To what extent did Hinduism influence your religious beliefs?

icetea

To what extent did Hinduism influence your previous religious beliefs? (this one is for non-hindus)

-I was not much interested in understanding it so I don't know.
-I do not think too highly of it so I wasn't influenced at all.
-I respect it as I respect any other religion, but it is not for me.
-I did get influenced a little, but I still have my own religious beliefs.
-Hinduism has influenced me and challenged a lot of my previous religious beliefs.
-Hinduism speaks to me in a special way and my religious beliefs have completely changed now because of it.

Nick-H

Hinduism speaks to me in a special way and my religious beliefs have completely changed now because of it.

But I'm, still an atheist!

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icetea

yeah I sort of understand what you mean..Nick

Brigit

Hinduisam has infulenced my religous belives and become a part of them. After all you have to love Gensha's pot belly right?

Penri

I can't explain why, but I've found that gaining an understanding of Hinduism has actually strengthened my faith and belief in Christianity.

Nick-H

Thing is, I may be an atheist, but I am not a materialist and have many beliefs that most people find hard to separate from the idea of some sort of God.

I love the atmosphere and energy of Hindu temples and ritual. I love the sound of sanscrit chanting. I love the Hindu epics; great stories of every possible aspect of life.

I cannot be doing with bad days for this and good days for that. I'll happily go shoping on a Tuesday, knowing that it will be quieter because so many Hindus won't go out and spend money that day.

san_dady

Forgive me, but I'm not so religious type of person, What i think is that, religion surely divides people, it's like you are black and I'm white, that theory I never liked.

I'd say If you really want to believe, then believe in our nature, so apart from everything.. Ahh so quiet and fresh.

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greenchutney

i would not call hinduism an organized religion like christianity or islam or referring to it that way.. if you want, compare say sri-vaishnavism to these.

it was/is always sanatana dharma, there are zillions of dharmas in this land..dont put all of us into one bucket or compare it to monotheistic religions..

i would reword this poll/post because it is wrong as its phrased and continues to endorse false opinions/misconceptions about sanatana dharma.

Digital Drifter

Dharma kurma. religion organised or not, as one poster put it divides people.

Remember Mikhail_Bakunin; he's slightly worrying in that he's an anarchist but then in matters of God, well, he's my god.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bakunin

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san_dady

There you go in your first line..

It's not fair to say, one religion is apart from other. Look at all the people in it.. they are all us, whatever language they may speak.

In my view, religion is for people who just want to believe in something, or say want hold on to (something unknown). They pretend to stay away from the dark, they want to believe there is someone out there to rescue them perhaps in human form.
Coz' people are lonely, weak and scared of dying. they don't want to believe that we all are just part of decomposing cycle of this mother earth, old dies new comes, simple fact is.. whatever we have is this life, there will never be another.

So stop being just one religion, be part of all, enjoy it, don't take it seriously.. look at the brighter side

Nick-H

Nothing wrong with GC's first line.

"Hinduism" (I think the name was given to it by the British, it is not its own name) is a loose collection of people who believe in many different gods in many different ways.

Having said that, Christian churches the world over are hardly unified and Islam, well I don't know, but whilst they may have only one true word of one true god, it seems to be interpreted in different ways according to country/culture/sect etc.

So, although I accept GC's objection to the way the poll has been worded, I think it is a valid question.

"Hinduism" is one of the biggest parts of an outsider's perception of India. Even to the extent that people are surprised to learn that many other religions exist and thrive here!

Of course, if we want to start fighting with each other about it, then we will be falling into the trap that many "religious" people fall into! Sure: as far as those people are concerned, the world would be better off without them...

san_dady

Deleted the fist line!!

Man you are talking like islam! do we have to face that in India? i mean, do we all have to live in the the shadow of so called "RELIGION" ? It's 2006 and we are yet to find another safe planet for our species and we are still living in the astrological age stone age or whatever.

Being myself a Indian hindu, why cant we progress? why cant we be somebody like other countries who can accpet the fact about gays and lesbians marriges.
why can't we atleast qualify in every Fifa World cup, why canpt we launch hydrogen car? why can't we launch Rover in another planet and make us sa-fer for future! and why can't we all be just INDIAN not part of INDIA.

Yep.. list goes on..

Lugubert

No vote. Hinduism has influenced me; not really a lot but it helped. And perhaps not in a way you'd guess on your first try.

Please don't condemn me immediately for the next paragraph but wait for the end.

I have a long interest in South Asia. When I began looking closer at Hinduism, I found the idea of gods coming down to earth posing as earthly creatures a laughing matter. And reincarnation! How utterly ridiculous to think that there are more lives han this one.

Then i took up religious studies at a major university. One of the teachers managed to make me look at religions more objectively.

I realized that my Christian beliefs included 1/3 of God walking on earth, and that one more life was to be expected. To be consistent, I had to reject Christianity to the same extent as Hinduism. (There were other reasons as well, but they would be off topic.)

Shiver me Timbers

I just spent 5 months in India, and found it was not nearly enough time to begin to even understand Hinduism. From what I saw, it's not for me, but then again, my experiences in Hindu holy places - Pushkar, Omkareshwar, Madurai, Tirumula, Varanasi - were, with the exception of Tirumula, spoiled by money-grabbing 'donation' seekers, who kind of scared me off actually throwing myself into it.

For example, on my way into the main temple in Omkareshwar, I was cornered by one guy demanding 500 RUPEES, and had to shake off another as I stormed out. Just how much understanding is possible under such circumstances?

Then I compare this with my experience at the Golden Temple in Amritsar - donation optional, free bed, free meal, all very relaxed and sacred, from my point of view, and Sikh's delighted to approach me and explain the in's and out's, demanding only my e-mail address in return.

These were just my experiences.

greenchutney

there is no way, no way you are going to understand it by visiting holy places. this is not like visiting mecca or vatican and getting almost everything about it.

people who are born into sanatana dharma themselves dont know much about it to be honest. i dont..being born one..and i am influenced by all the dharma's within on my personal quest. a lack of central authority or a single book prescribing things clearly say in english or whatever has been one of the main reasons for people out there to bait it in many forms..put all of us into one single bucket what not, say whatever crap they want to.

buddhas dharma, sikh dharma, mahavira's dharma are all part of sanatana dharma. if you can call budhha's dharma as buddhism, then you should call followers of ramanuja as ramanujism or shankaraism for shankara in the same thought. putting shankara, ramanuja and so many others into one bucket called hinduism is for the ignorant.

thanks nick..iceteas third point in the poll..compares it to religions..and what i am saying its not. i could be agnostic in it..i could be atheistic in sanatana dharma.