Peace Acquired By Submitting Your Will To God: CONCEPT OF GOD IN HINDUISM by Dr. Zakir Naik

CONCEPT OF GOD IN HINDUISM

Dr. Zakir Naik

1. Common Concept of God in Hinduism:

Hinduism is commonly perceived as a polytheistic religion. Indeed, most Hindus would attest to this, by professing belief in multiple Gods. While some Hindus believe in the existence of three gods, some believe in thousands of gods, and some others in thirty three crore i.e. 330 million Gods. However, learned Hindus, who are well versed in their scriptures, insist that a Hindu should believe in and worship only one God.

The major difference between the Hindu and the Muslim perception of God is the common Hindus’ belief in the philosophy of Pantheism. Pantheism considers everything, living and non-living, to be Divine and Sacred. The common Hindu, therefore, considers everything as God. He considers the trees as God, the sun as God, the moon as God, the monkey as God, the snake as God and even human beings as manifestations of God!

Islam, on the contrary, exhorts man to consider himself and his surroundings as examples of Divine Creation rather than as divinity itself. Muslims therefore believe that everything is God’s i.e. the word ‘God’ with an apostrophe ‘s’. In other words the Muslims believe that everything belongs to God. The trees belong to God, the sun belongs to God, the moon belongs to God, the monkey belongs to God, the snake belongs to God, the human beings belong to God and everything in this universe belongs to God.

Thus the major difference between the Hindu and the Muslim beliefs is the difference of the apostrophe ‘s’. The Hindu says everything is God. The Muslim says everything is God’s.

2. Concept of God according to Hindu Scriptures:

We can gain a better understanding of the concept of God in Hinduism by analysing Hindu scriptures.

BHAGAVAD GITA

The most popular amongst all the Hindu scriptures is the Bhagavad Gita.

Consider the following verse from the Gita:

"Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures." [Bhagavad Gita 7:20]

The Gita states that people who are materialistic worship demigods i.e. ‘gods’ besides the True God.

UPANISHADS:

The Upanishads are considered sacred scriptures by the Hindus.

The following verses from the Upanishads refer to the Concept of God:

"Ekam evadvitiyam"

"He is One only without a second."

[Chandogya Upanishad 6:2:1] 1

"Na casya kascij janita na cadhipah."

"Of Him there are neither parents nor lord."

[Svetasvatara Upanishad 6:9] 2

"Na tasya pratima asti"

"There is no likeness of Him."

[Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:19] 3

The following verses from the Upanishad allude to the inability of man to imagine God in a particular form:

"Na samdrse tisthati rupam asya, na caksusa pasyati kas canainam."

"His form is not to be seen; no one sees Him with the eye."

[Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:20]4

THE VEDAS

Vedas are considered the most sacred of all the Hindu scriptures. There are four principal Vedas: Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samveda and Atharvaveda.

Yajurveda

The following verses from the Yajurveda echo a similar concept of God:

"na tasya pratima asti

"There is no image of Him."

[Yajurveda 32:3]5

"shudhama poapvidham"

"He is bodyless and pure."

[Yajurveda 40:8]6

"Andhatama pravishanti ye asambhuti mupaste"

"They enter darkness, those who worship the natural elements" (Air, Water, Fire, etc.). "They sink deeper in darkness, those who worship sambhuti."

[Yajurveda 40:9]7

Sambhuti means created things, for example table, chair, idol, etc.

The Yajurveda contains the following prayer:

"Lead us to the good path and remove the sin that makes us stray and wander."

[Yajurveda 40:16]8

Atharvaveda

The Atharvaveda praises God in Book 20, hymn 58 and verse 3:

"Dev maha osi"

"God is verily great"

[Atharvaveda 20:58:3]9

Rigveda

The oldest of all the vedas is Rigveda. It is also the one considered most sacred by the Hindus. The Rigveda states in Book 1, hymn 164 and verse 46:

"Sages (learned Priests) call one God by many names."

[Rigveda 1:164:46]

The Rigveda gives several different attributes to Almighty God. Many of these are mentioned in Rigveda Book 2 hymn 1.

Among the various attributes of God, one of the beautiful attributes mentioned in the Rigveda Book II hymn 1 verse 3, is Brahma. Brahma means ‘The Creator’. Translated into Arabic it means Khaaliq. Muslims can have no objection if Almighty God is referred to as Khaaliq or ‘Creator’ or Brahma. However if it is said that Brahma is Almighty God who has four heads with each head having a crown, Muslims take strong exception to it.

Describing Almighty God in anthropomorphic terms also goes against the following verse of Yajurveda:

"Na tasya Pratima asti"

"There is no image of Him."

[Yajurveda 32:3]

Another beautiful attribute of God mentioned in the Rigveda Book II hymn 1 verse 3 is Vishnu. Vishnu means ‘The Sustainer’. Translated into Arabic it means Rabb. Again, Muslims can have no objection if Almighty God is referred to as Rabb or 'Sustainer' or Vishnu. But the popular image of Vishnu among Hindus, is that of a God who has four arms, with one of the right arms holding the Chakra, i.e. a discus and one of the left arms holding a ‘conch shell’, or riding a bird or reclining on a snake couch. Muslims can never accept any image of God. As mentioned earlier this also goes against Svetasvatara Upanishad Chapter 4 verse 19.

"Na tasya pratima asti"

"There is no likeness of Him"

The following verse from the Rigveda Book 8, hymn 1, verse 1 refer to the Unity and Glory of the Supreme Being:

"Ma cid anyad vi sansata sakhayo ma rishanyata"

"O friends, do not worship anybody but Him, the Divine One. Praise Him alone."

[Rigveda 8:1:1]10

"Devasya samituk parishtutih"

"Verily, great is the glory of the Divine Creator."

[Rigveda 5:1:81]11

The Brahma Sutra of Hinduism is:

"Ekam Brahm, dvitiya naste neh na naste kinchan"

"There is only one God, not the second; not at all, not at all, not in the least bit."

Thus only a dispassionate study of the Hindu scriptures can help one understand the concept of God in Hinduism.

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1[The Principal Upanishad by S. Radhakrishnan page 447 and 448]

[Sacred Books of the East, volume 1 ‘The Upanishads part I’ page 93]

2[The Principal Upanishad by S. Radhakrishnan page 745]

[Sacred Books of the East, volume 15, ‘The Upanishads part II’ page 263.]

3[The Principal Upanishad by S. Radhakrishnan page 736 & 737]

[Sacred Books of the East, volume 15, ‘The Upanishads part II’ page no 253]

4[The Principal Upanishad by S. Radhakrishnan page 737]

[Sacred Books of the East, volume 15, ‘The Upanishads part II’ page no 253]

5[Yajurveda by Devi Chand M.A. page 377]

6[Yajurveda Samhita by Ralph T. H. Giffith page 538]

7[Yajurveda Samhita by Ralph T. H. Giffith page 538]

8[Yajurveda Samhita by Ralph T. H. Griffith page 541]9[Atharveda Samhita vol 2 William Dwight Whitney page 910]

10[Rigveda Samhita vol. 9, pages 2810 and 2811 by Swami Satya Prakash Sarasvati and Satyakam Vidyalankar]

11[Rigveda Samhita vol. 6, pages 1802 and 1803 by Swami Satya Prakash Saraswati and Satyakam Vidyalankar]

The End of Dr Zakir's Article
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PS-
1-Then why Hindus deviated from worship of one formless God to worship of 33 million idols??.............Because they have left their scriptures. 99.99% Hindus have never ever seen any of the Vedas in their whole life so there is no point of reading and following. They just believe blindly what they see their parents doing without thinking.

2-Another major reason is reading lower level books (smriti and epics written by saints as per their understanding) like Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagwatgeeta as a gospel in place of real books Vedas (shruti) .

3- There is no concept of cross checking religious claims with proofs from authentic scriptures, they never cross check whether what they are following/doing (ritual, rites, worship method) has got any basis in authentic scriptures or not. Even if you quote refrence from their book they will refuse and stick to their heresy.

4- No proof is required in Hinduism. You can believe in anything without cross checking its authenticity with Scriptures (like verse number from Vedas). [You can try to test this claim of mine : Just ask any religious question from some different Pandits....u ll never get one uniform answer not only this they will never support their answer with reference from authentic scriptures]

5- Corrupt clergy, generally Hindu clergy themselve don't know abt vedas or even if they know they hide from followers, they allow their followers to follow their ignorance. Sri Sri Ravi Shanker in his debate with Dr Zakir Naik, while answering one question accepted that each and every word said by Dr Zakir about concept of God in Hinduism is 100 %correct but started stated if and but (excuses for idol worshipping).Kindy watch the last video of this page to know more about corrupt clergy, once he was Shankaracharya who used to charge 50 lakh just for conducting one marriage....now a Muslim. He will explain that while studying Vedas at vidya peeth they have to take an oath that they will not diclose what they learn about vedas to anyone .....let them(general public) busy with Mahabharata, Ramayana only but never tell them the truth.

Similarities Between Islam & Hinduism

ISN'T THIS STRANGE WORSHIPPING 33 MILLION GODS NAME OF NOT EVEN A SINGLE ONE IS MENTIONED IN VEDAS......BUT THEY DONT ACCEPT N FOLLOW THE ONE WHOSE NAME AHMAD (ie PROPHET MOHAMMED saw) APPEARS AGAIN AND AGAIN IN VEDAS.
WATCH THIS FOR DETAILS WITH REFRENCE.

Prophet Mohammed (saw) Prophesied in Hindu Scriptures

Islam aur Hindu Dharam mei Samaanta (in Hindi/Urdu)

Ex Shankaracharya Sharing his experience and contradiction between what he learned in vedas n what people are following and his oath "he will nvr tell others about what he learned." Let them away from Vedas n be busy in Ramayana, Bhagwat Geeta only.