Elohim is all-pervasive and creative in the Bible just as Brahman is in the Hindu texts. Yahweh made

Is Abraham’s Monotheism Consistent with Rama’s Monism?

The Concept of God Abraham is the founder of monotheistic religions. Monotheism means that there is One God who is external to us who, sort of, stands above us, who is controlling us, who is guiding us and who is telling us what to do and what not to do.

On the other hand, the Hindu system believes that God or Brahman is allpervasive, silent, does virtually nothing and all is done with human volition. There are two dimensions in both Biblical and Hindu traditions. There are two names for God--Elohim and Yahweh--in the Biblical tradition.

Let's first talk about Elohim. Psalms 139 tells of all pervasiveness of God: “Wither Shall I go from the spirit? wither shall I flee from the presence? If I ascend to heaven, though are there if I make my bed in sheol though are there.” This is a clear statement that God is everywhere. Wherever the person goes he finds God there.

In the same manner Yoga Vasishtha says, “this entire vision whatever we see is Quiet and Immaculate Brahman,” that is, whatever we see is itself God or Brahman.

Yoga Vasishtha is the teaching given by Sage Vasishtha to Lord Rama when he was a young person. We can assume that the teaching of Yoga Vasishtha are same as the thinking of Lord Rama.

Now, while Psalms says that I find you everywhere similarly Yoga Vasishtha says got pervades everything.

The same Elohim or Brahman has another dimension. The first verse of the Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and earth.” The word God for here is “Elohim.” Therefore, the Bible is saying that Elohim has a creative sense or that Elohim creates.

The same thing is said in Book 3 Chapter 11 of Yoga Vasishtha: “the brahman obtains to growth in itself by itself.” Here, Yoga Vasishtha is saying that this all-

pervasive Brahman grows in itself by itself which is the similar to the Bible saying “In the beginning God created…” Both the verses tell of Elohim or Brahman creating and are parallel in this sense.

The second name for the God in the Bible is Yahweh and in the Hindu text is Brahma. “Brahma” is the God created by the all-pervasive “Brahman.” We suggest that Elohim is parallel to Brahman and Yahweh is parallel to Brahma.

In Genesis 15 and 17 Yahweh makes a covenant or an agreement with Abraham to give certain lands to his descendants. Here there is a one-to-one dialogue between Yahweh and Abraham.

I have not found an exact parallel to such giving of lands in the Ramayana which documents the doing Lord Rama. However, the Ramayana tells of Vishrava undertaking penance and having a one-to-one dialogue with Brahma. Vishrava, incidentally, was the father of Ravana who was killed by Rama. Vishrava had undertaken deep penance. Then, Lord Brahma became happy and he appeared to him and asked him to ask for a boon. At this time, Vishrava said, “I want to become sustainer (लोकपाल) of this world. Brahma said, “so be it.”

Here we can see an exact parallel. Yahweh makes a covenant with Abraham and Brahma give a boom to Vishrava. I must mention that the Ramayana also tells of Brahma having appeared to Rama after he had won victory over Lanka. He blessed him and he said, “You have completed your work in this world. Now you please move to your divine home.” Here again there is one-to-one communication between Brahma and Rama.

So as far as the concept of God is concerned, we can see that Elohim has two dimensions in the Bible—presence everywhere and creativeness; and Yahweh is personal God. In parallel, Brahman has two dimensions in the Yoga Vasishtha--all pervasiveness and creativeness; and Brahma is the personal God who gives boons and has a one-to-ne relationship with human beings.

The second aspect is of rebirth. The Hindus very strongly believe in rebirth. Yoga Vasishtha, book 3 tells of the story of Leela who says that she can remember 800 of her past births. On this point the Bible is silent. I believe that before the advent of Lord Christ some sections of the Jewish people believed in rebirth. However, that is beyond the purview of this discussion. For the time being we shall say that this is a matter of “silence.� Lord Rama believed in rebirth while Bible is silent on this. It does not deny rebirth either.

The third issue is regarding idol worship. In Joshua 24 it is said that “Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor worship other Gods,� that is, Gods other than Elohim and Yahweh.

This is explained in the Jewish Midrash in the form of a story. It is said that Terah was a maker of idols. He used to sell them in his shop. One day he had to go somewhere. He asked Abraham to look after the shop while he was away. A woman came with some offerings while Abraham was looking after the shop.

When Terah returned he found that all the idols except one largest one had been broken. So, he asked Abraham, what happened? How come the idols have been broken? Abraham replied, “A woman came with a plateful of fine meal and requested me to offer it to the gods. One claimed “I must eat first” while another claim “I must eat first.” Thereupon the largest among them arose, took the stick and broke them all.” So, here we have a clear statement that while Terah was a maker of idols, Abraham did not accept his belief.

At the same time, we find evidence of idol worship among the descendants of Abraham. His grandson Jacob was once traveling from Beersheba to Haran and he slept somewhere under a tree and put his head on a stone. He had a feeling of the presence of God at that time. So, in the morning, he arose, took a stone and poured oil on it. Now that is exactly what Hindus do on the shivalinga.

In another incident Jacob along with his family was fleeing from Haran from the captivity of his relative Laban. Laban followed them and asked Jacob, “It is all right that you left without telling me, but why did you take my family idols?”

Thereupon Laban search the entire retinue and did not find the idols. Then, after Laban had left, Jacob’s wife Rachel took out the idols form beneath her legs where she had hid them on the saddle. This means that Abraham’s Grandson Jacob, at least, followed idol worship. He not only poured oil on stone, his wife Rachel was worshiping them.

We do not find a clear evidence of Lord Rama worshiping the idols. I have looked at the Valmiki Ramayana and not found a single incident which may indicate that Rama worship an Idol. At the same time, when Rama was going to the south he visited the hermitage of Lord Agastya and there he saw certain idols of Indra, Vishnu, Garuda and Nagaraj but the Ramayan is silent whether Rama worshiped them or not. Therefore, all that can be said is that, at time of Lord Rama, there was prevalence of the idol worship but there is no evidence that Rama himself worshiped the idols. Perhaps he did worship the Shivlinga which is a cylindrical stone without a human image. The Ramayana says that said that Rama established a Shivlinga when he wanted to cross the sea.

The result is that the Bible tells of Abraham’s father Terah worshipping idols and Abraham not worshipping them and his grandson Jacob and his wife Rachel again worshipping them.

On the Hindu side, Vishnu had come to a sacrifice made by Dasaratha so we can assume that he worshiped idols. As far as Rama is concerned, the only evidence we have is that he may have undertaken worship of the Shivalinga. However, idol worship was prevalent in the country as shown in the presence of idols at the hermitage of Sage Agastya. It follows that Terah and Dasharatha both worshipped idols; Abraham and Rama both did not worship idol in human form; and Jacob and other people at the time of Rama may have worshiped idols. We find these to be parallel.

The Bible portrays Abraham as a human being who worshipped God but the Hindu tradition worships Rama as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. But this is the situation of the Hindu religion today. As far as Lord Rama himself his concerned, it appears he did not consider himself to be an incarnation of Vishnu.

There took place a discussion between him and the Sages after he had won the war of Lanka. The Sages told him that he was Brahman or a God incarnate. But Rama replied, “I consider myself to be son Dasharatha only.� (Reference) So, even though others may have thought that he was God, Rama himself never proclaimed incarnation of Vishnu. It is possible that the idea that Rama was an incarnation of Vishnu may have been a later phenomenon.

Taking everything together it seems that the theological constructs of Abraham and Rama run parallel.

One, Elohim is all-pervasive and creative in the Bible just as Brahman is in the Hindu texts.

Two, Yahweh made a covenant with Abraham while Brahma give a boon to Vishrava.

Three, Bible is silent on rebirth whereas the Yoga Vasishtha tells of rebirth. This is a case of silence.

Four, Terah worshiped other Gods while Dasharatha worshipped Vishnu.

Five, Abraham did not worship any other gods just as Rama did not worship any god other than Shiva—not in human form.

Six, Abraham’s grandson Jacob poured oil on a stone cylinder just as Rama did.

Seven Abraham was a mortal man just as Rama said he was.