Similarities and Differences in the Foundations of Hinduism and Judaism - Essay Example

Your Your Similarities and Differences in the Foundations of Hinduism and Judaism There are many definitions of the word religion, but one that tends to fit across the vast spectrum of cosmologies around the world is the one that refers to the human responses to experience. In ancient Egypt, the central god was Ra, or the sun god, because the very presence of light was so crucial to an agricultural, superstitious society. The gods of the Nile River were also high in the Egyptian pantheon, because the ebb and flow of the Nile was the lifeblood of Egyptian farming. Like the Egyptian religion, Hinduism and Judaism go back just about as far as recorded time, although they originated a good distance from each other, particularly in an era when the fastest mode of transportation was often on foot. There are interesting similarities and differences in their foundational teachings that show some of the elements that unite people, and some of the ways in which cultural context informs religious development. Hinduism traces its roots back to approximately 2500 B.C. It was not a religion that began with one particular historical event, but was rather a gradual development of beliefs by peoples in the Indus Valley (Zaehner, pg. 15). Its sacred literature has two categories: sruti and smriti. The sruti were heard, or divinely revealed, and include the Vedas (the most ancient Hindu scriptures), the Upanishads, the Brahmanas, and the Aranyakas. The Vedas contain the creation account, regulations for sacrifices, and prayers. According to Hindu tradition, these texts were secretly taught by a prophet to a disciple (David S. Noss, 55). The smriti are texts that were remembered or passed down orally. The difference is that these were written by humans rather than by the gods. The smriti consist of the epics, the Sutras and the Puranas. The epics are long poems about events in the lives of heroic warriors. The Sutras relate to such ideas as dharma, yoga, and Vedanta. The most significant of these was the Laws of Manu, or the Manusmriti, which concerned proper law and conduct for Hindus. The Puranas are mythological writings, containing the stories of the gods and goddesses (Knott, pg. 24-25). The Indus Valley civilization cohered around two cities, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. Between 2500 and 2000 B.C., the nomadic Indo-Aryans began to migrate into this area, just as the Indus Valley peoples began to disappear. The Vedas were the scriptures of the Indo-Aryans and are most commonly acknowledged as the basis for Hinduism, and they are also said to be Hinduism's supreme authority (Morgan, pg. 32). The Vedic conception of rita, or cosmic order, later served as the basis for the ideas of dharma and karma. The gods served as guardians of this idea of rita and had to be propitiated regularly by sacrifice. (Morgan, pg. 33). And so with the idea of sacrifice came a collection of regulations and technicalities for the sacrifice process (Kinsley, pg. 92). During this time, the priesthood came to assume a good amount of power in society. Such new doctrines as the four stages of life, the idea of transmigration, and the origins of the caste system (Morgan, pg. 48). While in its foundational stages, Hinduism had claimed that the soul could die, either on Earth or even in heaven, but this change had the soul being reborn in an endless cycle, seeking release, or moksha from this unending existence. Despite the fact that Judaism started far from Hinduism, there are many striking similarities to complement the differences between the two faiths. According to such sources as the Tanakh and the Talmud, the Jewish faith is based on a covenant between God and Abraham, established approximately in 2000 B.C., and renewed between God and Moses around 1200 B.C. Unlike Hinduism, Judaism is monotheistic (Huns Kung, pg. 88). Like Hinduism, Judaism relies on its texts and traditions to provide its central authority. Like the Vedas, the Torah underwent a brief period of development and evolution as its society grew sufficiently to support a priestly class, adding specifics of the sacrifice process to the initial laws passed down by divine revelation (Momigliani, pg. 12). However, Judaism did not undergo a shift nearly as fundamental as the change in Hindu thought concerning the afterlife. While there are a number of varieties of practice in Judaism, all of the branches hold in common the idea of one God, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good, and transcendent. According to Jewish belief, God created the universe and continues to govern it. As far as particular scriptures go, the Torah contains the laws and commandments from God to the Jewish people. Commentaries on those laws, in particular interpretations about how the laws should be carried out in everyday life, are found in the Talmud. So one could compare the Torah to the Hindu sruti and the Talmud to the Hindu smriti. Both Judaism and Hinduism began with a culture of sacrifice as a method of propitiating their respective deities, a reflection of the primal view that death was the ultimate price to pay, and that the death of an animal, or some other substitute, could be a vicarious escape from the ultimate consequences of transgression. This was a fairly common rite throughout ancient religions. The ancient Greeks also had fairly complicated regulations for sacrificing various animals (and even virgins) to their gods, and so did the Egyptians. Both religions developed in a time when the conditions of life were often harsh and brutal. A great percentage of one's time was spent in staving off starvation, or worrying about attacks from neighboring tribes, and so people relied heavily on their religious beliefs to provide emotional and physical sustenance. As their societies grew, both developed the ability to sustain a priestly class, which soon acted to cement its power. The differences came in the incentives for ethical behavior. In Judaism, being righteous was a way to avoid divine wrath; in Hinduism, being righteous could elevate one through society, through transmigration. And so social mobility became one of the dominant differences between these two faiths. The ways in which cultural differences so profoundly inform religious development continue to be fascinating, even millennia later. Works Cited David S. Noss. A History of the Worl'd religions. 11th Ed. Prentice Hall Upper Saddle River. Kinsley, David R. Hinduism: a cultural perspective. New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1993. Knott, Kim. Hinduism, a very short introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Hans Kung. Christianity and World Religions: Paths of Dialogue With Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism (Paperback). Orbis Books; Rep Sub edition (May 1993). Momigliani, Armando. Essays on Ancient and Modern Judaism. Trans. Maura Masella-Gayley. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. Morgan, Kenneth W. The Religion of the Hindus. New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1953. Zaehner, Richard C. Hinduism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966. Read More