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anyone. To attempt a Hinduism for Dummies type project is itself an idiotic enter
prise. The following questions are slightly uncommon in phrasing, meant to make
you feel like asking more questions and not fewer. The answers are not from a sc
holarly authority on the subject but just someone who has lived, experienced and
studied the ethos of Hinduism first-hand so dispute and contradict me as you pl
ease.
1. What does Hinduism mean?
A: Just as Christianity is the religion of Christ, so is Hinduism a religion of.
.. what?
The definition opens the door to the true difficulty in understanding Hinduism,
because it simply identifies as an ism of Hindu, which is a term derived from Sind
hu, the Sanskrit name for the Indus River. The term compounds the various religio
us and philosophical systems practiced in the land of the Indus River, India and
today, the broader Indian subcontinent, comprising of India, Nepal, Pakistan, B
angladesh and Sri Lanka. Indeed, one of the Indian subcontinent and the Republic
of India's historically popular colloquial names is Hindustan Land of the Hindu
s. So this religion, if there is indeed only one, is named on a geographical bas
is. Nor has Indian culture traditionally observed strict boundaries between reli
gion, philosophy, science or art, all of whom are often entwined.
Many of its adherents prefer the term Sanathan Dharma - the Universal religion, wh
ich doesn't exactly make things clearer. Many Hindus will tell you they consider
Hinduism not as a religion, but as a way of life - a cultural ethos, or another t
erm for Indian civilization.
2. So then what is Hinduism exactly?
A: Umm... a lot of things, to be frank. Going by the traditional definition set
by geography, the mantle of Hinduism includes more than five schools of philosophy
that don't believe in a creator-god, believe in a creator but not a supervising
god, are agnostic or indeed, completely atheistic and materialistic such as the
Samkhya and Carvaka schools. The actual theism and belief in a creating, superv
ising and destroying godhead is the school of Vedanta, based on the four Vedas.
This broad, traditional definition of Hinduism is the source of serious political
disputes as well. Religions that arose specifically rejecting the Vedas, such as
Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism may technically qualify as being part of Hinduism
because they were born in the Indian subcontinent. This point is laboriously in
sisted upon by Hindu nationalists, who ask Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs to call th
emselves Hindu. Yet each community has developed distinctive identities, and whi
le there are no actual conflicts or issues between these communities (inter-marr
iage, worship at common temples and social interaction are common), many of them
don't like the idea of submerging their religious identity into a larger pool.
3. What is the holy text of Hinduism? Who are the gods of Hinduism, and what are
the clergy like?
A: According to the Supreme Court of India, a follower of the Hindu religion is
identified by his adherence to the four Vedas Rig, Atharva, Sama and Yajur. Howe
ver, this legalistic interpretation has been challenged as inaccurate, as Hindui
sm does not emphasize one source, one book or set, one prophet, one savior or ev
en one god. Moreover, the Vedas are divinely inspired, but are not the word of God.
Hinduism has long evolved beyond the Vedic era. The religious practices of most
Hindus are significantly different from Vedic teachings, which talk about a lita
ny of deities who most Hindus do not worship anymore. The great Vedic deity of I
r times in the Kali-yuga, where immorality, untruth and human suffering are maxi
mized (Quelle surprise). No exact measurement of time really exists some interpr
et the yugas to have lasted tens of millions of years, with the lives of human b
eings lasting hundreds of years in the earlier ages of piety. A change from thos
e who say the world is only a few thousand years old, but just as unscientific a
nd no better, as this view still considers life as only getting worse.
D. Heaven and Hell Swarga is heaven and Naraka is a term for a hellish environme
nt. A key distinction from Christianity and Islam is that neither is a permanent
destination if your conduct in heaven is unbecoming, you will be sent down to ear
th to re-enter the cycle of birth, and you have to earn religious merit all over
again by being a good person. Hell is like jail you serve a definite sentence s
et for specific crimes; all human beings will have to spend at least a small tok
en of time in hell for any little sin, lie or fib they committed. However, once
time is served, you can be reborn as a higher being or enter heaven.
E. Avatars incarnations of the Supreme Lord to save humanity; there are legends
about the incarnations of Shiva in such a role, but Vishnu's avatars are the mos
t popular. The first avatar of Vishnu is as Matsya, or a fish he arrived to warn
Manu of an impending flood that would wipe out all sinful human beings, and ins
pired Manu to construct a large ship to rescue humans and other living beings. S
ounds familiar? Yes, this is the Hindu flood story, developed distinctly from th
e story of Noah's ark. The avatars arrive to rescue humanity or the most virtuou
s individuals of the time from evil. The most popular incarnations are those of
Rama, the prince of Ayodhya the most virtuous king and the ideal man; the epic p
oem Ramayana is the story of his life and Krishna, the mentor and guide of the v
irtuous Pandava brothers, who struggle against their evil Kaurava cousins to reg
ain their rightful kingdom in the Mahabharata.
Hindu eschatology does predict a final incarnation Kalki. He will arrive at the
end of the Kali-yuga, before the entire universe is destroyed, to save the right
eous and virtuous from the onslaught of evil.
F. Varna known as caste, this is the most controversial aspect of Hinduism that
has nevertheless spread even beyond Hindu society. The Varnashrama doctrine divi
des humanity into four classes by duty or occupation. The Brahmins are the highe
st in the order, entitled to be priests and scholars, whose meditations and perf
ormance of religious duties ensure the relative piety of the world. The Kshatriy
as, or warriors and princes, who rule states and fight wars. The Vaishyas are en
titled to be traders and business people, and the Shudras are laborers and farme
rs. Reformers, apologists and other defenders of Hinduism maintain these divisio
ns are just occupational, describing how human society subdivides itself and tha
t all castes are actually equal.
The reality is different. For thousands of years, caste was entrenched by birth,
and castes behave as a result as tribal communities. With the growth of the pop
ulation, they have divided themselves into thousands of sub-castes that do not e
xist in Hindu scripture. However, Hindu scripture considers Brahmins and Kshatri
yas to indeed be of high birth - in the cycle of life, they are closest to moksha.
While it doesn't take much to see how the Brahmins and Kshatriyas loved to contr
ol society like this, the system degenerated into sheer cruelty. Socializing bet
ween castes was strictly prohibited; inter-marriage and inter-dining with lower c
astes unthinkable. Large populations of Indians were considered too unclean to even
count within the four-tiered order of life they were treated as untouchables, qui
te literally. They lived away from the rest of the town, village or city, and co
uld not walk on the same side of the road as the other castes, nor drink water f
rom the same well. By profession, they were butchers, and handled leather, anima
l skins and hides, collected and disposed of refuse and human waste essential, y
et unclean professions to the higher castes.
No, its the fatalism that has emerged due to the doctrines of karma and rebirth.
A person born to a low-caste or as an untouchable is trained to think that he or
she is in this position and made to suffer greatly because of a crime he or she
committed in a past life. Therefore, you must accept slavery and humiliation as
a penance for a crime you never have a chance of knowing you ever committed. You c
an never do anything about your station in life don't resist, or you will ensure
divine retribution and even-lower birth!
This fatalism has prevented many generations of Indians from embracing and pursu
ing reform of any kind. Indeed, the first efforts to end untouchability did not be
gin until the British introduced modern education and science to India. The highe
r birth castes long believed they have a God-given right to treat the lower birth p
eople as slaves, as part of a continuing punishment for those mythical sins. How
ever, the worst part is that this fatalism has long seeped into the untouchable cl
asses themselves not only have many generations been divided in resistance or un
willingness to resist this cruelty, but they have often created sub-castes of unt
ouchables amongst themselves.
This total helplessness before the settled, divine order has meant many generation
s of Indians have succumbed to a hysteria about superstition, ritualism, numerol
ogy and astrology as the only way to see what's coming and avert disasters. Prie
sts have to be paid, worshiped and fed in order for them to perform the ceremoni
es necessary for your departed loved one to go to heaven and not end up in hell
many millions of poor Indians have been fleeced and emotionally tormented into p
aying priests who terrorized them with the idea that the fate of the soul of the
ir family members were hell-bound.
That a grieving family can be emotionally terrorized and ruthlessly exploited in
their most difficult hour of pain, and that this practice continues even amongs
t many liberal and educated Hindus, is something I have witnessed and would cert
ainly describe as being evil - purely evil.
Hopefully at this point, you have more questions about Hinduism to pursue answer
s for. Hinduism is quintessentially Indian, but also the oldest of the religions
that have survived and thrived beyond the evolution of monotheism. Understandin
g it is essential to any true understanding of human nature, and considering how
central it is to the lives of more than 900 million people, to the advancement
of liberty and progress in humankind.