Namaste readers,

I just started to read this book. It's a translation from two volumes of the Tamil Book, "Deivatthin Kural."

Maybe it's just my knee jerk reaction, but I don't think so.

1) The author states that, "We must find release from the goal that is our body and dwell in our true home. God has sentenced us to goal (that is he has imprisoned us in our body) for our sins. If we practice virtue he will condone our sins and release us from the prison of our body before the expiry of the sentence. We must desist from committing sinful acts so that our term of imprisonment is not extended and
endeavor to free ourselves and arrive in our true home, our true home that is the Lord. This home is bliss that passeth understanding, bliss that is not bound by the limitations of time, space and matter."

2) Later on, the author states, "The commandments relating to charity are called "ara-kattalai"in Tamil."

3) The author states, "Moksa is release from all attachments. It is a state in which the Self remains ever in untrammeled freedom and blessedness. The chief purpose of religion is to teach us how this supreme state may be attained."

4) "The dictates of dharma help us to abandon the pursuit
of sensual enjoyments and endeavor for eternal bliss. They are also essential to create a social order that has the same high purpose, the liberation of all. Religion, with its goal of liberation, lays down the tenets of dharma. That is why the great understand the word dharma itself to mean religion."

First of all, I am seeing signs of Christianization of this thought system. What I mean is:

1) The concept of Original Sin does not exist in Dharma.
2) Why is the author using the word, passeth, from the Christian bible?
3) There are no commandments in the same sense that exist in Abrahamic religions because the framework is different.
4) The author did not make the connection of Moksha and release from the cycle of birth and death. (it should have been explicitly spelled out)
5) Dharma is not necessarily religion. Look at the article, "Dharma is not the same as religion." It's much more than that.
6) Again there are no top-down dictates in scriptures like there is in the Abrahamic religions.

I don't know about this book... There so many THOUSANDS of pages of text I want to read, so I don't want Christianity getting in my way. I want to be efficient about this, considering that my body is already nearing 50 cycles on Earth. Please advise, otherwise I'll go ahead and skip to the Ramayana.