One major difference between Eastern and Western religions involves their ideas about salvation. Eastern religions believe in reincarnation, whereas Western faiths like Christianity believe in one life and a final judgment. If all religions come from God, as the pluralists proclaim, then how can they differ on this very important issue of salvation. The answer to this question is not simple. There are actually no clear cut answers when it comes to the vast and invisible God. One has to read the scriptures carefully as well as open their hearts to connecting with the divine. From the few Hindu scriptures that I have read I have gathered that one of the main goals in life, for Hindus, is to know the Self, which in reality is the inner life that is connected to God. From reading the Bible the main focus, at least in the New Testament, is to become a member of the Kingdom of God. These two messages focus on very similar things, that is figuring out what our purpose is here on earth. Finding the Self and the Kingdom of God both lead to a peaceful life in the here and now.
It appears that God wants us to focus on this life, rather than the next. Humans naturally fear the unknown, death, and therefore are driven to search for answers about what happens after death. Yet, especially in the bible, God is extremely quiet on this subject. I am not trying to avoid this issue as irrelevant, rather I am proposing that God is purposely keeping the afterlife a secrete. What our salvation actually contains is like a birthday present, knowing it in advance ruins the surprise. The reason I think that God wants to surprise us in the next life, is because if we knew what he had in store for use there, then we would be so enamored with it that we would forget about the present life.
Regardless of what the afterlife entails, it appears that God has given different notions of how to obtain salvation to the Hindus and Christians. Some pluralists gloss over these differences claiming that a person can be reincarnated a few times and then receive a final judgment. In this case, both ideas are correct, no contradiction, and so everything is fine. This is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It doesn’t fit no matter how much you push, but if you cut off the edges it slides right through, only it is no longer a square peg. No religion wants to have its ideas become meaningless all in the name of pluralism. The whole reason for the idea of reincarnation is such that we are given the opportunity to get it right, it means eventually everyone will access heaven, or moksha. On the other hand, if one is reincarnated several times it waters down the necessity to find God in this life, and people might tend toward spiritual laziness. So, what is one to do with this major contradiction.
When it comes to God, all things are possible. God is so much above us that we can only begin to scratch the surface of who he is. God has revealed parts of himself to humans through prophets and sages of all religions, but it’s like just getting crumbs. We get to taste the cake, but we are not privy to the see what the whole masterpiece looks like, nor do we get to see how the cake was created and what ingredients went into it. With this in mind, however, no religion wants to believe that they have gotten such an important issue of salvation completely wrong. Nor do I believe we have. I think that we can actually agree on this issue more than we disagree. For one thing, we all seem to agree that God is merciful, compassionate, and all-good. If such is the case, then don’t you think this God has a wonderful plan of salvation for everyone.
Perhaps God wants to convey important ideas about this life through the concept of how to obtain eternal salvation. God explains to one faith that everyone is going to gain salvation, just keep working and if you don’t get it right, don’t worry you will get enough chances to make it work. This is the idea of reincarnation of course. On the other hand, if this was the only answer God gave on this subject he realized that some would think that if I have as many chances as I need then why do I need to work so hard right now. They might think, why not just take it easy, live a life of pleasure, live for the fun of it and worry about salvation later. So God gives another answer to a different faith. To Christians he explains that there is going to be a consequence at the end of this life if you do not take it seriously. Which one is right and which one is wrong, maybe God doesn’t want us to think in terms of right or wrong, but rather wants to convey two important ideas about how to live this life. That is don’t spend time worrying about salvation, as that is taken care of, but at the same time take this life seriously for it is serious business. The seriousness of this life is searching for self-realization or the kingdom of God. When either of these are found it leads a person to a compassionate life.
I hope this helps you as you struggle as I do with the whole concept of the God. I believe the help from others is of utmost importance in our journey toward ultimately finding God. If any of this rings true for you, check out more in my book "A Pluraslistic Portrait of God" on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com
