Constructing a Hindu Black Theology

In the context of Christianity, black theologians have offered understandings of scripture that promote black upliftment. One may then ask the question: can a Hindu to do the same? I argue that the answer to this question is “yes.”

In this article, I examine the Bhagavad Gītā and the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, two central Hindu sacred texts, in order to construct a Hindu black theology. I first turn my attention to the notion of the spiritual equality of all living beings. Hindu thought recognizes that individuals have a physical and a spiritual aspect of their being. The spiritual aspect is the ātman, or the immaterial spiritual self, who remains distinct from its physical body though associated with it temporarily. In the Hindu black theology that I construct, each self is a unique individual who is distinct from other selves, though spiritually equal to other selves as well.

Given their spiritual nature, the Bhagavad–Gītā emphasizes the importance of viewing all selves equally. For instance, Bhagavad–Gītā 5.18 states, “the wise look equally upon a learned humble brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog cooker.” As this verse indicates, the wise do not value the existence of selves according to their physical body, which encases selves but does not constitute their true lasting identity. Rather, the wise value all living beings since they are immaterial selves and because all immaterial selves have equal worth.

That all selves are spiritually equal regardless of their temporary worldly embodiments has several crucial implications for promoting and realizing a vision of social and racial equality. How such social equality can be implemented and achieved is indicated in the following discussion.

I argue that the root reason for forms of oppression is that humans draw distinctions between themselves and others based on various criteria that are social constructs developed within specific historical contexts. For instance, sexism, racism, and colonialism within the Americas can be seen as consequences of oppression based on physiological, socio-cultural, and religious differences. Indeed, many of the patterns of oppression that we have witnessed throughout human history have involved processes of ‘othering’ individuals and portraying them as inferior to the socio-cultural group with which one identifies.

Unfortunately, religion has also often been implicated within this ‘othering’ process. However, I argue that such a tendency to ‘otherize’ individuals, cast them as an inferior group, and construct social structures in order to dominate them, is not caused by religion but is instead a deeply-rooted human tendency, which can manifest through, and be reinforced by religion. I argue that even if the ideas and the institutions of religion were absent in a particular socio-cultural milieu, there could be other strategies of division that individuals could employ in order to justify systems of exploiting and oppressing others. For instance, one could establish wealth, intelligence, language, or some other marker of self-worth as a means by which individuals should be evaluated. The groups that possess these characteristics could then justify their superiority over other groups that possess these characteristics to a lesser degree.

However, when individuals adhere to the notion of spiritual equality as proclaimed by scriptural verses such as Bhagavad–Gītā 5.18, individuals can begin to actively break down the divisions produced and sustained by the categories of race (along with caste, economic status, gender, etc.) and view others as their spiritual equals regardless of any arbitrary physiological or socio-cultural characteristic that they or others may be associated with. For instance, a white man could look upon a black woman and see that she, as embodying a transcendent spiritual self like his own spiritual self, is spiritually equal to himself. Thus, with this spiritual vision, this man can look beyond this woman’s physiological differences and treat her respectfully as a fellow spiritual self. This same reasoning also applies to animals, individuals of a different race or caste, etc.

Another important motif is the importance of developing compassion. For instance, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa contains several verses that encourage its readers to develop compassion (karuṇa). Bhāgavata Purāṇa 6.2.36 indicates that compassion is a spiritual virtue that one should cultivate. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.27.8 makes a similar point. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 9.21.3-13 describe the story of Rantideva, whose life serves as a paradigmatic example of the compassion that adherents of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa are encouraged to develop. These verses explain that Rantideva, though having fasted from food and water for forty-eight days, had distributed newly acquired food to various guests who visited his home. At Bhāgavata Purāṇa 9.21.12, Rantideva states:

From God, I do not desire the highest destination, which includes the eight perfections of yoga, nor freedom from material existence. I desire to obtain the pain of all the embodied living beings while I stay among them as the person through whom they become without misery.

Bhāgavata Purāṇa 9.21.12.

Thus, as Rantideva’s story illustrates, the ideal of compassion is taken to be a saintly quality, and cultivating it is valued even above one’s own spiritual pursuits.

So, in sum, I argue that one can indeed construct a Hindu black theology based on the teachings of the Bhagavad Gītā and the Bhāgavata Purāṇa. At the heart of this Hindu black theology is the notion that all selves are equal and that compassion is an ideal to strive toward.

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© Akshay Gupta, 2022.

This work is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Cover Image: “The tower(gopuram) of a typical Hindu temple Sri Lanka Colombo” by Mal B is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.