Hinduism: ‘No essence?’

Here is Jonardon Ganeri, visiting professor of philosophy at New York University Abu Dhabi, during an interview with The New York Times’ Gary Gutting:

G.G.: How does Hinduism regard other religions (for example, as teaching falsehoods, as worthy alternative ways, as partial insights into its fuller truth)?

J.G.: The essence of Hinduism is that it has no essence. What defines Hinduism and sets it apart from other major religions is its polycentricity, its admission of multiple centers of belief and practice, with a consequent absence of any single structure of theological or liturgical power. Unlike Christianity, Buddhism or Islam, there is no one single canonical text — the Bible, the Dialogues of the Buddha, the Quran — that serves as a fundamental axis of hermeneutical or doctrinal endeavor, recording the words of a foundational religious teacher. (The Veda is only the earliest in a diverse corpus of Hindu texts.) Hinduism is a banyan tree, in the shade of whose canopy, supported by not one but many trunks, a great diversity of thought and action is sustained.

That’s a stunning statement for a religion with 1 billion adherents. If there is no essence, why bother? Seems to me if the goal is to gain knowledge, enlightenment, awareness, peace and tranquility, humans can do all that simply by studying the cosmos and reflecting on our place in it. No [insert god or gods] needed.

Read more here: What Would Krishna Do? Or Shiva? Or Vishnu?