Vedas teach “One Truth and One Way”
This article addresses an article by a columnist of the Trinidad Express, in which she mistranslated a portion of the Vedas (Trinidad Express, Feb. 5, 1999). Her intent was to reject the exclusive way of salvation taught in the Bible. She quoted Svetasvatarupanishad 3:8 partially and mistranslated the entire verse. The entire verse is:
“Vedahmetam Purusham mahantam adityavarnam tamasaha parastat tameva viditvati mrityumeti; nanya pantha vidyate ayanaya”
And is translated: “I know the mighty Purush of truth (enlightenment) beyond darkness. Only in knowing him does one pass over death. There is no other path leading to eternal life”. Yajurved 31:18 confirms this exclusive way to eternal life in the Purushasukta:
“… No other way is known for eternal life” (Nanyah pantha vidyate-ayanaya)
So the Vedas do declare that there is only one Truth, referred to as Purush, and only one path to Him. One must understand that Truth here refers to the Supreme Spirit (God Himself), and not to the accuracy of an idea. This Truth (God) may be known by many names which include Jesus, Christ, Messiah, Purusha Prajapati (Vedas), Kalimatullah (Qur’an), etc., but each character in this list must meet the acid test of the attributes of God: supreme love, supreme sacrifice, supreme demonstrable power, supreme purity, etc.
Only One Way
Only one way is taught in the Holy Bible, in the Vedas & Upanishads, and in the Qur’an, as follows. Jesus said: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no man comes to the Father except by me”. The Qur’an refers us back to the Bible for the whole revelation of God concerning salvation. The Svetasvataropanishad 3:8 states: “I know the (one) Supreme Purush Prajapati (Man who is also Lord of Creation)… Only in knowing Him does one pass over death. There is no other path leading to eternal life”. Yajurved 31:18 concludes the same. This way is also referred to as the “paragati ” (one supreme way) to salvation.
Four Paths (maarg)?
What are referred to as four paths to salvation in Hinduism are really four necessary aspects of the one path: that is, of one’s relationship with the Purusha Prajapati. According to the Vedas, these are:
1. accepting the work (karmamaarg) of transferring one’s sins to theSupreme Sacrifice;
2. knowing (Gyanmaarg) personally the Purusha who is the supreme knowledge (paravidya ) which liberates;
3. meditating (yogamaarg) upon the written Word of God which teaches us about the Supreme God; and
4. devoting (bhaktimaarg) one’s life to the Purusha in gratitude for his sacrificial substitution.
Costly Trust
Misquoting, mistranslating, and misinterpreting religious texts does us a grave disservice. It can cost us eternal life if we ignore the Truth and follow man-made philosophies and rituals. It is therefore absolutely essential that we search out the Scriptures as much as possible. It is known that less than one in a million Hindus in India have ever seen Vedic texts, much less read them; that figure includes Brahmin priests! It is all the more critical to do personal study because our soul’s eternal destiny depends on it: we cannot entrust it to charlatans.
Jesus, the Exclusive Way
This is the message of the Bible: that God graciously provided the gift of salvation through one supreme self-sacrifice in the person of the Lord Jesus. This fact has evoked the ire of many religious leaders who scream “exclusivist”, “narrow-minded”, “bigot”, “intolerant”, and other negative adjectives! One cannot deny that the Vedas also declare an exclusive way to the exclusive truth of salvation. At any rate, why don’t we hurl these negative terms against a physician who diagnoses an illness and declares that only surgery will provide the cure? Our Hindu friends are taught that their religion is better because it recognizes all other religious beliefs. This, unfortunately, is not a valid idea, for the simple reason that Jesus said He is the only way to salvation: obviously Hinduism cannot accept this and other conflicting teachings at the same time! Furthermore, an eagerness to embrace every teaching that comes one’s way does reflect one’s uncertainty rather than the dubious quality of “universality” . The fact is that the Vedas, Upanishads, the Bible, and the Qur’an agree that there is only one way to salvation: Jesus Christ the Messiah.
Wrong Standard!
Christianity is often spurned because of the wicked lives of “Christian” neighbors or friends. One must recognize that many people call themselves Christians but do not demonstrate the fruit of Christ’s Spirit; according to the Bible, they are not Christians. God has the authority to define His terms, and one must abide by His definitions if one seeks the truth. If someone does not demonstrate the fruit of Christ’s Spirit, that person is not a Christian regardless of whether he preaches, walks with the Bible in hand, sings well, or any other quality. The western countries, by Biblical definition, are not Christian countries, and Christianity is not a western religion! In fact, Christianity was thriving in India in the first century A.D., long before it came to the western hemisphere! It is therefore wrong to judge Christianity on the basis of such nominal Christians! Focus rather upon the Christ who came to provide the gift of salvation to you. To be sure, the glimpse of truth in the Vedas concurs with John 3:16 , that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have eternal life in heaven. He that does not believe is already condemned because of sin. Dear reader, it will assist you as you search for the Way of Truth if you read the Bible, or begin with the Gospel according to John. You may obtain a free copy from your neighborhood evangelical church, or contact us concerning this need.
May the Lord Jesus make His Light to shine upon you.
Global Evangelical Missionary Society
Copyright 2004. All Rights Reserved.
Nonsensical Philosophy of Keshavdas
I normally ignore people such as Mr. Keshavdas, the Hindu mystic who has a sizable following in Trinidad, West Indies. However, when they mislead trusting people and blaspheme God, while they parasitize our goodness at the same time, it is my duty to state the facts for the good of all concerned.
A God Made for Trinidad
My heart went out to my Hindu friends as I read a feature article titled “A gift of Love from India” in the Trinidad Express newspaper. It featured Mr. Keshavdas donating a statue of “Lord Vishnu” to Trinidad “because there are better Hindus here than in India”. Apart from the “god made with hands” issue, this statement is so devious, condescending, and self-serving that it makes one feel to puke. Perhaps by “better” he means that Trinidad Hindus have more money to lavish on him, and and they are more eager to believe him and kiss his feet than the average person in India.
Humble Satguru?
And what nonsense is enshrined in his seemingly lofty pronouncement “shine and rain are natural worship”! Also, western Indians need to know that Mr. Ramkhelawan’s “air-conditioned bedroom” is a heavenly place beyond the imagination of most Indians in India, so Mr. Keshavdas sitting on that floor does not in any way signify humility. Is it not also strange that Mr. Keshavdas’ “miraculous deeds” are such well-kept secrets that only Mr. Ramkhelawan seems to know about them? If anyone performs a real miracle, the world will be sure to know about it in minutes! Even the fake miracles of so-called Christian healers make the news circuit! What will it take for Mr. Keshavdas to perform a miracle in Trinidad for all to see?
Intellectual or Charlatan
Talking about Mr. Keshavdas’ nonsense: it takes an absolute charlatan to read “I am” and “om” and “ameen” as the same words. (Warning: misrepresenting the “I AM” of the Bible places Mr. Keshavdas in a grave situation before the living God). Pretending to be scholarly, he then enters into a childish but deceitful play on words: “om” implying omnipotence etc. But his snobbish delight at the people’s ignorance is displayed by linking Ram with pano rama, etc. His brilliant deduction therefore implies that Ram is linked to ramble, ramadan, and ram bunctious. Is this not the height of idiocy? Mr. Keshavdas insults the intelligence of Trinidad’s Hindus as he attempts to play them for fools!
Indians in India are extraordinarily proud of academic achievement, to the extent that, as the story goes, one man placed a sign on his front door: “BA”. Then in small letters he added: “attempted but failed”. Now, what is the name of the university where Mr. Keshavdas “studied law”, and did he obtain his law degree? Who will check this out?
Peddling Oppression
The most treacherous of his teachings, however, is about the caste system. Mr. Keshavdas plays up to the pundit groups (if you can’t beat them, join them!), and hopes to gain Prime Minister Panday’s favour by including the Panday’s in that select group. The worst thing that can happen to any society is the Hindu caste system. To truly appreciate this fact one must visit Mr. Keshavdas’ hometown in India and see for oneself the oppression of those beneath the Brahmin caste. Many truth seekers have done this, and most of them fell emotionally and physically ill from what they saw. How dare Mr. Keshavdas bring his miserable system to Trinidad! For just a glimpse of the caste system at work, consider how the India-born businessman treats the Trinidad-born Indian: he sells you very poor quality items at exorbitant prices, enslaves your daughters and wives, will not marry his children with yours, and expects to be honoured by you while he pokes fun at you in his language. But that is nothing compared to what happens in India, where in the holiest of Hindu temples in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, baby girls are routinely sexually abused by priests (sadgurus also) their entire lives, the reason being that it is their divine service to these brahmins. Most Trinidad Hindus don’t know how blessed they are that our forefathers were forced by circumstances to abandon the caste system: because of this, our quality of life is light-years ahead of India’s although India has superior technology and manpower. No Mr. Keshavdas, the Trinidad Indians will not allow you to insult their intelligence or to drag them into the worst form of oppression the world has ever known.
Self-proclaimed Brahmins
Finally, I wonder where the “Maraj” and “Maharaj” people came from: there is no mention of these names in the ship manifests of immigrant passengers to Trinidad! I caution our Trinidad Hindus about embracing these “mystics”: first find out what they are hiding (the real mystery), then let commonsense prevail. Remember, God is Creator and is not made by human hands. God loves us and will not enslave us. And He does not want us to enslave ourselves to idols, including Hindu “murats” (idols), crosses and “saint statues”, or Muslim “Kabah” . He expects us to be obedient, and to not worship the creatures He created for us to rule over, but to worship Him. It is so simple. The God of the Bible welcomes you out of bondage and oppression into the glorious Light and eternal life.
For more information on your relationship with the one Living God, please read the Bible , starting with John’s Gospel. If you need a Bible or John’s Gospel, please contact us or your neighborhood Evangelical church.
May God make the Light of His countenance to shine upon you.