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desales09
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Anyone know any good, clear books that deal with “Hindu” (Vedic) morality? I have an Eastern Religion class in which I am supposed to compare this morality to Christian morality…
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Agnikan
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The Editors of the magazine Hinduism Today have published What is Hinduism?, in which a chapter is dedicated to Hindu Ethics. It’s also free, online.
Perhaps the clearest, and most concise, treatise on Hindu Ethics is the Tirukural, of which an introduction and translation can be found here.
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desales09
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Thank you, Agnikan.
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Tomek
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Hinduism is an interesting religion. You could probably find some good sources online.
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Sonny1954
Guest
I find myself attracted to Hinduism.
I have not yet readly too deeply into it, but it is all about God’s love and justice
and compassion. Among Hindus, to say that there is Hell is to say that there is a place where God is not and that there are sins which are greater than his love.
And unlike the Abrahamic Faiths, one may approach God as female, if that is a more attractive image. Since God is in fact neither man nor woman, it is just as acceptable for a Hindu to adore God the Mother as it is God the Father.
I can just see a priest addressing his congregation “In the name of the Mother, Son, & Holy Spirit.” The Pope would yank that guy’s collar faster than you could say “Amen.”
Also, Hinduism offers explanations on the nature of the senient soul which Christianity does not. And it explains the suffering of the innocent (i.e. birth defects, etc.) while Christianity throws up its hands and says “it’s a mystery.”
I hope the original poster gets a good grade on his project.
I have not yet readly too deeply into it, but it is all about God’s love and justice
and compassion. Among Hindus, to say that there is Hell is to say that there is a place where God is not and that there are sins which are greater than his love.
And unlike the Abrahamic Faiths, one may approach God as female, if that is a more attractive image. Since God is in fact neither man nor woman, it is just as acceptable for a Hindu to adore God the Mother as it is God the Father.
I can just see a priest addressing his congregation “In the name of the Mother, Son, & Holy Spirit.” The Pope would yank that guy’s collar faster than you could say “Amen.”
Also, Hinduism offers explanations on the nature of the senient soul which Christianity does not. And it explains the suffering of the innocent (i.e. birth defects, etc.) while Christianity throws up its hands and says “it’s a mystery.”
I hope the original poster gets a good grade on his project.
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Ridgerunner
Guest
I could be wrong, but it is my impression that there is a lot of variety in Hinduism, in just about every way. Undoubtedly there are “schools of thought” in Hinduism, but I don’t think there is just one.
I remember not long ago talking to an Indian about business. I said something that surprised him, and he made the sign of the cross. I asked him if he was Catholic. “No”, he said “Hindu. We worship all of the gods”. He then pulled out a chain he wore around his neck and on it were a couple of medals. One I understood as some Hindu goddess. The other was of the Blessed Mother. A Miraculous Medal, as I recall. “We worship the mother, but not the way you do.” he (sort of) explained.
Like I said, I think there is quite a bit of variation among what they believe.
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Ahimsa
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True, and not all Hindus “worship all the gods”.
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Sonny1954
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The Vedanta Society in my city has a portrait of Mother Mary holding the baby Jesus beside its altar. Not all Hindus so honor Jesus, but many do. There is a great deal of variation among the 3 basic Hindu denominations.
I read a quote from Peter Kreeft once to the effect that ecumenical dialogue with Muslims was difficult because they tend to be very intolerant. At the same time, he wrote that dialogue with Hindus was also difficult because they are soooo tolerant.
I read a quote from Peter Kreeft once to the effect that ecumenical dialogue with Muslims was difficult because they tend to be very intolerant. At the same time, he wrote that dialogue with Hindus was also difficult because they are soooo tolerant.
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Ahimsa
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Who is “just right” then?I read a quote from Peter Kreeft once to the effect that ecumenical dialogue with Muslims was difficult because they tend to be very intolerant. At the same time, he wrote that dialogue with Hindus was also difficult because they are soooo tolerant.
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Sufjon
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Hi Sonny: This is true. Actually, we also have Avatars (incarnations of God in human flesh such as Jesus) who are or were female. The one I worship is on my signature picture. She was very recent. We would say that She, Krishna, Jesus and the other Avatars are of course all the same being, just different places and different bodies and different times. This is what many of us (myself included) believe.
Your friend
Sufjon
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Tomek
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A concept of Hell does exist in Hinduism, and it’s called Naraka.
Ok, but does this really make Hinduism a more attractive religion?
Western Christianity’s understanding of the soul is rather developed, what do you find lacking in it?
As for physical evil, it’s a consequence of original sin and the fact that we exist in motion and change. The latter means that some will have more than others, and having less is an “evil” (privation of something good.)
I agree!
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Tomek
Guest
Except Jesus is not merely an avatar, or manifestation of God, but God Incarnate. He is of the very same essence and nature of the Father, and therefor consubstantial and co-equal.
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desales09
Guest
Wow. Good to meet all of you - thank you for your comments in my thread.
Ridgerunner - That is my impression too, and it is something mentioned by the author of one of the textbooks assigned for my class. Hinduism appears to be more of a broad spirituality than it does a religion. It was a topic I selected on the fly, and if I could go back I would have chosen Buddhist morality compared to Christian morality instead, because - not to offend any of my Hindu friends here - my impression (based on what little I know) is that it seems more coherent. It is going to be a challenge getting some sort of handle on it to deal with in a presentation…
Sufjon - I would respond to your comparison of Jesus to those other religious figures with the words of Jesus Himself found in the gospel of John - “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” Jesus distinguished Himself from even this great hero of the Jewish faith by showing not only that He existed before Abraham, He simply IS from all eternity. So it is between Him and other religious figures, whether Buddha, Mohammad, Confucius, etc. The Christian understanding is that whatever truth there is to be found in other religions all proceeds from and points to Christ, who said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” Or as St. Justin Martyr said it, “All truth is God’s truth.”
Ridgerunner - That is my impression too, and it is something mentioned by the author of one of the textbooks assigned for my class. Hinduism appears to be more of a broad spirituality than it does a religion. It was a topic I selected on the fly, and if I could go back I would have chosen Buddhist morality compared to Christian morality instead, because - not to offend any of my Hindu friends here - my impression (based on what little I know) is that it seems more coherent. It is going to be a challenge getting some sort of handle on it to deal with in a presentation…
Sufjon - I would respond to your comparison of Jesus to those other religious figures with the words of Jesus Himself found in the gospel of John - “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” Jesus distinguished Himself from even this great hero of the Jewish faith by showing not only that He existed before Abraham, He simply IS from all eternity. So it is between Him and other religious figures, whether Buddha, Mohammad, Confucius, etc. The Christian understanding is that whatever truth there is to be found in other religions all proceeds from and points to Christ, who said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” Or as St. Justin Martyr said it, “All truth is God’s truth.”
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Ahimsa
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That’s part of the many definitions of “avatar”.
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Sufjon
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An Avatar is God Incarnate, the very same essence and nature of the Father, and therefor consubstantial and co-equal, and it was happening long before Jesus came. This is our belief. I understand yours.
Your friend
Sufjon
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Sonny1954
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Ahimsa
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Sounds like Meister Eckhart, Dominican preacher of the 13th century:
God is not only a Father of all good things, as being their First Cause and Creator, but He is also their Mother, since He remains with the creatures which have from Him their being and existence, and maintains them continually in their being. If God did not abide with and in the creatures, they must necessarily have fallen back, so soon as they were created, into the nothingness out of which they were created
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Sonny1954
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I’ve wanted to read Eckhart for some time now, but haven’t gotten around to it.
The quotation you cite reinforces than desire. Thank you for sharing.
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Sufjon
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Well said Sonny!
Your friend
Sufjon
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Sufjon
Guest
That would be significant if Jesus was the first and last to say such things, however, He was not. The other Avatars said the same. Now, rather than this making Jesus or the others frauds, it makes it look to me more like a continuum, or succession of God incarnations throughout various ages, reaching out to various peoples, rather than being only among one sort of people in the vacuum of one culture, or one type of sentient being on one planet in one average solar system within one average spiral galaxy among hundreds of trillions of others. Of course, the Avatar Jesus never spoke of such things. The other Avatars did. They did so before Jesus came along. The problem with Abrahamic thought is that it supposes and allows for a chosen people among all the other beings in the cosmos. It makes it easier for the rest of us to assume that their founders didn’t have the forethought or perhaps the knowledge to account for anything outside of their own small culture. It follows that this logically points to them being the least likely to speak with any sort of authority of a universal God. To be credible, all has to be accounted for. So, Abrahamic religion certainly fits as a piece, but one who has been exposed to eastern religious thought cannot view it to stand on it’s own. It is part of a larger picture. It is very suitable for a certain stage in the spiritual development of souls.
Your friend,
Sufjon
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