Strive then with heart and soul to distinguish yourselves by your deeds.  In this wise We counsel you in this holy and resplendent tablet. (ibid. Persian, no. 76.) Back to Top

b. Jnana (the path of enlightenment)

Some of the most important schools of Hinduism have taught that one can know Reality directly through Jnana, enlightenment.  Various approaches to Jnana are advocated in the Hindu books.

The different schools of Yoga believe that it is possible to attain to Jnana through systems of meditation and exercises.  The philosophical basis of this approach has been formulated by teachers such as Shankara.

Many Hindu scholars have written on this subject.  They state that it is man's task to overcome maya, the illusion that the physical world is real, and to see Absolute Reality beyond this.  And so it is avidaya (ignorance) that keeps man back from liberation.

Baha'u'llah also writes of the need to strive to see through the illusion and unreality that surround us in the world:

We cherish the hope that through the loving-kindness of the All-Wise, the All-Knowing, obscuring dust may be dispelled and the power of perception enhanced, that the people may discover the purpose for which they have been called into being.

In this Day whatsoever serveth to reduce blindness and to increase vision is worthy of consideration.   This vision acteth as the agent and guide for true knowledge

  Indeed in the estimation of men of wisdom keenness of understanding is due to keenness of vision. (Baha'u'llah, Tablets, p. 35.)

'Abdu'l-Baha has also written of the illusory nature of this physical world.  He likens it to a mirage in a desert:

Know ye that the world is even as a mirage rising over the sands, that the thirsty mistaketh for water.  The wine of this world is but a vapour in the desert, its pity and compassion but toil and trouble, the repose it proffereth only weariness and sorrow.

Abandon it to those who belong to it, and turn your faces unto the Kingdom of your Lord the All-Merciful, that His grace and bounty may cast their dawning splendors over you ... ('Abdu'l-baha, Selections, p. 186.) Back to Top

c. Bhakti (the path of love and worship)

This path is one followed by the majority of Hindus.  It is the path of love and devoted worship of the Deity.  Among the means used are prayer, meditation, rituals and constants awareness of God.  This total surrender to God will attract God's grace and love, which in turn will lead to liberation.

Baha'u'llah also teaches the importance of this path:

O Son of Being!

Love me, that I may love thee.  If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee.  Know this, O servant.

O Son of Man!

If thou lovest Me, turn away form thyself; and if thou seekest My pleasure, regard no thine own; that thou mayest die in Me and I may eternally live in thee.

O Son of Being!

My love is My stronghold; he that entereth therein is safe and secure, and he that turneth away shall surely stray and perish. (Baha'u'llah, hidden Words, Arabic, nos. 5, 7 and 9.) Back to Top

The Path to Moksha

Each school of Hinduism has given a different emphasis to these various paths to Moksha.

But the many schools in Hinduism can be divided into two main groups:  those who follow the Vedanta which stresses the path of Jnana or wisdom; and the Bhakti cults, whether they be followers of Vishnu or Shiva, which have stressed the path of love and devotion.

Baha'u'llah teaches, however, that the best path to Moksha is to combine these two paths of love and knowledge.  Indeed the very purpose of man's live in this world is stated to be both to know God and to worship Him.

These two paths of love and knowledge word together.  Each way is able to strengthen and reinforce the other.   Love leads one to want to know more about the object of one's love and the more that this knowledge grows, the greater becomes the love for the loved one. 

God is both the source and the object of all true knowledge and love.

Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone beside Me?  Out of the clay of love I moulded thee, how dost thou busy thyself with another?

  Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting. (Baha'u'llah, Hidden Words, Arabic, no. 13)

Baha'u'llah teaches that the best path to Moksha is to live in the world, not apart from it.  What is more, it is achieved partly through man's efforts and partly by God's grace.

  If man will make the first move towards God then God will come to man's help.

O Son of love!

Thou art but one step away from the glorious heights above and from the celestial tree of love.  Take thou one pace and with the next advance into the immortal realm and enter the pavilion of eternity.

Give ear then to that which hath been revealed by the pen of glory. (ibid. Persian, no. 7.)Back to Top

The Goal of Liberation - What occurs after death?

In Hinduism, the ultimate goal for human beings is liberation (Moksha or mukti).   Different schools in Hinduism have given various descriptions to this state.   Those schools that tend towards the Advaita school of philosophy describe it as a non-dual union with Brahman.

The more theistic schools speak of a perpetual existence in relation to God.  Each of the theistic schools describes a particular form of eternal abode, heaven, in relation to its own deity - Vishnu or Shiva for example.

For sinners there is a hell.  This state of liberation can be achieved while still on earth.  In the Bhagavad Gita, for example, we read of the joy of this state:

One who has inner happiness and inner joy, and has found inner light - such a person (Yogi) has attained the Nirvana of Brahman;  he is one with the supreme and attains to the Supreme.

Those who reach the Nirvana of Brahman; their sins are no more; their doubts are dispelled; their soul is at peace; their pleasure is in the welfare of all.

Those who reach the Nirvana of Brahman; I the are free from desire and anger; they are self-controlled; they know their own soul. (Bhagavad Gita 5:24-6.)

The Baha'i teachings state that, since the existence after death has no similarity to this world, there are no adequate words to describe it

  Attempts have been made to describe it in all of the religions of the world.  Words such as heaven, paradise and hell have been used.  But these attempts fall far short of the reality.

They are trying to describe a truth that in the end cannot be adequately depicted.

The mysteries of man's physical death ... have not been divulged, and still remain unread.  By the righteousness of God! Were they to be revealed, they would evoke such fear and sorrow that some would perish, while others would be so filled with gladness as to wish for death ... (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings, CLXIV, p. 345.)

What the Baha'i teachings do assure us is that the person who has achieved a state of liberation (Moksha) attains to a state of joy and inner gladness.

This is a state of inner and outer harmony which goes on forever, even beyond death.  Death proffereth to every confident believer the cup that is life indeed.  It bestoweth joy, and is the bearer of gladness.  It conferreth the gift of everlasting life. (ibid.)

This is also what the above quotation from the Bhagavavad Gita shows.  This state is open to all and can be attained in ways as indicated in the section on The Path to Moksha above. Back to Top

Samsara - The cycle of rebirth

Most of those who follow Hinduism believe in the cycle of rebirth.  It is not a concept that is found in the earliest Hindu scriptures, the Vedas, but occurs in the later Upanishads.

There are more-over a number of  Hindu thinkers as Rammohan Roy and Debendranath Tagore as well as a number of modern Hindu movements, such as Brahmo Samaj and Prathana Samaj.

Those who have disagreed with the concept of rebirth have argued that there is no point in rebirth if one cannot remember one's former lives; there is no opportunity for the soul to build on its previous progress nor is the soul able to avoid its former mistakes.

And so it is hard to see how any progress can be make on the path to Moksha in the way.

Baha'u'llah teaches, however, that there is some element of truth in the concept of rebirth.  But it has been misunderstood by those who believe in a literal rebirth of the self-same individual. 

Baha'u'llah states that what has happened in mankind's spiritual history is that certain types of people have come to the world again and again.

The clearest examples are in the stories of the Avatars themselves.  Whenever an Avatar such as Rama or Krishna comes to the world, his coming sets off a cosmic cycle in which we can witness the return of certain types of persons.

For example, the coming of the Avatar will usually ignite the fires of envy and hatred in some who will attack and try to destroy the Avatar.  As Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita:

The foolish deride Me when I am clad in a human body; they know not My supreme nature, that I am the great Lord of all being. (Bhagavad Gita 9:11.)

Baha'u'llah has written at length about this theme in his work The Book of Certitude.   The following is a brief extract:

Consider the past.  How many, both high and low, have, at all times, yearningly awaited the advent of the Manifestations of God in the sanctified persons of His chosen Ones ... And whensoever the portals of grace did open, and the clouds of divine bounty did rain upon mankind, and the light of the Unseen did shine ... they all denied Him, and turned away from his face - the face of God Himself.

Refer ye, to verify this truth, to that with hath been recorded in every sacred Book. (Baha'u'llah, Kitab'i'Iqan, p. 4.)

Thus there have been those who have opposed the Avatars whenever they have appeared upon the earth.  In the time of Rama, it was his step-mother Kaikei who plotted against him.  She was able to deprive him of his rights and drive him into exile.

  Also there was Ravana, the king of Lanka, who abducted Sita, Rama's wife, and fought against Rama.  In the time of Krishna, it was Duryodhana, the cousin of Arjuna and Yudhishthir, who warred against Krishna and his allies.

  In the time of Buddha, it was his own cousin, Devadatta, who plotted and schemed against him.  In Baha'u'llah's time it was his own half brother, Mirza Yahya, who tried to destroy him.   Each of these persons represents envy and hatred of the truth, the spirit of Yahya was the return of Devadatta who was in turn the return of Duryodhana who was the return of Kaikei or Ravana.

It is the same with those who supported and became the disciples of the Avatar.   It can be said that the companions of Baha'u'llah were the return of the disciples of the Buddha.

These were in turn the return of such persons as Arjuna and Yudhishthir, who were in supporters of Krishna,  And these were the return of such person as Lakshman, the brother and supporter of Rama.

These figures represent the spirit of faithfulness and obedience to the Lord.

Similarly, in each religious cycle there is a main female figure who also represents faithfulness and obedience but from a feminine point of view.  In the case of Rama this was his wife, Sita.  In the case of Krishna, it was Draupadi or Radha,

  In the case of Baha'u'llah, it was His eldest daughter, Bahiyyih.  These women can also each be thought of as being the return of the previous one.

Thus Baha'u'llah teaches that this concept of return does not mean the return of the self-same person and the same soul, but rather it means the return to this earth of a person with the same mind-type, the same spiritual type.   Back to Top

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 Most of this this article is extracted from Hinduism and Baha'i Faith by Mrs. Moojan Momen book and reflects authors own personal understanding and does not necessarily represent the official position of the Baha'i Faith .
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