Hinduism, TM and Hare Krishna [Paperback]

J. Isamu Yamamoto (Author), Alan W. Gomes (Series Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998 | Series: Zondervan Guide to Cults and Religious Movements

In the sixties, Transcendental Meditation, a Hindu-based movement, became fashionable as a way to therapy and psychological well-being -- especially after being endorsed by the Beatles and the Beach Boys. Its influence waned, ironically, after the courts decided that TM was a religion rather than a form of therapy, as TM had claimed. But its popularity helped open the doors to a wider acceptance of Eastern philosophy and religions in mainstream America. Another Americanized form of Hinduism is Hare Krishna. This volume and the volume on Buddhism in this series together present a comprehensive overview of Eastern religions, their views, and their impact on contemporary North America. Why this series? This is an age when countless groups and movements, old and new, mark the religious landscape in our culture, leaving many people confused or uncertain in their search for spiritual truth and meaning. Because few people have the time or opportunity to research these movements fully, these books provide essential information and insights for their spiritual journeys. All books but the summary volume, Truth and Error, contain five sections: -A concise introduction to the group being surveyed -An overview of the group's theology --- in its own words -Tips for witnessing effectively to members of the group -A bibliography with sources for further study -A comparison chart that shows the essential differences between biblical Christianity and the group -Truth and Error, the last book in the series, consists of parallel doctrinal charts compiled from all the other volumes. -Three distinctives make this series especially useful to readers: -Information is carefully distilled to bring out truly essential points, rather than requiring readers to sift their way through a sea of secondary details. -Information is presented in a clear, easy-to-follow outline form with 'menu bar' running heads. This format greatly assists the reader in quickly locating topics and details of interest. -Each book meets the needs and skill levels of both nontechnical and technical readers, providing an elementary level of refutation and progressing to a more advanced level using arguments based on the biblical text. The writers of these volumes are well qualified to present clear and reliable information and help readers to discern truth from falsehood.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Fast, informed answers to the challenges of false religions This is an age when countless groups and movements, new and old, mark the religious landscape in our culture. As a result, many people are confused or uncertain in their search for spiritual truth and meaning. Because few people have the time or opportunity to research these movements fully, the Zondervan Guide to Cults and Religious Movements series provides essential information and insights for their spiritual journeys. The second wave of books in this series addresses a broad range of spiritual beliefs, from non-Trinitarian Christian sects to witchcraft and neo-paganism to classic non-Christian religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. All books but the summary volume, Truth and Error, contain five sections: A concise introduction to the group being surveyed An overview of the group's theology--in its own words Tips for witnessing effectively to members of the group A bibliography with sources for further study A comparison chart that shows the essential differences between biblical Christianity and the group Truth and Error, the last book in the series, consists of parallel doctrinal charts compiled from all the other volumes. Three distinctives make this series especially useful to readers: Information is carefully distilled to bring out truly essential points, rather than requiring readers to sift their way through a sea of secondary details. Information is presented in a clear, easy-to-follow outline form with menu bar running heads. This format greatly assists the reader in quickly locating topics and details of interest. Each book meets the needs and skill levels of both nontechnical and technical readers, providing an elementary level of refutation and progressing to a more advanced level using arguments based on the biblical text. The writers of these volumes are well qualified to present clear and reliable information and help readers to discern truth from falsehood.

From the Author

J. Isamu Yamamoto is an editor in Elgin, Illinois, who was formerly associated with the California-based Spiritual Counterfeits Project

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310703913
• ISBN-13: 978-0310703914
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,123,001 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Occult > Cults & Demonism

More About the Author

J. Isamu Yamamoto is the author of several books. He is currently the inspirational editor for Publications International, Ltd., and a consulting editor for Christian Research Journal.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A booklet depicting Hinduism in a very negative tone, August 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hinduism, TM and Hare Krishna (Paperback)

A very frail attempt to depict Hinduism as a religion of confusing doctrines and Christianity as a very unified religion with all true answers.

This booklet[ 87 pages] has picked up facts and figures from Hindu scriptures [ written thousands of years apart] at random and tried very hard to prove Hinduism as a religion of confusing concepts and ideas and Christianity as a religion of God and truth. . At the end of each chapter there is a column of "how to evangelize Hindus / Evangelistic suggestions". There are even sub chapters like WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOGA? even though AMA and other medical institutions have only found positive results in people after practicing yoga. This book is very scary, since it states on page-19 that "In 1923 the US Supreme Court ruled that "Hindus" were ineligible for U.S. citizenship" What exactly the author hinting making that statement??? I have no idea. With right wing fundamentalism taking grass roots every where in this country, Indians in fact anyone who comes from orient should be wary of booklets like this.

Author failed to explain the fact that HINDUISM IS THE ONE AND ONLY CULTURE OF INDIANS IN INDIA and not an organized religion like Islam or Christianity. Since the Book was written to portray Hinduism in a "negative tone", book failed to discuss about Hindu mathematics, Hindu astronomy, Hindu astrology, Hindu cosmology, Hindu classical dances, Hindu music, Hindu moral codes, Hindu alchemy, etc Before the onslaught of Moslems from North [7th century AD] as well as the rule of British empire, India was abundant in material and spiritual wealth as reported by great Chinese travelers like HSUAN-TSANG.

LET US HAVE A REALITY CHECK. There are only two cultures in the world. One is Hinduism and other is Judaism. All modern religions like Islam and Christianity came out of Judaism. Similarly Buddhism,[ to some extent Jainism], Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism came from Hinduism. Hindu scriptures deal with the CULTURE and HISTORY of Indians in India like 66 books of the Holy Bible deal with the CULTURE & HISTORY of Jews.

Hinduism is a very ancient CULTURE and so it has the GOOD, the BAD and UGLY things in it. Similarly Judaism has the GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY things in it. Naturally modern religions like Christianity which has gone through many periodical cleansing in its 2000 years history, do not have the baggage of those two ancient cultures. NEWER THE RELIGION IS, THE BETTER IT LOOK. That is why religions like BAHAISM, UNITY and A COURSE IN MIRACLES look far better than Islam and Christianity.

By the way, Holy Bible does not deal with Chinese civilization, Mayan Civilization, Greek Civilization or Indian civilization. It only deals with the trials and tribulations of Jews. In HOLY BIBLE ONE CAN ONLY STUDY ABOUT JEWISH CULTURE AND JEWISH HISTORY. Holy Bible does not even mentions AMERICAN CONTINENT. Believe it or not, Holy Bible theologians as well as the west came to know about AMERICAN continent only when a very devout Christian Christopher Columbus accidentally stumbled upon it on his way to a very prosperous India!!! For Columbus to beg Spanish queen for money to go to India, alone make us wonder about the greatness of India at that time.

Hinduism and Judaism do not believe in conversions since both are essentially cultures. Have you ever heard of converting to a new culture? Whereas Christianity and Islam are cults of Judaism and that is why they are after forcible conversions of every one on earth to their religions. TRUE--Hindu scriptures were written by many authors and they are in thousands and have many concepts. Authors failed to state that unlike in Christianity, where writings which are different from churches teachings were burnt and authors killed, in Hinduism not even one scripture is burnt nor any author is killed since they preached a wrong doctrine or wrote a wrong book. To start with, in the history of Christianity, Bishop Arius of Alexandria was killed and his books were burnt when he proclaimed that JESUS CHRIST IS A CREATED BEING AND NOT A PROCREATOR during the Council of Nicaea - 325 AD, in which church under the Roman emperor Constantine elevated Jesus Christ to be the 2nd person of Trinity.

There is no word TRINITY in the entire Holy Bible and TRINITY DOCTRINE was added to Christianity [ during the Council of Nicaea -325 AD] after Roman emperor Constantine became a Christian. The Council of Nicaea was called by Roman emperor Constantine who even took part in the discussions as per the Encyclopedia Britannica [ book 8 page 675] Believe it or not emperor Constantine promoted TRINITY DOCTRINE to fuse pagan Romans worshiping many gods with Christians who were worshiping Jesus Christ If you look at SCHAFF-HERZOG ENCYCLOPEDIA, TRINITY was not established until 363 A.D. It says that TRINITY is the result of three centuries of doctrinal development. The New Catholic Encyclopedia adds that devotion to Trinity had begun in monasteries at Aniane and Tours, in the 8th century. The very first author of English translation of the Holy Bible, WILLIAM TYNDALE was killed at stake and his works were burnt since church did not like his translation!!! In 1536, after spending many months in prison, WILLIAM TYNDALE was burnt at stake crying, "LORD, OPEN THE EYES OF THE KING OF ENGLAND." Justin Martyer [ 100-165 AD] founder of the very first the very first Christian school of Theology was very straight forward about reincarnation, when he wrote in his popular book DIALOGUE WITH TRYPO, how the souls inhibit a succession of bodies, but they could not remember their previous lives. But his ideas on reincarnation were thrown was thrown out by the church. Time and again Christian church expunged people and doctrines.

In the interest of protecting truth as they see, Christian church for centuries have persecuted anyone who came with new theories. Any one who study world history will know what happened to GALILEO, Copernicus, Martin Luther etc in the hands of church.

GOD IN HINDUISM. On page 55, authors discuss about Hindu concept of God. But they failed to mention about BRAHMAN - the ONE and ONLY God of Hinduism. Author may not know that JOHN 1:1 [70 A.D.] came from Hindu [ at least 5000 BC] Long before John 1:1 was written Vedas wrote the same thing. "prajapathi vai agre asset" IN THE BEGINNING WAS PRAJAPTHI, THE BRAHMAN-THE GOD, "Tasya Vag dvitiya Aseet" WITH WHOM WAS THE WORD; "Vag vai parama Brahman" AND THE WORD WAS VERILY THE SUPREME BRAHMAN -THE GOD John 1:1 states: IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD AND THE WORD WAS GOD.

Hindu scriptures state THERE IS ONE AND ONLY GOD WHICH EXPRESSES ITSELF IN TRILLIONS OF FORMS. In fact, they wrote confused between BRAHMAN [ the Absolute] and BRAHMA [ the creator]. They wrote, Brahman or Krishna was the beginning of all things without stating that Krishna is an avatar of Lord Vishnu. Of course, Vedas mention many gods, since Vedas are the every first books written. Old Testament similarly mentions many gods like BAAL and EL, until Moses killed every one who worshiped any other god than Jehovah.

Authors quote so many scriptures to state that Jesus Christ is God. But failed to state that Judaism [ mother religion] does not see Jesus Christ as God or as Son of God. Islam [ sister religion ] does not see Jesus Christ as God or Son of God, even though Koran mentions the name of Jesus Christ many times in the Koran. Jehovah Witness does not see Jesus Christ as God!!!!!! All of them read the same Holy Bible!!!!!!!!!!Amazing!! JEALOUS GOD IN THE BIBLE---authors forget to mention that God said I am a jealous God in the Bible since he was fighting for territorial rights with BAAL [ horn god] and EL. God in the Holy Bible was not fighting with Hindu gods!!! That concept did not originate against Hindus worshiping gods. Jews used to worship many gods until the time of Judges. Joshua 22:22 states, GOD OF GODS IS YAHWEH, GOD; GOD OF GODS IS YAHWEH. SELF WORSHIP IS SELF-DECEPTIVE AND IDOLATROUS [ page 58] authors fail to recognize the fact that a Hindu is not worshiping body as God but the IMMORTAL SOUL WITHIN THE BODY AS GOD. It is stupid and egoistic to worship body as God and no Hindu scripture advocate that. Again, a Hindu is not worshiping SELF, but realizing that he/she is not the body but the immortal soul. Since there is no word IMMORTAL SOUL in the entire Holy Bible, author's attacking SELF-WORSHIP is understandable. Hindu salvation and Christian salvation concepts are totally different. Hindu salvation is known as SELF REALIZATION. Hindu scriptures state that Man's problem is that he believes that he is the body and not the immortal soul within. So a man has to realize that he is the soul within, then automatically he achieve salvation. I really wish people who read this book also read books like AM I A HINDU? [ISBN 1-8799

17 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Fundamentalist drivel - stay away, April 3, 2003

By 

Albert Parr "kinderfaith" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hinduism, TM and Hare Krishna (Paperback)

The previous review certainly says it all. There is no question that the authors are severely biased and their scholarship is rather non-existent. I was born and raised a Catholic, and later learned the protestant variant, so I am familiar with part of the christian spectrum. I have also read several of the classics of the Vedic literature, and they seemed quite reasonable and profound. In fact, they seemed better than anything produced by western thought. It is a pity that some christians criticize something that they don't understand. It seems that as a group, christians err on the side of being narrow-minded. Throughout history, people have been persecuted, tortured, and even executed in the name of religion. It should be simple to understand that religion (any religion) is for constructive, not destructive, purposes. Something that harms anyone or anything can't be classified as a religion anymore. We also must remember that human beings are highly individualistic. Everyone interprets his relationship with the Divine in a different way. The Bible, the Gita, the Koran... they have many different and contradictory interpretations. Who is right? Here is where we see that religion is not a matter of priests, doctrines, and books, but a personal relationship with whomever you think the Creator is. Ultimately, God must be One (however, you are free to challenge this presumption). If the Hindu people think that the One has many manifestations, what harm is there in it? What right or authority do you have to contradict such belief?. And as far as 'evangelizing'...have christians produced such a beatiful world? Have christians erased from their hearts, pettiness, envy, greed, arrogance, egotism, bigotry, and all others forms of ignorance? If yes, by all means, go and evangelize all and sundry. If not, then better worry about reforming yourselves, not others. Because others may be in much better shape than you. Now, wouldn't that be a kick?

4 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an excellent source, September 20, 2004

By 

Michael H. Seal (Lynchburg, Va.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hinduism, TM and Hare Krishna (Paperback)

This is a tremendous book that explains hinduism for what it is. I saw the other reviews and realized that they were really misinformed about the beliefs and reality of Christendom. What was not understood is that we(Christians) do not hate Hindus, we love them and want to reach them for Christ because the reality is, that every single person(Hindu, Muslim, Jew, Pagan, ect) that dies with trusting Christ as their savior goes to a Godless hell. We do not wish for this to happen, therefore it is our duty, as believers in Christ to do our very best to reach these people for His glory.

The postmodernist may say that we shouldn't try to convert anyone because Christianity may be right for me, but Islam, Hinduism, etc, may be right for others. Well... postmodernism is complete and utter nonsense. I spoke with a Hindu once, I asked him if God(in all of his different manifestations) could ever contradict himself, the man's answer was obviously that God could do no such thing. He said that Jesus was God, so was Allah... and on and on. Then I brought up the fact that Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to the Father but through me." Well, God cannot be wrong, the Hindu man acknowledged this, yet he could not explain how Jesus could have said such a thing. Newsflash... it's because Jesus is Jesus, the one and only Son of God, He isn't the same as Allah, or Buddha... He is not a Schizophrenic. He is one.

Also, the origins of John 1:1 go back to the Greek philosophers. It was known as the Logos Theory: "in the beginning was the word(logos), and the word(logos) was with God, and the word(logos) was God." John was writing to people throughout the Roman empire who no doubt barrowed much of their culture from the ancient Greeks and had some working knowledge of the Logos Theory.

In other news, Christianity is not some Jewish cult. Jesus came to fulfill the Jewish prophecies... He did so. The problem was that he was not accepted by most of His people.

Anyway... good book, worth buying.