HINDUISM AND OTHER RELIGIONS

What is the Hindu View of Salvation?

Hinduism does not teach that we are sinners in need of salvation but that we are the Divine itself needing to awaken to its true nature. We are suffering from ignorance and the cure for this is knowledge. We have forgotten our true Self, which is eternal, and are caught in the outer world, which is transient.

The Hindu concept is one of liberation, which is very different than the idea of salvation and should not be equated with it. Liberation is not from sin but from ignorance, which is the misconception that we are other than God. Even those who do good according to a particular religion, and are thereby said to be saved, are bound by ignorance if they do not know their true Self and are not liberated.

Hinduism does not look to salvation, or to a savior as anything ultimate. It looks to mergence in God who is the being of all. The only way to do this is through right meditation which clears the mind of the impressions that bind it to the external world. Liberation takes us beyond the cycle of rebirth, whereas salvation is just an emotional or mental state, which may bring some temporary peace or happiness, but no final release.

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