Satyarth Prakash

3. "The King of the day of judgment. Thee only do we worship and of Thee do we beg assistance. Direct thou us on the right path. "(Surah 1:2, 4, and 5.)

C. ~ Does not God always administer justice. If He administers justice only on one particular day, He does wrong. It is right to worship Him and beg assistance of Him, but is this equally right to invoke His assistance in doing even evil deeds? Is the right path that of the Mohammedans alone and not of others? Why do not the Mohammedans tread the path which is really the right one? (We hope) they do not regard the path that leads to evil as the right one. If good is the same in all religions, the Mohammedan religion can have no superiority over others. If the Mohammedans do not believe that other religions are just as good as their own, they are prejudiced.

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Our Response

Swamiji, the absurdity lies in your mind. God always administers justice. I wish you had read the Quran properly. The Quran says,

"Whatever misfortune happens to you, is because of the things your hands have wrought, and for many (of them) He grants forgiveness." [Quran Surah 42; Ayah 30]

The reason for calling it the Judgment Day is that people will themselves see Justice being administered by God and no one will have even the slightest chance to deny His Justice. The Quran says,

"[It will be said], "You were certainly in unmindfulness of this, and We have removed from you your cover, so your sight, this Day, is sharp." [Quran Surah 50; Ayah 22]

Thus it means, in the world, people who were skeptical about the judgment of God will be confronted with reality. The covering will be removed from them, so that their sight on this day is acute’, it is sharp, able to perceive what they used to reject in the world.

Nowhere is it asking us to invoke God's assistance in evil deeds. This is the twist in your mind. It is implied that we ask help in righteous matters, beacuse there is an element of servitude to God in this chapter. In numerous places in the Quran, we are exhorted to seek God's help in righteousness. Vedas too contain passages where help is sought from God. So is that help sought for evil?

Regarding Swamijis question, "Is the right path that of the Mohammedans alone and not of others?" we say, certainly, only Islam (which means obedience to God) is the true path. Swamiji would have been qualified to raise an objection here if he himself believed that all paths are true and not the path of Vedas alone. However, we find that Swamiji believes that Vedic path alone is the true path and others are false. On page 446 of Satyarth Prakash, Swamiji is asked the question,

"Are then the teachings of the Dadupanthee true?"

to which he replies,

"The only true path is that of the Vedas. Follow it if you can otherwise you will always be sunk in ignorance and misery."

Here is the scanned image from Hindi Satyarth Prakash


I wonder how could Swamiji take exception to a principle that he himself believes in.  He has dedicated whole chapters to criticize other religions. The True Path is only one. We recognize the good and virtuous teachings of all religions. However, we need to know what actually Religion is. Religion is not merely a collection of ethical principles, but a way to know God and a way to worship God. Rest of the ethical principles are present in all religions.

If believing that one's own religion is the only true religion is prejudice, then it follows from the above analysis that Swamiji is the biggest prejudiced person.

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This ends our third response. New points and arguments may be incorporated.