and a spiritual, solitary life for the Swami order were the rules. Virtue, kindness, purity, humilitiy and other highest order principles are enshrined in Dharma, Ardha, Kama and moksha. The 4 stages of life, regulated by self-control and duty were enough to make a man morally strong and principled.

All that is left of those glorius ideas is just rituals. As someone remarked, form often becomes more than function.

My responses to various comment authors are below:

David Loving,

Sorry, but your last name doesn’t reflect your comment! Since you don’t seem to understand Re-Incarnation nor seem to be open to learn about it, I will not try to engage you in constructive discussion.

Indian Hindu,

While your facts and theories are right, please do not be vicious in writing them. We will definitely have people thinking that Hinduism is “bowing before a block of wood” just as we have Hindus thinking that Christianity is about “bowing to a cross”! There are enlightened people in all religions.

What Fr. Hart has done is go against “organized religion.” Please realize that no one likes to have their beliefs shaken. If belief and hope is taken away, what is left? Let me give an analogy. A hundred years back, we believed that crossing the ocean would cause us Hindus to lose our caste and we had to do penance for that sin! Now, we think nothing of hopping onto a flight to the other side of the earth.

Irenaeus,

You are generalizing some event to apply across all Hindus. I don’t want to sound vindictive, but do Jihads and Crusades seem familiar terms to you? Mind you, I deeply regret the death of Staines (whom you are referring to), but I disagree that you start applying that belief to everyone else. Further, have you seen any war started by Hindus except in self-defense?

 Jon,

I don’t know where you received your knowledge about Hinduism, but you seemed to have missed the essentials. The points you have raised are the crux of the debate and worthy of a separate response.

Mr. Milton,

Coming to the comment by your comments on idols, what Jesus meant was, “Thou shall not have false Gods before me”. when our pursuit is money, power and other such materialistic things, we place them before Him. They become false Gods. That is what He warned against. Please do not take the Word of God literally, but reflect on the spiritual significance hidden behind the words.

If any of you feel my responses need more explanation, please feel free to write in. Of course, politeness and an open mind are essential, so I apologize if I delete any comments.

I agree with her. Unless Hinduism can provide practical answers to the burning problems and questions of current and future generations, it will remain a religion in the background, not really a way of life as it is meant to be.

I have most of the answers, but I need to find the right way and words to explain them. This could take some time, so please bear with me.

In this part, I will talk about the 4 stages of life that were layed out for a person to follow in his life. Let me explain the 4 stages and then discuss the reasons and principles behind it.

Stage 1 – Brahmacharya

The stage of Learning. When a child becomes of suitable age (typically 5 years), parents find a suitable Guru (preceptor, not just a teacher) and send the child to learn. Children of people from various sections of society are welcome in the Guru’s ashram – there is no distinction made here. The Ashram is typically located away from society and its distractions, usually in a forest.

They are taught scriptures and theory as well as all knowledge required to earn a good living when they go back to society. Arts, Sciences and use of weapons are all part of a student’s education. There is no work that a student will not do, even though he may be the son of a king! A strict requirement in this stage is celibacy – no indulging in pleasures while you are still in learning mode.

Stage 2 – Grihastha

By the time the student reaches adolescence, he is ready to enter society. His parents are joyful to see him with them, since they see him only a few times during Brahmacharya.
Marriage with a suitable girl is the next order of business after establishing himself in a profession (more on hereditary professions in another blog).

The student now is a grihastha – a householder. In this stage, he has responsibility towards his family, his kith and kin and to society.

Stage 3 – Vanaprastha

The stage of cotemplation and meditation. The grihastha has fulfilled all his duties towards his family and society. Along with his wife, he goes to a secluded place to meditate and pray. However, he is not yet totally cut off from the world. His children and others still come to him for advice.

Stage 4 – Sannyasa

The stage where the person renounces the world. he belongs to none and nothing belongs to him. He is deeply in prayer and meditation and only thinks about God. Death finally takes him, reducing the distance between him and God.

If the 4 stages of life are followed correctly, with love and adherence to good values, man may achieve mukti or liberation.

The 4 stages of life allow man to strive for Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. Dharma is righteous living. Artha is the wealth that accrues from following Dharma. Kama is desires fullfilled either through wealth or through removing that desire. Moksha is when Kama is completely destroyed.

There is an entire principle behind Kama, but I want to share a wonderful thought with you. Until there is a shred of Kama, somewhere in your subconscious, you cannot achieve Moksha. Kama or desire need not be necessarily bad. Even good desires, like wanting to help distressed people is Kama. Kama has to be removed either through fulfillment (which is very tough, considering that the desire only increases once it is fulfilled) or through renouncing of the desire.