Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
Major differences between Abrahamic religions and Hinduism?
Please read it fully and share your comments.
I was wondering why there is so much difference between abrahamic religions and Hinduism even though both believe in God. Then I started studying the core teachings of these religions and how they see the God. According to abrahamic religions God is one and he alone should be worshipped. According to these religions God is in heaven and seated above the throne (like human). He created all the stuffs from nothingness in 6 days. He is the jealous God (there are many verse in the bible that says God is jealous) and you should worship him in the name of what is mentioned in holy book. Otherwise he will send you to hell forever. This is the reason followers of abrahamic religions never respect anything else in this world other than God. According to these religions you should worship the God of Israel and not God of other nations. If not then he will get angry and destroy that city/nation. This is the core beliefs of those religions.
On the other hand according to Hinduism God is spirit, God is absolute Consciousness (prajnanam brahma), God is supreme soul (Paramatma) who controls both material and spiritual worlds. God doesn’t have any form at all and yet He is inherent in all the forms. God doesn’t get angry according to Hinduism if you respect any thing in this world. He is NOT jealous God. In fact God will bless us if we respect his creations. This is the reason ahimsa/non-violence (loving and caring of any created things) is core belief of Hinduism. There is no specific name for God and this is the reason Hindu scriptures use various sacred names to define him according to great qualities of God. Sometimes God is called as ONE (ekam) in many scriptures. Rig Veda (1.164.46) one of the most authentic sacred scripture of Hinduism says "Ekam sat, viprah bahuda vadanti“means "that which is the Sole Truth, the learned call by many names".
The Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism are simply different "faces" or manifestations and/or incarnations (Avatars) of the One. Another word that is used in Sanskrit to describe this oneness is 'purnam', which means complete or full. Thus God by very definition is complete and full. We can worship God in spirit or in any of his manifestations or in both. Both methods are valid in Hinduism. People can meditate on him using sacred names or syllable AUM/OM or go to temples and worship him or they can practice both.
Abrahamic religions consider using idols is sin (in fact they too use some kind of idols such as cross, statues, black stone etc but they don’t consider them as idols). Because according to them God is in heaven above the throne and if you use idol then he will be angry and send you to hell forever. But according to Hinduism, since “God is everywhere and everything is in God”, using idols for concentration to meditate/worship him is NOT sin. Since God is everywhere so he is in idols too. Since God knows all, he knows that we are praying to him only. This is the reason why Hinduism says to respect everything in this world. According to abrahamic religions morality is not much important and only belief in God is much important. But in Hinduism, morality is also much important along with belief in God because it is the way to accumulate good karma.
Ultimate goal of followers of abrahamic religions is to go to heaven and live forever there and ultimate goal of Hindu is to get liberation and reach the God.
Thanks
20 Answers
- Anonymous10 years agoFavorite Answer
Six great religions have shaped the major civilizations that exist today: the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and the three Eastern religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism/Confucianism). These religions seem to be quite at odds with each other when we look at their outer, or exoteric, forms. Not only do they have different rites, rituals, prayers and precepts, but in many cases their most fundamental doctrines about the nature of Reality appear to contradict each other.
All mystics agree that Ultimate Reality—whether It is called Allah, Brahman, Buddha-nature, En-sof, God, or the Tao—cannot be grasped by thought or expressed in words. Every religion has its own philosophies, scriptures, and guidance. The religion is by the people, for the people and to the people. All religions goal is one. Aim is one. Motivation is one. All Roads lead to Rome.
The religious tradition of Hinduism is solely responsible for the original creation of such concepts and practices as Yoga, Ayurveda, Vastu, Jyotish, Yagna, Puja, Tantra, Vedanta, Karma, etc. These and countless other Vedic-inspired elements of Hinduism belong to Hinduism, and to Hinduism alone.
As per Hinduism, the teaching of sacred Bhagavad Gita... human form is the highest manifest stage in the cosmic life cycle... particularly our planet Earth! Only in the human form our soul atman gains release from the cycle of birth and death forever... never otherwise! The moment human beings reached the stage of enlightenment (kaivalya jnana) all is over for the soul atman.
One another important belief of Hinduism is the doctrine of karma... the ultimate master and controller of all things cosmic! In absence of the laws of karma... the entire Cosmos simply could not sustain! If the Cosmos exists... so do the laws of karma! In absence of karma. Another great difference is the abrahamic religions have one god, one guide and with a single holy text,whereas the hinduism is guided by many great Rishis, acharyas with various kind of scriptures, texts besides vedas, upanishads but surprisingly it is in various languages with one aim, goal and structure without any differences.
The main upadesa is to live in righteous way of living or following dharma. of course there are many conflicts over the religion, but now all are united and standing one umbrella. The shaivats are following their rituals and vaishanavas are doing in their way. But, all are hindus. Hinduism is based on vedas, Upanishads, agamas, Upanishads, puranas, and ithihasas.
The Abrahamic religions (in most of their branches) agree that a human being comprises the body, which dies, and the soul, which need not do so. The soul, capable of remaining alive beyond human death, carries the essence of that person with it, and God will judge that person's life accordingly after they die. The importance of this, the focus on it, and the precise criteria and end result differs between religions.
Reincarnation and transmigration tend not to feature prominently in Abrahamic religions. Although as a rule they all look to some form of afterlife, Christianity and Islam support a continuation of life, usually viewed as eternal, rather than reincarnation and transmigration which are a return (or repeated returns) to this Earth or some other plane to live a complete new life cycle over again. Kabbalic Judaism, however, accepts the concept of returning in new births through a process called "gilgul neshamot," but this is not Torah-derived, and is usually studied only among scholars and mystics within the faith.
Christians display the cross in many churches, hang pictures of Jesus and images of Jesus on the cross in churches and homes. The cross is simply an image upon which to focus the mind, and also serves as a reminder of the sacrifice Jesus made for mankind's salvation.Catholics often hang pictures of saints to whom prayers are offered, and Orthodox Greeks carry and display holy icons during mass.Many Muslims hold an image of the Kaaba stone while doing prayers on their knees, facing Mecca.
Source(s): my view. - 8 years ago
There is nothing called Aryans and Dravidians. The concept of Dravidians was introduced by Bishop Caldwell, as just an another attempt to divide India. The concept of Aryans has also been now proved to be wrong now. According to the DNA test conducted by University of Michigan and University of Mysore it has been proved that all the Indians have the same ancestors irrespective of whether they are Hindus, Muslims or any other religion or they are in south India or North India or they say in any other Parts of India.
Dravid is a Sanskrit word which means meeting point of 3 oceans and it was first time introduced by Adi Shankaracharya whereas Arya means gentle men and our country's original name is Aryavrat( As mentioned in Vedas) and therefore whoever are denizens of Aryavrat are Arya (and not Aryan).....this concept was falsely interpreted by the Britishers just as an another attempt to divide India in which they have been pretty successful. They knowingly misinterpreted the word dravid and said that the people in south India were originally dravidians while the north Indians were Impure Aryans who migrated from Europe whereas the Pure Aryans stayed in Europe. For further information one can refer Vedas which has nothing so called Aryan- Dravidian concept but rather Arya alone who lived in the land of Aryavrat.
- How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
- 6 years ago
Hinduism is a science to find the trueness of the universe, there are a many concepts of god in Hinduism (including monotheistic Brahman and the pure atheism) and the research still continues, Hindus can chose the belief what is appropriate to a person or can still find a new answer, where are Abrahamic religions are religions who already have definite answers about god and one must believe in it and nobody is permitted to question what is told in their religious books through their founder/prophet. If questions they are out of religion and blasphemous and have to face punishment.
- 6 years ago
You deeply misunderstand Abrahamic religions. God saying he is jealous pertains only to the worship of idols. Explain how a cross is an idol. Do you think Christians are actually worshipping a small trinket? It is a symbol. I suppose by your logic any t-shirt with a logo printed on it is also an idol. You really should educate yourself before you attempt to sell yourself as scholar. You dont have to be Christian or even like Christianity. You do however have the burden of proof. You need to show your work. Give us the verses you claim to have read concerning your horribly biased and false information.
- 6 years ago
What do you guys think heaven is?
Being served like a prince and having alot of angels or beautiful women around and enjoying the comforts?
I don t think that that is the actual HEAVEN. None of the abrahamic religions include the concept of heaven for women.
What will women get if she follow the DOCTRINES of God?
So, there are alot of things that are contradictory in western religions.
On the other hand, Hinduism focuses on merging with the supreme soul and finding the trueness of universe by accepting each and every part of it. It could be the concept of one God or other dieties who has achieved the higher level of consciousness by meditating and learning the concepts of universe.
- SusanLv 45 years ago
The major difference is that Dharmic religions are based on Dharma (righteous path) and Abrahamic religions are based on the faith of Abraham. @ curiousguy, FYI, Jesus is a man made god. People started worshiping jesus after his death. Allah is just an imaginary God of mohammad.
- ?Lv 610 years ago
They believe in different gods.
And since every Abrahamic religion rejects everything from Hinduism, and Hinduism doesn't go by anything from the bible, they're totally different.
- 6 years ago
God in Hinduism is limitless. Is created and creator. One God appearing in unlimited forms.
Anyone and everyone is Son of God.
Try pronouncing Christ as In Christopher. Thats the correct pronunciation of Christ.
You will fing Christ sounds same as Krishn (Krisnaa is incorrect pronunciation .. seemd deliberate)
Christ has a `t` and Krisn ends with an `n`
Some old monasteries record visit of someone name Yesu in India probably his lost years. Christ was inspired by Krisn