Hi everybody,
It is really very interesting that I find this Forum in FriHost. And I was really intrigued by the name of the forum because I personally believe that Religion and Philosophy are really the two sides of the same coin!! Some may say Religion is about a certain way of life, well that is true, but I am of my humble opinion that religion might be a form of accepted philosophy!
I have always seen that people hold many prejudices against Hinduism. I am a hindu by birth and pratice (though I practice very less), and I have seen that the major reason for these prejudices lie in the very fact that people are very ignorant about Hinduism.
Recently, I went to Wikipedia and gone through their articles on Hinduism, I was so amazed at the relevancy of the contents. I would siggest you all to go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism and look for yourself.
Maybe within this topic, we can have some discussion regarding Hinduism and some related.
Well I am not an expert, but I guess I can take some questions? 
looking forward to some discussions..... Hello prantikbordoloi....
I must admit to having no real knowlege of Hinduism and the practice of it, but I am of the mind that there is but one God...we just pray to him differantly. Some members of this forum seem violently opposed to anyone with a differing view of God and religion in general, and I have found that to be the case IRL as well. From what I have heard, Hinduism is a religion that practices peace. As with most, if not all, other religions certain sects have given religion, not just yours but mine as well, a "bad name".
I for one look forward to any light you may be able to cast on the subject. I seek knowlege, not arguements.
| Vrythramax wrote: |
| I seek knowlege, not arguements. |
Hi Max,
Thats a very good point that you put forward.
Well, I guess all religions promote peace through their religious texts, but (a very important "but" here) the interpretation of the religious text by people makes it more complicated. Because these people are out to set boundaries based on their interpretations.
For example, I have heard that the Bible (i have never read the Bible) says somewhere that "Thou shall not kill". Now the common interpretation is that this only relates to not killing humans!! Well i am not here to judge the interpretation, but the point is that someone said that "well this statement means we humans should not kill other humans" - but maybe someone would also interpret it as that "we humans should not kill other living beings".
But the more common interpretation or should i rather say "the more acceptable to the masses" interpretation wins...aint it?
My personal opinion is this interpretation goes for all the aspects of a religion, for example, GOD, afterlife, dialy rituals..etc...
The same also aplied to hinduism...we have so man religious texts written by so many people. Hence hinduism has many faces baced on how people have interpreted this......and hence we dont have a single religious leader or figure..like for example the Pope for the roman catholics...
Going on with the argument on interpretation, this is also the case because if we can see very cleary a strong regional & cultural in the religions...like south asian in Hinduism, strong arabic influence in Islam, a strong middle eastern influence in Chistianity and Judaism as well.
When religion spreads (by acceptance or forcibly - point of argument here , hence wont go into that) these cultural elements also go along, which is again sometimes accepted sometimes rejected (controversial topic hence wont go into it), because sometimes they are opposite to the indegenious culture (historical examples include spead of islam in south east asia, christianity in the americas....etc etc)
so i guess the point i am making is that religion is subject to interpretation....
hey i also liked this webpage a lot...maybe you woulf like to have a loook at this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion
anyway further discussion will be interesting what do you say...
--Prantik@prantikbordoloi...
Thank you for your most recent post, it was very well thought out and well spoken. I agree with many of the points you outlined and I have the link you posted open in another window as I type this (big page!). I also look forward t discussing any topic with you, religion included, as long as we can both keep a level head about it. 
I'm going to check out what that page has to say about Hinduism. I hope you won't mind if I post some questions for you, I am sure some will come to mind as I read up on the subject. Take care. I recently learned SO much about hinduism in my religions class that I didn't know before. It's freaking amazing.
@prantikbordoloi ...
I do not know if you are aware that hinduism doesn't have a uniform way to and is all followed not same all over india.. so I would like to know.. if you have traveled around in every single villages of india and is prejudice against every single way of hinduism.. or is just against your own culture.. so make the point really clear here... thanks//
Hinduism?
I was looking at the origins of Hinduism and apparently there were like 33 gods originally and Indra was the head of them. However Indra seems to be a false god according to Zoaraster's religion which is a monotheistic religion.
So one might say that Hinduism originated from a religion that worships a false god rather like Baal in the Bible.
Hinduism is a very cultural religion though. One hindu told me that you could worship jesus as long as you called yourself a hindu and was part of the culture thingys, but i'm not sure if that is true.
Actually, there are two levels of Hinduism.
One is what you see on the outside, the temples, the idols, the 33 million or so gods, the seemingly pointless and grotesque rituals, the priests, the mantras, the shaven head, the festivals...
Then there is the inner level, and it's called Vedanta. It's a philosophy that's firm enough and broad enough to meet the strictest scientific requirements, with a practical side to it that's simply amazing. It's good if a hindu can grow above the harshly coloured outer level and discover Vedanta, but very few does it. In fact, I guess now there might be more authorities in Europe and America on this philosophy than in India, because pure Vedanta, without the outer-religion-mix, si so rare. And I don't know if that isn't a good thing...
Hinduism has many levels : Highest to lowest. This is because human nature and intellect are not uniform. Some people can grasp subtle ideas and most cannot.
For the most subtle, there is Vedanta. One source of all consciousness, monotheism in the purest form. Where individual soul merges with the Ultimate. It is the path of intellect.
Next level is Yoga. Where you get a scientific path of pranic discipline fused with purest meditation. The goal of yoga is the union of the individual soul with the Superconscious Being, God. It is a path only for the most self disciplined individuals. This yoga is concieved in the Upanishadic period and later compiled by Patanjali. It is the 8-fold Raja Yoga. Hatha Yoga and Laya Yoga came later.
Next you have the path of Faith and devotion. Where God is worshipped as a seperate being, as father, as master or as Beloved. It is called the path of Bhakti (devotion). People worship Krishna, Rama, Shiva, Durga etc. Glorified expressions of the supreme being. There is the evidnce of Bhakti all along in Hinduism. Beginning in the Vedas : Purusha Sukta, Rudra Sukta, Devi Sukta... In the Upanishads Svetashvetara Upanishad, Isha upanishad. Especially in the puranas Bhagavat purana and in epics like Ramayana & Mahabharata.
Then comes the Tantra. They are like fingers pointing to joints in the universe, or whispers hinting warmholes in nature. They are scientific and benevolent in the hands of adepts and very dangerous and misleading for the ignorant. There are various tantras. Even the 4th veda Atharva contains tantric elements. Veda and Yoga mostly serves pure spirituality; while Tantra looks after the spirit as well as mundane affairs. Gyan-sankalani and Maha-nirvana tantras speak of the highest.
In ancient India, there were other schools like alchemists, ayurvedics, surya-vigyanis (solar science/ sub-pranic/ molecular) which are now almost extinct. Other noteworthy are Nyay, Samkhya, Vaisheshic, Mimamsa schools of pure Logic and science.
Most people today follow their heart which is the path of devotion. Although some are coming back to Yoga. Most monks of Adi-Shankara tradition are Vedantic.
The Vedanta tradition forbids assigning any name, form or attribute to God. It is most subtle and difficult to follow as you must find God within Yourself. The whole world is the manifestation of God. Your own consciousness is the reflection of God. This path is based on Logic and purification of intellect to the point that the Supreme being manifests Himself everywhere outside and inside.
While I dearly love Ramachandra, Krishna, Ramakrishna, Gandhi, and many others, I think that Siva and Kali are demonic, not divine.
Shiva or Shakti (Kali, Durga...) are not characters from a drama, they are phenomena. Shakti is energy associated with every individual soul. This Energy or power takes his consciousness from the animal instincts to divine awareness. This seat of divine awareness is otherwise called Shiva. And this process of Transcendence is visualized as the divine union between Shiva and Shakti.
It is a timeless phenomenon, which is beyond "good" or "bad".
I am wondering if anyone in the know could comment on the understanding of Krishna as a manifestation of the godhead and how this relates to the Christ? Please not the similar sounds (though not sure if the etymology of the words comes to mean the same (anointed).
Does he do the same for Hindu's as Christ does for Christians? That is shows them the way, is a manifestation of God, etc?
Thanks
I am myself a Hindu, and I enjoy it.(excuse the expression, I don't know how to express this in a better way.)
The principal philosophy of Hinduism is, as far as I know, about the rebirth cycle. Every living creature on the earth goes through the rebirth cycle a number of times, which depends on his deeds or karma. At last, he attains moksha.
Here is moksha explained in Wikipedia :-
| Quote: |
The ultimate goal of life, referred to as moksha, nirvana or samadhi, is described as the realization of one's union with God; realization of one's eternal relationship with God; realization of the unity of all existence; perfect unselfishness and knowledge of the Self; liberation from ignorance; attainment of perfect mental peace; or detachment from worldly desires. Such a realization liberates one from samsara and ends the cycle of rebirth.[33][34] The exact conceptualization of moksha differs among the various Hindu schools of thought. For example, advaita vedanta holds that after attaining moksha an atman no longer identifies itself with an individual but as part of Brahman. The followers of dualistic schools such as dvaita on the other hand, expect to spend eternity in a loka, or heaven [35], in the company of their chosen form of Ishvara. Thus, it is said, the followers of dvaita wish to "taste sugar," while the followers of Advaita wish to "become sugar."[36]
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Although Hinduism, is a wonderful religion, I am against some of the inhuman practices of early times like Sati, widows not allowed to marry again, etc.
All the information presented on this post is to the best of my knowledge. If something is incorrect or wrong, I welcome corrections. I am by birth christian and still..
According to me the hinduism is all about teaching people how one should live his life and how to respect the nature.
The only religion which worships the solar system. Almost each planet is being treated as a God in particular the Sun. I think most the hindus worship Sun everyday and some even have their eye opened in front of the Sun every morning. Having said that they have some extra planets called by some names and treat them as bad gods because they belive that these two planets create problem in one's life if they are in some angle or something. I don't want to get in there now.
Hindus belive 'Baghwat Gita' as their Bible and try to follow everything said in the holy book which talks about ethics in life and teaches how one should live his life.
And if you read / learn deep about their semi Gods .. each have their own personality in terms of lifestyle and behaviour and each teach some ethics in life. Almost each God has some story/history behind them and Avatars.
Each Avatar teaches some ethics in life and they have few gods on natuce as i said about the sun. They have each god for each natural activity or property like water, rain, air and land (Earth)...
When learn about some of their Gods have weard faces and with dangerous weapons... they all meant for the bad people . They mean that if you do any wrong doing in your life these Gods are there to punish you. In simplest terms if you do any wrong thing you will be punished.
And moreover, Hinduism teaches how one should eat also.. I mean the vegiterian part. I think this is the only religion which suggest one should eat only vegiterian food.
Having said all the above they have few cons in their religion.. they are called superstitious events. But now a days people stopped beliving anything that is superstitious but there are many still belive in them.
Despite me being christian I gathered / learned the above through my friends /books ...
Hinduism - Very impressive religion which teaches how to live.
Justin
| saratdear wrote: |
Although Hinduism, is a wonderful religion, I am against some of the inhuman practices of early times like Sati, widows not allowed to marry again, etc.
|
You are right. its the sad part of hinduism which doesn't treat the female very well despite having a semi God like Seeta.
But what I think is as the human intelligence reforms by time these bad things in each religion will fade off.
By nature nothing is permanent ... even the earth, the universe keep moving... ! so things will change for the good but time is which no one can guess about.
Justin
