To what extent did Hinduism influence your religious beliefs?

san_dady

No offence - deleted

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Sikkim

Nick-H

I am half-inclined, as a moderator, to just delete that post.

Let me just say that that statement is absolute complete rubbish. It is nothing to do with the original post, the poll or anything anyone else has posted in this thread.

Can we get back to the original conversation now, please....

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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

Nick-H

san_daddy. If you persist in turning this thread into an inter-relgion or anti-colonial-past rant your posts will be deleted.

Thank you.

Moderator.

san_dady

SORRY guys.. I was just feeling more involved in the conversation. I don't want to hurt anyone! just speaking my heart out!!

> Freedom to speak <

Nick-H

Not trying to take anyone's freedom away.

Just trying to keep it friendly and on-track.

All those contraversies we've done before, will probably do again...

san_dady

Thanks. I can understand though nice discussion!

icetea

Perhaps when I posted this poll I was expecting that people would have also read something about hindu philosophy..at least the Gita, maybe. Now it became quite obvious to me that most posters here did not do that But perhaps that's material for another poll..

I haven't done so much reading myself...but I am trying. My vocabulary might fail me and I might mess up terms or even ideas. I appologise to Hindus among us..I am only an outsider, trying to grasp some meaning.

But anyway, what I wanted to say now is that I personally do not associate "hinduism" with the miriad of rituals, stories or gods worshiped in India, or whatever one's experience might be while visiting hindu temples. As politheistic as it might seem for an outsider, "hinduism" is, in fact, most monotheistic. It is about unity, about one "god" dwelling in everything, about the need of introspection in order to understand the world outside, about one's duty in following one's path in life, about non-attachement as the way to peace of mind. Everything else, including all the gods, is a manifestation of different facets of this 'one' and as such it is an illusion. As far as I interpret it, all the gods and most of the rituals are just earthly toys - spiritual food for the poor in spirit.

I am rather an atheist, but frankly I did not find this philosophy nearly 10% as aggressive as that of christianity, and that made me let my atheist guard down a bit; I find the hindu vision of the world most enchanting and quite contagious.

I ended up putting the quoting marks around this term of "hinduism", as some keep on argueing endlessly that it is not...it is not...a religion..just a collection of...and so on. I am aware of all that. I agree partly....but I think there is quite a deal of solid, common ground among all these variations of "hinduism" (of which, I must admit, I don't know much)..and it is in its essence quite distinct from other religions (perhaps less so when compared to buddhism, which stemmed from it)

It's not a question of setting divisions according to religion. Quite obviously all of us hold different views on different matters, and it would be a very dull world if it wasn't so. They need not contradict each other, and they need not compete with each other.

nadreg

Politics and Religion are two areas of conversation that are best avoided...!!

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In pursuit of the Only truth: I Am!

chanakya2

For my two cents, I believe Sanatan Dharma, or Hinduism, has the Vedas as its basis, and then there are the Upanishads and the Puranas and Ramayan and Mahabharat and the Bhagwad Gita. So yes, most of the dharmas within Sanatan Dharma/Hinduism accept the Vedas as the word of God and therefore the Supreme Authority. Then there is the philosophy called Vedanta, the knowledge that comes at the end of the Vedas. I would recommend anyone interested in learning more about hinduism to google Vedanta rather than hinduism, because I think that is where it gets away from the rituals and temples to the philosophy which is the basis of hinduism.

robotvoice

religion leads to war

crvlvr

philosophy leads to peace(?)

icetea

It would be nice if someone could share his/her knowledge on the different scriptures, percepts and subdivisions of "hinduism". (as chanakya2 did, for example). There are many of us here who really don't know much of all these things, and I think they are very important to a proper understanding of India.

AvidTrekker

See previous posts... including the archives.

There is enough material to keep you occupied for a month.

Then, if you wish, ask questions about some specific topic.

sanaatana dharma aka hinduism is an ocean. Even to cover the bare bones minimum, it would take a small book.

The vedas are at the core. Although "great" scholars go blue in their faces trying to find out when they were "written"; fact is they were not "written" as regular books are written. They are chants or incantations. Sound vibrations. They were always memorized.... and chanted EXACTLY like a xerox copy. Some fellow named Vishukra is said to have first "written" down his "memorized portion" a mere 2000 years ago.

Even today, they have to learnt the traditional way.

At the risk of repeating my earlier posts, let me point out the three unique features of sanaatana dharma aka hinduism...

1. NO FOUNDER:

All other beliefs have one person as Founder. sanaatana dharma has none. Vedas are at the core. The foundation. They were incantations heard by meditating sages in their superconcious states. They state "we heard it" & that "it was the emanation from the "Supreme One's inhalation and exhalation". They were subsequently called rishees. There were many at the same time and many more spread out over a few thousand years. None have claimed authorship. Hence they are a "collection" of "revelations" made at different times to different people.

2. KARMA & RE-BIRTH

Other beliefs do not have this concept so specifically stated. [Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism have retained this concept of Hinduism... so I do not consider them as "other" beliefs for the sake of this argument.]

3. AVATAAR

Once in a few thousand years or so... at serious times when even prophets and great saints cannot do the task... GOD HIMSELF assumes a "body", takes "birth" so to say... to re-establish the principles of the vedic faith. Difference is, normal people are born due to outstanding balance in their kaarmic ledger account; they cannot select their place time and parents... whereas God is "born" due to overwhelming "love" and selects the exact time place and body parents of birth.

These are the three unique points of the vedic dharma or sanaatana dharma or Hinduism.

If posters refrain from acrimonious exchanges many others will share their knowledge... but somehow somewhere some fellow will come along and start name calling.... which will be the end of this thread.... yes, it has happened before....

If it remains civil, nothing like it.

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The Universe is an ellipsoid?... or a Spheroid?? If the sphere smiles... it becomes an ellipse. This IS Creation.

robotvoice

i wish this were true. to support my point, for instance in the bible god promises moses the holy land of israel, and promises he will defeat the enemies (arabs)
fanatics or not, it is sanctioned by their holy book so people believe it.

ddevadatta

I add my two halos to the discussion. I went to a Hindu school as a non-Hindu and frankly that experience of 12 years has colored my view of thereligion itself. It is very hard to define it, even by its own adherents; perhaps what I have gathered it has to do more with regional, familial, pariochal, and local commitments. Hence I refrain from larger comparative religious discussions. What is Hindu to one Hindu ain't to another.

I can't say that Hindusims isn't an "organized" religion; human life on any level cannot function without some sort of organization. So that is a fallacy in the the first place and secondly it betrays an assumption that if it is organized it must be a bad thing and/or it is superior because it is beyond organization. I wonder what the real value of that really is and where does it really lead to?

The best I can say is that Hinduism has thrived historically in a very small part of this world, hasn't been a huge force on a global level or scale, and a very valid option for some people. I frankly question (outside of history) why Hinduism is even considered a major or even world religion. I don't mean to offend anyone when I say that; I just observing it through a common sense perspective. In spite of being careful I am sure some will over react to this post. I have no ill feelings whatsoever for Hindus; most of my friends are such and we get along just fine.

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