Christianity vis-a-vis Hinduism

Namaste

This is the paper I submitted for my online course through the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.

Christianity vis-a-vis Hinduism by juliemaitra

Our tutor Dr. Nicholas Sutton has not been well, so we waited a long time before others could read and grade our papers. Here were the comments on my paper:

This is a well written essay that demonstrates considerable research and a clear understanding of essential differences between Hindu and Christian identity, understandings and practice.

Your writing is well structured and reflective and you make interesting and relevant comparisons between each.

Just a few points to help improve the academic quality of your writing.

When using sanskrit terms, (dharma, smriti, sruti) explain their meaning when they are first introduced in your essay.

Be careful about recognising diversity in Hindu traditions without equally recognising the range of diversity in Christian tradition.

Your conclusion is a little weak and would improve with a drawing together of your ideas here.

You raise an interesting point on ‘vicarious atonement‘ contrasted with the idea of karma from Ram Swarup. However there are salvationist parallels in devotional Hindu traditions too, particularly the Vaishnava traditions with their emphasis on the grace and mercy of the deity as requisite for making any progress in spiritual practice.

It’s not the same as the idea of original sin and atonement in Christianity but chp 12.6-7of the Bhagavad Gita offers a idea of Krishna as saviour when He says He is : ‘the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death’. It is not always about working out ones own destiny in Hinduism.

You rightly point out that dharma is a more nuanced code of ethics than the 10 commandments, but there are some parallels of moral code too within Hindu tradition recommended for all.

In the yoga traditions we find recommendations for observances or prohibition of certain behaviours.(yama and niyama).

In the Bhagavad Gita too we have many lists of behaviours suitable to a Godly man (ch 16) a man in knowledge (13) a man fixed in understanding (ch 2) or a devotee of Krishna (chp 12). Often these over-lap and include qualities like truthfulness, compassion for all living creatures, feedom form anger, forgiveness, etc..

Overall a good essay and an enjoyable read!

Christianity: West's default religion?

Namaste,

I had to read and re-read Christianity: West's default religion by Sandhya Jain. On first reading, I took offence at the intimation that the problem of Islam should be sicced on the West – and it still bothers me.

Contrary to what the author says, the recent Swiss vote to ban minarets does not represent "a frontal return of Christianity." Europe is largely secular in its orientation and post-Christian (the same cannot be said about America). Since WWII, Europe has lost the will to fight, if it ever had the will to fight: the U.S. and British, in an opportunistic alliance with the Soviet Union, crushed Nazism on its Eastern and Western fronts. By abandoning Christianity, Europe has no ideology that can effectively counter Islam.

Western politicians have sold out their people through alliances with Muslim states for oil. The philosophy of cultural relativism has also eroded Western confidence in itself. I see the Swiss vote to ban minarets as a baby step by its citizens to reclaim its culture and its way of life. This does not mean a Christian resurgence in Europe, the return of The Crusades, and expanding missionary activities.

Upon re-reading this article, I do have to agree with the author on the following:

The Swiss vote has caused a frisson of excitement in traditional and secular circles in India, with some Hindus hallucinating about a ‘natural’ alliance with the Christian West to mutually crush Islam. This foolish hope once soared after the 2001 attack on the Twin Towers in New York, and Hindus in particular and Indians in general failed to comprehend why Pakistan emerged as the West’s leading non-NATO ally.

… Should Hindus respond to a Western Crusade against Islam, the result will be similar to our experience in World War II, where the 2.5 million-strong Indian Army won the war for the colonial West, only to be betrayed back at home. The British eventually quit India in 1947 only because of the military mutinies inspired by Subhash Chandra Bose, and they successfully cut up the nation before leaving, retaining critical territory in the form of a land bank called Pakistan …

Neither the Government of India nor Western government have the guts or will to stand up to Islam and its expansionist aims on society. Both are in denial. Even if there were awareness and will, India is not strong enough on its own. India will have to employ cunning (something it lacks and which Pakistan and China have in abundance) and enter into opportunistic alliances, as the Americans and British did with the Soviet Union in WWII.

Rethinking Gandhi

Gandhi

I have made reference to Gandhi in scattered posts on this blog. Now comes another article from the redoubtable Sanjeev Nayyar on Gandhi, Christianity, and Ahimsa. In this article, Sanjeev cites Sri Aurobindo, who was critical of Gandhi throughout his life:
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“Some prominent national workers in India seem to me to be incarnations of some European force here. They may not be incarnations, but they may be strongly influenced by European thought. For instance Gandhi is a European-truly, a Russian Christian in an Indian body. And there are some Indians in European bodies!

Yes. When the Europeans say that he is more Christian than many Christians (some even say that he is “Christ of the modern times”) they are perfectly right. All his preaching is derived from Christianity, and though the garb is Indian the essential spirit is Christian. He may not be Christ, but at any rate he comes in continuation of the same impulsion. He is largely influenced by Tolstoy, the Bible, and has a strong Jain tinge in his teachings; at any rate more than by the Indian scriptures-the Upanishads or the Gita, which he interprets in the light of his own ideas.”
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Indeed, Gandhi's interpretation of the Gita is fanciful: he does not accept the need to take up arms against the forces of adharma.

Neo-Neocon is a blogger whose worldview changed after 9/11: she formerly was a liberal; after 9/11, she became, well, a "neo-neocon." In her article The varieties of pacifism: (Part I)–Gandhi’s absolutism, Neo-Neocon looks at Gandhi's extreme form of pacifism, in which he advocated collective suicide on the part of Jews in Nazi Germany and on the part of Sikhs and Hindus about to face massacres in Pakistan.

After hearing yet another hagiographic portrayal of Gandhi by a minister in a New Thought church, I told the minister that I disagreed with the portrayal as she greeted me in the receiving line following the service. She was nonplussed. I then forwarded Neo-Neocon's essay, with an apology for using that time and place to state my disagreement, to her by email. I never received a reply.

But then I'm a bit of a sh**-stirrer: certainly, I PO'ed Washington Post reporter Rajiv Chandrasekharan with my criticism about his reporting about Godhra.