The Great Indian Political Debate - 3

[Bodhi]

<!--QuoteBegin-Husky+Aug 27 2008, 07:27 PM-->QUOTE(Husky @ Aug 27 2008, 07:27 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-Viren+Aug 27 2008, 04:16 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Viren @ Aug 27 2008, 04:16 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->came in email
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<i>Q. Does Hinduism also not lay exclusive claim to be the only right faith? For instance, in the Gita Sri Krishna calls up
on people to abandon all other dharmas and surrender to Him.</i><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->[right][snapback]87099[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Krishna says no such thing in the Gita. He says people can and do worship all Gods and that he naturally accepts all this devotion since it is ultimately rendered to him anyway. That is because he is Brahman - as he explicitly reveals in the Gita - and because, similarly, Brahman is all the Gods. In Hindu Dharma, we can see shlokas revealing various Gods as being Brahman (from Guha, Ganapathi to Devi, Shiva and more).
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Husky, the questioner was probably referring to the 66th shloka of the last chapter:

sarvadharmAn parityajya mAmekam sharaNam vraja
aham tvA sarva pApebhyo mokshayishyAmi mAshuchaH (Bg. 18.66)

{Abandoning All Dharma-s, Take Shelter in Me Alone
I Shall Grant You Moksha Despite All Your Sins, Grieve Not}

But indeed an acrobatics is needed to turn it into "Hindu is the only Valid religion". Here kR^iShNa is talking about a devotee's complete sharaNAgati/surrender into iShTa as the final way to liberation. (Occuring therefore in the last chapter, when everything else failed to convince arjuna.)