Rebuttal to Ravi Zacharias

I came to know about the Christian Apologist and Evangelist, Ravi Zacharias when I read about the news of his recent death. Since his name was Ravi, I was curious and looked him up. It is claimed that he came from a family of high caste Hindu priests who converted to Christianity several generations ago.

On the concept of Exclusivity he said and I quote:

“Hinduism, for example, is often represented as being the most tolerant and accepting of other faiths. That is just not true. All Hindus believe in two fundamental, uncompromising doctrines — the Law of Karma, and the belief in reincarnation. These will not be surrendered. In fact, Buddhism was born out of the rejection of two other very dogmatic claims of Hinduism. Buddha rejected the authority of the vedas and the caste system of Hinduism. The issue here is not who was right or wrong. The truth is that they were systemically different — both claiming rightness.”

Here is my response to his claims:

Hindu dharma does not claim rightness. It claims that many different ways are right. It claims this not because it is written in a book or told by someone. It claims so because many many many people (scientists) who have studied and looked into the nature of reality without mental conceptual filters, have arrived at the same conclusion. Hindu Dharma does not tell you to believe it. Instead, it suggests to you that, you too can know this fact if you only look into it with sincerity and an open mind. It does not dismiss Jesus and his teachings but rather claims that if indeed Jesus was enlightened, he could not have claimed that there is only one valid way. So some Hindus conclude that perhaps Jesus’s teachings have been interpreted literally or perhaps have been misunderstood or misinterpreted to suit selfish agendas.

Ravi thought that to be a Hindu one MUST believe in Karma and Reincarnation. These kinds of misconceptions happen when people raised in limiting religions use their religious lens to understand something outside their conceptual framework. There is no authority in Hinduism that says you must believe in xyz to be a Hindu, or that you must not believe in xyz, in order to be a Hindu. There is no practice/ceremony that makes one into a Hindu by rejection or discarding of other beliefs(none that I am aware of). There are Nastika Hindu traditions that claim that there is no god. Buddhism is a nastika Hindu tradition. Buddha and Guru Nanak both attained enlightenment following a quintessential Hindu way of life. So his claim that Buddhism was born out of rejection of Hindu “dogma” is again mapping Christian limited thinking to Dharma. There is nothing to reject in Hinduism except perhaps the exclusive Idea that there is only one right way. And the reason for that is that rejection leads to separation and we can all see that there is nothing separate in this world- everything is connected to everything. In fact, Hinduism did not reject Ravi Z’s family, his family rejected Hinduism.

Once again, Hinduism is a blend of many many practices and concepts that were and are analyzed to be life promoting and life sustaining. They are best practices. They are suggestions for living a healthy life. They are not orders that dictate to people you must do this, you must do that or else you will go to hell.

Ravi also claimed that truth by its very nature is exclusive. I see where he is coming from.

Here is my personal observation about truth:

When I observe and contemplate upon nature, I can see that:

*Nature is not exclusive. It rejects nothing. It is all encompassing. All inclusive

*The truth about nature is that nature is constantly changing- creating, maintaining and transforming. Nature changes with time and place (it is contextual). Yet there is something in me that is able to observe and perceive the change-so there is an aspect of nature that remains the same from where changes are understood and perceived.

*Nature is contradictory. It is made up of contradictory values- tall/short, big/small, day/night.

*Nature is relative-Qualities exists on an infinite spectrum- for example- within in the color white there are infinite possibilities- light white, dark white, yellowish white, greenish white, bluish white, light-bluish-greenish-white and so on.

*Nature is spherical- our world is round, water droplets are round, seasons are circular, orbits are circular, scientists imagine the shape of the universe as spherical too. To reach any one point on earth, I can take any path- some may be long, some may be short, some may be smooth, some may be bumpy but it is possible to reach any one point following infinite possible ways.

So as I meditate, introspect, contemplate and align myself with higher levels of awareness, I am able to come to the understanding that what IS (truth) is inclusive (nothing is rejected), it is contradictory and it is spherical.

I am able to validate for myself what the ancient Rishis of India cognized many thousands of years ago. These Rishis did not say that I must believe in what they say inorder to be a Hindu. These Rishis infact did not use the word Hindu. They were mind and body scientists who SHARED with the world what they cognized themselves to be true. They said, you too can know this for yourself if you desire to know and understand what IS.