1. Though Hinduism is multifaceted, it’s still an identifiable religious tradition.
For better or worse, the term “Hinduism” has become a helpful tool for designating that vast corpus of religious faith and practice that finds its home on the Indian subcontinent. Originally, the word “Hindu” simply denoted those civilizations east of the Indus River valley. Hinduism, then, was whatever those peoples believed and did when it came to religion. Over the centuries, Hinduism has coalesced into an identifiable, albeit manifold, religious tradition. Currently, then, Hinduism is the world’s third largest religion behind Christianity and Islam. Although the majority of the world’s Hindus live in the Indian subcontinent (India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan), significant Hindu populations also reside in Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the UK, North America, and the Caribbean Basin.
2. Hinduism reveres several ancient texts as scripture.
The four ancient Vedas—the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas—are comprised of terse and often obscure Sanskrit verses recording chants, hymns, spells, and ritual formulas for Hindu cultic practice. Hinduism’s two main epics—the Ramayana and the Mahabharata—were probably comprised during the last few centuries BC and narrate those grand stories of gods and goddesses still so familiar to many Hindus today. The famous Bhagavad Gita is just a small portion of the Mahabharata. Hindus revere all these texts as scripture.
3. Hindu theology is built on later texts written during India’s classical era.
Typically seen as encapsulating the ancient wisdom of the four Vedas in a more clear-cut and understandable fashion, the Puranas and Upanishads are often referred to as Hinduism’s Vedanta literature. (The word “Vedanta” is comprised of “Veda” plus “anta,” meaning “end of,” so this material represents the culmination of Vedic wisdom.) Written mostly during India’s classical era, from the last few centuries BC to the first few centuries AD, the Puranas and Upanishads serve as the foundation for nearly all of Hindu philosophy and theology.
4. A few key characters feature prominently in Hinduism’s most well-known stories.
While Hinduism has no single founder, certain figures from the Hindu epics are well-known among Hindus today. The heroes of the Ramayana and Mahabharata are Ram and Krishna. Each is presented as a divine avatar (pronounced “of tar”) of the god Vishnu, one of Hinduism’s three principal deities. In the Ramayana, Ram features as a divine warrior-king who rescues his goddess consort, Sita, from her captors with the help of the monkey god, Hanuman. In the Bhagavad Gita section of the Mahabharata, Krishna appears as the divine charioteer turned wise counselor for the forlorn soldier, Arjuna, who is enmeshed in a bitter interclan war. These are some of the key characters from the Hindu epics who are now revered as Hindu deities.
5. Hindu idol worship is aimed at gaining blessings in the here and now.
Many Hindu homes today, from rural India to suburban Toronto, feature a small shrine where family members (usually the matriarch) perform daily acts of worship. Situated within these shrines is typically an image or figurine of a favorite god or goddess. Morning rituals can involve burning incense, offering small gifts called prasad, and chanting Sanskrit mantras. Overwhelmingly, these sessions of worship, or puja, are carried out for the purpose of gaining some concrete blessing from the gods in the here and now.
6. Hindus acknowledge lots of gods, but many believe they’re actually one.
We often hear that Hinduism is polytheistic—that it affirms multiple deities. Certainly, the Hindu epics tell tales of myriad gods, goddesses, and their exploits spanning untold eons. Every day, Hindus perform worship to countless divinities, each having its own name, face, and backstory. Mainstream Hindu theology, however, is based on the Vedanta texts, a body of literature that’s thoroughly monotheistic. Vedanta maintains that god is one. That is, that all the individual gods are just manifestations of the one. Regardless of whether puja to a favorite deity is part of their daily routine, many Hindus today insist that all gods are one.
7. For most Hindus, salvation means escaping reincarnation to be joined with god.
Salvation, or moksha, in Hinduism is all about breaking free from the exhausting cycle of reincarnation they believe we’re all stuck in. This reincarnation cycle is known in Sanskrit as sansara (often mistakenly Romanized as samsara). The way we achieve this freedom is by performing the type of work, or karma, that aligns with our life’s inherent duty, our dharma. According to mainstream Hindu theology, once the soul, or atman, escapes the reincarnationcycle, it merges into brahman, that universal principle often personified as god.
8. Hinduism sees the world as timeless, having no beginning or end.
Hinduism posits that the cosmos is cyclical and eternal. The three principal gods of Hinduism are Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. Once Brahma has created the world, a fourfold cycle of eons, or yugas, ensues. Despite the best efforts at preservation by Vishnu’s many avatars, the universe keeps spiraling into corruption and chaos. At the end of the fourth yuga, with the help of one last avatar from Vishnu named Kalki, the cosmos is wiped out ultimately by Shiva, and Brahma starts the whole thing over again.
9. Many Hindus view Christianity as new, Western, and only somewhat true.
Though our God set about to redeem all humanity before the world’s foundation, many Hindus see Christianity as something that began in the first century and can never be truly Indian. Ever since the rise of neo-Hinduism in the 19th century with figures like Ram Mohan Roy and Swami Vivekananda, many Hindus have maintained that other religions are true insofar as they point to the ultimate truth of Vedanta. Christianity, then, is true for Westerners insofar as it guides them—over the course of successive rebirths—to merge their atman into brahman.
10. Hindus hesitate to identify with Christ as their only way to salvation—but Christians still have opportunities to engage them with the gospel.
Many Hindus today see following Christ as just one potential way of progressing toward moksha and tend to view Christianity as a decidedly non-Indian phenomenon. A proud, Indian Hindu might think, “Following Christ may help Westerners achieve salvation, but so does the Hinduism to which I already belong.” Why, then, would such a person feel any need to put his faith wholly in Christ? Oftentimes, factors like these combine to make many Hindus hesitant toward identifying with Christ as their only way of salvation.
Engaging Hindus With the Gospel
As we reach out to our Hindu friends and neighbors with the good news of Christ, it’s crucial to keep in mind, first, that they’ll almost certainly insist all gods are one. This general premise of Hindu monotheism—albeit starkly different from the biblical depiction of God’s uniqueness—is often a good place to start discussing spiritual things with our Hindu friends.
Secondly, we need to realize that when Hindus say all religions are true, what they usually mean is that a religion like Christianity is true insofar as it helps us get closer to moksha over the course of successive rebirths. That is, Christianity is just one way of working toward salvation as it’s conceived in Hinduism. In counseling our Hindu neighbors with the gospel, then, we must be crystal clear that faith in Christ alone is the only way to receive eternal life and be with him forever.
Lastly, we need to be sensitive to the fact that many of our Hindu friends see their religion as central to their very identity. They understand their Hinduness as essential to their being Indian, Nepali, or whatever the case may be. What an opportunity for us to proclaim unambiguously that salvation in Christ is for every nation, tribe, people, and language!
