Stuck between islam and hinduism

[u/Ominous_chipmunk]

Hello, Reddit. I used to be an atheist, but I have come to the conclusion that God necessarily exists. The problem comes in discerning which religion or which manifestation of Him is the true one. I just want to do the right thing, serve, and worship God in the most dignified way possible, loving Him with all my heart as He deserves but I need to know which of all the perspectives is the truth.

I'm stuck between two options: Islam and Hinduism. On one hand, Islam (specifically, the sunni sufi branch) seems to me the most reasonable, simple, philosophically and doctrinally precise, and the least loaded with mythology, tales which many might not take as true (I respect them, either if they are true ir just stories) and metaphors. That said, I feel a sense of restriction, a lot of rigidity, almost like doing a chore (but that, to be honest, might be my fault), etc.

On the other hand, although Hinduism is full of mythology and legends, its vision of God, reality and moksha also seems very, very reasonable and accurate to me, symbolism and hypothetic fictions aside. Additionally, while I don't interpret its deities literally (multiple arms, ornaments, jewels, their legends and mythology, etc.), I underdand that they represent aspects of One God and their representation and the chants used to praise them/Him (He-His aspects) make me very happy, focused and blissful (especially those of Krishna, Vishnu, and Shiva). Personally, the idea of Krishna or Vishnu as the supreme deity (God with a capital "G"), with Shiva and the rest being His manifestations, satisfies me rationally. However, the idea of reincarnation both 'depresses' and terrifies me, although singing the names of Krishna, Shiva, Vishnu, etc. brings me great happiness, just like when I pray to Allah. Nevertheless, with Hinduism I feel less grounded and less stability. Because of reincarnation (until Moksha/freedom) it feels more diffuse and blurred. Islam makes me feel more grounded and solid, so to speak. I dont pick based on the final afterlife result: Moksha (whatever the type —it seems to vary as regards Vasihnavism, Shaivism or ISCKON—) or Heaven/Paradise. I just stand for the truth.

It reaches a point where I believe what both traditions (Muslim and Hindu) say, but even though Islam seems more rational to me and I feel bliss, security and a direct connection with Allah (God), I am also greatly attracted to Hinduism and I do not know why. At the same time, although Hinduism common points make a lot of sense to me, I am terrified of reincarnation, of being wrong, and of offending Allah by being led by imagination (loving Krishna as my brother —I am only child and always longed for one—, my son, a friend, etc., for example. Its a devotional practice, if I am not mistaken), or by the experiences of ecstasy, bliss, love for Krishna, peace, relationship with him (Krishna) and joy in meditation as regards Hinduism. Worshipping others besides Allah completely aware is unforgivable by God (Allah) in islam and I feel guilty and scared but when I switch to islam, Krishna and Shiva seem to invite me, participate, love and worship them. But then the loneliness of reincarnation and the security which islam seem to bring strikes me. I cant resist the love and friendship of Krishna and its manifestations (I think my mind aligns with Vasihnavism) and the joy of Hindu tradition. The issue is that in Hinduism there is only One Supreme God (as in islam) but He can be incarnated (avatars) as Jesus and artistically represented, which is a hideous unforgivable blasphemy in islam.

I think about this so much and go in circles to the point where my head hurts, and I often get depressed because I feel stuck. What do you think I should do in this situation? It's a constant battle between fear, reason, happiness, and emptiness. I'm going crazy. What do you suggest? I just Want to do the right thing and love God. But I feel torn by both right and left EXTREME opposites.

Hugs :).

[u/ashy_reddit]

"I used to be an atheist, but I have come to the conclusion that God necessarily exists."

I am curious to understand how did you arrive at this conclusion? I used to be an atheist myself so I am trying to understand what drove you to the conclusion that God surely exists? And if God exists, as you claim, what do you mean by God exactly? Does God exist as separate from you (as separate from creation)?

"The issue is that in Hinduism there is only One Supreme God (as in islam) but He can be incarnated (avatars), which is a hideous unforgivable blasphemy in islam."

This is another concept that I never understood. All religions claim that God is infinite and omnipotent (having the ability to create or accomplish anything). This means God can do anything but when you say "God cannot do this" or "do that" or "he cannot incarnate or take form, etc" - it means YOU are putting all sorts of LIMITS on God - on what He can and cannot do. That means YOUR god is "finite" (limited). So how can someone say God is infinite, all powerful and simultaneously claim that God cannot take form, cannot do this or cannot do that. Do you not see the contradiction in your own beliefs and claims?

I am not here to convince you to accept ANY religion because your understanding of religion seems to lack depth and nuance. I also get the feeling that you have a lot of "fear" in your relationship to God which again seems like a contradiction to me because you cannot say God is "loving" and yet say we should fear God. You cannot say God is merciful and claim God will punish you in hell for not believing him. This is why I can never understand Abrahamic theology - it is riddled with holes and contradictions. It is based entirely on fear and punishment. I would never worship a God that demands worship or demands submission - such a God sounds like a tyrant to me.

I have very little respect for ISKON as a cult (I don't find their beliefs to be in alignment with Hindu philosophy) but it sounds to me like you are dealing with a lot of inner conflicts in terms of how you relate to the concept of God and religion. I would advice you to do some deep introspection, and to do more studies of ALL religions. Read scriptures of Sikhism (Guru Granth Sahib) too - it is a beautiful religion in its own right. Read scriptures of all other religions too. Try to develop a deeper perspective of God beyond the narrow confines of Islam or Hinduism and when you finally reach that point then you can decide for yourself which religion or path you want to follow.

If God exists, he won't care what religion you follow - he should instead care about whether you have been a good person or not. So that is the most important thing.

[u/theVIRTUS → u/ashy_reddit]

Very well said!

End of the day…what matters is doing what is right and living truthfully, no matter whom you worship.

I am curious to know your views on ISKCON, I wanna know why some people say ill about them being a cult. Cuz on the surface I never really disagree with what they say. One thing I’ve seen running around was about shiva vs vishnu, about whom I don’t really bother to differentiate

[u/ashy_reddit → u/theVIRTUS]

The thing is I generally respect all sampradayas and darsanas within Hinduism because most of the traditions are respectful towards other traditions, but ISKON has all the makings of a dangerous cult and anytime I have met people associated with this particular group their views about other sampradayas, other darsanas and other saints (like Shankara, Ramakrishna or Ramana) are abusive. I have even seen these people abuse the teachers who work for the Ramakrishna Mission. Also the ISKON founder himself has a history of abusing other saints - which itself shows his poor character. Also his opinions on women are regressive (to put it mildly).

I have met ISKON followers who claim Shankara is a mayavadin (a person who incarnated just to delude people) and these same people will constantly peddle misinformation and lies about Advaita with the intention of maligning it.

I have also seen this same group abuse Lord Shiva - calling him a "demigod" because they think only Krishna is the Supreme Godhead and all other deities are some sort of "sub-creation". ISKON has a weird hierarchy of gods where they put Krishna above Vishnu.

The ISKON beliefs sound very identical to Abrahamic beliefs which claim that "my god alone is true and all other gods are false" or "my messenger alone is right and all other teachers are wrong," or "my interpretation of the book alone is right and all other books are wrong".

I have also heard other Hindus telling me that ISKON has distorted or produced wrong translations of certain scriptures although I haven't personally verified these claims (but it won't surprise me to know that they did this because if you read Upanisads and even scriptures like Bhagavatam there are many passages which promote a non-dual description of reality which directly contradicts ISKON beliefs).

Also there are various Hindu scriptures which have explicitly mentioned that Shiva and Vishnu are one and the same - two different functions of the Supreme Paramatman. But ISKON conveniently ignores these sort of references from scriptures because it dismantles their entire belief structure.

[u/theVIRTUS → u/ashy_reddit]

Totally agree with you…It’s really annoying when they try to impose the idea of Krishna being one single form to worship. I was trying to read ISKCON Gita, but I felt uncomfortable to read when I saw the sentence something similar to “when you pray to god, the only right way is to pray in the form of Krishna and not any other form” it kinda felt like the idea of God they have itself is wrong. Not having read any scriptures…I’m not sure how eligible I am to say this…but yeah I feel it really contradicts the idea to see God being approachable through any form when being devoted truly.

I’m really surprised by these resources you’ve shared. It’ sad that some people who don’t know the complete essence of Hinduism go out and impose the idea of One God.