Rajiv Malhotra uses a prodigiously telling phrase “audacity of being different” to clarify that Hindu Dharm has some very basic differences from the Abrahamic religions. The most vital difference is that Hindus do not need a Prophet or a Messiaha to connect to God. Abrahamic religions are primarily history-centric, and depending upon a singular historical revelation, wherein the ultimate truth is limited to a few select prophets and is made available to the many solely through them. As an academic example, a layman’s claim to a direct revelation or conversation with God would be tantamount to blasphemy in the eyes of the Abrahamic religious orders. By contrast, Hinduism is not history centric and is not dependent upon any specific incident, revelation-history, or person for its validity. Everyone is divine with the potential to discover one’s own divinity and has the prerogative to validate the experience of rishis as texted in shruti. This is in sharp contrast to, say, the Christian concept of all being ‘born sinners’ because of the primal sin of Adam and Eve.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 16:39:29 +0000