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Lying in Hinduism

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By Sulaiman Razvi

Hindu god allows lying on five occasions especially while enjoying a woman, Krishna said,
Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Krishna Janma Khanda 98.38-44 ”…Hari began to laugh and thus addressed Uddhava, using words of good import and worlds sanctioned by the Vedas, ”O Uddhava, untruth spoken to women or on the sporting ground, or in an emergency which endangers life or for the good of the vows or the Brahmin is not contemptible…” Tr. Rajendra Nath Sen

Matysa Purana 31.16 ”Sarmistha said:- ”King! there is no sin in speaking untruth at the time of indulging in sexual pleasures, on the occasion of marriage, when life is in danger, wealth is at stake, and in joke. Lying on these five occasions is venal.” Tr. Various Sanskrit Scholars, Edited by B.D. Basu

Mahabharata 8.69 ”In a situation of peril to life and in marriage, falsehood becomes utterable. In a situation involving the loss of one’s entire property, falsehood becomes utterable. On an occasion of marriage, or of enjoying a woman, or when life is in danger, or when one’s entire property is about to be taken away, or for the sake of a Brahmana, falsehood may be uttered. These five kinds of falsehood have been declared to be sinless. On these occasions falsehood would become truth and truth would become falsehood.”

Mahabharata 1.82 “Sarmishtha then said, ‘It hath been said, O king, that it is not sinful to lie on the occasion of a joke, in respect of women sought to be enjoyed, on occasions of marriage, in peril of immediate death and of the loss of one’s whole fortune. Lying is excusable on these five occasions.” Tr. K.M. Ganguli

Vasishtha Samhita 16.35 (Men) may speak an untruth at the time of marriage, during dalliance, when their lives are in danger or the loss of their whole property is imminent, and for the sake of a Brâhmana; they declare that an untruth spoken in these five cases does not make (the speaker) an outcast.

Gautama Samhita 23.29 Some (declare, that) an untruth (spoken) at the time of marriage, during dalliance, in jest or while (one suffers severe) pain is venial.

So Krishna allows lying for personal benefits. No wonder why so many Hindu fanatics use lie and deceit to mock others. Many Hindus are unaware of these verses and they mock others by using their own invented lies. A verse in Rigved states that Vedic God Indra slew Sushna by Maya (deception),

Rig Veda 1.11.7 “Thou slewest, Indra, by stratagems, the wily Sushna: the wise have known of this thy (greatness)…” Tr. H.H. Wilson

Swami Dayanand Saraswati the founder of Arya Samaj wrote in his commentary on this verse,

“God commands that highly intelligent persons should overthrow enemies by using all legitimate means consisting of persuasion (Saam), bribery (Daam), Dand (punishment) and Bhed (polarization, divide and rule, blackmail)…”

This was also Chankya Niti, Chanakya wrote,

Arthashastra of Kautilya Chapter 10 “…Negotiation, bribery, causing dissension, and open attack are forms of stratagem (upaya)…Offering money is bribery (upapradana). Causing fears and suspicion as well as threatening is known as sowing dissesion. Killing, harassing, and plundering is attack (danda)…” Tr. R. Shamasastry

 

Swami Dayanand Saraswati also advocates lying to propagate ones faith he writes,

“Now it must be understood that if it was the belief of Shankar that God and the human soul were identical and that the world was an illusion, it was not good; but if he had avowed this doctrine simply in order to refute Jainism more successfully, it was a little good.” Satyarth Prakash, by Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Chapter 11, Tr. Chiranjiva Bhardwaja

He means if one lies just to demean others faith in order to propagate the Vedic faith then it is a good thing. Swami Prabhupada the founder of ISKCON had similar views,
‘’According to Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya preached the Māyāvāda philosophy for a particular purpose. Such a philosophy was necessary to defeat the Buddhist philosophy of the nonexistence of the spirit soul, but it was never meant for perpetual acceptance. It was an emergency. Thus Lord Kṛṣṇa was accepted by Śaṅkarācārya as the Supreme Personality of Godhead in his commentation on Bhagavad-gītā.’’ By A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam 3.4.20 http://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/3/4/20

Swami Prabhupada also wrote,
“In this regard, it is stated in the Padma Purana that Lord Siva appeared as a brahmana in the age of Kali to preach the Mayavada philosophy, which is nothing but a type of Buddhist philosophy. It is stated in Padma Purana: Lord Siva, speaking to Parvati-devi, foretold that he would spread the Mayavada philosophy in the guise of a sannyasi brahmana just to eradicate Buddhist philosophy. This sannyasi was Sripada Sankaracarya. In order to overcome the effects of Buddhist philosophy and spread Vedanta philosophy, Sripada Sankaracarya had to make some compromise with the Buddhist philosophy, and as such he preached the philosophy of monism, for it was required at that time. Otherwise there was no need for his preaching Mayavada philosophy. At the present moment there is no need for Mayavada philosophy or Buddhist philosophy, and Lord Caitanya rejected both of them. This Krishna consciousness movement is spreading the philosophy of Lord Caitanya and rejecting the philosophy of both classes of Mayavadi. Strictly speaking, both Buddhist philosophy and Sankara’s philosophy are but different types of Mayavada dealing on the platform of material existence. Neither of these philosophies has spiritual significance. There is spiritual significance only after one accepts the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita, which culminates in surrendering unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Generally people worship Lord Siva for some material benefit, and although they cannot see him personally, they derive great material profit by worshiping him.” Swami Prabhupada on Srimad Bhagavatam 4.24.17 http://vanisource.org/wiki/SB_4.24.17

So both Swami Prabhupada and Dayanand says that it’s OK to lie and deceive to propagate ones faith. Also read Hindu god is a cheater.

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