This is the first of a series of proposed articles on similarities among the World Religions exclusively for the LINK by Dr. Suresh Kurl.
“Man is a religious being, he will worship…Man by worshipping, becomes assimilated to the moral character of the object which he worships…Without an exception, the character of every nation and tribe of the human history has been formed and modified, in a great degree, by the character attributed to their gods.” C. D. Cole; lectures in Biblical Theology of the New Testament.
For thousands of years, we have been trying to worshipping and achieving a closeness to God riding different vehicles, and have also known that our debates over the selection of these vehicles, as to which one is more reliable, speedy and comfortable to reach him has generated more debates than consensus, wars than peace and darkness than light.
Pictures, images, idols of gods and saints; temples, churches, mosques, gurudwaras and synagogues represent different beliefs. These beliefs remain etched in the minds of their followers. The images so carried in their minds are just images of what they have heard or read and compounded in our cultures over generations.
In this article I intend to explore common grounds between two religions, Hinduism and Judaism. Judaism is one of the three Abrahamic religions–Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, in chronological order of founding, all of them born and raised far from the shadows of Indian Hinduism and its practices.
Judaism was the first foreign religion to land on the western coast of India. Rationally speaking, the population of its followers like the followers of Islam could have grown in million, but according to the latest census, its is hardly 8,000. Reasons; it has not been an invading-and-spreading religion. Consequently, growing up, we had never heard of its Ten Commandments—the ten rules of living and religious observance given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. However, as a grown up and living in a multicultural country, I notice layers and layers of similarities between the two religions; their codes of conduct and religious practices. For example,
1: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.”
Hindu God has two forms: abstract and concrete. We worship Him in both forms. “Ekam evadwitiyam Brahm, Neha nanasti kinchan” Brahm is One only, without a second. There is no diversity whatsoever.
In the above Commandment, God sounds like Krishna, one of His incarnations. Hindu God in His abstract form does not perform any rescue operations. He performs such activities only in His incarnated forms, in flesh and blood. To date, there have been eight incarnations, all to protect this planet from evil. Then,
2: “You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth….You shall not bow down to them or serve…”
This Commandment strictly forbids idol worship. Hinduism simplifies worship and devotion by encouraging His worshippers to feel Him through their senses. Krishna says,
“Greater is the toil of them that have their hearts fixed on the unmanifested;
For with difficulty is the unmenifest goal attained by embodied (soul).” The Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 12, Verse 5.
The rest of the Commandments disclose much closer similarities with Hinduism.
3: Judaism has “Sabbath, the blessed by Lord”. In Hinduism, every day is a reminder to be righteous, is blessed by Lord and assigned to a specific god or to a planet, or to both.
4: “You shall not swear falsely by the name of the Lord.” To swear falsely by the name of the Lord is against the Hindu code as well. Falsely swearing in the name of God has moral consequences.
5: ”Honour your father and your mother.” This one is parallel to The Taittiriya Upanishad’s code of conduct–maatri devo bhavah, pitri devo bhavah, acharya devo bhavah,” The mother is God. The father is God. Your guru is God.
6: Hindus cannot have disagreement with: “You shall not murder,” especially when we preach non-violence as the highest duty in life: ahimsaa paramodharma.
7: “You shall not commit adultery” is a restraint called, “brahmacharya,” refraining from all sexual activity in mind, word and deed.
8: “Never steal” is asteya. Asteya includes the concept that we should try to be content with what comes to us. “Desire or want is the root cause for stealing” says Swami Shivananda.
9: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.” The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad insists on speaking the truth, “satyam vada, or asato maa sadgamya,” Lead me from the lies to the truth.
10: “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house, his wife, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.” And finally, the Hindu code, arjava dharma, being upright, straight-forward, simple, frank, honest, generous and freedom from deceit cannot be any different from the Commandment.
Despite such closeness between the two regions, only as of 1992, the Republic of India and the State of Israel have started enjoying an extensive economic, military and strategic relationship. Hope, one day the two governments will develop an spiritual relationship also and share their cultural wealth with each other as well.
(The next article will cover a few Hindu and Jewish religious practices.)
Dr. Suresh Kurl is a South Asian Community Activist, a retired Registrar of the BC Benefits Appeal Board and an Ex-Member of the National Parole Board.
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