ETHICS OF HINDUISM IN THE LIGHT OF CHRISTIANITY

Some western thinkers have concluded that there is no ethical and moral teaching in Hinduism because there are no Ten Commandments which are code of life and the basic foundation of ethical teachings of Christianity. But although there is no Ten Commandments, yet ethics are the vital part of life of the Hindu people in India. “The whole of religion is concerned with conduct, because it is more a way of life than a doctrine about the divine or a system of ritual.”¹ Hindu morality is not a matter of principle alone; it is primarily a matter of practical conduct, largely determined by the social environment.

The purpose of the paper is to show a comparative study between the Hindu and Christian ethics in a apologetic way. The paper is not dealing with present reform movements within the Hinduism but with classical Hinduism which today continues to be a major force in Hindu life. The study Hindu ethics can follow either the historical or the synthetic method. The historical method consists in analyzing the fundamental positions of Hindu morality in the successive periods and according to the various schools of Hindu thought. The synthetic method consists in retaining the fundamental principles common to all schools and indicating briefly their diverse interpretations in the various schools.

THE SYNTHETIC METHOD OF HINDU ETHICS

Under the synthetic method of Hindu ethics two basic questions must be studied:

1. What is man? 2. What is man’s relation to the world?

What is man?

A Christian considers man as a being in whose unity matter and soul are intimately connected. For a Christian the aim of human life is to reach, after death, perfect beatitude in the vision of God, and through the resurrection of the body, to enjoy that beatitude as a complete and distinct human being. The Hindu view of man is very different. A Hindu considers the Christian view of man as an illusion.

What is man’s relation to the world?

Hinduism gives the idea that man is just one of the many forms in which the Supreme Being is manifested in this universe. Multiplicity and separate consciousness are only different aspects of the ignorance which affects our conception of this universe. That ignorance is not to be compared with original sin mentioned in the Bible, as though it were a kind of moral fault. It’s much more a kind of metaphysical principle for which no one is morally responsible. Man’s activity for his individual self out of attachment in this world is bad and out of detachment is good.

ETHICAL THOUGHT OF HINDU WORSHIP

Hindu worship is individual not congregational. There are ethics involved in Hindu worship. There are two essential levels in Hindu worship: Mantras (mystic religious texts) and Sacrifices.

In Mantras

Actually the ancient Indian seers organized the Mantras and they recognized a cosmic order which served as the foundation of their ethics. They called that cosmic order as “Rta” (moral law). “Rta” is a concept pertaining to the physical universe which denotes the law of nature and also operates the movement of the planets. Gradually, the cosmic sense of “rta” as natural law developed into the social sense of “rta” as moral law. The nature of this development was crucial for the status of morality. “Rta” was the summum bonum. There are some mantras which requires standard of morality and duty. Mantras are used as prayer also. So the Hindus believe about some particular mantras that if they do not possess a good moral life mantras will not work and their god will not listen. Some mantras are hymns. This type of mantras are entirely dedicated to “daksina” (offering of gifts) the largest presented by the wealthy nobles to the priests who perform the ritual work.

In Sacrifices

In ancient India sacrifices were morally structured. More emphasis were placed on the spirit of the sacrifice rather than on mechanical performance.

The concept of sacrifice dominates the entire Hindu view of life. The form and extent of sacrifice may have varied from age to age, but its underlying spirit has enfured through the ages-that spirit which is expressed in the words of the Bhagavad Gita, “fosterning each other you shall attain to the supreme good.”²

ETHICS OF HINDU DHARMA SASTRAS (SACRED BOOKS)

The word “Sastras” means the holy law books or treatises. Dharma Sastras are the holy books which tell about the religious duties and moral laws. Dharma Sastras, like the Hebraic Decalogue, regard Dharma as a code of rules designed to ensure the cohesion of community.

In the Bhagavad Gita

If we read the sixteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita we can see lists of moral behavior and a large number of virtues such as purity of mind, non-violence, freedom from anger, renunciation, liberty from covetousness, gentleness, modesty, truth and uprightness. “The Blessed Lord Krisna said: Fearless and pure in heart, steadfast in the exercise of wisdom, openhanded and restrained, performing sacrifice, intent on studying Holy writ, ascetic and upright.” ³

We can discover the clue of the nature of Bhagavad Gita’s ethics as its drama begins to unfold. Arjuna standing in his chariot in the midst of armies of Kuravas and Pandavas. Seeing all his kinsmen, Arjuna is overcome with grief and he utters some distressful words to his charioteer, Krishna. This is the opening scene of Gita. Arjuna’s depression is a form of self indulgent pity which prevents him from doing his duty because it will harm his kith and kin. The Gita’s formula for ethical activism is a synthesis of two conflicting modes of discipline, both of which were considered orthodox paths to salvation.

Gita’s ethical teaching is that aversions and attachments determine a man’s behavior, therefore, a man’s real enemies are not actions but passions. In Bhagavad Gita there are two form of discipline: “pravrtti” means active life and “nivrtti” means quietism. The ethical thought of karmayoga teaches that a man must perform his duties as a member of society without any thought of personal gain. Since activity is always prompted by desire, and since desire means further attachment, the radical solution lies in complete withdrawal from activity and concentration on the self. The moral ideal of detachment in action is not the last word of the Gita. In the context of Bhakti, morality seems to acquire more substance. The ambiguity is not totally dispelled.

In the Upanishads

The Upanishads are the supreme truth of Vedas (the oldest and the most sacred book), sometimes the Upanishads are called “Vedanta” meaning literally the end of Vedas. The Upanishads say the highest ideal for man’s ethical endeavors is self knowledge. The Upanishads postulate that the ethical ideal of realizing one’s unity with Brahman is the highest goal for which man can strive. In the Brahamanas (one of the parts of Upanishads) the summum bonum is sacrificial rectitude. In the Upanishads metaphysical error translates into evil on the moral level.

The self control, generosity, and compassion suggest that the Upanishads are not only concerned with personal ethics, but also with social ethics. It is quite true that ethics is not an end in itself, but only a means toward reaching the experience of Brahman which transcends the moral conflicts of the relative world.

HINDU ETHICS IN FOUR GOALS OF LIFE

In Hinduism there are four traditional accepted aims or goals of life which they call “purushartha.” These four goals of life are dharma, artha, kama, moksha and each has a system of ethical norms.

Dharma

Dharma is a Sanskrit word. It can be translated into English as duty, morality or righteousness. Dharma is ethically sound life. Although the word dharma has come to mean “religion” in modern Indian languages, it’s classical meaning is righteousness or good ethical practice according to the prescriptions handed down from age to age by the virtuous ancestors. It connotes the general ideas of honesty, decency, respect, and care for others, responsibility and duty which are incumbent upon all persons regardless of their position in society.

Artha

Another legitimate worldly concern is “artha.” Originally in Sanskrit it does not simply mean money but it refers to all material possessions. According to this second goal of life man has to earn wealth, so that he can maintain his family and help those who depend upon him but it has to be done within the limits of the moral law. Man should not acquire material possessions by immoral means.

Kama

Kama means the pursuit of love and pleasure. In Hinduism love is spiritualized. “Sexuality in Hindu religion is a symbol for the union of opposites in spiritual reality.”⁴

Physical pleasure is recognized as devotion to god. “Not only is pleasure a permissible human goal, but pleasure-seekers need not go unguided.”⁵ Man can openly choose to make pleasure his goal but he has to stay within the bounds of general social rules and within the boundary of morality. But in modern days “kama” has been misinterpreted. Because of that “kama sutra”, a discussion of sexual enjoyment in the Hindu understanding has become popular in European countries and also in the United States.

Moksha

Moksha means salvation or final liberation from Samsar, the cyclic rebirths or transmigration of soul. It is beyond or out of time. Moksha or salvation depends upon the law of Karma (deeds). The more a person performs good works, the more quickly he or she will achieve moksha. So in order to get moksha easier and earlier one needs to lead a sound ethical or moral life. In Christianity, it may be similar to the idea of bearing fruit in life even though Christianity denies that salvation comes through good works.

In Christianity one does good work not in order to achieve salvation and not for the other world but in order to become Christ like and for the benefit of this world.

HINDU ETHICAL ASPECT IN SOCIETY AND FAMILY

Although the law of Karma makes of human life a very individual affair, the Dharma sutras are emphatic about the social duties of every Hindu. Those Dharma sutras and all the literature deriving from them are not concerned with theories on ethics, but with the practical code of behavior. As such they have played an important role in the shaping of Hindu life and society.

In Society

In society there are many systems which represent the ethical organization of the social life of the Hindus such as Caste System and Marriage.

Caste System

Caste is a very complex reality which is difficult to define. The best we can do is to try to enumerate the distinctive characteristics which may be said to apply to all castes.

A caste is a closed social group theoretically based on heredity: everyone belongs to the caste in which he is born. Each caste possesses an independent organization, a head and council, which may meet on special occasions. It has the power to impose penalties on its members. From the point of view of the individual member of a caste, the system provides him from birth with a fixed social milieu from which neither wealth nor poverty, success nor disaster can remove him, unless of course he violates the standards of behavior laid down by his caste. Then his caste spews him forth temporarily or permanently. The traditional account of the origin of caste goes back to Rigveda 10:90

“one fourth of the Supreme being constitute a small beings, while three fourths of him are immortal and stand above. With the one fourth below, he extended on all sides into the animate and the inanimate. His face became the Brahman caste. His arms were made into the Kastriya, his thighs became the Vaisya, and from his feet the Sudra was born.”

The Sanskrit word for caste is “Varna” (color) which seems to indicate that the racial element in the distinction between the four classes played an important part. Criticism have been raised that the caste system in Hindu society is purely unethical. The upper three classes are the oppressors of the lowest class Sudra. Eating is also forbidden between one caste and another.In the course of time, forbidden inter-marriage has taken place which makes new classes and eventually became the numerous castes, more than 2500 of medieval India. Generally the law book of Manu disapproves Brahmans engaging in agriculture because it creates injury to animals and insects, but this rule was often ignored because they had to do that for their livelihood.

In the author’s own experience and observation and also at the humanitarian ground, the caste system is quite unethical. Because it creates inequality in society and makes a person superior over other person. Man is created by God in His own image. So why does man creates distinctions like caste. Mohatma Gandhi, the father of the Indian nation, fought against this system of inequality in society throughout his whole life, yet the caste system still exists in India and sometimes creates violence. In April, 1985 the following incident happened in India. Crowds furious at government plans to increase the number of college places available to low caste Hindus set fire to government buildings and shops which failed to head the call for a general strike. Three people were killed March 20^th in Ahmedabad 500 miles south west of New Delhi.

Marriage

In Hindu Society marriage has three main purposes: the promotion of religion, progeny and sexual pleasure which they call “rati”. This idea is not similar to the Christian ideas of marriage. In Christianity, the main purpose of marriage is companionship. Because in the beginning God did not create man and woman not for their sexual pleasure but for their intimate companionship. Procreation and the sexual pleasure was not the main purpose (Genesis 2: 18-24). In traditional Hindu society mostly there are parental marriages. Parents are the one who will select the partners. Ethically it is good in one sense because in this process partners have no opportunity to mix freely before marriage, so that sexual immorality can be avoided although in all cases it is not true. In other word it is unethical because partners have no opportunity to know each other so that they have hard time to adjust with each other after their marriage.

In Hindu society inter caste marriage is forbidden. Again it favors the caste system.

In the authors own experience and observation, the most important system in Hindu marriage is “dowry” which the groom’s side demands from the bride’s family. Sometimes their demands are too high that the bride’s family can not fulfill. If the groom is highly educated, from aristocratic family then the groom demands more from bride’s family. Sometimes poor fathers can not arrange a wedding for their daughters because of the pressure of the dowry. In author’s own experience and observation, sometimes poor fathers are making promises to their son in-laws but they can not fulfill their promises.

In Hindu society when fathers can not fulfill their promises of giving dowry to the grooms, most cases their married girls are committing suicide because of the persecution of their husbands.  They have no other options. Mental and physical torturing comes not only from their husbands but from their in-laws and from other members of the family.       It happens mainly in the case of poor fathers.  In the case of rich fathers it happens if in case they fail to fulfill their promises.  Author’s own sister in Bangladesh has been going through this kind of torture from her in-laws side even after five years of her marriage. 

The dowry system is a social evil.  Indian government is trying to abolish this system but still it is very common in society.  Couple of years ago some mass ceremonies of model marriages were happened in tiny Keerampara village, 55 km from the port city of Cochin in India’s southern state of Kerala.  The most important news was that the wedding ceremonies were attended by Mr. Zail Singh, the then president of India.

Polygamy

Polygamy is not common in Hindu society.  “Polygamy, in ordinary circumstances, was not encouraged by the earlier legal literature.”[6]  In ancient India, kings and chiefs were almost invariably polygamous but ethically Hindu scriptures do not support polygamy.  In the author’s own observation, the husband can take another wife with the consent of first wife if she is barren.  Sometimes it is practiced that if the first wife can not produce a male child with her consent husband can marry again.

Divorce

Divorce is not a common practice in Hindu society.  But the law books vary in their attitude to the adulterous wife if she has willful intercourse.  This is similar to Christian teaching (Matthew 5: 31-32).  Though the religious law books leave no rooms for divorce, the ‘Arthassastra’ shows that it was possible in early times, at least in marriages not solemnized by religious rites.

In family

Family is the unit of the social system rather than the individual.  The deep sense of solidarity exists in Hindu family, because of joint family system.  In the author’s own experience, there is a rite of commemorating the ancestors which is called by “Sradha” and binds the family together.  In this ceremony at least three generations of the dead members of the family are believed to participate in the benefits of this ceremony. This way dead and living are linked together.  Like the Semitic family, the Hindu family is patriarchal.  If the father wants to become an ascetic he will distribute his property among his children so that problems will not arise.

Role of women

According to most Hindu authorities women have always a minor status.  “Early law books assess a woman’s wergeld (value) as equivalent to that of sudra, whatever her class.”[7]  The property rights of women in Hindu family are limited.  When she is unmarried she is under the guidance of her parents, when she is married she is totally bound by the authority of her husband and if she becomes a widow she is under her sons.  In the author’s own observation, in the Hindu family, the wife has no individuality.  She has to abide by the decision of her husband, while Christianity teaches that husband and wife both should submit to each other.  In the early days, woman’s freedom was generally much restricted in Hindu family. It was the duty of a married woman to wait on her husband.

Widows

In ancient time widows were considered as unimportant to everyone except own children.  Their presence in any public function would bring gloom for every body.  This is against the Christian ethics.  Christianity teaches to respect the widows (1Timothy 5: 3).  In the medieval times teenaged girls were married to aged men after their death of their husbands they had to voluntarily for the living cremation with their dead husbands.  In most cases it was not voluntarily.  But this rule is now null and void.  Before widows were not allowed to remarry.  In the medieval times it was strictly applied.  But in modern Hindu society widows, specially those who are young, can marry in order to avoid sexual immorality which is very similar to the ethical teaching of Christianity as St. Paul said in 1 Timothy 5: 14-15.

CONCLUSION

In modern times, contact with Christianity is either in its religious form or through the medium of a secularism which offers diluted Christian value.  It has raised a challenge which Hinduism answered by claiming that all the new moral values were in fact contained in the old tradition, provided it is properly understood.  Hindu ethics shows that Hinduism possesses sound ethical principles which are not very different from the moral sense inspired by natural law, or even in the Gita, from the Christian teaching concerning selfless activity.

The sixteenth chapter of Bhagavad Gita gives a list of ethical moral teachings and virtues, there non violence is included also. In fact, nonviolence is a very basic teaching of Hinduism. But in Gita we can see lord Krishna himself was involved in violence, he himself persuaded Arjuna to become involve in war and perform his duty as a Ksatriya. We can approach the Hindu by presenting the life of Jesus Christ that He is the real model of nonviolence, although Christianity has never been widely accepted as teaching complete nonviolence.

The Bhagavad Gita teaches about “act without attachment.” But it does not explain which type of act. It may be evil act, and if any person does the evil act he can not avoid the attachment. In Bhagavad Gita it is found also that lord Krisna is the essence of everything, whether it good or bad. We can approach to Hindu by saying that God is holy, righteous and good. He can not be the essence of bad. In connection with this we can present to them the creation story. In connection with this we can present to them the creation story.

In Bhagavad Gita 16: 61-62 the term maya means magical rather than wonderful power. How then can a person be sure that his supreme act of surrender is not the final trick of the divine magician? Maya means illusion. The devil also can create maya. So what is the difference between the devil and God? Indeed there is a difference between maya and God’s woder power. We can tell the story of how God worked through Moses and Aaron in Egypt in front of pharaoh (Exodus 7: 8-13), an example that God’s power is not maya (illusion).

In the author’s own observation, there is no clear idea in the Bhagavad Gita that man is separated from God by sin. “Sin is an illusion. In an ultimate sense, man is God. He is therefore not separated from God by his sin, as the Bible teaches. [8]

Eventhough there is no correct recognition of sin in the Gita and the Upanishads yet there are so many ethical teachings which Christian can see are similar to the teachings in the Bible. In approaching the Hindu as far as ethics are concerned, Christians should always connect the sinless and good moral character of Jesus Christ as well His Uniqueness. It is the best and easiest way of approach because they have nothing to say against this. Nobody can blame Jesus Christ because of His moral life. By this approach we can show that our God is an ethical God as previously discussed in this series.

Hindus believe in four goals of life. Regarding “artha” we can approach them by saying stewardship of our life. A steward is and always been a person who has charge or care of what belongs to someone else. We are only the overseer of our master’s (God) livestock. Regarding “kama” we can approach by saying that our daily living must be the center of God’s will for one’s life. Regarding “moksha” we can teach salvation by grace.

Concerning the caste system we can show that in Christianity there is no caste. Jesus is above every caste. In connection with this Galatians 3: 28 can be quoted. We can show them that the caste system has brought about misery and suffering which is quite unethical.