Most of the time, in a class on comparative religion, I am inundated with questions on Buddhism. Those questions are like what the significance of chanting is, what the wheel signifies, how mindfulness relates to one’s relationship with God, and so on. A few questions asked on Hindu Dharma are mostly about symbols like Om and swastika, festivals, or about having a million Gods. There is a deeper sense of knowing about Buddhism than other faiths because of the way it has been presented to curious minds. It encourages one to explore more and find one’s peace.

On one hand, where Abrahamic religions emphasize simplifying the messages of their scriptures and engaging individuals through intellectual and heartful listening to the holy words, on the other hand, Buddhism caters to one’s need to connect with one’s own heart and mind on an experiential level. Hindu dharma, being older and richer has much more to offer to the contemporary world but somehow the appealing factor is more external than internal.

In the recent past, I came across some Hindu ‘apologetics’ who want to defend Dharma as ‘not mythological’ but ‘historical, with evidence’! Before we move on, let us understand what this ‘apologetics' position entails, well-known in Christianity. It is a group of theologians who believe in defending the ideas mentioned in the Bible to justify its propositions in scientific, philosophical, or historical contexts. In other words, apologetics, a branch of theology, is the intellectual defense of the truth of the Christian religion. It helps in their ‘missionary’ work to simplify and explain the ‘word of God’ in a more convincing way to the commoners.

It is well known that Hindu dharma does not believe in proselytizing. However, when we explain Hindu ideas to non-Indians and non-Hindus, we focus more on the vast corpus of knowledge available in our Vedas, and we do not tire of explaining what Hindu symbols mean and how advanced our knowledge of Mathematics and other streams of science is. Nowadays, several enthusiastic Hindus are talking about the accuracy of the vast corpus of knowledge of Vedas and other Hindu scriptures, and how ‘Ramayan’ and ‘Mahabharat’ are not merely mythological but are part of history. The effort is more to show the world how intellectually rich our heritage and culture are; how we are different from other faiths just because we have this ‘storage of knowledge’. In other words, we are trying hard to insist that the Hindu religion should be seen in its historicity like any other Abrahamic religion.

This idea of Hindu history is not contested at all. Yet, it is not all-encompassing. We have to understand that Hindu Dharma is not only about repeating those truths mentioned in our scriptures or only about glorifying history. It is predominantly experiential, therefore a way of life and an individual journey. We need to begin highlighting the practical aspect of Dharma, and not get into its historicity and struggle to provide evidence to be equated with Abrahamic religions at some point.

The element of being Sanatan suffices to understand Hindu dharma in the light of what is permanently relevant for humanity to date. It is the potential of the soul and its tendency to be revealed time and again whenever a true practitioner seeks to know the truth of divinity. A well-known phrase from Bhagwad Geeta, Chapter 4, verse 8 ‘Sambhawami Yuge Yuge’ echoes the possibility. 

paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśhāya cha duṣhkṛitām
dharma-sansthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge//8//

The essence of this shloka is that in every age there is a possibility to enlighten one’s atma by yogic acts like meditation and there is an immense possibility for each soul to find its divinity; the precondition is only one, deep desire and angst to find the truth. 

This is an appeal to all Hindu apologetics to begin highlighting and practicing Hindu ways of living and not merely repeating the jewels of knowledge as shared in our scriptures and to delve into its historicity. The essence of Hindu dharma is much more than its historical aspect. It is a living religion that can guide any seeker of truth, in all ages, and at all times. 

Today, Buddhism, which mostly, elaborates on the practical aspects of Hindu concepts, has been able to spread in all parts of the world because it only talks about what one can know in one’s experience and how one can seek guidance from what is said in the mystical language of ancestors. Why does Buddhism so easily segue into a common person’s mind? It is only because maha vakyas like ‘aham Brahmasmi’ or ‘tatva twam asi’ have been explained as a simple game of mindfulness.

As long as Hindu apologetics do not have a clear understanding of the real messages of Vedas, their efforts to prove the significance of Hindu faith to the world will be a less impactful effort that will not incur any far-reaching impressions. If we only talk about the historical evidence to prove the veritability and veracity of our dharma, then it is more like just telling the world what other faiths are doing ‘Thou shalt do this and not do that’ based on the words mentioned in their holy books. 

We have to focus more on understanding the Dharma and its insightful messages on a different tangent- the realization, not mere words. There is much more to mere memorization and recitation of the slokas of Bhagavad Gita. Hindu concepts that have been developed merely on an intellectual level must find confirmation on the experiential level to make it more appealing to the world. 

Image source: Indica Today