Glimpses of the Scriptures of Major World Religions

By Ashok K Sinha

This book, A COLLECTION OF EXCERPTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES OF MAJOR WORLD RELIGIONS, consists of three major Parts. PART I (adopted from an earlier book by the author) pertains to major religions that originated in INDIA at different epochs of history; namely, HINDUISM, BUDDHISM, JAINISM, and SIKHISM. PART I I contains excerpts from the main scriptures of the three religions that originated in European and the Middle Eastern regions with their original roots in Prophet Abraham, namely, JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, And ISLAM. Thus, PART I contains excerpts from the Vedas and the Upanishads (Hinduism); the Dhammapad (Buddhism); the Agam (Jainism); and the Guru Granth Saheb (Sikhism.) A number of essays on the historical backgrounds, the leading figures and events, and their interrelations are also included for a deeper appreciation of the pertinent philosophies. PART II, similarly, contains excerpts from The Old Testament (Judaism) and The New Testament (Christianity) of the Bible, and the Koran (Islam), with a brief Introduction in each case.
The main purpose of presenting this book is to illustrate the commonality of the Indian religions due to their common root Hinduism -- that came into being in India some 10-15 millennia ago, and was modified from time to time. These religions have coexisted peacefully and harmoniously for centuries and millennia, and have contributed much in the global spiritual development. In particular, Buddhism has been adopted in a significant portion of Asia (China, Japan, South-East Asia), and has been also attracting the intellectuals in the West in recent years. Interrelations among the other three religions are also evident due to their common root; though significant historical schisms and ideological differences among them are also well-known. As the world enters the Twentieth Century, it is imperative for world-peace that people across the globe try to understand one another better, in terms of the spiritual and religious beliefs, philosophies, mentalities, and traditional tendencies that shape their individual lives as well as their mutual interaction patterns. It is hoped that this book makes a small contribution in that direction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 11, 2014
• ISBN: 9781493159987

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Ashok K. Sinha.

Library of Congress Control Number:        2014900110

ISBN:                  Softcover                             978-1-4931-5997-0

                            Ebook                                  978-1-4931-5998-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 04/09/2014

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

553446

CONTENTS

PART 1

HINDUISM

Historical And Philosophical Perspectives: A Synopsis

Illustrative Excerpts From Hindu Scriptures

Upanishads

The Purānas

BUDDHISM

Buddhism

A Few Selected Words Of Truth From Dhammapada (D)

The Story Of Siddhartha Becoming The Buddha

Hinduism And Buddhism

Buddhism Versus Other Religions

Buddhism In India

Buddhism In Other Countries

Selected Bibliography on Buddhism

JAINISM

References

Introduction

Jain Tirthankars

The Jain Rāmāyana

Anuvrata: A Revision Of Jain Codes

Buddism, Jainism, And Hinduism

SIKHISM

References

Introduction

Guru Nanak And Other Sikh Gurus

The Ādi-Granth, Or The Guru Granth Saheb

Sikhism And The Bhakti (Devotion) Movement In Hinduism

Excerpts From The Ādi-Granth [S1]

Summary And Conclusion

APPENDIX I

PART II

JUDAISM

CHRISTIANITY

ISLAM

APPENDIX II

APPENDIX III

APPENDIX IV

BOOKS BY ASHOK SINHA

IN ENGLISH

NEW DIMENSIONS IN ELEMENTARY PARTICLE PHYSICS AND COSMOLOGY (Second Edition)

THEORY OF SATELLITE AND MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS (TO BE PUBLISHED SHORTLY)

DROPS OF DEW (Collection of Poems)

MANIFESTATIONS OF THOUGHTS (Verse Translation of a Sufi Poetical Work)

GAZALIATS (Verse Translation of a Collection of Sufi Poetical Gazals)

THE BATTLEFIELD OF KURUKSHETRA (Verse Translation of the Hindi Classic ‘Kurukshetra’—of the Mahabharat War of India, by the Great Hindi Poet Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinakar’, regarded as the National Poet of India)

ALEXANDER AND CHANDRAGUPTA THE GREAT (Historical Play)

SHAKUNTALA (Translation of the Sanskrit Classic Play by the Great Poet KALIDAS)

THE SUBLIME JOY OF THE GEETANJALIC PSALMODY (Translation of poems from the Collection Geetanjali by Nobel Laureate, Rabindra Nath Tagore)

THE NEXT LIFE (a Novel with glimpses of ancient and the present-day India)

REINCARNATION OF THE IRON-MAN (Socio-Political Fiction)

A BIRD’S EYE-VIEW OF THE SANATAN DHARMA (Hinduism) (with Dr. Shardanand)

MODERN VIEWS AND MUSE ON HINDUISM (Editorials and Short Essays)

GLIMPSE OF SCRIPTURES OF RELIGIONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN: HINDUISM, BUDDHISM, JAINISM, SIKHISM

A COLLECTION OF EXCERPTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES OF MAJOR WORLD-RELIGIONS

YOGA AND AFFILIATED PRACTICES AND SCIENCE (to be published)

IN HINDI

THE BHAGVAD-GEETA (Verse Translation of the Great Sanskrit Scripture)

PUNYADHANWA (Poetical Work Based on the Life of EKALAVYA, an Immortal Character of the Mahabharat)

BULBULON KE DARPAN ME (Collection of Poems)

INDRADHANUSH (Collection of Short Stories and One-Act Plays)

OMAR KHAYYAM KI RUBAIYAN (Translation of the 75 Well-Known Rubaya’ts of Omar Khayyam, in Hindi Rubaya’ts Format and Verse-Structure)

OMAR KHAYYAM KI NAI RUBAIYAN (Translation of the over 500 Lesser-Known Rubaya’ts of Omar Khayyam, in Hindi Rubaya’ts Format and Verse-Structure)

SUBAH KA BHOOLA (Short Novel) (To be Published)

PART 1

GLIMPSE OF THE SCRIPTURES OF RELIGIONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN

HINDUISM, BUDDHISM,

JAINISM, SIKHISM

HINDUISM

The Glory of India And Sanātana Dharma Expressed By a Few Western Leaders

Many Western writers, scholars, philosophers, and historians have unequivocally praised India and Hinduism for the gift of wisdom, knowledge, and culture to the world. The views of some of them are presented below:

After a study, of some forty years and more, of the Great Religions of the world, I find none so perfect, (none) so spiritual, as the Great Religion known by the name of Hinduism… . India was born, as it were, in the womb of Hinduism, and her body was for long shaped by that religion… . Make no mistake, without Hinduism India has no future. Hinduism is the soil into which India’s roots are stuck and torn out of that, she will inevitable wither, as a tree torn out from its place… . If Hindus do not maintain Hinduism, who shall save it! India alone can save India. India and Hinduism are one.

—Dr. Annie Besant

India is the motherland of our race and Sanskrit the mother of Europe’s languages. She is the mother of our philosophy, our mathematics, and of our democracy.

—Will Durant

If there is one place on the face of the earth where all the dreams of living man have found a home from the very earliest days of man’s existence on earth, it is India.

—Romain Rolland

In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanishads. It has been the solace of my life—it will be the solace of my death.

—Schopenhauer

The Vedaanta is the most sublime machinery set into motion by oriental thought.

—Dr. Goldstucker

India is the source from which not only the rest of Asia but the whole of Western world derived their knowledge and their religion.

—Professor Heeren

The Indo-Aryan civilization is an extraordinary pristine civilization which we Europeans have never yet surpassed. It is a civilization without a parallel that India has given to the World.

—M. Louis Jzacolliot

A characteristic of Hinduism is its receptivity and all-comprehensiveness. It is one religion of humanity, of human nature, of the entire world. It cares not to oppose the progress of any other system, for it has no difficulty in including all other religions within its all-embracing arms and ever widening fold. And in real truth Hinduism has something to offer which is suited to all minds. Its very strength lies in its adaptability to infinite diversity of human character and human tendencies.

—Monier Williams

If I were to look over the whole world to find out the country most richly endowed with all the wealth, power and beauty that nature can bestow, in some parts the very paradise on the earth, I should point out to India.

—Max Muller (In India—What It Can Teach Us)

It may with truth be asserted, that no description of Hinduism can be exhaustive which doesn’t touch on almost every religious and philosophical idea that the world has ever known.

—Sir Monier Williams (Boden Professor of Sanskrit,

Oxford University, London, UK.)

A few Additional Quotations on Hinduism, Dharma, and Spirituality

The beauty of Hinduism lies in its all embracing inclusiveness. Whatever of substance is contained in any other religion is always to be found in Hinduism. And whatever is not contained in it (Hinduism) is unsubstantial or unnecessary.

—Mahatma Gandhi, Young India (9.17), 1925

I would sacrifice India herself at the altar not of freedom but of truth. Human unity can be achieved on earth only by the strong religions souls whose patriotism knows no limits of geography or of history, but only those of justice and truth, freedom and fair play, God and humanity. The world is in dreadful need of those heroic spirits who have the courage of their vision of human Oneness to assume the new leadership.

—Mahatma Gandhi

"When we engage in the practice of morality, we lay the foundation for mental and spiritual development.

—Dalai Lama

Unawakened, even, Buddha is a sentient being; and even a sentient being, if he is awakened in an instant of thought, is a Buddha.

—Hui Neng

We are our own jailers. We keep ourselves un-free by clinging, out of confusion and fear, to a self that exists independently of all conditions. Instead of accepting and understanding things as they are, we seek independence from them in the fiction of an isolated selfhood.

—Stephen Batchelor

If the door of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.

—William Blake

(You can) purify your negative Karma before it manifest as suffering.

—Gill Farrar-Halls

Purify yourself and become dust, so that from your dust flowers can grow.

—Jalaluddin Rumi

This universe is created by the Karma of the beings within it. So in one way we are all holding it together ourselves.

—Tenzing Palmo

"To see a world in a Grain of Sand;

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower;

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an hour."

                                 —William Blake

"The Christina is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others, and yet preserve his own individuality and grow according to his own law of growth: . . . .

. . . Upon the banner of each religion shall be written: Help and not Fight, Assimilation and not Destruction, Harmony and Peace and not Dissension.

—Swami Vivekananda

For men to come near to one another and yet to continue to ignore the claims of humanity is a pure process of suicide.

—Rabindranath Tagore

I implore as a human being to human beings, remember your humanity and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new paradise. If you cannot, nothing lies before you, but universal death.

—Bertrand Russell

Civilization will commit suicide with its own hands, if the nest built in the weak twig will be without proper foundation.

—Poet Iqbal (in an Urdu verse)

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to reach the heaven.

—Jesus Christ

Now fait is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

(Old Testament, Hebrew 11:1)

Just like a dream experience, whatever things I enjoy will become a memory. Whatever has passed will not be seen again.

—Nagarjuna

"When it is said that India shall rise, it is the Sanātana Dharma that shall rise. When it is said that India shall be great, it is the Sanātana Dharma that shall be great. When it is said that India shall expand and extend herself, it is the Sanātana Dharma that shall expand and extend itself over the world. It is for the Dharma and by the Dharma that India exists . . . . It is the Hindu religion only because the Hindu nation has kept it, because in this Peninsula it grew up in the seclusion of the sea and the Himalayas, because in this sacred and ancient land it was given as a charge to the Āryan race to preserve through the ages . . . . That which we call the Hindu religion is really the eternal religion, because it is the universal religion, which embraces all others . . . . This is the one religion that can triumph over materialism by including and anticipating the discoveries of science and the speculations of philosophy . . . . It is the one religion which insists every moment on the truth, acknowledging that He is in all men and all things, and that in Him we move and have our being. It is the one religion, which enables us not only to understand and believe this truth but to realize it with every part of our being. It is the Sanātana Dharma which for us is nationalism."

—Rishi Aurobindo

. . . We didn’t need scientific proof of the existence of character of God. In fact, whenever there was adequate, physical evidence to prove any theory of proposition, then we didn’t need faith as a basis for our belief. Even for those without specific religious convictions, the inner feeling of what was right and wrong and the awe-inspiring beauty of starlit sky or sunset, the emergence of a butterfly from a chrysalis, the industry of an ant, or the sprouting of a seed, were adequate proof of God’s hand in our lives and in Creation.

—Jimmy Carter

A Few Quotations From S. Radhakrishnan (Philosopher and Ex-President of India)

Reference: "The Religion We Need," S. Radhakrishnan, Banaras Hindu University Press, Varanasi, 1963.

(1)    It has become sign of good breeding to avoid disbelief in traditional religion. Those who profess to have seen visions of God or heard voices from heaven are declared to be highly suggestible folk of disordered brains and intemperate imagination. A generation that sends its thoughts flying through the air cannot be persuaded that thunder is the voice of God speaking. We project against the vast dark screen of the unknown our own fond fancies and unfulfilled desires. It is an age that seeks for positive proof and tangible evidence.

(2)   The simple consultations of religion—that love of God will make up for human unkindness and that cruelty and failure will give place to love and victory—may indicate a warm heart but not a clear head.

(3)    The casual argument that, as everything we se in the world has a cause, there must be a cause, can deceive no body. If everything must have a cause then God must have a cause. If God can be without a cause, the world itself may be without one.

Reductionism

(4)    Deseartes, the Greek philosopher, was the first to seek an explanation of all things in purely mechanical terms. He said, "Give me extension (space) and motion, and I will construct the Universe."

(5)    Benjamin Moore says, "Given the presence of matter and energy form under the proper conditions, life must come inevitably."

Rule of Consciousness

(6)   Professor Watson says, "Psychology as the behaviorist views it, is a purely experimental branch of natural science which needs consciousness as little as do the sciences of chemistry and physics."

(7)    Bertand Russell says that Life is an incident in the cooling of the solar system; Man comes into being in the midst of unconscious forces which will eventually destroy him. Humanity appeared on earth as inevitable as beetles on a dunghill.

(8)    For the fundamentalists, education is the greatest calamity… As education has come to stay, fundamentalism does not seem to have any future.

(9)    "Religion is a part of the social mechanism. It has a social purpose, a social interest, and a social hope. We can use (the concept of) God tough we cannot know Him. Religion has little to do with the discovery of truth; its chief aim is the enhancement of life."

(10) If we are to stick to our ideals in face of all obstacles, we need to feel certain that they are not private fancies of our own, but are somehow rooted in the universal nature of things.

(11) Rightly understood, science is eventually spiritual in its temper and leadings. Instead of abolishing the mysteries of the world, it has deepened them (as in the case of the scientific theory of evolution.)

(12) On account of cosmic necessities, protoplasm developed into two main lives of the vegetable and the animal. Their mutual dependence suggests the ‘social’ character of the universe. . . . .

(13) Whatever be the value of evolution as a description of the observed facts, it is thoroughly unsatisfactory as an interpretation of the ultimate nature of the universe… . The transitions from the non-living to the living, from life to mind, from mind to intelligence, are absolutely inexplicable… The unity and continuity of the universe requires us to conceive the creative power of the world as One and not many… . Even within the limit open to our observation, we cannot be certain that evolution is due to blind mutations (of organisms) selected by a blind environment (due to their mutual interactions.) . . . .

(14) Theory of Samual Butler, Bernard Shaw, and Bergson (says) that creatures vary (evolve) because they ‘want’ to.

(15) Evolution is not blind and mechanical, but is the expression of a purposive force, which creates living organisms and endows them with life and with the need to develop and evolve in pursuance of a definite purpose. . . . In other words, we have to assume the reality of a single supreme spirit which is at work in the whole course of evolution…"

(16) Darwin wrote: The births both of the individual and the species are equally parts of that great sequence of events which the mind refuses to accept as the result of blind chance. The understanding revolts from such a conclusion.

   Herbert Spencer called the inscrutable energy God (though Bradley believes he called it God because he did not know what the devil it could be!) Matthew Arnold attributed it as a power not ourselves that makes for righteousness. Lloyd Morgan, a philosopher and a scientist, said, "For better or worse I acknowledge God’ as the Nisus through whose ‘Activity’ (every) emergent emerges and the whole course of emergent evolution is directed." (This view is also adopted by another philosopher-cum-scientist, Whitehead.)

(17) If the human life is a constant quest for God, then God is a conditioning factor of our being. The ineradicable religious instinct in human nature finds fulfillment in the consciousness of a spiritual reality at the back of the cosmic process… (However,) the Supreme Reality is difficult to grasp and impossible to define. We can be sure what God is not, but not of what God is… . He is not a God to whom we are bound by a covenant, not one who is placated by sacrifices, or what takes sides and has preferences, looking upon this or that worshipper with special favor… . The Supreme is the Self of the Universe.

(18) "The soul of man is infinite in character… The God it seeks is equally infinite and wide. The reactions of an infinite soul to an infinite environment cannot be reduced to limited formulas, [as commonly attempted in the Talmud, the Bible, and the Koran]*."

_________________________________________________________

* The note within the brackets [] added by the Editor for distinction with respect to Hinduism.

(19) Peter: of a truth I perceive that God is no respector of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted of him.

. . . "In God’s house there are many mansions. Provincialism in religion is obviously a sign of crudity and not culture… . (All true sects know that) The Supreme is One, though He has many names, (that) he has no special favorites, that all men in a true sense are his children, that His inspiration is not confined to any age or race, that His revelation is larger than any single book or set of books, and that He has raised up (true) teachers and saints in all lands."

(20) Spinoza: He who loves God cannot want that God should love him in return.

(21) "Self-perfection is the aim of religion, but until this aim takes hold of the (world-) society as a whole, the world is not safe for civilization and humanity."

(22) We need not attempt to ‘improve’ on God’s creation by extirpating all races (and religions) but one… the term prostituting" need not be confined to the grim traffic that is carried on under that name, but may be extended to cover all eases of exploitation of one individual by another, of one historical (or religious) group by another, and of one nation by another, against the real will of the former and in the latter’s self-interest… . A civilization based on injustice cannot last long. It is a welcome sign of the times that a religion which does not make social reform and international justice an essential part of its teaching has no appeal to the modern mind. Religion is not a simple spiritual state of the individual. It is the practice of the divine rule among men."

ABBREVIATIONS (used for reference of excerpts from the scriptures)

The Vedas

(1) RV—The Rig-Veda (also spelled as the Rg-Veda)

(2) YV—The Yajur-Veda

(3) AV—The Athar-Veda

(4) SV—The Sām-Veda

The Upanishads

(1) UpA—The Aitareya Upanishad

(2) UpB—The Brihadāranyaka Upanishad

(3) UpC—The Chhāndogya Upanishad

(4) UpI—Ishopanishad (also called the Ishavāsyapanishad)

(5) UpK—The Katha Upanishad (the Kathopanishad)

(6) UpKa—The Kausitaki Upanishad

(7) UpKe—The Kena Upanishad (the Kenopanishad)

(8) UpM—The Mandukya Upanishad

(9) UpMu—The Mukunda Upanishad

(10) UpP—The Prashna Upanishad (the Prashnopanishad)

(11) UpS—The Shvetāsvatara Upanishad

(12) UpT—the Tattireya Upanishad

The Itihāsas

R—The Rāmāyana

M—The Mahābhārata

BG—The Bhagavad-Gita (also spelled ‘Geetā’)

The Purānas

VPu—The Vishnu Purāna

SPu—The Shiva Purāna

NPu—The Narada Purana

Others

CH—The Chānakya Neeti

MS—The Manusmriti

HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES:

A SYNOPSIS

INTRODUCTION: THE WORDS ‘HINDU’ AND ‘HINDUISM’

The word Hindu, and therefore Hinduism, is of foreign origin. The Persians pronounced ‘S’ as ‘H’ and called the people living on the East of the Sindhu River ‘Hindu.’ The word has been adopted worldover, India inclusive, to refer to the original inhabitants of ‘India,’ the land itself being named in reference to the ‘Indus’ River—an Englishized version of the original name (the Sindhu River.) At present, the words ‘Hindu’ and ‘Hinduism’ are used to refer to the sole original inhabitants of the country of ‘Bhāratvarsha,’ the original name of the land bounded and guarded by the Himalayas in the north, the Indian Ocean (the Hind or Indu Mahāsagara) in the south, the Arabian Sea in the west, and the Bay of Bengal in the east. The Hindus call this land as the ‘Bhāratamātā’ (Mother India) and sing its glory as a part of Hindu prayers, since the history of ancient India is, by and large, the early history of Hinduism, originally called the Sanātana Dharma (literally meaning: the Eternal Dharma of man.)

Sanātan Dharma.

Prior to the invasion and division of the country by Islamic conquerors and British imperialists, Bhāratvarsha encompassed what is now Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh; and her religious, cultural, and political influence extended to the present-day Maynamar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, and many other countries. Existence of Sanskritized or derivative names and Hindu temples in Java, Sumatra, Bali, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Cambodia, among other countries and places, speak volumes of such extensive influence of India in the past. Buddhism, which originated in India about 500 BCE, was adopted in China, Japan, Tibet, and much of South-East Asia, and is now becoming quite popular in the West, especially among intelltual circles, as well. In general, religions of Indian origin, particularly Hinduism and Buddhism, have been a source of inspiration for much of the world throughout the history of the world.

Sanātana Dharma

The original name for Hinduism is the ‘Sanātana Dharma.’ ‘Sanātana’ literally means something that exists beyond time, without a beginning and without an end. ‘Dharma,’ literally meaning something that sustains, is often loosely translated as ‘religion;’ but its