10. Bible Preaches Atrocious Intolerance, Vedas Preach Fraternity
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BIBLE PREACHES ATROCIOUS INTOLERANCE, VEDAS PREACH FRATERNITY
1. BIIBLE PREACHES ATROCIOUS INTOLERANCE
(i) Kill your own brother and son, if they entice you to serve other gods
Holy Bible ordains : ‘Kill your own brother, son, daughter, wife, if they entice you to serve other gods’. Here are five Biblical verses in this connection :
125. ‘6. If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;’
- Deuteronomy, 13/6
126. ‘7. Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;’
- Deuteronomy, 13/7
127. ‘8. Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him;’
- Deuteronomy, 13/8
128. ‘9. But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.’
- Deuteronomy, 13/9
129. ‘10. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he bath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.’
- Deuteronomy, 13/10
The above verses indicate categorically that Holy Bible does. not allow freedom of thought as well as freedom of worship. It is a matter of agony and amazement that Holy Bible ordains a father to kill his own daughter, son, wife for a difference of religion !
H.G. Wells, the renowned English novelist, who was father of modern science fiction, opines candidly :
_’You can no more trust a devout Catholic in your household and in your confidence than you can risk frankness or association with a Nazi spy.’_82
- H.G. Wells
Thomas Paine, the great thinker and religio-political reformer of America, opines :
_’Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is none more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory in itself, than this thing called Christianity.’_83
- Thomas Paine
Roman emperor Constantine, a man who had his own son executed and his wife boiled alive,84 saw in Christianity a pragmatic means of bolstering his own military power and uniting the vast and troubled Roman Empire.85
One cannot restrain oneself from shuddering at the wickedness of the man who commits atrocity and ascribes it to the command of God ! Is it not sheer blasphemy to tarnish the holy name of God by unholy deeds ? Thomas Paine corroborates the point
_’People in general know not what wickedness there is in this pretended work of God.... it is a book of lies, wickedness, and blasphemy,. for what can be greater blasphemy than to ascribe the wickedness of man to the orders of the Almighty ?’_86
- Thomas Paine
(ii) Kill all non-believers of your town
Holy Bible says : ‘If any man or woman in your town serves and worships other gods, like the sun, the moon etc. which God has not commanded, kill them with stone’. Here is the Biblical text consisting of four verses :
130. ‘2. If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that bath wrought wickedness in. the sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing his covenant,’
- Deuteronomy, 17/2
131. ‘3. And bath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;’
- Deuteronomy, 17/3
132. ‘4. And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel;’
- Deuteronomy, 17/4
133. ‘5. Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.’
- Deuteronomy, 17/5
St. Bernard of Clairvaux had declared in launching the Second Crusade :
_’The Christian glories in the death of a pagan, because thereby Christ himself is glorified.’_87
- St. Bernard
(iii) Slaughter of infants and ripping of pregnant women
Holy Bible states in ‘Hosea’ that infants of Samaria shall be dashed into pieces, and pregnant women shall be ripped up.
134. ‘16. Samaria shall become desolate; for she bath rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.’
- Hosea, 13/16
(iv) Killing infants by stoning
Should the infants be dashed against stones, even if they are born of enemies ? Not at all. But Holy Bible makes mention of it in the following verse :
135. ‘9. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.’
- Psalms, 137/9
Note : Here ‘thy’ stands for daughter of Babylon.
(v) Peaceful citizens of Laish massacred
Holy Bible narrates that the descendants of Dan assaulted Laish, massacred its peaceful citizens and burnt the city :
136. ‘27. And they (children of Dan) took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire.’
-Judges, 18/27
(vi) Kill each being that breathes
Holy Bible ordains the followers not to save alive any one in the cities conquered by them. Each one that breathes must be slaughtered. Here is the text :
137. ‘16. But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth;’
- Deuteronomy, 20/16
2. VEDAS PREACH FRATERNITY
Holy Vedas preach fraternity and equality of all men of the earth. When Nature treats all equally, why should men discriminate and quarrel with one another ?
Oxygen and Hydrogen combined in proper proportions will surely produce water, whether the person who combines Oxygen and Hydrogen, is Hindu or Muslim or Christian. When a person feels hungry, is it Hindu hunger or Muslim hunger or Christian hunger ? It is human hunger. You have to put forth efforts to satisfy the hunger. When a person is slain in communal riot, his blood spills on the ground, can you identify the blood as Hindu blood or Muslim blood or Christian blood ? It is human blood. When an orphan sheds tears at the loss of his parents in communal riots, can you label the tears as Hindu tears or Muslim tears or Christian tears ? These are tears of a human child.
The sun illuminates all places whether it is cottage or castle, whether it is a Hindu residence or a Muslim residence or a Christian residence. The rose gives equal fragrance to all, Hindu as well as Muslim, Christian as well as Jew. If Nature imparts equal treatment to all, why does man discriminate ? William Wordsworth, the famous poet of English literature, expresses the same view when he laments :
‘If this belief from heaven be sent
If such be nature’s holy plan
Have I no reason to lament
What man has made of man?’
- Wordsworth
If birds flock together, ants crawl together, sheep move together, cows graze together, why can’t human beings live together ?
The Creator of the Cosmos has created the lovely earth with fascinating phenomena of nature and beautiful boons for enjoyment of mankind. But instead of enjoying life in toto on this alluring earth, men have created chaos, conflicts, controversies and calamities on the petty pretext of different modes of worship. They do not know what worship means. Worship does not consist of rites and rituals, nor of uttering and muttering of prescribed religious syllables only. According to Hindu philosophy, worship signifies love - love for not only human beings but also birds and beasts. Samuel Coleridge expresses the same idea in his poem, ‘Ancient Mariner’ :
‘He prayeth well, who loveth well,
Both man and bird and beast,
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
- Samuel Coleridge
Vedas emphasise that souls of all men, birds, beasts and insects have the same Divine lustre. None is devoid of Celestial grace, grandeur and glory. All beings originate from the Supreme Being who is the Father of all His children. If it is so, why to despise one another ? Providence permeates all beings, whether high or low, pauper or prince, sinner or saint
sa#Aaota: pa
aotaEca ivaBaU: pajaasau |
a yajauva-od 32o8‘He, the All-pervasive
Pervades all beings
Within and without.’
- Yajur Veda 32/8
He wo comprehends the afore-mentioned golden doctrine of omnipresence of Almighty, and realises glimpse of God in all beings of the earth, never hates any creature. He whose eyes look at all persons as equal brothers having same Celestial spark, which he feels in his own self, is free from malice, hatred and fanaticism. The following mantra of Yajur Veda illustrates the idea :
yastau savaa-iNa BaUtaanyaatmaÙaovaanaupaSyaita |
sava-BaUtaoYau caatmanaM tataao na iva icaikxtsaita ||
a yajauva-od 40o6‘He who sees all beings
In his own self
And finds the reflection
Of his own self in all beings
Never looks down upon any body.’
- Yajur Veda 40/6
Thus, Hindu Philosophy (Vedic Philosophy) hinges on equality and fraternity. It is based on universal brotherhood - brotherhood of not Hindus only but all human beings of the earth, because all hearts are the abodes of Almighty
[-Evar sava-BaUtaanaa =oSao#jau-na itaYzita |
a gaItaa 18o61_‘O Arjuna
Supreme Being dwells
In the hearts of all creatures.’
- Gita 18/61
Prof. Heeren, the renowned Western scholar, writes :
‘The Vedas stand alone in their solitary splendour serving as beacon of divine light for the onward march of humanity.’
- Prof. Heeren
Lord Morley admits unambiguously :
‘What is found in Vedas, exists nowhere else.’
- Lord Morley
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‘Solution of world’s problems lies in Hinduism and not in socialism.’
- Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya
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Footnotes: 82 Peter Kemp : ‘H.G. Wells and the Culminating Ape’, London, 1996. p. 156
83 Thomas Paine : ‘The Age of Reason’, published by Watts and Co., London, 1796, p. 87
84 (i) Riane Eisler : ‘The Chalice and the Blade’, Harper and Row, San Francisco, 1987, p. 131
(ii) Helen Ellerbe : ‘The Dark Side of Christian History’, U.S.A., August, 1998, p. 17
85 Ibid
86 Thomas Paine : ‘The Age of Reason’, published by Watts and Co., London, 1796, pp. 42-43
87 James A. Haught : ‘Holy Horrors’, published by Prometheus Books, New York, 1990, p. 26