Excerpt from article

[Guest guest]

Namaste!

 

The following is an excerpt from an interesting article on

the possible influence of the Vedic religion on other religions. In

particular, there are some thought-provoking ideas on jnana and

bhakti. I recommend reading the entire article, called Salvation:

Hindu influence on Christianity by Koenraad Elst, PhD, which can be

found at:

 

http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/h_es/h_es_elst_salvation_frameset.htm

 

 

Om!

Benjamin

 

 

Excerpt from article:

 

The second element interfering with the neat dichotomy between Pagan

and Abrahamic religions looks more promising for our present study.

We will be able to show that there are doctrinal similarities between

the Christian and the Hindu-Buddhist traditions which set the former

apart from the other Abrahamic religions [Judaism and Islam], and the

latter from the other Pagan religions. These similarities are

certainly the fruit of historical contacts, though apart from the

presence of a Buddhist community outside Alexandria (the

Therapeutai), the details of the whereabouts of Buddhists in West

Asia are as yet eluding us. We will consider the two most important

common points of doctrine: Incarnation and Salvation.

 

4. Salvation

 

In the Upanishads, the youngest layer of Vedic literature, attention

shifts from the ritual fire sacrifice to the interior of man's

consciousness. If we empty it of the sensory and mental contents

which usually occupy it, we see in it our true nature, the Self.

However, experiencing the mental silence in which the realization of

the Self dawns is easier said than done. So, determined seekers made

it their full-time occupation to pierce the veil of mental dross, to

seek liberation from the web of ignorance, false identification and

attachment. It is among this class of seekers that the Buddha emerged

as the discoverer and teacher of the most successful and well-rounded

method.

 

The goal of the Upanishadic and Buddhist yogis was "liberation"

(mukti, moksha), or, in the Buddha's more negative-sounding

terminology, "blowing out" (nirvana). This is a double-negative

concept: first a problem intrinsically affecting all people is

defined (suffering, ignorance, attachment), then a method of

eliminating the problem is devised and put into practice, ideally

resulting in liberation. Exactly the same doctrinal structure forms

the core of Christianity: all human beings are afflicted with

original Sin incurred by Adam and Eve, and now they stand in need of

Salvation, which the religion provides. This notion of a radical

wrongness in the human condition and of a concomitant radical jump

out of it and into the state of Salvation does not exist in Judaism

and Islam. Neither does it exist in most Pagan religions, such as the

ancient Greek religion, Confucianism or Shinto, nor even, apparently,

in the oldest Vedic layer of Hinduism.

 

How is Liberation or Salvation achieved? The original Hindu-Buddhist

answer is: through right effort, viz. through a meditative practice

which stills all mental distractions. However, this path of

self-liberation is demanding and fails to deliver the immediate

consolation ordinary people hope for. So, soon enough a devotional

practice developed which attributed to the Buddha, or to Shiva or

Krishna, the power to somehow "grant" Liberation to his devotees.

Hindu philosophers have distinguished between two approaches to

Liberation: the "way of the baby monkey", which clings to its mother

through its own effort, and the "way of the kitten", which is picked

up by its mother between her teeth. In practice, the way of the

kitten is the most popular by far: people make the effort of putting

themselves into a religious mood but expect the real breakthrough to

Salvation from a caring and interventionist Divine Person. Though

most Hindus and Buddhists vaguely know of the fruits of meditation,

few of them actually practise it, while most settle for devotional

practices such as chanting and waving incense sticks before an idol

of a Divine or Liberated Person.

 

It is at this devotional stage, which purists would evaluate as a

degenerative stage, that Christianity has picked up the

Hindu-Buddhist notion of Salvation. Just like the Oriental devotee

expects Shiva or the Amitabha Buddha or Guan Yin (Chinese Buddhist

goddess) to save him, the Christian reveres Jesus Christ as the agent

of his Salvation. Though Christian mystics have tried to come closer

to God through meditative techniques, Christianity as such has no

technology of Salvation, unlike orthodox Buddhism. Official Christian

doctrine confines the possibilities of Salvation to the salvific

intervention of God through His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

 

The article continues with other interesting ideas...