Bahá'í Faith and Hinduism

Brahman (God)

In Hinduism Brahman is believed to be the Absolute Reality. Followers of Vedanta see Brahman as an impersonal reality, of which each soul (ātman) is a part. The theistic traditions of Hinduism, which include Vaishnavism and Shaivism, consider Brahman as a personal God, whom they call Bhagwan or Ishvara (Lord). According to the Bahá'í teachings these differing views are all valid, as they represent different points of view looking at the Absolute Reality.

Avatars (Manifestations of God)

Both Hinduism and the Bahá'í Faith teach that God manifests himself at different times and places. These messengers are termed Avatars in Hinduism and Manifestations of God in the Bahá'í teachings. However the difference is that Hinduism teaches that Avatars are God himself in human form and are thus divine while Bahá'í teachings stress that the Manifestations of God are not God but his representatives.

Bahá’u’lláh, Who, Himself, falls in this category explains that God "…Who is everlastingly hidden from the eyes of men can never be known except through His Manifestation, and His Manifestation can adduce no greater proof of the truth of His Mission than the proof of His own Person." In many of His Writings, Bahá’u’lláh elucidates the nature of the Manifestation and His relationship to God. He underlines the unique and transcendent nature of the Godhead. He explains that "…since there can be no tie of direct intercourse to bind the one true God with His creation", God ordains that "in every age and dispensation a pure and stainless Soul be made manifest in the kingdoms of earth and heaven."

The Divine Manifestation is "the Dayspring" of the signs of the true God, "the Dawning-Place" of His clear tokens, "the Manifestation" of His Excellent Names, and "the Source" of His attributes.

This "mysterious and ethereal Being", the Manifestation of God, has two natures—a human nature that pertains to "the world of matter" and a spiritual nature "born of the substance of God Himself". He is endowed with a "double station". The first station is related to His innermost reality that represents Him as One Whose voice is the voice of God Himself. The second station is the human station, exemplified by the following verses: "I am but a man like you." "Say, praise be to my Lord! Am I more than a man, an apostle?"

Bahá’u’lláh affirms that, in the spiritual realm, there is an "essential unity" among all the Manifestations of God. They all reveal the "Beauty of God", manifest His names and attributes, and give utterance to His Revelation. In this regard, He states: "Were any of the all-embracing Manifestations of God to declare: "I am God", He, verily, speaketh the truth, and no doubt attacheth thereto. For it hath been repeatedly demonstrated that through Their Revelation, Their attributes and names, the Revelation of God, His names and His attributes, are made manifest in the world…"

The Manifestations reveal the names and attributes of God and are the means by which humanity has access to the knowledge of God and His Revelation. However, Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, states that the Manifestations should "never…be identified with that invisible Reality, the Essence of Divinity itself". About Bahá’u’lláh, the Guardian wrote that the "human temple that has been the vehicle of so overpowering a Revelation" is not to be identified with the "Reality" of God.

Bahá’u’lláh describes the station of "Divinity" which He shares with all the Manifestations of God as "…the station in which one dieth to himself and liveth in God. Divinity, whenever I mention it, indicateth My complete and absolute self-effacement. This is the station in which I have no control over mine own weal or woe nor over my life nor over my resurrection." And, regarding His own relationship to God, He testifies: "When I contemplate, O my God, the relationship that bindeth me to Thee, I am moved to proclaim to all created things "verily I am God"; and when I consider my own self, lo, I find it coarser than clay!"

In His Most Holy Book, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Bahá’u’lláh enunciates the doctrine of the "Most Great Infallibility" of the Manifestation of God. He asserts this infallibility to be the inherent and exclusive right of the Prophet.8 He writes, "He Who is the Dawning-place of God’s Cause hath no partner in the Most Great Infallibility. He it is Who, in the kingdom of creation, is the Manifestation of "He doeth whatsoever He willeth."

Elsewhere, Bahá’u’lláh explains, "The essence of belief in Divine unity consisteth in regarding Him Who is the Manifestation of God and Him Who is the invisible, the inaccessible, the unknowable Essence as one and the same. By this is meant that whatever pertaineth to the former, all His acts and doings, whatever He ordaineth or forbiddeth, should be considered, in all their aspects, and under all circumstances, and without any reservation, as identical with the Will of God Himself. This is the loftiest station to which a true believer in the unity of God can ever hope to attain. Blessed is the man that reacheth this station, and is of them that are steadfast in their belief."

The Manifestations have thus been called the ‘Living Book’ of God. They reveal infallible guidance to overcome the ills of the age in which They appear. Their teachings and laws, based on equity and justice, eventually become the foundations of glorious civilizations. Bahá’u’lláh has written, "Know verily that the essence of justice and the source thereof are both embodied in the ordinances prescribed by Him Who is the Manifestation of the Self of God amongst men, if ye be of them that recognize this truth. He doth verily incarnate the highest, the infallible standard of justice unto all creation." Supreme, indeed, is the power of the Manifestation of God, and great His spiritual creative force. His Holiness, the Báb, the Forerunner of Bahá’u’lláh, eloquently writes of the spiritual station of the divine Manifestations: "If in the Day of His manifestation a king were to make mention of his own sovereignty, this would be like unto a mirror challenging the sun, saying: ‘The light is in me’. It would be likewise, if a man of learning in His Day were to claim to be an exponent of knowledge, or if he who is possessed of riches were to display his affluence, or if a man wielding power were to assert his own authority, or if one invested with grandeur were to show forth his glory. Nay, such men would become the object of the derision of their peers, and how would they be judged by Him Who is the Sun of Truth!" http://bahai-library.org/books/miracles/prophets.html

Deities and images

In Hinduism many deities, depicted in images and murti (statues), are worshipped. Many Hindus realize that all these deities represent different aspects of the one God, Brahman. The Bahá'í teachings state that in this day, when mankind is reaching the state of maturity, images are not needed anymore to form an idea of God.

Ethical and moral teachings

There are many similarities in the ethical and moral teachings of Hinduism and the Bahá'í Faith. These include subject as contemplation, detachment, faith, love, non-violence, purity, respect for parents, righteousness, self-control, right speech, not stealing, truth, virtue, work as worship.

Adaptation of Bahá'í teachings to Hindu context

The speedy growth of the Indian Bahá'í community since the 1960s was influenced by adapting the Bahá'í teachings for presentation in a clearly Hindu context familiar to the people of the countryside - using principles and language familiar to them: