What Do Hindus Believe?

In Edwin Arnold’s translation of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says he is unborn and undying, and that when righteousness declines he takes visible shape from age to age. The Kena Upanishad, in Swami Paramananda’s translation, says the wise who see the same Self in all beings become immortal. Christians confess one God, and that Jesus is God, once for all.

Key points

• The Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold) has Krishna say, “Albeit I be Unborn, undying, indestructible,” and “I rise, from age to age, and take Visible shape.”
• The Kena Upanishad (Swami Paramananda) says, “If thou thinkest ‘I know It well,’ then it is certain that thou knowest but little of the Brahman.”
• The same translation says, “The wise seeing the same Self in all beings, being liberated from this world, become immortal.”
• Deuteronomy 6:4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:Deuteronomy 6:4 · King James Version says, “The LORD our God is one LORD.”
• John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.John 1:1 · King James Version says the Word was God, and John 1:14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.John 1:14 · King James Version says the Word was made flesh.
• How many gods are in Hinduism? quotes Paramananda on Brahman and the named gods. The Christian confession is the Trinity.

What the Gita says

Edwin Arnold, The Song Celestial (the Bhagavad Gita), gives Krishna these lines:

Albeit I be Unborn, undying, indestructible, The Lord of all things living; not the less— By Maya, by my magic which I stamp On floating Nature-forms, the primal vast— I come, and go, and come. When Righteousness Declines, O Bharata! when Wickedness Is strong, I rise, from age to age, and take Visible shape, and move a man with men, Succouring the good, thrusting the evil back, And setting Virtue on her seat again.

Source

The same passage says that the one who knows the truth of these births, when he quits the flesh, “to Me he comes.”

What the Upanishad says

Swami Paramananda’s translation of the Kena Upanishad says:

If thou thinkest “I know It well,” then it is certain that thou knowest but little of the Brahman (Absolute Truth), or in what form He (resideth) in the Devas (minor aspects of Deity). Therefore I think that what thou thinkest to be known is still to be sought after.

Swami Paramananda’s translation of the Kena Upanishad

A later verse in the same translation says:

If one knows It here, that is Truth; if one knows It not here, then great is his loss. The wise seeing the same Self in all beings, being liberated from this world, become immortal.

Swami Paramananda’s translation of the Kena Upanishad

Paramananda’s own commentary, which is not the Upanishad, says: “There is a Brahma, the first person of the Hindu Trinity; but Brahman is the Absolute, the One without a second.” How many gods are in Hinduism? stays with that distinction.

A Rig Veda verse often cited about many names for one reality was not on a page this project could fetch, so it is not quoted.

The Christian claim

Deuteronomy 6:4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:Deuteronomy 6:4 · King James Version (King James Version) says:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Deuteronomy 6:4 · King James Version

Exodus 20:3Thou shalt have no other gods before me.Exodus 20:3 · King James Version says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.John 1:1 · King James Version and John 1:14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.John 1:14 · King James Version say the Word was God and the Word was made flesh, once. Hebrews 1:1–2^1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, ^1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;Hebrews 1:1–2 · King James Version says God has spoken by his Son, by whom he made the worlds. John 14:6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.John 14:6 · King James Version records Jesus: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Christians do not confess a series of divine births from age to age. They confess one incarnation of the Son. That is the deity of Christ.

Frequently asked questions

Is this page a full account of Hinduism?

It quotes two public-domain English translations, Arnold’s Gita and Paramananda’s Upanishads. Hindu practice is wider than these two passages. The sentences above are what those books say.

Does the Gita say Krishna comes more than once?

Arnold’s lines say, “I come, and go, and come,” and “I rise, from age to age, and take Visible shape.” Hebrews 9:26For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.Hebrews 9:26 · King James Version says Christ appeared once to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

What do Christians confess about God?

Deuteronomy 6:4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:Deuteronomy 6:4 · King James Version says the LORD is one. Matthew 28:19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:Matthew 28:19 · King James Version names the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is that confession. Jesus is God.