Claims and Criticisms

"The claim of any religion to validity is the fact that
only through it have its followers become what they are"
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
(In: Eastern religion and Western Thought, 1939)

    Many religions exhibit an inner tendency to claim to be the true religion, to offer the true revelation as the true way of salvation or release [1]. In spite of such claims and counter claims, most of the religions of the past have continued to survive till date. As Abraham Heschel and Swamy Vivekananda said, it seems to be the will of God that there should be more than one religion.

    Criticisms have been leveled against every religion. Some of these allegations are indeed true and are sometimes justifiable when it is done in retaliation to others' criticisms. Those who criticize other systems of faith blatantly ignore that similar allegations of erroneousness can also be leveled against their own faith. For instance, let us take the issue of women in Islam and Christianity, a classical example of the showdown between Muslims and Christian apologetics. In his article "Women in Islam versus Judaeo-Christian Tradition", Sherif Mohammed freely cites verses from the Bible to show us how many of the Biblical verses are damnatory to women. Mr. Sherif is of course not interested in citing verses from the Quran and Hadith which also contain verses of similar nature, as produced by Rafiqul-Haqq and Newton in their article "ThePlace of Women in Pure Islam"! Understandably, none of these groups are interested in presenting the faults of their own systems. Nor do they use the same standards while interpreting a verse of disputable nature in the Bible and the Quran. This is what I call double standards!

    Therefore, my limited experience of hearing such allegations against other religions has taught me that those who criticize other religions are invariably biased, their weird concept of reasoning often adapting to the faith they possess.  

    Valluvar says.... 
 

Great is impartiality, not swayed by hate, apathy or love.                           (Kural 111)

தகுதி எனஒன்று நன்றே பகுதியான் பால்பட்டு ஒழுகப் பெறின்.

  

  But partiality appears to be the order of the day as far as religious fanatics are concerned. Love for one's country, culture, language and religion is quite acceptable. Unfortunately, when it comes to a scrutiny of one's own language or religion, such sentiments often conceal or blur the visibility of the investigator. The judgments of most of the religionists, being unable to curtail their emotions, are often smothered by their preconceived notions. 

    Double-V has been launched primarily to answer these claims of religions and the criticisms leveled against other religions. Most of the claims and counterclaims often take place between Christian and Muslim groups. There are many reasons for this. Both are missionary in nature and also have the maximum number of followers than any other religion. Perhaps the most important reason is the fact that both are exclusive minded, claiming salvation only to their followers. 

    Claims and criticisms are of various types. Here I have classified them according to the subject and tried to answer these claims either myself or provided a link where an appropriate investigation has been done. 

• Mathematical miracles: Many Muslim and Christian groups claim that the presence of mathematical miracles in their scriptures are proofs of their divine authorships. Both groups are of the view that such mathematical patterns do not exist in human authored books, and often challenge others to produce a work that contains similar mathematical patterns. They also do not agree with each others’ claims! 

• Here I have presented my findings of mathematical miracles from a non-religious work, Thirukkural as an answer to their claims. Indeed mathematical miracles can also be found in secular works! Hence they cannot be taken as a proof for divine authorship.

• Science in scriptures: Of late, it has become a fashion of sort to claim that the divine authorship of Scriptures is demonstrated by astonishing scientific facts found in them. On line, there are scores of attractive web pages devoted primarily for promulgating these claims of amazing scientific statements far ahead of their times. [More later].

• Prophecies of founders: There are many Christian and Muslim groups who claim that many of the earlier Scriptures of other religions, particularly those of Hindus, contain prophecies about their founders, Jesus and Muhammad respectively.

• Jesus in Rig Veda? In his book "Divine Harmony", Aravindaksha Menon (Divine Printers and Publishers, Kerala, India) claims that the Rig Veda contains prophecies of Jesus. He argues that Prajapathi, mentioned in the Rig Veda is a `prophecy' of Jesus Christ. 

• Muhammad in the Vedas? Following Abdul Haque Vidyarthi's work "Mohammad In World Scriptures" (Adam Publishers & Distributors, Delhi, India), many articles by Z. Haq (1990, 97) entitled "Prophet Muhammad In Hindu Scriptures" have appeared on the net (**, ** ). 

§         Corruption of Scriptures: Many religions, particularly those of the Semitic group, regard scriptures of others as devil-inspired ones, or as corrupted ones or sometimes dismiss them as fairy tales! For Muslims, all scriptures were God given but they got corrupted in course of time by frequent introduction of human ideas into them, thus necessitating the revelation of the Qur'an, the final Testament. I will investigate this claim at a later date and let me for the time being concentrate on some of the criticisms leveled against Hindu Scriptures.

·         Hell in Hinduism: Mr. Anderson, while attempting to answer the claims of prophecy about prophet prophetMuhammad in Hindu scriptures alleges that the Hindu scriptures have been continuously modified to incorporate Christian and Islamic ideas. For instance, he says that the concept of hell in Hinduism is a later addition to Hindu scriptures. The truth is that the concept of hell is not new to Hinduism, but it means different. Read my article on Hell and Heaven.

·         Machine & Electricity in Baghavad Gita: In the same article, Mr. Anderson alleges that the Gita contains slokas containing words like Oxygen, Electricity and Machines. He wonders how such modern terminologies could have got into an old text composed during the 1st century AD. This criticism has been refuter. Read the section on Muhammad and Jesus.

§         Beauty of the Qur'an: One of the most common Muslim claims is that the Qur'an is a marvelous scripture of unparallel literary merit. They cite many verses from the Qur'an (eg. 17:88, 11:13) to show that God himself challenges people to produce at least a chapter of similar nature to the Qur'an. 

• Literary claim: One group claims that it is the literary style of the Qur'an that is unique. According to Muslims, all attempts to forge chapters in the Qur'an have proved unsuccessful. Here I have presented a series of SURAS-LIKE-IT FROM OTHER SCRIPTURES and ask my Muslims friends to say how these are inferior to those found in the Qur'an. 

• Mathematical composition: The other group called Submitters hold the view that God never claimed in His challenge that the criterion of judgment is the eloquence of the language or the style of the Qur'an. According to them, the miracle lies in the hidden mathematical composition of the Qur'an. In fact Submitters have not only challenged others to produce a sura-like-it but also a verse-like-it. The criteria they laid down to produce a Sura-like-it proved to be a hypothetical one and not based on any sura from Quran! I am presenting a counter challenge, asking them produce a couplet of the nature found in Thirukkural. 

§         Historical claims: One of the most serious claims, which run concurrently with claims of prophecies of religious founders described above, is the historical view of Hinduism and Islam.

·         Islamic past of Vedic religion: With their belief of Islam as the original religion with God [2], it is no surprise that Muslims have come up with this notion that all the present religions are nothing but a corrupted form of God given religion, Islam. To prove this, they cite many passages from other scriptures, particularly those of the Hindus, which they regard as original references to their faith. We investigate here the truth in their claims.

·         Vedic past of pre-Islamic Arabia: There are also claims other way round. There are articles on the net holding the view that Islam originated from India and takes its root from Aryan Dharma [*,*]! According to this report, pre-Islamic Arabian deities were nothing but Vedic, and the Black Stone in the Ka'ba of Mecca itself is the Lingam of Lord Shiva! Before captured by Muslims, the Ka'ba was apparently an international shrine of Vedic trinity.

• More to come ....

References:
[1] Coward, H.G. 1983. Religious pluralism and the world religions. University of Madras. (General Editor: R. Balasubramanian). Philosophical series No. 36. pages 137
[2] Hadeeth: Al Bukhari.  Volume 2. 440 :"Every child is born with a true faith (i.e. to worship none but Allah Alone) but his parents convert him to Judaism or to Christianity or to Magianism, as an animal delivers a perfect baby animal"

Vivekananda and Valluvar

Valluvar		Vivekananda
Thiruvalluvar is the author of Thirukkural, a great Tamil classic of the 4th or 5th century AD. It is one of the oldest ethical works of ancient India and is popularly called the Veda of Tamils. Though many religious scholars, including Christians, have claimed the Kural as a work of their faith, it was never recognized as a religious scripture because of its catholicity. Its universal appeal prompted Dr. G.U. Pope, one of the earliest translators of the classic into English, to call him the "Bard of Universal Man". Thirukkural undoubtedly transcends the barriers of religion, race, language and time! According to Valluvar, birth stands for mere accident and worth implies in real achievement:		Vivekananda, a Hindu monk who lived during 1863-1902, was a great exponent of Vedanta. He taught that salvation does not come from belief or faith, nor by reading scriptures or praying in temples and churches, but by Realization. He defined an atheist as one who does not believe in himself! Vivekananda's writings, lectures, essays and letters have been compiled and published in 9 volumes as "Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda" (by Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta). According to Swami Vivekananda, Vedanta is the basis of all religious faiths. In his own words:
"By birth all men are equal. Differences in their action render their worth unequal" (Kural 972)		"Without Vedanta every religion is superstition. With it everything becomes religion" (CW, V:212)

You may wonder what the millennium old teachings of Valluvar has got to do with the century old teachings of Vivekananda!  I admire the poetic brevity and ethical message of Thiruvalluvar and also appreciate the teachings and reasoning of Swami Vivekananda. Said Confucius: 

"Exploring the old and deducing the new makes a teacher" (Analects 2:11)

I explore the old Thirukkural for its moral teachings and deduce the recent spiritual teachings of Vivekananda to make me a teacher. Valluvar and Vivekananda are the great sages of my motherland. They are like "sign posts" for me, but this doesn't mean that I disregard the teachings of others. As Vivekananda himself says: 

 "Take all the old messages, supplement them with your own realization,
and become a Prophet unto others" (CW 4:134).

Valluvar and Vivekananda, separated by more than 15 centuries, have now become neighbors at their memorials in South India. About 366 metres from the shores of Kanyakumari in South India, are two island rocks in the Indian Ocean,  67 metres apart [1]. On the bigger island is located the Memorial for Swami Vivekananda, established in the year 1970. On the smaller island rock, stands the 95 feet tall statue of Thiruvalluvar, erected in the year 2000 by the Government of Tamil Nadu. 

The twin rocks at Kanyakumari: Before (left) and after (right) the construction of memorials for Vivekananda and Tiruvalluvar

Valluvar and Vivekananda now stand just 67 metres away from each other at the confluence of three seas (Indian ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian sea) at Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. Remarkable memorials for the two remarkable personalities!

Purpose of this blog

Man is a spiritual being, longing and searching for answers for the purpose of his existence in this world. All living beings, once born must die at some point of time, with man being no different from animals. Says the Bible…..

Man's fate is like that of the animals;
The same fate awaits them both:
As one dies, so dies the other.
All have the same breath;
Man has no advantage over the animal.
Everything is meaningless.
(Ecclesiastes 3:19)

But man, being a thinking being whose conscience aspires to know the reality behind this worldly existence, is very conscious of death and looks for means to attain immortality. Well aware that this 'immortality' is not available in this life on earth, mankind has been looking for answers from within and without. The religious history of this world has seen many a great saints, prophets and avatars who have propounded different philosophies to explain the nature of our very 'existence' and often left all the unanswered questions to the will of an Ultimate Reality, which they called by various names. Some inferred the very existence in this world is a misery and therefore the objective is to escape from this life, many others viewed man as a sinner and therefore need to be saved to achieve salvation and others regarded the world as testing grounds for preparing ourselves for a sensual life in an ideal world called "Paradise". Some of these faiths do not even recognize the existence of a Creator God.

In a few cases the founders themselves established a new sect consisting a group of dedicated followers, while in many other instances the faithful followers went on to establish a new sect, which in due course were recognized as different paths or religions to achieve the said objectives of immortal existence or/and an escape from the misery of cyclical births and deaths. Generations of communities have been habituated to such beliefs and whether an individual likes it or not, he often settles down with the 'path' imparted to him by his mother religion. Belief then comes mostly by habit. However, there are other means of believing also.

"There are three means of believing: By Inspiration, by Reason and by Habit"
Blaise Pascal

"Instinct, reason, and inspiration are the three instruments of knowledge"Vivekananda (Complete Works II 389.1)

Great prophets, sages, saints and avatars believed in what they taught because they were Inspired.  When we look at the history of these inspired sages, one point becomes very clear, and that is, that they became Enlightened after much self inflicted toil and struggle. Every man cannot be expected to base his faith purely on inspiration. The next basis for belief is by Reasoning and this comes after a thorough investigation. Swami Vivekananda, the prophet of modern India, said "I am sure God will pardon a man who will use his reason and cannot believe" (Complete Works VI 12.3) and even asked "Why was reason given us if we have to believe?" (Complete Works VI 12.3). Thiruvalluvar also talks about Realization of Truth after investigation: 

“கற்றீண்டு மெய்ப்பொருள் கண்டார்”

"Those who have learnt & realized the Truth" (Kural 356)

Unfortunately, reason sometimes adapts to the faith one follows and the believers are led by the misguided impression that they are talking rationally.  It is also true that a vast majority of people have either no time for doing this investigation or the faculties & intellect to realize the unifying truth behind all faiths. That is why perhaps Confucius said:

"The people may be made to follow, but may not be made to know" (Analects  8:9)

There are also other constraints which force people to inherit the religion of their forefathers. This site follows the middle path: that is, believing by Reason. And the conclusion drawn is that there is no religion which does not talk about the Truth and at the same time there is none which talks about It completely. Since all traditional religions have their own shortcomings, they cannot be substituted for another but only supplemented.
Every religion has been shown by its rivals to contain some inconsistency or the other. This has been amply demonstrated in various websites on the internet. Unfortunately such criticisms serve no purpose as the faith professed by the critic himself contains many shortcomings! As we will see in the different pages of this website, contradictions between religions exist only in "non-essentials" since in "essentials" they are all one.
Comparative religion and ethics has been a favorite subject of mine and none other than Swami Vivekananda and Thiruvalluvar provide befitting answers for all the doubts that arise in my mind. This site has been launched mainly for the purpose of evaluating the claims of various faiths to validity and investigating the truth in their criticisms of other religions. While doing so, I have also used this opportunity to make people realize that their local rituals and customs are not the essence of the Eternal Religion. In Vivekananda's own words.....

"Mankind ought to be taught that religions are but the varied expressions of THE RELIGION, which is Oneness, so that each may choose that path that suits him best"  (CW 6:416)

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