Relating to Non-Vedic Religions - What is our stand ?

January 3, 2000

Hare Krishna.

Greetings. Namashkar.

I would like to understand what our view should be of non-vedic religions

such as Islam and Christianity ?

Has Visishtadvaita made any explicit comments on these ?

How are we to relate to the bible and the koran ?

Are we to reject Christ and Muhammad or accept them as saintly persons

according to desha. kala. patra but reject their philosophical systems which

are based on ideas contrary to the Vedas ?

Adiyen,

R.Jai Simman

Singapore

January 3, 2000

Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

Dear Sri.JaiSimman,

Well, regarding the religious faiths from West, Our seers could not have

commented

due to the very fact during their existence, these religions were not even

born.

However, I have heard Sri Krishna Premi once telling in a discourse, that any

religious philosophy or practice if it is not sanctioned by Vedic Dharma or

that which does not recognise the superiority of Sri Vasudeva should not be

given importance.

He was referring to Buddhism Buddhism also talks of ahimsa, truth etc like

vaishnavism.

He said that such things are like serving the Honey in

a container made of Dog's skin. Though the content is Honey, since not served

through the right medium of vedic sanathana Dharma, it has to be rejected. I

feel this holds good for other latter faiths also.

Dasan

K.M.Narayanan

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January 4, 2000

--- Jaisimman s/o Rangasamy <rjsimman

wrote:

>> I would like to understand what our view should be

> of non-vedic religions> such as Islam and

Christianity ?> Has Visishtadvaita made any explicit

comments on> these ?

> How are we to relate to the bible and the koran ?

> Are we to reject Christ and Muhammad or accept them

> as saintly persons> according to desha. kala. patra

but reject their> philosophical systems which> are

based on ideas contrary to the Vedas ?

> R.Jai Simman

> Singapore

Sir,

This is a very good question. Unfortunately, adiyen

cannot offer an equally good answer but no harm

trying.

The Vedic religion is universal in nature. It is

non-exclusive. It is eternal ("anAdi").

Other religions are not so. They all have a beginning

in time. Most of them owe their existence to a great

prophet or messiah. Some of them are highly exclusive

as they generally express, in mute or strident terms,

a certain intolerance towards those they consider

"infidels" or "pagans" or "idolatrous". Therefore not

all of those religions, unlike the Vedic religion, may

truly qualify to be called "universal" and "timeless".

Having said that, adiyen must add that none of us must

fall to the fatal temptation of passing judgment on

the relative merits or demerits of any religion. Very

few of us really understand and practice our

respective religions in letter and spirit. So it is

better to remain humble and not probe such questions

as "what should be our attitude to non-vedic

religions?". We should instead spend all our energies

and effort in making sure first that our attitude to

our own religion is what it ought to be.

However, if you really press adiyen for a definitive

answer to your pointed questions, adiyen would say

that our attitude to all other religions should be one

of "enlightened indifference". We should remain

steadfastly faithful to our own Vedic roots while, at

the same time, harbouring neither disdain nor

intolerance for others.

adiyen has read some portions of the Bible and also

some translations of the Koran. Both are books of

profound wisdom, no doubt, and have much to teach us

all indeed. Furthermore, they are also all written in

excellent language and style. However, adiyen always

looks to them for education only rather than for

enlightenment, information only rather than for

inspiration.

For real "enlightenment" and "inspiration" adiyen

knows he has surely no other place to go but straight

to the Vedic religion.

dAsan,

Sampathkumaran

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January 4, 2000

This topic is beyond the perview of the Bhakti List, in my opinion.

Therefore, I will merely point out some literature in this regard, and web

links

1. A Hindu Critique of Islam and Christianity by Ram Swarup

2. Jesus Christ- An artifice for Aggression: By Sita Ram Goel

3. The Psychology of Prophetism: By Koenraad Elst

4. A History of Hindu-Christian Encounters: Sita Ram Goel

5. Understanding Islam through Haadis: Ram Swarup

6. Chaps 13-14 of Satyartha Prakash by Swami Dayanand Saraswati

7. Jizyah and the spread of Islam by Harsh Narain

These books will lead you to many other sources.

Now for some on-line Links:

1. Himalayan Academy Website

http://www.hindu.org/publications/

2. Some important on-line books are available at

http://www.voi.org/books/

3. The last 3 links at

http://www.hindutva.org/

4. On-line Discussion Forums at

a. Christianity at

http://www.hindunet.org/forum/discus/messages/70/70.html?SaturdayAugust2119990

636pm

b. Islam at

http://www.hindunet.org/forum/discus/messages/35/350.html?MondayAugust30199903

31am

5. For an good list of such works, visit the following URL's

http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/bookstore/publication/publications.ht

ml

Hope this helps

Vishal

______

In a message dated 1/4/00 2:39:42 AM Pacific Standard Time,

sampathkumar_2000 writes:

<< Jaisimman s/o Rangasamy <rjsimman

wrote:

>> I would like to understand what our view should be

> of non-vedic religions> such as Islam and

Christianity ?> Has Visishtadvaita made any explicit

comments on> these ?

> How are we to relate to the bible and the koran ?

> Are we to reject Christ and Muhammad or accept them

> as saintly persons> according to desha. kala. patra

but reject their> philosophical systems which> are

based on ideas contrary to the Vedas ?

> R.Jai Simman

> Singapore

>>

January 4, 2000

I agree with Dr.Agarwal that this topic is

beyond the scope of Bhakthi list .I wish to

point out for the students of comparitive

religion that another major religion

of the world has been left out by Sri Jayasimman,

which is "the progenitor" of Christianity and

Islam . That is Judaism . For those , who are

interested to follow up on this topic , the Doctoral

desertation at Harvard Universit yof of Barabra A.Holdrege

would be the reference .That thesis in an expanded form got