Hinduism

It is difficult to assign a dogmatic orthodoxy to Hinduism. Many variations have developed from Hinduism over the years, and many non-Hindu cults and religious movements gained their inspiration from Hinduism. Even in India today, the most orthodox divisions of Hinduism have changed significantly over the last three thousand years.

One of the oldest aspects of Hinduism is as much social as religious, and that is the caste system. It is important to understand the caste system before delving into Hindu religious beliefs. According to Hindu teaching, there are four basic castes, or social classes. Each caste has its own rules and obligation for living. The elite caste is the Brahman, or priest caste. Second are the Kshatriyas, or warriors and rulers. Third are the Vaisyas, or merchants and farmers. Finally, the fourth caste is the Shudras, or laborers. Outside the caste system are the untouchables. The untouchables are the outcasts of Hindu society. Though outlawed in India in the 1940s, the untouchables are still a very real part of Indian society. One does not get decide his or her caste - that matter is decided when one is born into a particular caste.

As previously stated, there is not a strict orthodoxy in Hinduism. There are however, several principles that share a commonality among the various sects. Virtually all Hindus believe in:

Hinduism is both polytheistic, and pantheistic. There are three gods that compose Brahman - Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Hindus also worship the "wives" of Shiva, such as Kali, or one of Vishnu's ten incarnations (avatars). This is only the beginning. There are literally millions of Hindu gods and goddesses - by some counts, as many as 330 million!

At the same time, Hinduism teaches that all living things are Brahman in their core. In other words, all living things are Brahman, or god. Enlightenment is attained by becoming tuned in to the Brahman within. Only then can one reach Nirvana. The release from the wheel of life that allows access to Nirvana is known as "moksha".

Hindus recognize three possible paths to moksha, or salvation. The first is the way of works or karma yoga. This is a very popular way of salvation and lays emphasis on the idea that liberation may be obtained by fulfilling one's familial and social duties thereby overcoming the weight of bad karma one has accrued.

The second way of salvation is the way of knowledge, or jnana yoga. The basic premise of the way of knowledge is that the cause of our bondage to the cycle of rebirths in this world is ignorance. According to the predominant view among those committed to this way, our ignorance consists of the mistaken belief that we are individual selves, and not one with the ultimate divine reality - Brahman. It is this same ignorance that gives rise to our bad actions, which result in bad karma. Salvation is achieved through attaining a state of consciousness in which we realize our identity with Brahman. This is achieved through deep meditation, often as a part of the discipline of yoga.

The third way of salvation is the way of devotion, or bhakti yoga. This is the way most favored by the common people of India. It satisfies the longing for a more emotional and personal approach to religion. It involves the self-surrender to one of the many personal gods and goddesses of Hinduism. Such devotion is expressed through acts of worship, temple rituals, and pilgrimages. Some Hindus conceive of ultimate salvation as absorption into the one divine reality, with all loss of individual existence. Others conceive of it as heavenly existence in adoration of the personal God.

References:
Marrs, Texe. Texe Marrs Book of New Age Cults and Religions. Austin: Living Truth Publishers, 1990. Smart, Ninian. Atlas of the World's Religions. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

A Christian Response to Hinduism:

God

Hinduism
A vast plurality of gods and goddesses exist as part of the impersonal Brahman.

Christianity
There is one living and true God. He is triune and reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of His nature, His essence, or His being.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."

John 1:1-4

"...one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."

Ephesians 4:5-6

"And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."

John 17:5

"So the scribe said to Him, 'Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.'"

Mark 12:32

Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

I Corinthians 8:4-6

Man

Hinduism
Humans, as with all living things, are just manifestations of Brahman. We have no individual self, or self-worth.

Christianity
God created all of mankind in His image. He cares and loves us so much that He gave us each our own free-will.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

Genesis 1:27

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16

The World

Hinduism:
The world and everything in it are manifestations of Brahman.

Christianity:
God created the universe, the world, and everything in it. As God did not create Himself, the world exists separately from God.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Genesis 1:1

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."

Romans 1:20-25

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."

John 1:1-4

"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they."

Hebrews 1:1-4

Sin

Hinduism
Since "sin" is committed only against oneself, the penalties are accrued only against the self. The penalty is the repeated cycle of rebirths, until you can escape to Nirvana.

Christianity
Sin cannot exist in the presence of God. Therefore, the penalty of sin is spiritual death, or separation from God.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 6:23

"...knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."

Romans 6:9-14

"..whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it."

Acts 2:24

Salvation

Hinduism
Salvation is the release from the wheel of life, the cycle of rebirths, through which we must work to better ourselves, and realize our oneness with Brahman. It must be worked out by each individual through successive lives.

Christianity
Salvation is a free gift to us from God. We must only accept it. We cannot earn it. Jesus bought our salvation by taking all our sin upon Himself on the cross, dying as a sacrifice for us, and then rising from the dead three days later. Salvation means spending eternity in heaven with our Almighty God!

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 6:23

"But what does it say? 'The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:8-10

"Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

John 14:6

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast."

Ephesians 2:8-9