Isn’t the Vedic path better because it doesn’t narrow-mindedly claim to be the only way as do the Abrahamic religions

Question: Aren’t Abrahamic religions like Christianity and Islam narrow-minded because they assert their founder or central figure is “the only way” (e.g., “Jesus is the only way,” or Muhammad being the “seal of all prophets”)? In contrast, our tradition can appreciate their saints, viewing figures like Jesus as saintly. Historically, they haven’t reciprocated this appreciation, only becoming more open to other traditions in recent decades.

Answer: It is true that, from a theological perspective, mainstream Christianity and Islam traditionally hold a exclusivist view, not typically acknowledging other paths as equally valid for reaching God.

However, it’s crucial to understand that narrow-mindedness is not unique to any single religious group; it manifests in different ways across various contexts. Our own Vedic scriptures, with their numerous Avatars and divine manifestations, make theological narrow-mindedness difficult to sustain within our tradition. The point here isn’t to defend one religion or criticize another, but to avoid attributing universal human weaknesses solely to specific religious groups.

While the broad Vedic tradition may exhibit theological inclusivity, a different form of narrow-mindedness has historically manifested in puritanical terms, particularly through the caste system. This involves an almost obsessive emphasis on purity that historically led to the systematic dehumanization of those considered “impure.” Even if one argues that the caste system deviated from an original, non-birth-based system, birth undeniably played a significant role. Furthermore, a philosophical misapplication historically justified discrimination, asserting that lower birth indicated poor karma in previous lives, leading to institutionalized mistreatment and dehumanization of marginalized groups.

It’s a tragic irony that the same Vedic tradition which espoused highly inclusive wisdom—such as “all living beings are parts of the divine,” “we are all essentially spiritual,” and “we are all one cosmic family”—also gave rise to one of the most severely institutionalized discriminatory systems. While we can laud philosophical expressions of unity, they often coexisted with profound systemic discrimination.

My aim is not to demonize the tradition I follow. Discrimination exists everywhere. In the West, racial discrimination, for instance, led to the persecution of Native Americans by colonizers who considered themselves pious Christians. Their piety, however, often did not extend to acknowledging the humanity of those they persecuted, whom they saw as not worshipping the “true” God. Intolerance has been a pervasive part of human history.

Historically, the number of “holy wars” fought against “infidels,” “pagans,” or “non-believers” is significantly lower in the broader Vedic or Hindu tradition compared to conflicts between Christianity and Islam, or internal conflicts within Christianity (e.g., the Hundred Years’ War between Catholics and Protestants) or Islam. Regarding physical violence explicitly driven by theological disagreement, Abrahamic religions certainly have an unflattering record. However, puritanical intolerance, leading to discrimination and dehumanization, is undeniably present in the Vedic system. There are unfortunate historical accounts of individuals from so-called lower castes being denied access to water from “upper-caste” wells, even when starving or their children were dying of thirst, facing threats and violence if they attempted to drink.

The key concern is not to equate the historical scale of these issues, but to avoid attributing universal human weaknesses solely to specific theological claims or religious groups. When we use our religion to foster a sense of superiority over others, it almost invariably leads to ego, which is a dangerous pathway to intolerance and fanaticism.

We can and should have confidence in our path to the divine, appreciating the distinctive features of the Lord revealed in our tradition and the unique practices accessible to us, such as chanting the holy names. These are invaluable and should be treasured. Simultaneously, we must avoid letting any sense of our path’s superiority inflate our ego, leading us to demean others, a dangerously short step from demonizing them. We want to be part of the solution, not the problem. This requires acknowledging the universality of human weaknesses, even if they manifest in varying degrees across groups. Attributing narrow-mindedness solely to theological claims ignores that the same universal weakness can arise from puritanical or other claims.

Furthermore, it’s worth noting that broad-mindedness exists within other traditions as well. A small but significant number of Christian thinkers, for example, acknowledge God’s universal presence and argue that limiting access to God’s divinity solely to Jesus doesn’t reflect the true teachings of the Bible or the examples of saints. Richard Rohr’s book, The Universal Christ, for instance, draws on figures like Saint Francis of Assisi and biblical interpretations to establish Jesus as a specific manifestation of a universal Christ present throughout nature, accessible through various means. While his position isn’t mainstream, he is a significant voice who draws from tradition and has not been censured by the mainstream church. This indicates that not everyone in other traditions is as narrow-minded as we might perceive.

Similarly, within our own tradition, even during periods when the caste system was prevalent, many saintly figures transcended caste boundaries to include and embrace those from marginalized groups. This was a signal contribution of the Bhakti tradition. Thoughtful individuals, operating in the mode of goodness, will often find ways to exhibit broad-mindedness, even despite institutionalized systems that promote narrowness. They may express it in different ways and degrees.

We can appreciate the broad-mindedness of our own tradition in accepting diverse manifestations of divinity, and we can appreciate the broad-mindedness of Christians in their global outreach and efforts to serve humanity, caring for the lowest and poorest, reflecting the example of Jesus. Instead of solely focusing on the narrow-mindedness of particular traditions, we can strive to cultivate broad-mindedness within ourselves and our tradition, and genuinely appreciate broad-mindedness wherever we find it in others and their traditions.