Answer
Salam Dear Kaleemuddin,
Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.
In order to have meaningful dialogue with non-Muslims on religion, it is better we have a good idea of their religious beliefs. Based on such knowledge, we can compare and contrast between Islam and their faith.
One point to remember is that we should respect their beliefs, even while we express our disagreement. It is better to start by looking for common grounds of belief and practice and then move on to areas of difference.
And while discussing points of difference we should take care to appeal to their natural goodness, as well as to their sense of justice and truth.
What follows is a critical view of Hinduism and I request you to keep learning.
Hinduism in Brief
Hinduism is a vast ocean of various cults that hold mutually exclusive beliefs like monotheism, polytheism, and even atheism. It has no hard and fast creed as its basis; so it holds within its bounds even those who are engaged in idol worship, ancestor worship, animal worship, and demon worship.
The most sublime philosophies as well as the most barbarous practices stand side by side in Hinduism. Among its adherents we find upper-caste Brahmins and lower caste Sudras, whom the Brahmins hold at a distance as “untouchables”.
S.V. Kelkar writes: “There is in fact no system of doctrines, no teacher, or school of teaching, no single god that is accepted by all the Hindus.” (S.V.Kelkar: Essay on Hinduism, p. 34, quoted by Hadwa Dom, Myth of the One Hindu Religion Exploded)
Understanding the Vedas
The primary texts of Hinduism are the four Vedas. They are: the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda. They are considered to be revealed scriptures. Widely varying interpretations of the Vedas have created divergent groups and sects in Hinduism.
The Vedas have provided the theoretical grounds for Varnashrama (the caste system), which served to systematize an institution of graded inequality among people.
There are four castes: The Brahmin (Priest caste) is on top; then follows the Kshatriya (ruling caste), then Vaishya (business caste), and last of all stands Sudra (menial caste) who serve all the other three castes, and the Untouchables are the lowest of the low – the Out-Caste.
The caste system is practically a social phenomenon deeply entrenched in the Hindu psyche, sometimes described as “a hidden Apartheid”. (Cast an Eye on the Dalits of India)
This system has resulted in the destitution of millions of low caste people (known now as Dalits – literally “broken people”) owing to terrible discrimination to this day.
After Vedas, there are Upanishads which deal with Vedic philosophy and form the conclusions of each of the Vedas. The Ramayana attributed to the poet Valmiki and the Mahabharata attributed to the sage Vyasa are two epics greatly valued in Hinduism. The Bhagavad Gita is the sixth book of the Mahabharata.
The Bhagavad Gita
The content of the Bhagavad Gita is the advice given by Krishna (who is believed to be an incarnation of the Supreme Being) to Arjuna (a hero in the Mahabharata favored by Krishna) on the battlefield of Kurukshetra before the beginning of a historic battle.
Responding to Arjuna’s moral dilemma, Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior from a philosophical point of view with examples and analogies.
Krishna’s explanations, which form the Gita, are considered by the Hindus as a practical, self-contained guide to life in general.
The Concept of Karma
Hindus believe in Karma (i.e. the accumulated sum of one’s good and bad deeds) and in Punarjanma (i.e. the transfer of one’s soul after death into another body). This produces a continuing cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth through their many lifetimes.
It is Karma that determines how a person will live his next life. Through pure acts, thoughts and devotion, one can be reborn at a higher level. Bad deeds can cause a person to be reborn at a lower level, even as an animal.
The unequal distribution of wealth, prestige, suffering are thus seen as natural consequences for one’s previous acts, both in this life and in previous lives.
Bhagavad Gita’s emphasis is on “Karma Yoga” which means the performance of one’s duties with no regard to their fruits, as expressed in the words of Krishna to Arjuna:
You have a duty to perform your prescribed action, but you should not be concerned about the fruits of your action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be associated to not doing your duty. (Bhagavad Gita 2:47)
Addressing Arjuna’s compunctions about killing his relatives arrayed on the enemy side, Krishna advises him to disregard traditional values and act without worrying about the results of his action. Krishna says:
The wise men who reached true knowledge see with equal vision a Brahmin (a member of the highest caste), a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater. (Bhagavad Gita 5:18).
Krishna argues that it is actually impossible to kill anyone, as the soul (atman) is immortal:
Those who think that they can kill or those that think they can be killed are confused in the manifestations of ignorance. The infinite, immortal soul can neither kill nor be killed. (Bhagavad Gita 2:19)
Therefore Arjuna is free to kill his relatives, considering them only temporary abiding forms for the eternal self, mere mortal frames.
The problem here is that the same perspective of moral values (Gita 2:19, quoted above) may be adopted by a wicked person to clear his conscience while doing evil acts, if “detachment” is the norm.
The only condition is that he should rise above all material considerations to do his deeds. Krishna tells Arjuna:
Consider all your acts as acts of devotion to me, whether eating, offering, giving away, performing austerities. Perform them as an offering to me. In this way you will be free from Karma, you will be liberated and you will come to me. (Bhagavad Gita 9:27).
To the Hindus, Karma is a sum of all that an individual has done, is currently doing and will do. Karma continues until one attains Moksha or Mukti, i.e. liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth to be one with the Parmatma or the Oversoul. That is to say, Karma creates present and future experiences.
But in the Gita itself, Lord Krishna says that he saves those who worship him (12:6-7) and punishes those who are envious and mischievous (16:19).
This is certainly a contradiction of the law of Karma, which is a law that functions by itself, with no external control. And also it goes counter to his teaching about detachment.
He says about himself: “I see all creatures equally disposed and I am not partial to anyone.” (Bhagavad Gita 9:29).
At the same time Krishna is in fact partial to Arjuna in the battlefield, by serving as his charioteer and military advisor!
There is another inconsistency regarding the character of Krishna. In the Gita, Krishna is called the Supreme Lord of the Universe (5:29), eternal (4:6) and the source of all existence:
I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from me. (Bhagavad Gita 10:8)
And again:
At the end of an era (kalpa) all creatures disintegrate into my nature and at the beginning of another era I manifest them again. Such it is my nature (prakriti) to follow again and again the pattern of the Infinite manifestations and disintegrations. (Bhagavad Gita 9:7-8)
That is to say, Krishna has to follow the pattern of the Infinite manifestations and disintegrations automatically, under the obligation of prakriti“.
Krishna‘s Contradictions
Dasgupta comments on the contradictory personal character of Krishna saying that:
The Gita combines together different conceptions of God without feeling the necessity of reconciling the oppositions or contradictions involved in them. It does not seem to be aware of the philosophical difficulty of combining the concept of God as unmanifested, differenceless entity with the notion of Him as the super-person Who incarnates Himself on earth in the human form and behaves in the human manner.
It is not aware of the difficulty that, if all good and evil should have emanated from God, and if there be ultimately no moral responsibility, and if everything in the world should have the same place in God, there is no reason why God should trouble to incarnate Himself as man, when there is a disturbance of the Vedic dharma.
If God is impartial to all, and if He is absolutely unperturbed, why should He favor the man who clings to Him, and why, for his sake, overrule the world-order of events and in his favor suspend the law of Karma? (S. Dasgupta,Indian Philosophy, Motilal Banarsidass, 1991, vol. 2, p. 533)
The Conglomeration of Hinduism
Hinduism is often described as polytheistic religion, one which worships several gods and goddesses.
But at the same time it is also viewed as a monotheistic religion, because it recognizes the pantheistic principle of Brahman that all reality is a unity.
And some view Hinduism as tritheistic, because of their belief in Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer.
In short, Hinduism is an utterly diverse conglomerate of doctrines, cults, and ways of life. It is both a civilization and a complex of religious philosophies, with neither a beginning, nor a founder, nor a central authority, hierarchy, or organization.
And its advocates often counter critics by saying that the contradictions and incongruities in Hinduism serve to show its comprehensive nature as a sign of its strength rather than of weakness.
I hope this answers your question. Please keep in touch.
Salam.