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Re: Definition of Hindu (Was defn by VKRao) very long
GOPAL Ganapathiraju Sree Ramana (gopal@ecf.toronto.edu) wrote:
: * A Hindu has two tenets (apart from others which differ from sect to sect):
: (1) Belief in the doctrines of karma and rebirth
: (2) Belief in Vedas as infallible and their acceptance as
: (i can not speculate on the continuation of the clause(2) if there is
: some, as it was not found in the previous post)
: [ofcourse i am not interested in degressing into philosophy. I am
: not even curious as to how one can reconcile the three views. my point
: is that the definition assumes that hindus are conscious of "the" karma
: doctrine and that they have belief in its "truth". How can this be
: accurate in the face of lack of even understanding of what karma
: doctrine is about by a common man.... like me?]
: one easy solution ofcourse is to declare me as non-hindu.
: But the definiton requires one to accept "Vedas" as infallible truth--
: not "the derived texts" or "the texts that have some resemblance to vedas".
: Refer to your own arguement at [A] above. Is it not necessary to mention
: NDV as another alternative sub-clause of your definition etc...?
Dear Gopalji:
Thank you for sharing your views with us. Actually, we do not need this
big a discussion to determine the position of the Vedas in Hinduism. Sri
Krishna has done this analysis for us long ago. I refer you to just one
verse in the SBG that to me, appears as a remarkably complete description of
Hindu theology. This verse is:
purvabhyAsena tenoiva hriyate hyavashopi sah.
jijnAsurapi yogasya shabdabrahmAtivartate. 6.44
(His (religious) habits from the earlier births, take him away from
materialism. His curiosity about yoga will take him beyond the vedas
(shabdabrahma).)
The context of this verse is a question from Arjuna who asked Him to
explain what will happen to those of us, who were for a while reverential
and then out of laziness, slips (6.37). God tells us that no person who
does good work is barred from eternal life. His prArabdha karma will
prevail in his present life and take him towards God. * Then He said that
that person will go beyond the Vedas.*
Vedas contain revelations of expressed truth about God, as discovered by
the seers. But God Himself is greater than the Vedas, therefore, in
communion with God, a person goes beyond the Vedas.
With best regards,
Dhruba.
