BUILDING BRIDGES
FOR COMMUNICATING THE GOSPEL
IN THE CONTEXT OF HINDU WORSHIP
INTRODUCTION
Majority of Hindu population of the world lives in Indian Sub-continent. In Indian Subcontinent, compare to other religious groups Hindus are more responsive to the Gospel
but still the vast majority of Hindus don’t know Jesus. Christianity still appears as a
foreign religion. Christianity is seen as a threat to Indian culture and identity. The main
reason for that the missionaries and the local Gospel preachers are unable to build up a
bridge in order to incarnate the Gospel into the local cultural context.
The purpose of this article is to provide the details information about different forms of
Hindu worship and how a Christian preacher can make a bridge between those forms of
Hindu worship and Christian worship in order to present the Gospel in a most effective
way. The article is divided into two parts. The first part is about the understanding of
Hindu worship and the second part is about the Christian approach related to the worship
of Hindu major deities.
An Introduction to Hinduism
It is very difficult to give a clear definition of Hindu religion. “In fact, it is the
conglomeration of ideas, beliefs, convictions and practices-varying from people to people
and from region to region.”1
The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, “Christian Witness to Hindus,” in
Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, eds. Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthrone
(Pasadena, California: William Carey Library, 1981), 119.
1
Hindu society is a product of many races, and many cultures. It is necessary to recognize
this fact to appreciate the complexity of Hindu society and religion. The term Hindu is
derived from the river Sindhu (the Indus), for the Persians referred to India as the land
beyond the river Sindhu which is mentioned in the Bible the book of Esther 1:1.
The Persians used the word Hind for the regions of river Sindhu and they called the
people in that region, Hindus.
Hindus call their religion Sanatana Dharma (eternal religion). Dharma is more than
religious beliefs; it is total way of life and conduct, a national consciousness. The
evolution of Hindu religion in India passed through many stages of history. To attempt a
detailed description of more than four thousand years of religious history of one of the
greatest peoples of the world, a people whose cultural heritage is as complex and as vast
as India itself is almost an impossible. Hinduism has no common creed. It is not
institutionalized. Within Hinduism there is such a variety of beliefs and practices. It has
been described as a family of religions.
AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE HINDU WORSHIP
Hindu worship is polytheistic. Hindus call their worship Puja which means adoration.
The origin of this term is still unexplained, but it is thought by some authorities to be
derived from the Dravidian Pu-chey, flower action or worship with offerings of flowers,
in contradistinction to the later homa rite of animal sacrifice. Others derive it from the
Dravidian word Pusu, to anoint or smear, i.e., with sandal-wood paste or vermillion,
instead of blood.2
There are different methods and levels of devotion, but the principal expression of which
is puja, what we would call worship, it is directed to the image of the god. Today puja
2
Benjamin Walker, Hindu World (London: Jeorge Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1968), 252.
takes many forms, depending on the sect of the worshipper and the occasion of the
ceremony.
Puja is first mentioned in the Grhya Sutras, a class of Vedic text which gives
rules for domestic rituals. Among these rules is a set of prescriptions for honoring
Brahmins (priests) invited to one’s home on the occasion of rites for departed ancestors.
The hospitality prescribed is called puja, and includes many of the ritual actions and
MANTRAS (prayers) later used in the worship of deities.3
A classification of the Hindu worship (Puja)
Hindu worship (Puja) is distinguished into two kinds: Personal or family worship,
Temple worship.
Personal or family worship (Puja)
In Hindu community worship (Puja) is not congregational. Worship is largely an
individual matter for a Hindu. In the temple it is not congregational, and even at great
festivals the devotee observes his own regulations.
Prayer is a part of Hindu worship. Every devoted Hindu, mainly those who belong to the
three higher castes and who are twice born (who has a personal teacher or ‘guru’ and
obtained the sacred thread from the teacher to wear in his body), has to pray three times a
day. The devout Hindu rises from his bed, repeats the name of the Lord, offers obeisance
in his/her mind to his/her guru and recites the morning remembrance prayer in which he
resolves to do the day’s work under the guidance of the Lord. The mid day prayer may
be done at any time before lunch.
3
Keith Crim, gen. ed., Abingdon Dictionary of living Religions, s.v. “puja”, by J. Charpenter.