WHY THE VEDIC RELIGION WILL BE THE FUTURE RELIGION OF THE WORLD.

 WHY THE VEDIC RELIGION WILL BE THE FUTURE RELIGION OF THE WORLD.

(By Dr. Biswa Nath Mukerjee, L.M.S.)

Published in Vedic Magazine May 1918

Superiority of Vedic literature. 

In his world-renowned book, "India, what can it each us" Prof. Max Muller has written: "I maintain that every body who cares for himself, for his ancestors, for his history, or for his intellectual development, a study of Vedic Literature is indispensable." The value of this piece of sound advice from one who was not born in the birth place of the Vedas and who consecrated his whole life to their deep study cannot go unappreciated. A living authority, a profound scholar of the western as well as the eastern theology, religion and philosophy, a westerner who has studied the Vedas at first hand, Dr. Shepard says, "India is the home of the oldest monotheism recorded in the history of religions." Prof. William Ward in his 'The Religion of the Hindus' writes, "The Almighty, Infinite, Eternal, Incomprehensible, Self-existent Being; he who sees everything, though never seen, he who is not to be compassed by description, and who is beyond the limits of human conception, he from whom the world proceeds; who is the lord of the universe and whose work is the universe; he who is light of all lights, whose name is too sacred to be pronounced, and whose power is too infinite to be imagined, is Brahma, the one unknown true being, the creator, the preserver, and destroyer of the universe. Under such and innumerable other definitions is the Deity acknowledged in the Vedas or the sacred writings of the Hindus." The great German scholar, Frederick Schlegel in his "Wisdom of the Ancient India" writes, "It cannot be denied that the early Indians possessed a knowledge of the true God. All their writings are replete with sentiments and expressions, noble, clear, severely grand, as deeply conceived as in any human language in which men have spoken of their God." In Mill's British India there is a passage..."the belief is pressed upon us that, in the earliest times, Brahmanical philosophy held as its grand idea the absolute unity of the Supreme God and that their religious ritual correspond therewith. Idolatry is an altogether after-growth, springing from minds incapable of entertaining the elevated abstract notions of the primitive creed. The declension explains itself. The obscuration and weakening of the idea of the divine unity were indicated first by the impersonation of the several discoveries made of the Supreme Being in these operations and effects. These impersonations were not so many distinct and independent deities, but representatives of one and the great Deity contemplated under particular aspects." A great French scholar and student of Oriental philosophy and science Dubois in his book "India" says "God, to use the words of the philosophers of India, is an Immaterial Being, pure and unmixed, without qualities, form or division; the Lord and Master of all things. He extends over all; without beginning and without end. Power, strength and gladness dwell. with him." Again Prof. Max Muller says, "In the Riga Veda one verse occurs which boldly declares the existence of but one Divine Being though invoked under different names. They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni; the wise call it many ways; they call it Agni, Yama, Matarisvan." "These truly sublime ideas cannot fail to convince us" writes Count M. Bjornstjerna, a vastly learned Russian scholar of the Vedas, "that the Vedas recognize one only god who is Almighty, Infinite, Eternal, Self Existent, the Light and the Lord of the Universe." The very fact that so many Vedic scholars of the different parts of Europe have independently expressed a unanimous opinion about the monotheism of the Vedas is a very happy sign of the times and augurs well for the lovers of the Vedic religion. It further shows that the Vedic literature and religion are gaining ground in Europe and manufacturing their own devotees and admirers.

As it has been conclusively proved by such great men as Sir William Jones, prof. Max Muller and others that the Vedas are the oldest books in the library of man-kind, that the Sanskrit is the most ancient and perfect language in the world and that Zoroastrianism from which Judaism and Christianity have manifestly sprung is an outcome of the Vedic civilization and was spread from India to Persia, there cannot be the least doubt that the fountainhead of monotheism is the Vedas and all ideas and notions of One Supreme God first originated with the Hindus.

Monotheism, the theistic ideal of the future world.

 It can clearly be demonstrated that monotheism is gradually getting the better of all other theisms of the world. Though strictly speaking there is no monotheistic religion but the Vedic religion, even Christianity, which on the very face of it is triunism claims to be so. But it can be shown that Judaism, Islam, and Zoroastrianism which are more of dualistic than monotheistic nature cannot claim the higher monotheism of the Vedas. There is little doubt that it was with this purpose in view that Max Muller as well as other philosophers and admirers of the Vedas in the west enjoined upon their countrymen the study of the Vedas. Their advice has now borne fruit and the number of the admirers, lovers and followers of the Vedic religion, though still a drop in the vast ocean of western population is rapidly on the increase. Two apparently monotheistic religions-Judaism and Zoroastrianism - are just lying on their funeral pyre. They have been destroyed root and branch by the followers and the Prophet of Islam. The whole extent of land which was at first peopled by the Jews and Zoroastrians is now inhabited by the Musalmans. You will only find an infinitesimal drop of these Jewish people sprinkled here and there on the continent of Europe. Persia is no longer the home of the Parsees, only a small number of the followers of Zoroaster you will meet within Bombay. If you also examine the theistic constitution of Mahomedanism you cannot deny that Mahomed borrowed almost sixteen annas of his religion from the above named two religions. And he was so brilliantly successful in forcing the weight of his preaching's, that the Jews of ancient Egypt, Assyria and Armenia and Zoroastrians of ancient Persia gave way without the least resistance. It cannot be denied that monotheism which has been always the highest and the noblest phase of a religion was then drifting into something like idolatry among the Jews and Zoroastrians and so it proved no difficulty with Mahomed to beguile them into his own belief by placing before them the best essentials of the religion of their own. It was in this way that Islam once became the dominating factor in the religion and politics of the whole of Europe and Asia proper. But while gradually Islam was effaced from China, Japan, India and parts of the European continent with single exception of Turkey, its force and influence became permanent in Egypt, Persia and Arabia and struck a fatal blow at the root of ancient Zoroastrianism and Judaism.

Some causes of Islamic success.

There are reasons why Islam could not have an established fame in some parts of the world and why it could have in others. Lord 

Woodhouselee in his ‘Universal History' Vol. IV, page 97 writes, "The rapid success which attended the propagation of the religion of Mahomet may be accounted for from a few natural and simple causes. The first of these was certainly that signal favor which attended his arms, and, as we shall immediately see, those of his successors. The martial spirit, when inflamed by the enthusiasm of religion, is irresistible; and while repeated victories persuaded many, of a divine interposition in favor of the prophet and his law, the terror of his arms inclined others submissively to receive that religion which was propagated by the sword. Neither was it surprising that a religion which adapted itself so entirely to the passions of men should find a number of willing votaries among the 

Juxrious? nations of the East. The gross ignorance, too, any of those nations might readily have rendered them the dupes of a less artful system of imposture than the fable of Mahomet; and to add to all, it must be owned with regret that the shameful animosities and dissensions which prevailed among the different sects of the Christian Churrch had too much contributed to bring the true religion disesteem' and contempt."

So, we see there were a number of causes that contributed a great deal to the rise of Islam and the contemporaneous downfall of paganism in Arabia and Egypt; Judism in Syria, Babylonia, Egypt and some parts of Europe; Zoroastrianism in Persia, and Christianity almost over the continent of Europe, and Buddhism and Hinduism in Asia. And those causes were (1) the martial---- ?of the followers of Mahommed, (2) their extraordinary religious zeal, (3) the degeneration of the followers of Zoroaster, Moses and Christ, Confucius, shinto and Buddha last of all a proverbial ignorance that had taken hold of their minds regarding the true natures of the Deity. If Islam became the permanent factor in the religious lives of the Persians, Arabians and Egyptians, it was because their cruel and merciless habits supported a good deal to the principle of cruelty with which the religion of Mahomed was spread throughout the whole world and not its highly monotheistic nature. Moreover Judaism and Zoroastrianism which were the principal religions of these countries at that time were not in the least condemned or altered but their main doctrines were taken in and adopted by Mahomed himself. So we read in "Tytter's Universal History" that "in many places, when the majesty and attributes of God are described, the style is most sublime and magnificent, and nearly resembles that of the sacred scriptures from which, indeed, it is quite obvious that the composer of the Koran drew many of its most shining ornaments." Another cause of Islam getting a firm foot hold in the above countries was that they were successively run over and conquered by Mahomed and his distinguished followers or successors Abubeker, Omar, Ali and others.

The defects of Islamic monotheism.

But when the question comes as to how Mahomed won the hearts of pagans and idol worshippers of Arabia and the neighboring countries then we must concur with the opinion of an ancient historian and say, "The ceremonies of circumcision, ablution, and the pilgrimage to Mecca, he recommended as exterior and visible signs, by which God desired that man should signify his belief of the more speculative tenets of his religion. These laws he pretended to have received from God Almighty, by the hands of the Gabriel-who presented him, from time to time, with parcels of that book, or Koran, in which they were contained. The fundamental doctrines of the Koran are such as have been enumerated. They are, it is true, intermixed with a variety of absurdities-errors in history, chronology, and philosophy; but these the countrymen of Mahomet, in his time, may well be supposed to have overlooked; and the learned Mussulman, at his day, will probably consider them as corruptions and interpolations of the original text." But it can be very convincingly proved that these external ceremonies Mahomed took from pagan inhabitants of ancient Arabia and thereby completely marred the monotheism of his own religion. For Lord Woodhouselee a student of history of the last century says, "They (pagan inhabitants) had a confused tradition, that they were descended from the Patriarch Abraham; and they retained, of the Jewish religion, the ceremony of circumcision, ablutions, and the horror for certain meats, which they regarded as unclean. With these rites, they combined the worship of idols, and the belief of three goddesses of equal power and wisdom, and co-existent with the Supreme Being. The city of Mecca was the residence of the chief  of these idols. A small square edifice, or temple, called the Kaaba, was held throughout all Arabia to be a place of the supreme sanctity. Within this temple was a stone, which was the peculiar object of veneration and was said to have descended from Heaven, in those days of innocence when man was free from guilt as he came from the hands creator. The stone was then white, but gradually became sullied, as man became more wicked, till at last  it grew entirely black. From the pilgrimages which it was customary to make to this temple, and the riches it brought it thither, Mecca became the most considerable city of Arabia." So it is clear that the greatness of Mecca was due to the rise of a prophet like Mahommed, rather it was wholly due to the ancient pagans, whose faith in the black stone, pilgrimage and Kaaba had grown so strong that the prophet considered it inexpedient to disturb the belief." It is one of main causes of Mahomedanism being a grand success among the original inhabitants of Arabia. But in spite of all this success the above absurdities became the characteristic features of Islam and polluted it with tinges of idolatory. For, it is a known fact that still to-day Mahomedans who undertake pilgrimage to Mecca kiss this black stone as a traditional belief on reaching the temple. If there is any Mahomedan gentlemen who may deny the charge of worshipping the black stone in the sense the orthodox Hindus worship idols, he cannot gainsay that in doing this he bends his head before this thing like an idol with some mingled feelings of awe and veneration and this is sufficient to dethrone him from the sacred belief of monotheism or the true idea of oneness of the Almighty Father.

Why Islam cannot be the future religion of the World