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What is the Hindu View of Salvation?
Hinduism does not teach that we are sinners in need of salvation but that we are the Divine
itself needing to awaken to its true nature. We are suffering from ignorance and the cure for this is knowledge. We have forgotten our true Self, which is eternal, and are caught in the outer world, which is transient.
The Hindu concept is one of
liberation, which is very different than the idea of salvation and
should not be equated with it. Liberation is not from sin but from
ignorance, which is the misconception that we are other than God.
Even those who do good according to a particular religion, and are
thereby said to be saved, are bound by ignorance if they do not know
their true Self and are not liberated.
Hinduism does not look to
salvation, or to a savior as anything ultimate. It looks to mergence
in God who is the being of all. The only way to do this is through
right meditation which clears the mind of the impressions that bind
it to the external world. Liberation takes us beyond the cycle of
rebirth, whereas salvation is just an emotional or mental state,
which may bring some temporary peace or happiness, but no final
release.
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