What are some mind-blowing facts about Hinduism?
Balaji Viswanathan,
829 votes by Raviteja Chirala, Jay Best, Will Wister, (more)
- Hinduism is the world's 3rd largest religion closely following Christianity and Islam. However, unlike the top 2 religions, 95% of Hindus live in a single nation! http://en.wikipedia.org/w
iki/Lis... - If you ask a religious Hindu, when did Krishna or Rama live - they will give an answer like 50 million years ago or some other random big number. Actually, it doesn't matter. Because, Hindus believe in a circular time (rather than the linear time concept in the Western world). That means, after enough cycles I will write this same answer to you on Quora, once again. http://hinduism.about.com
/od/bas... - Each of our time cycles has 4 main periods - the Satya yuga (golden age of innocence), Tretha Yuga, Dwapara yuga and Kali Yuga. In the last stage, people get so filthy that whole thing is cleaned up and the cycle starts all over again.
- Hinduism is the oldest of the major extant religions. Its fundamental book - Rig Veda was written over 3800 years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/w
iki/Rig... - Rig Veda was orally passed for 3500+ years in parallel. And yet, its current form has no major discrepancies. It is indeed a stupendous achievement that a major body of work can be orally passed between people in such a large nation with no loss in quality/content. http://elearning.la.psu.e
du/rlst... - Unlike other major religions, Hinduism doesn't consider the pursuit of wealth as a sin. In fact, we celebrate wealth in the form of many gods such as Lakshmi, Kubera and Vishnu. Hinduism has a 4 level hierarchy - Kama (pursuit of sexual/sensual pleasures) - Artha (pursuit of wealth and power), Dharma (pursuit of philosophy, religion and doing duties to society) and Moksha (liberation) and we progress from the top to bottom. This is very close to Maslow's hierarchy and thus Hindus are natural capitalists.
- Hinduism is the parent religion for 2 of the other major religions of South Asia - Buddhism and Sikhism. It is also closely associated with its sister religion - Jainism.
- The holiest number for Hindus is 108. This is the ratio of Sun's distance (from earth)/Sun's diameter or Moon's distance (from earth)/Moon's diameter. Thus, most of our prayer beads have 108 beads. http://en.wikipedia.org/w
iki/108...
Also see Ganesh Mohan's answer to Numbers: What is the most beautiful number, and why? - Beyond India, Hinduism is the dominant religion of many exotic regions such as Nepal, Mauritius, Bali, second biggest religion of Fiji & Sri Lanka and at one point covered most of South east Asia - including Indonesia, Cambodia and Malaysia. See more: http://en.wikipedia.org/w
iki/Hin... - The Hindu epic of Mahabharatha - that is often used to teach the principles of Hinduism - is written in 1.8 million words long poem (10X the combined length of the Illiad and Odyssey) http://en.wikipedia.org/w
iki/Mah... - Unlike all other major religions, we don't have a founder or a prophet (like Moses, Abraham, Jesus, Mohammad or Buddha). According to Hindus, the religion has no origin (again coming back to the circular concept).
- Unlike the popular Western conception, Yoga in Hinduism is not merely an exercise routine. It is the founding block of the religion. Read more in my other answer: Balaji Viswanathan's answer to Yoga: What should everyone know about Yoga?
- The 4 most holiest animals for Hindus are the cow, elephant, snake and peacock (India's national bird and a wagon of many Hindu gods) - 4 main animals of India.
- The largest religious structures in the world - Ankor Vat in Cambodia were built by the Hindu kings of South East Asia. http://en.wikipedia.org/w
iki/Ang... - Hinduism has no formal organization - no Pope, no Bible and no central body.
- Unlike Christians or Muslims, we go to the temple at any time, any day. There are no special Sabbath, Sunday congregations or Friday prayers.
- Hindu scriptures are organized into Vedas (poems that written in multiple levels from abstract rural le...
Harish Aditham, The participative (perceptive?) bystander
304 votes by Sainath Gupta, Jason Thibodeau, Tobias C. Brown, (more)
1) The most mind boggling thing about Hinduism is the fact that atheism is a part of Hinduism.
Religions are classified according to their beliefs in God: Atheism - no God, Monotheism - One God, Polytheism - Many Gods. While most of the popular religions fall into one of the three categories mentioned above, Hinduism is the only religion which can be accurately, yet not fully described individually, by all these terms: Hinduism is Atheist at the same time as it is Polytheist at the same time as it is Monotheist, as well as henotheistic, i.e. belief in one major God with other subsidiary Gods "worshippable" too! Oh, and Hinduism can also be considered "monist" i.e. the belief that all the seemingly disparate elements in this universe can be reduced to one single unity. So there you have it: Hinduism is perhaps the only religion in the world to which all kinds of epithets such as above apply, and yet fall short of suitably encompassing its definition! That's what a living history of 4000 years does to a religion I suppose!
There are a sect called Charvakas (wiki it!), who simply put "don't care whether God exists or not". They are indifferent to the phenomenon! Among the extremely well evolved ancient Hindu philosophical schools of thought (almost to the point of fatigue), there are two more philosophical schools of thought, namely Mimamsa and Samkhya which likewise maintain a healthy tradition of philosophical skepticism albeit not going as far as terming themselves atheists like the Charvakas. This was not a one-off thing!!
A healthy argumentative tradition has been the defining point of Hinduism even from its early days, when its prime scripture, the Rig Veda was written.
Look at this hymn on the origin of creation:
Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation?
The Gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?
Whence this creation has arisen
- perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not -
the One who looks down on it,
in the highest heaven, only He knows
or perhaps even He does not know.
- Nasadiya Shloka, Rig Veda c.1700 - 1100 BC
Pause for a moment and consider this: in this day and age, when "blasphemy" is taking lives by the hundreds everyday, a religion incorporated atheism and a healthy tradition of scepticism in ancient days itself, making it a part of its ethos and tolerating it ever since!
2) Among the world's great religions, Hinduism is the only mainstream religion which promotes gender equality in their "Gods" (if not in the followers).
Hinduism has perfectly complementary female counterparts to almost all of their male Gods (with the exception of "celibate" Gods male and female), and infact Hinduism proclaims the Holy Trinity of Hinduism (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) acquired their present powers at the expense of the Supreme Mother Goddess who pervades the cosmos with her energy. Entire cults exist in Hinduism who focus on worshipping the esoteric female energy, almost to the point of neglecting other Gods. (Wiki: Shaktism)
3) Hinduism is the most popular non-proselytizing religion which has survived inspite of it, to this day withstanding onslaughts from other missionaries.
Except Hinduism and Judaism, all of the other major religions of the world carry out active missionary work. Hinduism inherently accepts that there is no "One Truth", there are many truths in this Universe, each as true as the next. A popular Hindu line of thought runs thus: "Just like many rivers reach the ocean, there are many ways to reach God". For how could a religion with such a vast diversity in its own traditions purport to uphold "one true way"?
What is amazing is the fact that despite having been exposed to proselytizing religions such as Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity and Islam at various points in time, Hinduism remained undaunted. A unique feature is the way these religions and their traditions are absorbed into mainstream Hinduism. Buddha became one of the God pantheon, a syncretic "Hindu-Islam" religious way such as Hindus praying at Sufi shrines evolved, Gods with Muslim origins such as "Kad - Bibi" in South India came to be worshipped. Why, Lord Venkateshwara (the God with the richest temple, or religious place of worship in any religion, in the world), himself is said to have a Muslim wife: Bibi Nanchari!
Religions are classified according to their beliefs in God: Atheism - no God, Monotheism - One God, Polytheism - Many Gods. While most of the popular religions fall into one of the three categories mentioned above, Hinduism is the only religion which can be accurately, yet not fully described individually, by all these terms: Hinduism is Atheist at the same time as it is Polytheist at the same time as it is Monotheist, as well as henotheistic, i.e. belief in one major God with other subsidiary Gods "worshippable" too! Oh, and Hinduism can also be considered "monist" i.e. the belief that all the seemingly disparate elements in this universe can be reduced to one single unity. So there you have it: Hinduism is perhaps the only religion in the world to which all kinds of epithets such as above apply, and yet fall short of suitably encompassing its definition! That's what a living history of 4000 years does to a religion I suppose!
There are a sect called Charvakas (wiki it!), who simply put "don't care whether God exists or not". They are indifferent to the phenomenon! Among the extremely well evolved ancient Hindu philosophical schools of thought (almost to the point of fatigue), there are two more philosophical schools of thought, namely Mimamsa and Samkhya which likewise maintain a healthy tradition of philosophical skepticism albeit not going as far as terming themselves atheists like the Charvakas. This was not a one-off thing!!
A healthy argumentative tradition has been the defining point of Hinduism even from its early days, when its prime scripture, the Rig Veda was written.
Look at this hymn on the origin of creation:
Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation?
The Gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?
Whence this creation has arisen
- perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not -
the One who looks down on it,
in the highest heaven, only He knows
or perhaps even He does not know.
- Nasadiya Shloka, Rig Veda c.1700 - 1100 BC
Pause for a moment and consider this: in this day and age, when "blasphemy" is taking lives by the hundreds everyday, a religion incorporated atheism and a healthy tradition of scepticism in ancient days itself, making it a part of its ethos and tolerating it ever since!
2) Among the world's great religions, Hinduism is the only mainstream religion which promotes gender equality in their "Gods" (if not in the followers).
Hinduism has perfectly complementary female counterparts to almost all of their male Gods (with the exception of "celibate" Gods male and female), and infact Hinduism proclaims the Holy Trinity of Hinduism (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) acquired their present powers at the expense of the Supreme Mother Goddess who pervades the cosmos with her energy. Entire cults exist in Hinduism who focus on worshipping the esoteric female energy, almost to the point of neglecting other Gods. (Wiki: Shaktism)
3) Hinduism is the most popular non-proselytizing religion which has survived inspite of it, to this day withstanding onslaughts from other missionaries.
Except Hinduism and Judaism, all of the other major religions of the world carry out active missionary work. Hinduism inherently accepts that there is no "One Truth", there are many truths in this Universe, each as true as the next. A popular Hindu line of thought runs thus: "Just like many rivers reach the ocean, there are many ways to reach God". For how could a religion with such a vast diversity in its own traditions purport to uphold "one true way"?
What is amazing is the fact that despite having been exposed to proselytizing religions such as Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity and Islam at various points in time, Hinduism remained undaunted. A unique feature is the way these religions and their traditions are absorbed into mainstream Hinduism. Buddha became one of the God pantheon, a syncretic "Hindu-Islam" religious way such as Hindus praying at Sufi shrines evolved, Gods with Muslim origins such as "Kad - Bibi" in South India came to be worshipped. Why, Lord Venkateshwara (the God with the richest temple, or religious place of worship in any religion, in the world), himself is said to have a Muslim wife: Bibi Nanchari!
Anubhav Srivastava, Founder - Moreinno
63 votes by Anurag Kataria, Balaji Viswanathan, Andy Lee Chaisiri, (more)
1. Origin: The word Hindu was coined to refer to people from Indus (Sindhu) Valley civilization. The civilization flourished on the bank of river Sindhu. People from Mesopotamian civilization/present middle east couldn't pronounce the 'S' voice of the word, so "Sindhu" became "Hindu".
2. Intent: 'Hinduism' was then used to refer to the lifestyle of Hindus, unlike the present use in reference to religion. The Hindu people didn't have any State religion.
3. Faith: Like many other ancient civilizations, Hindus were polytheist. It had many branches, faiths, philosophy, paths under one common umbrella of Indus valley civilization.
4. Tolerance: Astiks (believers) and nastiks (atheists) have known to exist together in Hinduism since time immemorial. It was the tolerance for the non-believers and the underlying theme to encompass new thoughts that allowed other religions such as Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism to offshoot peacefully from Hinduism.
3. Books and Belief: Religious epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata in Hinduism are well-known to be penned by mortal authors and not written by any God.
4. Theme: Contrary to the theme of suffering in the hands of capitalists evident in Western religious texts, Hinduism epics focus on the theme of 'Victory of the Righteous' and propagating the philosophy of 'Hindu View of Life'.
5. Pro-science: Hinduism is the only religion that is pro-science from early ages. Some of the mind-boggling advances in Hinduism texts were:
7. Conversions: Hinduism has no concept of conversions. All the people following the faith have either willingly embraced it or acquired it by birth.
8. Class: Ancient Hindu practices evidently distributed the society on account of occupation and not faith. It is another thing this practice's utility was corrupted by the inheritance clause developed later. The modern caste system in Hindus still embraces the basic tenets of the ancient caste system.
9. War-power and Ethnic Cleansing: Excessive indulgence in the non-violent view of life, focus on music and literature and content with the Hindu philosophy made the country and its rulers shift away focus from war might. This allowed the Hindu society to become soft target for invading Islamic forces during the 13th to 16th century. Many historians consider the nationwide killing of Hindus during this period as the bloodiest black event of human history.
10. Gods: With in-numerous non-competing deities, each having their own temples, Hindus are free to pick the deity of their choice for offering prayers. In general, this practice allows Hindus to experience a gamut of festivities, cultures and colors ranging from Holi, Deepawali, Durga Puja, Pongal, Onam, etc.
11. Trivia: Saree, a dress worn by females even in modern India, dates its origin to the Indus Valley Civilization (2000 BC).
12. No Antisematism: Jews have been living in India since 500 BCE without any antisemitism. In fact, the only Jews who suffered in India were under the Portuguese rule in the 20th century Goa.
In a nutshell, it is the open-source nature of Hinduism alongwith very strong scientific fundamentals, extreme tolerance and colorful cultural practices that has allowed the religion to flourish and sustain since ancient times.
2. Intent: 'Hinduism' was then used to refer to the lifestyle of Hindus, unlike the present use in reference to religion. The Hindu people didn't have any State religion.
3. Faith: Like many other ancient civilizations, Hindus were polytheist. It had many branches, faiths, philosophy, paths under one common umbrella of Indus valley civilization.
4. Tolerance: Astiks (believers) and nastiks (atheists) have known to exist together in Hinduism since time immemorial. It was the tolerance for the non-believers and the underlying theme to encompass new thoughts that allowed other religions such as Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism to offshoot peacefully from Hinduism.
3. Books and Belief: Religious epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata in Hinduism are well-known to be penned by mortal authors and not written by any God.
4. Theme: Contrary to the theme of suffering in the hands of capitalists evident in Western religious texts, Hinduism epics focus on the theme of 'Victory of the Righteous' and propagating the philosophy of 'Hindu View of Life'.
5. Pro-science: Hinduism is the only religion that is pro-science from early ages. Some of the mind-boggling advances in Hinduism texts were:
- Mathematics: Search Engine Hashing Algorithms - Kathapayadi System Musicology;Concept of zero (as a number and as a marker), concept of Infinity and concept of the Decimal Number System (with a carry-forward); Pythagoras Theorem
- Evolution: Contrary to most religious beliefs of God creating life, Vedic Vishnu Purana deciphered evolution thousands of years ago in the form of Dashavataram. It starts with Matsya (Fish), and next came the Tortoise (Kurma) – the amphibian. The next avatar is the Boar (Varaha) - symbolising the first Mammal. The next is Narasimha (Man-lion) – the being in between the humanoid and the mammal. Next comes Vamana (dwarf) – the primal short man, and then Parashurama (man with an axe) – representing the first hunter-gatherers creating the first tools. Much before Darwin.
- Cosmology: The Big Bang theory is mentioned as early as the Rig Veda, where, in Mandala X – the Cosmos and the ‘Golden Egg’ or the Sun, is born from the Cosmic Void – often called as Asat (Non-being) – also meaning ‘Non-wisdom’ or Chaos.
- Medicine: Ayurveda was also taught to Chinese, Greek, Roman and Persian students who studied at the great Indian Universities as Takshila in Pakistan and Nalanda in India – as early as 700BCE. In 700BCE or earlier, the great Indian doctor Sushruta describes over 120 surgical instruments and also 300 surgical procedures
7. Conversions: Hinduism has no concept of conversions. All the people following the faith have either willingly embraced it or acquired it by birth.
8. Class: Ancient Hindu practices evidently distributed the society on account of occupation and not faith. It is another thing this practice's utility was corrupted by the inheritance clause developed later. The modern caste system in Hindus still embraces the basic tenets of the ancient caste system.
9. War-power and Ethnic Cleansing: Excessive indulgence in the non-violent view of life, focus on music and literature and content with the Hindu philosophy made the country and its rulers shift away focus from war might. This allowed the Hindu society to become soft target for invading Islamic forces during the 13th to 16th century. Many historians consider the nationwide killing of Hindus during this period as the bloodiest black event of human history.
10. Gods: With in-numerous non-competing deities, each having their own temples, Hindus are free to pick the deity of their choice for offering prayers. In general, this practice allows Hindus to experience a gamut of festivities, cultures and colors ranging from Holi, Deepawali, Durga Puja, Pongal, Onam, etc.
11. Trivia: Saree, a dress worn by females even in modern India, dates its origin to the Indus Valley Civilization (2000 BC).
12. No Antisematism: Jews have been living in India since 500 BCE without any antisemitism. In fact, the only Jews who suffered in India were under the Portuguese rule in the 20th century Goa.
In a nutshell, it is the open-source nature of Hinduism alongwith very strong scientific fundamentals, extreme tolerance and colorful cultural practices that has allowed the religion to flourish and sustain since ancient times.
Santosh Shukla,
23 votes by NT Balanarayan, Sanchita Agarwal, Will Wister, (more)
Hinduism is more a way of life than a religion. The best thing about Hinduism is that it is all encompassing and very liberal.
You may or may not want to go Temples. There is no obligation. There is no one sacred text that you have to follow. Even though there are many great texts - SriMadbhagwadGeeta (Geeta), Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas etc.
You may or may not choose to worship one of the 88,000 gods. You may or may not worship idols.
In Hinduism, no one is considered a sinner. Gray shade of life is accepted. In fact, there are many stories where the gods have made mistakes. The Gods also pray to a supreme being of which they are themselves a part/whole.
Hinduism believes in eternity and cyclical time. The soul doesn't die and takes rebirth in various forms in the pursuit of later merging with the supreme source.
There is no central body that is entrusted with the responsibility of spreading the religion unlike other popular religions.
Many religions have seem to branched out from Hinduism - Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism etc.
You may or may not want to go Temples. There is no obligation. There is no one sacred text that you have to follow. Even though there are many great texts - SriMadbhagwadGeeta (Geeta), Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas etc.
You may or may not choose to worship one of the 88,000 gods. You may or may not worship idols.
In Hinduism, no one is considered a sinner. Gray shade of life is accepted. In fact, there are many stories where the gods have made mistakes. The Gods also pray to a supreme being of which they are themselves a part/whole.
Hinduism believes in eternity and cyclical time. The soul doesn't die and takes rebirth in various forms in the pursuit of later merging with the supreme source.
There is no central body that is entrusted with the responsibility of spreading the religion unlike other popular religions.
Many religions have seem to branched out from Hinduism - Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism etc.
Ankit Agrawal, ML and Data geek
15 votes by Joe Samson, Vipul Aggarwal, Yogesh Dhingra, (more)
Aditya Venkataraman, confused but confidently so.
13 votes by Mohit Agrawal, Jason Thibodeau, Tom Wills, (more)
The most amazing concept of Hinduism that I found is the concept of Leela and Nitya Vibuthi.
Vibuthi means property. The Upanishads claim that MahaVishnu (the Supreme God according to Vaishnavism) has two kinds of properties. Nitya Vibuthi and Leela Vibuthi. Nitya - meaning eternal, consists of Vaikundam - the abode of Narayana. This world is never destroyed during any Pralayam, while Leela Vibuthi is periodically destroyed and reborn. So the concept of cyclical time mentioned earlier is applicable only to Leela Vibuthi. Leela Vibuthi means 'Property for play'. So literally we were all created for God to play with!
Leela Vibuthi was created from a material called Prakruthi. It is the essense from which everything is made. From this, Thirumal created Mahaan, a intermediary material from which he created Ahankaram (Pride). From Ahankaram and Prakruthi, He created the five elements such as wind, water, fire, earth and sky. From these 5 elements He made millions and millions of egg-like constellations. Each constellation consists of 14 worlds. The hierarchy of which is :
Satya-loka - where that egg-like constellation's Brahma will live
Tapa-loka
Jana-loka
Mahar-loka
Svar-loka - this is called Heaven in English
Bhuvar-loka
Bhur-loka - our Earth
Atala-loka
Vitala-loka
Sutala-loka - abode of King Bali
Talatala-loka
Mahatala-loka - abode of Nagas (for Warcraft enthusiasts :D )
Rasatala-loka
Patala-loka - the deepest abyss.
When a human being dies, his Jeevatma's tally of sins and good deeds will be tallied by yama. Each total will be converted into a set number of years. So if he has committed X number of years worth of sins, then that atma will suffer for X years in Patala (Hell). Similarly corresponding to the number of years of good deeds, the Atma will enjoy in Svarga. After the tally is over, the jeevatma is reborn!!
Hence the ultimate goal in Hinduism is not to reach Heavan but to break out of this wretched cycle of birth and death and reach the Thiruvadi (Holy Feet) of the Paramatma in Vaikundam.
Hence, this world (Earth) is not unique. there are millions of such worlds out there, each with its own set of Devas, Brahma, etc. but we do not know if all the worlds have the same time frame. so it is possible that as we speak, Rama Avataram could be taking place in one universe and Varaha in another. But ultimately all of them will perish during Pralayam.
Hence you could say that Hinduism predicted the multi-universe concept :D
Finally, the Upanishads predict hte size of Nitya Vibuthi to be 3 times as that of Leela Vibuthi and that Paramatma is so large that he can support the entire thing (Nitya + Leela ) in just His right toe. but he is also small enough to permeate into every entity, much like the fragrance permeates a flower.
Lastly, it is unfortunate that most people today do not know the scientific/spiritual experiments conducted by the Vedas and Upanishads. Hinduism is more than just a religion, it is a way of life where it encourages you to quest for the Truth. Even for an athiest or non-Hindu, it offers some very interesting concepts and stories.
Vibuthi means property. The Upanishads claim that MahaVishnu (the Supreme God according to Vaishnavism) has two kinds of properties. Nitya Vibuthi and Leela Vibuthi. Nitya - meaning eternal, consists of Vaikundam - the abode of Narayana. This world is never destroyed during any Pralayam, while Leela Vibuthi is periodically destroyed and reborn. So the concept of cyclical time mentioned earlier is applicable only to Leela Vibuthi. Leela Vibuthi means 'Property for play'. So literally we were all created for God to play with!
Leela Vibuthi was created from a material called Prakruthi. It is the essense from which everything is made. From this, Thirumal created Mahaan, a intermediary material from which he created Ahankaram (Pride). From Ahankaram and Prakruthi, He created the five elements such as wind, water, fire, earth and sky. From these 5 elements He made millions and millions of egg-like constellations. Each constellation consists of 14 worlds. The hierarchy of which is :
Satya-loka - where that egg-like constellation's Brahma will live
Tapa-loka
Jana-loka
Mahar-loka
Svar-loka - this is called Heaven in English
Bhuvar-loka
Bhur-loka - our Earth
Atala-loka
Vitala-loka
Sutala-loka - abode of King Bali
Talatala-loka
Mahatala-loka - abode of Nagas (for Warcraft enthusiasts :D )
Rasatala-loka
Patala-loka - the deepest abyss.
When a human being dies, his Jeevatma's tally of sins and good deeds will be tallied by yama. Each total will be converted into a set number of years. So if he has committed X number of years worth of sins, then that atma will suffer for X years in Patala (Hell). Similarly corresponding to the number of years of good deeds, the Atma will enjoy in Svarga. After the tally is over, the jeevatma is reborn!!
Hence the ultimate goal in Hinduism is not to reach Heavan but to break out of this wretched cycle of birth and death and reach the Thiruvadi (Holy Feet) of the Paramatma in Vaikundam.
Hence, this world (Earth) is not unique. there are millions of such worlds out there, each with its own set of Devas, Brahma, etc. but we do not know if all the worlds have the same time frame. so it is possible that as we speak, Rama Avataram could be taking place in one universe and Varaha in another. But ultimately all of them will perish during Pralayam.
Hence you could say that Hinduism predicted the multi-universe concept :D
Finally, the Upanishads predict hte size of Nitya Vibuthi to be 3 times as that of Leela Vibuthi and that Paramatma is so large that he can support the entire thing (Nitya + Leela ) in just His right toe. but he is also small enough to permeate into every entity, much like the fragrance permeates a flower.
Lastly, it is unfortunate that most people today do not know the scientific/spiritual experiments conducted by the Vedas and Upanishads. Hinduism is more than just a religion, it is a way of life where it encourages you to quest for the Truth. Even for an athiest or non-Hindu, it offers some very interesting concepts and stories.
Satish Vijaykumar,
62 votes by Tushar Bihani, Sandeep Manchem, Ratnaraaj Parekh, (more)
Kent Palmer, Philosopher in the Continental Genre
21 votes by Murtaza Aliakbar, Anu Anand, Anand Gupta, (more)
What blew the mind of the Westerners was when they discovered that Sanskrit was related to European languages and that the Hindu Tradition appeared to be older than the Greek tradition. It was the subject of Philology that discovered these facts about the history of the Indo-European tradition. Philology has turned into linguistics as it goes on to other problems beyond the Indo-European linguistic legacy.
-------------------------
Since this answer is fairly popular I will elaborate. What I said above is something very well known in almost all academic circles which know anything about the romance of philology and the discovery of the kinship between european languages and Sanskrit.
In Sanscrit the term for Being is Sat. In the Bhagavad Gita which is part of the Mahabharata the Indian Epic the goals of spirituality were Sat Cit Ananda. Being, Knowledge, Bliss I believe is the translation if memory serves. Only Indo-European languages have Being in them, it is a linguistic anomaly which seems pretty standard only because Indo-Europeans have taken over the known world multiple times spreading their language to cover 60% of the world population. Hinduism has a very interesting mythic tradition somewhat preserved in the Praise poems of the Vedas which is then enhanced by a philosophical tradition that appears first in the Upanishads. it is a rich tradition not studied enough by Westerners, but which went into decline with colonialization both by Muslims then the English. To me the most interesting episode in that tradition was the generation of the Buddhist nondual heresy, which basically said we should forget Being and return to Existence under the rubric of Emptiness. This was later incorporated back into the Hindu tradition by making Buddha an avatar of Vishnu, and through the works of Shankara that founded Advita Vedanta, which interpreted Being as Emptiness, and thus reconciled the Upanishads with each other via this semantic shift. This was the outcome of the work of Nagarjuna who pointed out that Emptiness is endemic to logic, being the discontinuities between the logical operators nand, nor, and, or. Emptiness is what stands at the heart of this conceptual minimal system that makes a tetrahedral structure. Associated with Sanskrit was a mass like pervasion logic that was adopted by Buddhism. This is in contrast to the set-like logic of the Syllogism that was popular in the West from the time of Aristotle. Mass logics are much better for dealing with nondual concepts such as Emptiness because we can say that the Emptiness pervades things, without reifying it into a thing. Set based Logics tend to reify characteristics into things causing cognitive fallacies galore. The differentiation of the Buddhist existential heresy within the Indo-European worldview and then its reabsorbtion into Advita Vedanta is very interesting when you contrast that with the Dualism of the Western worldview and its steadfast rejection of all nondual heresies, including the one it could not crush which was Islam. When Muslims conquered India they more or less left it intact from a religious point of view but there were many interesting encounters between Sufis and Hindu practitioners in India which caused Sufism to spread in India and let to the conversion of quite a few Hindu's to Islam. Thus India was also receptive to a certain extent to the Islamic nondual heresy which came much later than Buddhism. The West which has a history of killing off all nondual challengers to its dualistic proclivity has a lot to learn from the Hindu tradition which seems to cope with Heresy much better than the Western tradition. This makes the Hindu tradition a great test case to compare to the Western tradition and to think what a more tolerant Western tradition might be like.
The point is that in Hinduism there was a technological development also but that was inner technology rather than the outer technology that has been developed in the West. But now that the West is up against the limits it is about time that the West starts learning from its Indo-European counterpart about the importance of inner technology, like meditation etc. Religion founded on spiritual experience rather than unfounded belief is a big step up in terms of sophistication compared to Western religions. However, although there has been various migrations of Guru's from India to the West over the years much of that has been considered culturally too foreign and thus has not had much of an impact compared to the impact of first Zen Buddhism and then Tibetan Buddhism. On the discovery of the kinship between the obviously older and more sophisticated Indo-European cultural tradition in India and that of the Barbaric Westerners who colonized it, the west was open to this spiritual influence and Theosophy was the result. That was an Orientalization of Hinduism and Buddhism which were considered to be basically the same thing at that time. Later it was realized that Buddhism was really different and therefore it had a separate impact after WWII during the 60s and 70s through the discovery by the west of the Chinese and Japanese brands of Buddhism and the seemingly religiously neutral Zen sects. So the focus shifted from India to other countries as a source of spiritual inspiration of Westerners who found nondual approaches congenial.
What Tibetan Buddhism and Hinduism share is the seemingly endless variety of the forms of worship and spiritual dimensions of practice. Among the Tibetan Buddhist offerings the most interesting is DzogChen which seems to be their indigenous answer to the rejection of Chinese Zen. Buddhism died out in India but lived on in Tibet producing at least two of the most outstanding intellects of all time Dzog Ka Pa and Mipham who took opposite sides in the debate over whether consciousness was reflexive or not within the arcane debates of Buddhist Philosophy in Tibet.
But when you think that all this came from Hinduism, as its heresies spread around the world, heresies that it reabsorbed within itself, then it gives you some idea of the vibrancy of the Hindu Tradition. Hinduism from India has a lot to contribute to our cultural and social maturity in the West if we but knew, much more than a string of Gurus and Transcendental Meditation. But the active intellectual development that would make that tradition relevant to the transformation of the Western culture and civilization does not seem to be present. Seems that folks in India are still playing the Colonizer/Colonized game. Why they are not challenging the Western tradition more with their older and more sophisticated tradition is unclear.
Hinduism has shown resilience standing up to two onslaughts of nonduality first from Buddhism and then from Sufism reabsorbing many of these elements into their own tradition. Hinduism developed Advita Vedanta which was a reinterpretation of their own tradition based on nondual insights by Shankara. But it seems that these advances easily became reified and did not produce movements like Buddhism was as a departure from Hinduism. Hindus are famously very proficient in Math and Logic. So you would think that there would be a whole tradition in the application of nonduality to Math and Logic that they could leverage to challenge Western Philosophy and its dominance. Maybe this has occurred and I am just not aware of it. And you would think that there would be a critique of outward technology from the perspective of inward meditative technology. Hinduism is rich in cultural resources, in spiritual transformations, and in its deep Indo-European history but it does not seem to exploit these to show its superiority over the dualisms of the West, and their very narrow technical philosophy which is not motivated by spiritual insights.
We hope for more from the venerable Hindu tradition in the future. The tradition needs to be rethought. Much of my own work is motivated by this kind of Rethinking. I discovered the Meta-levels of Being in my research for my dissertation at London School of Economics called The Structure of Theoretical Systems in Relation to Emergence [See http://archonic.net]. Then I went on to become a Software and Systems Engineer. But I continued my studies, and eventually worked my way back to the study of the Vedas, via Dumazil, and discovered that the differences between the Hindu Gods in the Vedas were the same as the Kinds of Being discovered in Modern European Continental Philosophy and this caused me to write the book The Fragmentation of Being and the Path Beyond the Void [See http://works.bepress.com/
-------------------------
Since this answer is fairly popular I will elaborate. What I said above is something very well known in almost all academic circles which know anything about the romance of philology and the discovery of the kinship between european languages and Sanskrit.
In Sanscrit the term for Being is Sat. In the Bhagavad Gita which is part of the Mahabharata the Indian Epic the goals of spirituality were Sat Cit Ananda. Being, Knowledge, Bliss I believe is the translation if memory serves. Only Indo-European languages have Being in them, it is a linguistic anomaly which seems pretty standard only because Indo-Europeans have taken over the known world multiple times spreading their language to cover 60% of the world population. Hinduism has a very interesting mythic tradition somewhat preserved in the Praise poems of the Vedas which is then enhanced by a philosophical tradition that appears first in the Upanishads. it is a rich tradition not studied enough by Westerners, but which went into decline with colonialization both by Muslims then the English. To me the most interesting episode in that tradition was the generation of the Buddhist nondual heresy, which basically said we should forget Being and return to Existence under the rubric of Emptiness. This was later incorporated back into the Hindu tradition by making Buddha an avatar of Vishnu, and through the works of Shankara that founded Advita Vedanta, which interpreted Being as Emptiness, and thus reconciled the Upanishads with each other via this semantic shift. This was the outcome of the work of Nagarjuna who pointed out that Emptiness is endemic to logic, being the discontinuities between the logical operators nand, nor, and, or. Emptiness is what stands at the heart of this conceptual minimal system that makes a tetrahedral structure. Associated with Sanskrit was a mass like pervasion logic that was adopted by Buddhism. This is in contrast to the set-like logic of the Syllogism that was popular in the West from the time of Aristotle. Mass logics are much better for dealing with nondual concepts such as Emptiness because we can say that the Emptiness pervades things, without reifying it into a thing. Set based Logics tend to reify characteristics into things causing cognitive fallacies galore. The differentiation of the Buddhist existential heresy within the Indo-European worldview and then its reabsorbtion into Advita Vedanta is very interesting when you contrast that with the Dualism of the Western worldview and its steadfast rejection of all nondual heresies, including the one it could not crush which was Islam. When Muslims conquered India they more or less left it intact from a religious point of view but there were many interesting encounters between Sufis and Hindu practitioners in India which caused Sufism to spread in India and let to the conversion of quite a few Hindu's to Islam. Thus India was also receptive to a certain extent to the Islamic nondual heresy which came much later than Buddhism. The West which has a history of killing off all nondual challengers to its dualistic proclivity has a lot to learn from the Hindu tradition which seems to cope with Heresy much better than the Western tradition. This makes the Hindu tradition a great test case to compare to the Western tradition and to think what a more tolerant Western tradition might be like.
The point is that in Hinduism there was a technological development also but that was inner technology rather than the outer technology that has been developed in the West. But now that the West is up against the limits it is about time that the West starts learning from its Indo-European counterpart about the importance of inner technology, like meditation etc. Religion founded on spiritual experience rather than unfounded belief is a big step up in terms of sophistication compared to Western religions. However, although there has been various migrations of Guru's from India to the West over the years much of that has been considered culturally too foreign and thus has not had much of an impact compared to the impact of first Zen Buddhism and then Tibetan Buddhism. On the discovery of the kinship between the obviously older and more sophisticated Indo-European cultural tradition in India and that of the Barbaric Westerners who colonized it, the west was open to this spiritual influence and Theosophy was the result. That was an Orientalization of Hinduism and Buddhism which were considered to be basically the same thing at that time. Later it was realized that Buddhism was really different and therefore it had a separate impact after WWII during the 60s and 70s through the discovery by the west of the Chinese and Japanese brands of Buddhism and the seemingly religiously neutral Zen sects. So the focus shifted from India to other countries as a source of spiritual inspiration of Westerners who found nondual approaches congenial.
What Tibetan Buddhism and Hinduism share is the seemingly endless variety of the forms of worship and spiritual dimensions of practice. Among the Tibetan Buddhist offerings the most interesting is DzogChen which seems to be their indigenous answer to the rejection of Chinese Zen. Buddhism died out in India but lived on in Tibet producing at least two of the most outstanding intellects of all time Dzog Ka Pa and Mipham who took opposite sides in the debate over whether consciousness was reflexive or not within the arcane debates of Buddhist Philosophy in Tibet.
But when you think that all this came from Hinduism, as its heresies spread around the world, heresies that it reabsorbed within itself, then it gives you some idea of the vibrancy of the Hindu Tradition. Hinduism from India has a lot to contribute to our cultural and social maturity in the West if we but knew, much more than a string of Gurus and Transcendental Meditation. But the active intellectual development that would make that tradition relevant to the transformation of the Western culture and civilization does not seem to be present. Seems that folks in India are still playing the Colonizer/Colonized game. Why they are not challenging the Western tradition more with their older and more sophisticated tradition is unclear.
Hinduism has shown resilience standing up to two onslaughts of nonduality first from Buddhism and then from Sufism reabsorbing many of these elements into their own tradition. Hinduism developed Advita Vedanta which was a reinterpretation of their own tradition based on nondual insights by Shankara. But it seems that these advances easily became reified and did not produce movements like Buddhism was as a departure from Hinduism. Hindus are famously very proficient in Math and Logic. So you would think that there would be a whole tradition in the application of nonduality to Math and Logic that they could leverage to challenge Western Philosophy and its dominance. Maybe this has occurred and I am just not aware of it. And you would think that there would be a critique of outward technology from the perspective of inward meditative technology. Hinduism is rich in cultural resources, in spiritual transformations, and in its deep Indo-European history but it does not seem to exploit these to show its superiority over the dualisms of the West, and their very narrow technical philosophy which is not motivated by spiritual insights.
We hope for more from the venerable Hindu tradition in the future. The tradition needs to be rethought. Much of my own work is motivated by this kind of Rethinking. I discovered the Meta-levels of Being in my research for my dissertation at London School of Economics called The Structure of Theoretical Systems in Relation to Emergence [See http://archonic.net]. Then I went on to become a Software and Systems Engineer. But I continued my studies, and eventually worked my way back to the study of the Vedas, via Dumazil, and discovered that the differences between the Hindu Gods in the Vedas were the same as the Kinds of Being discovered in Modern European Continental Philosophy and this caused me to write the book The Fragmentation of Being and the Path Beyond the Void [See http://works.bepress.com/
Bala Senthil Kumar, Curious humanitarian at large.
10 votes by Will Wister, Ganesh Shandilya, Aalok Deep Pandit, (more)
Anon User
64 votes by Abdul Awaes, Rajiv Khaneja, Makarand Sahasrabuddhe, (more)
Hinduism is not a 'religion', in the sense the other major religions are.
UPDATE : Here are some reasons for my statement (though my knowledge in this is very sparse too):
1. There was nothing called 'Hinduism' for many centuries when it was being 'practised'. The name originated from Ancient Greeks who called the people Hindus, after the river Sindhu, and the customs and beliefs automatically came to be known as Hinduism to the West. The closest name that the people had was Dharma (loosely Duty). For the purposes of this answer though, I shall continue to refer to it as Hinduism.
3. As others have mentioned, there is no single central founder or book (Vedas come close). It has just been there.
4. It encompasses a huge mosaic of beliefs, each of which could be a separate religion in the modern sense. And since ancient times, there have been instances of healthy debates among the various philosophies of thought, and these debates are interesting to follow. They are quite philosophical in nature with parties arguing based on analogies and actually try to prove the validity of their point of view.
To give a rough idea of the diversity of these ideas, consider the following :
Dvaita and Bhakti
Samkhya
There are branches that are almost atheistic! :-) Per Wikipedia:
Advaita
In direct confrontation with Dvaita, There is another school of thought called Advaita (non-dual) that insists that your "self" is and God are not separate ( Hence the phrase - Tat Tvam Asi or 'Thou art that' ).
5. As a result of this diversity, you can imagine that there must be a lot of flexibility and tolerance inbuilt. Indeed, when Gautama Buddha came along to 'reform' the ritualistic tendencies of Hinduism and establish a simple eightfold path to Nirvana, some people were not only tolerant but flexible to accept him as an incarnation of Vishnu.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w
6. The point 5 is not a new phenomenon. There are instances mentioned in the Puranas where a new guy called Krishna came along and challenged rituals that were intended to please Indra and Bhrama (who were the most important dieties in the Vedic age). In two celebrated instances, he urged the people to express their gratitude to nature and their fertile land intsead. Perhaps ironically, he himself became the central rallying "God" during the Bhakti movement.
7. Some religions have strong ideas about Idol worships. It is worth noting that the idol worship (and physical temples) are a relatively new phenomenon. For instance, in Ramayana and Mahabharatha - two of the oldest epics, transmitted orally for centuries, there is no mention of characters going to visit temples. They only visited holy sites, like the origins of rivers, or rivers/forests themselves.
There are many more points but I guess these convey my intent.
UPDATE : Here are some reasons for my statement (though my knowledge in this is very sparse too):
1. There was nothing called 'Hinduism' for many centuries when it was being 'practised'. The name originated from Ancient Greeks who called the people Hindus, after the river Sindhu, and the customs and beliefs automatically came to be known as Hinduism to the West. The closest name that the people had was Dharma (loosely Duty). For the purposes of this answer though, I shall continue to refer to it as Hinduism.
2. Hinduism is a conglomeration of distinct intellectual or philosophical points of view, rather than a rigid common set of beliefs. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hin... ]
3. As others have mentioned, there is no single central founder or book (Vedas come close). It has just been there.
4. It encompasses a huge mosaic of beliefs, each of which could be a separate religion in the modern sense. And since ancient times, there have been instances of healthy debates among the various philosophies of thought, and these debates are interesting to follow. They are quite philosophical in nature with parties arguing based on analogies and actually try to prove the validity of their point of view.
To give a rough idea of the diversity of these ideas, consider the following :
Dvaita and Bhakti
Dualistic schools (see Dvaita and Bhakti) understand Brahman as a Supreme Being who possesses personality, and they worship him or her thus, as Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva, or Shakti, depending upon the sect.
Samkhya
There are branches that are almost atheistic! :-) Per Wikipedia:
Atheistic doctrines dominate Hindu schools like Samkhya and Mimamsa.[103] The Sāṁkhyapravacana Sūtra of Samkhya argues that the existence of God (Ishvara) cannot be proved and hence cannot be admitted to exist.[104] Samkhya argue that an unchanging God cannot be the source of an ever changing world. It says God was a necessary metaphysical assumption demanded by circumstances.[105] Proponents of the school of Mimamsa, which is based on rituals and orthopraxy states that the evidence allegedly proving the existence of God was insufficient. They argue that there is no need to postulate a maker for the world, just as there is no need for an author to compose the Vedas or a God to validate the rituals
Advaita
In direct confrontation with Dvaita, There is another school of thought called Advaita (non-dual) that insists that your "self" is and God are not separate ( Hence the phrase - Tat Tvam Asi or 'Thou art that' ).
5. As a result of this diversity, you can imagine that there must be a lot of flexibility and tolerance inbuilt. Indeed, when Gautama Buddha came along to 'reform' the ritualistic tendencies of Hinduism and establish a simple eightfold path to Nirvana, some people were not only tolerant but flexible to accept him as an incarnation of Vishnu.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w
6. The point 5 is not a new phenomenon. There are instances mentioned in the Puranas where a new guy called Krishna came along and challenged rituals that were intended to please Indra and Bhrama (who were the most important dieties in the Vedic age). In two celebrated instances, he urged the people to express their gratitude to nature and their fertile land intsead. Perhaps ironically, he himself became the central rallying "God" during the Bhakti movement.
7. Some religions have strong ideas about Idol worships. It is worth noting that the idol worship (and physical temples) are a relatively new phenomenon. For instance, in Ramayana and Mahabharatha - two of the oldest epics, transmitted orally for centuries, there is no mention of characters going to visit temples. They only visited holy sites, like the origins of rivers, or rivers/forests themselves.
There are many more points but I guess these convey my intent.
Ravi Arora
6 votes by Joe Samson, Mayank Jain, Vishakh Ranade, (more)
Bhashkar Sharma,
9 votes by Avinash Tripathi, Will Wister, Anubhav Srivastava, (more)
If Hinduism is a religion, then man is a unicellular organism. If you define religion by having one deity, a way of worship and teachings that are followed; then Hinduism itself is composed of more religions than all others in the world put together. The total number of deities in the religious texts is around 330 million. The best part, as many above have mentioned, is that atheism itself has been accepted in Hinduism for ages now. Hinduism doesn't condemn atheists to burn in Hell fire for ages or seek that they be stoned to death.
I wouldn't take Hinduism, or any other religion for that matter (apart from maybe Pastafarianism), at their present day face value. There have been a lot of transformations and changes in the last 4000 years (you can take time to digest this; we are the only religion that have been around for so long). Here's my take on what I interpret it was meant to be.
Women have been valued equal, at times superior to men. Hinduism is a religion where for almost every male God there is a female counterpart. Not just this, there are references of female scholars all over the place: Ahilya, Savitri, Ghosha, Apala... the list goes on. In fact, most religious rituals are considered incomplete for men if done without their wives. There are references in Ramayana of Kaikeyi (Lord Ram's stepmother) accompanying Dasharath (Ram's father) in the war; and of Goddess Durga fighting demons in her various forms. Beat that.
Asking questions is not condemned, but is encouraged. In fact, almost all of the religious texts are in the form of question-answers between sages and disciples.
The Bhagawadgita is considered to be the highest religious text, as it is the direct words of Lord Krishna himself. And I don't remember the mention of any kind of religious ritual in there. It is all about the law of Karma, and how one should live their lives. Nowhere does it say that if you don't do puja/aarti at this time on this day, you will be not loved by god, condemned to Hell or something along those lines.
Karma, Bhakti, Gyaan are the three forms of Yog (Yoga is just a minuscule subpart of Yog; which literally means 'bond'). There are nine forms of Bhakti (meaning devotion), which range from satsang (literally, being in good company) to staying away from pride and indulging in good deeds, seeing divinity in everyone and everything (anu mein vibhu: the universe in an atom; which is also taken to mean that we probably knew about the atomic structure and its resemblance to the solar system ages ago), being content with your life, always seeking the good in others and living a simple and honest life. Gyaan which literally means wisdom, is different from knowledge. Knowledge tends to crush people under its weight, while gyaan is liberating.
Dharma, Artha (money), Kama (desires, also taken to mean sex) and Moksha (self-actualization, liberation, Nirvana) are considered the four goals of humans which everyone should strive to achieve in the course of their lives.
The word Dharma, which is loosely taken to mean religion now-a-days has a very vast meaning. It is very hard to define, but is somewhat on the lines of duties and responsibilities that one has because of them being a father, son, daughter, boss, colleague, employee, friend.. whatever they might consider themselves. It also means that the same person can have multiple dharmas at once.
Many people have mentioned the caste system. I will just be repeating what some have brought up that the caste system was a by-product of the 'dark ages' as I like to call the times when practices like Sati used to prevail. Nowhere in the religious texts is it written that Brahmin's son should be a Brahmin and so on. But as we know, nobody in the position of power wants to let it go out of hand, or out of family (my country's political state comes to mind). That's probably what happened when some Brahmins probably decided that Varna (caste) will follow the bloodline. Till then, a man's varna was defined only by what his actions are. I don't remember any mention of untouchability in religious texts. It was a creation of the middle ages. I remember reading this quote somewhere: 'Janam se toh sabhi shudra hote hain; hamare karma hi hamein Brahmin banate hain' (everyone is born as a lower caste being; it is our deeds that make us Brahmins)
Celibacy was practiced willingly, but was not considered a requirement for being closer to God. All of the Saptarishis (the seven sages) were married. Married life is considered to be a very important part of life spiritually too. It is where you practice self-restraint, service and tolerance.
Four stages of life (ashrams) have been defined: Brahmacharya, Grihasth, Vanaprasth and Sanyasa. The division is to facilitate holistic growth of the individual and to allow contribution to the society.
Following are some things not strictly from Hinduism, but from the Indian history (adding this since Hinduism and Indian-ism were not really two separate things till we were invaded):
Sex was not treated as taboo or sin; in fact there are a lot of references to sex in great details in various texts. Don't forget: we are the land of the Kamasutra.
I wouldn't go over the Dashavatara and their obvious connection to the theory of evolution which has already been mentioned by others. Whatever discoveries science makes, I'm certain it will never be very far from the scientific statements in our ancient texts.
I have read a lot of religious and spiritual texts including the philosophical ones and by the new-age thought leaders, and I daresay I don't remember the last time I read something which was already not stated in one form or the other, in Hindu religious texts.
I truly believe that there is only two ways religious peace and harmony can prevail: either everyone becomes an atheist, or everyone embraces the Hindu philosophy; by which I don't mean worshipping certain deities or following certain customs; but the essence of Hinduism and Indianism, which is Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: The whole world is a family.
I wouldn't take Hinduism, or any other religion for that matter (apart from maybe Pastafarianism), at their present day face value. There have been a lot of transformations and changes in the last 4000 years (you can take time to digest this; we are the only religion that have been around for so long). Here's my take on what I interpret it was meant to be.
Women have been valued equal, at times superior to men. Hinduism is a religion where for almost every male God there is a female counterpart. Not just this, there are references of female scholars all over the place: Ahilya, Savitri, Ghosha, Apala... the list goes on. In fact, most religious rituals are considered incomplete for men if done without their wives. There are references in Ramayana of Kaikeyi (Lord Ram's stepmother) accompanying Dasharath (Ram's father) in the war; and of Goddess Durga fighting demons in her various forms. Beat that.
Asking questions is not condemned, but is encouraged. In fact, almost all of the religious texts are in the form of question-answers between sages and disciples.
The Bhagawadgita is considered to be the highest religious text, as it is the direct words of Lord Krishna himself. And I don't remember the mention of any kind of religious ritual in there. It is all about the law of Karma, and how one should live their lives. Nowhere does it say that if you don't do puja/aarti at this time on this day, you will be not loved by god, condemned to Hell or something along those lines.
Karma, Bhakti, Gyaan are the three forms of Yog (Yoga is just a minuscule subpart of Yog; which literally means 'bond'). There are nine forms of Bhakti (meaning devotion), which range from satsang (literally, being in good company) to staying away from pride and indulging in good deeds, seeing divinity in everyone and everything (anu mein vibhu: the universe in an atom; which is also taken to mean that we probably knew about the atomic structure and its resemblance to the solar system ages ago), being content with your life, always seeking the good in others and living a simple and honest life. Gyaan which literally means wisdom, is different from knowledge. Knowledge tends to crush people under its weight, while gyaan is liberating.
Dharma, Artha (money), Kama (desires, also taken to mean sex) and Moksha (self-actualization, liberation, Nirvana) are considered the four goals of humans which everyone should strive to achieve in the course of their lives.
The word Dharma, which is loosely taken to mean religion now-a-days has a very vast meaning. It is very hard to define, but is somewhat on the lines of duties and responsibilities that one has because of them being a father, son, daughter, boss, colleague, employee, friend.. whatever they might consider themselves. It also means that the same person can have multiple dharmas at once.
Many people have mentioned the caste system. I will just be repeating what some have brought up that the caste system was a by-product of the 'dark ages' as I like to call the times when practices like Sati used to prevail. Nowhere in the religious texts is it written that Brahmin's son should be a Brahmin and so on. But as we know, nobody in the position of power wants to let it go out of hand, or out of family (my country's political state comes to mind). That's probably what happened when some Brahmins probably decided that Varna (caste) will follow the bloodline. Till then, a man's varna was defined only by what his actions are. I don't remember any mention of untouchability in religious texts. It was a creation of the middle ages. I remember reading this quote somewhere: 'Janam se toh sabhi shudra hote hain; hamare karma hi hamein Brahmin banate hain' (everyone is born as a lower caste being; it is our deeds that make us Brahmins)
Celibacy was practiced willingly, but was not considered a requirement for being closer to God. All of the Saptarishis (the seven sages) were married. Married life is considered to be a very important part of life spiritually too. It is where you practice self-restraint, service and tolerance.
Four stages of life (ashrams) have been defined: Brahmacharya, Grihasth, Vanaprasth and Sanyasa. The division is to facilitate holistic growth of the individual and to allow contribution to the society.
- Brahmacharya, (which literally means roaming in The Brahma: The Supreme power) is the first stage where the person indulges himself in learning. It has also come to mean celibate, which is mostly because celibacy was recommended while you are gaining knowledge. I'm guessing it had to do with allowing the mind to focus on learning and not get distracted with worldly things.
- Then comes Grihasth. This is where you get married, raise a family and practice worldly life.
- Vanaprasth is the next stage. In this stage you live at home but your focus is more towards contributing to the society.
- Sanyasa is the final stage when you leave all worldly belongings and relationships; and focus entirely on helping the world become a better place.
Following are some things not strictly from Hinduism, but from the Indian history (adding this since Hinduism and Indian-ism were not really two separate things till we were invaded):
Sex was not treated as taboo or sin; in fact there are a lot of references to sex in great details in various texts. Don't forget: we are the land of the Kamasutra.
I wouldn't go over the Dashavatara and their obvious connection to the theory of evolution which has already been mentioned by others. Whatever discoveries science makes, I'm certain it will never be very far from the scientific statements in our ancient texts.
I have read a lot of religious and spiritual texts including the philosophical ones and by the new-age thought leaders, and I daresay I don't remember the last time I read something which was already not stated in one form or the other, in Hindu religious texts.
I truly believe that there is only two ways religious peace and harmony can prevail: either everyone becomes an atheist, or everyone embraces the Hindu philosophy; by which I don't mean worshipping certain deities or following certain customs; but the essence of Hinduism and Indianism, which is Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: The whole world is a family.
Sanjay Sabnani,
14 votes by Anon User, Mohit Agrawal, Mahesh Soori, (more)
If this question is posed to the approximately billion Hindus around the world, you will get approximately a billion responses to this question.
As a rule of thumb, I suggest that you replace "Hindu" with Internet in order to understand the difficulty of defining this cultural concept.
What are some mind blowing facts about the Internet?
There is no real way to convert to Hinduism because the assumption is that Hinduism is something that makes sense if you are Indian- nothing more and nothing less.
As a rule of thumb, I suggest that you replace "Hindu" with Internet in order to understand the difficulty of defining this cultural concept.
What are some mind blowing facts about the Internet?
- It is hard to define the Internet beyond a commonality of communication methodology/protocols and language/syntax.
- People define the Internet in a personal way and no two definitions will be alike.
- For some the Internet is social and for others it is just part of their job or upbringing.
- Some people on the Internet believe in God while others do not.
There is no real way to convert to Hinduism because the assumption is that Hinduism is something that makes sense if you are Indian- nothing more and nothing less.
Shreyans Mehta, Spiritualist, Teacher, Entrepreneur
3 votes by Koustubh Avachat, Bhushan Reddy, and Madhumitha Rajakumar
Vipin Sharma
6 votes by Ravi Arora, Amol Gawai, Niranjan Sankaran, (more)
Hinduism has a healthy tradition of settling the intellectual disagreements through debates called Shastrarth held in full public glare. Today, these Shastrarth have found a new name Quora.
The western world can boast of only one philosopher king viz Marcus Aurelius. In Hinduism, every major king was a philosopher, Raja Janak being the most prominent among them. As a matter of fact, most of the spiritual and philosophical discussions were held in the royal courts. No!!! The King was never an arbiter in these talkathons. The distilled wisdom from these Shastrarthas forms the corpus of Upnishadas.
Hinduism has numerous scriptures of which Vedas are considered to be infallible. Yet Hinduism stresses on independent inquiry by individuals and not blind adherence to any book. More importantly, we are free to interpret these scriptures the way we wish as is borne the large number of Teekas i.e commentaries on Shri Bhagwad Gita.
Hinduism places Guru i.e. our guide in our spiritual quest on a pedestal higher than that of God. Yet, we have been given complete freedom in choosing our Guru. Moreover, despite so much importance accorded to our Guru, we do not consider him to be His messenger or even an intermediary between us and God.
Contrary to the popular perception, Hinduism accords as much importance to this world as it does on the Other World. After all, the biggest festival of Hindus is Deepawali on which we try to propitiate Goddess Lakshmi i.e. the Goddess of Wealth.
Hinduism is an exclusive club whose membership can be had by birth only. It is another matter it has a slightly large number of members, 1 billion to be precise.
Hinduism has no concept of Blasphemy. You do not have to believe in Ram, Krishna or any of the other countless Gods to be a Hindu.
Hinduism does not recognise a personal God in the form of A Big Brother watching over us.
The western world can boast of only one philosopher king viz Marcus Aurelius. In Hinduism, every major king was a philosopher, Raja Janak being the most prominent among them. As a matter of fact, most of the spiritual and philosophical discussions were held in the royal courts. No!!! The King was never an arbiter in these talkathons. The distilled wisdom from these Shastrarthas forms the corpus of Upnishadas.
Hinduism has numerous scriptures of which Vedas are considered to be infallible. Yet Hinduism stresses on independent inquiry by individuals and not blind adherence to any book. More importantly, we are free to interpret these scriptures the way we wish as is borne the large number of Teekas i.e commentaries on Shri Bhagwad Gita.
Hinduism places Guru i.e. our guide in our spiritual quest on a pedestal higher than that of God. Yet, we have been given complete freedom in choosing our Guru. Moreover, despite so much importance accorded to our Guru, we do not consider him to be His messenger or even an intermediary between us and God.
Contrary to the popular perception, Hinduism accords as much importance to this world as it does on the Other World. After all, the biggest festival of Hindus is Deepawali on which we try to propitiate Goddess Lakshmi i.e. the Goddess of Wealth.
Hinduism is an exclusive club whose membership can be had by birth only. It is another matter it has a slightly large number of members, 1 billion to be precise.
Hinduism has no concept of Blasphemy. You do not have to believe in Ram, Krishna or any of the other countless Gods to be a Hindu.
Hinduism does not recognise a personal God in the form of A Big Brother watching over us.
Bhushan Reddy, www.infiq.in
3 votes by Greg Hammond, Shalin Shah, and Vimal Desai
Brilliant answers for this question already,I don't think so my explanation is needed here.But still I would like to add few lines.
First of all Hinduism is not a religion (Please don't go by the definitions on the Internet - The age of internet before the age of Hinduism is infinitesimal) In simple words it's a way of life.
For several reason now it's termed as a religion.
When Hinduism started no other religion was even existing,so how can we say it's one of the oldest religions.
Hinduism is the only way of life which comes it self freely and imposes no particular practices which needs to be practiced by it's followers.
People following Hinduism in India is one of the major reasons/factors which helped India to remain a united country,even after having so much diversity in language,culture,religion etc.
First of all Hinduism is not a religion (Please don't go by the definitions on the Internet - The age of internet before the age of Hinduism is infinitesimal) In simple words it's a way of life.
For several reason now it's termed as a religion.
When Hinduism started no other religion was even existing,so how can we say it's one of the oldest religions.
Hinduism is the only way of life which comes it self freely and imposes no particular practices which needs to be practiced by it's followers.
People following Hinduism in India is one of the major reasons/factors which helped India to remain a united country,even after having so much diversity in language,culture,religion etc.
Anjali Ramakrishna Pai, Hindu Mythology Buff, Business Analyst
3 votes by Nalin Sav, Chad Cooper, and Vaibhaw Singh Chandel
For me Hinduism recognizes that everyone is different and has a unique intellectual and spiritual outlook. Therefore, it allows people to develop and grow at their own pace by making different spiritual paths available to them,so that individuals may be guided by their own spiritual experiences. This freedom of worship is unmatched .
As opposed to Abrahamic faiths our scriptures aren't used to show the "greatness" of God but to reveal the subliminal truths of reality.
Often Hindus are bashed as idol worshipers the logic behind it as per my guru is ...The idol is just a symbol, a form to identify with to connect to and concentrate all the energies on....An abstract concept of a higher individual/God might be appealing to an intellectual mind but how will a common man or child understand or identify ...an idol in a way becomes a point to concentrate on ......each aspect of nature is celebrated by a different symbolic representation...we pray to the representation who most suits our emotional make up.The idols are only instruments to communicate with the higher individual or God...The image or icon of worship is a focus for our prayers and devotions.
As opposed to Abrahamic faiths our scriptures aren't used to show the "greatness" of God but to reveal the subliminal truths of reality.
Often Hindus are bashed as idol worshipers the logic behind it as per my guru is ...The idol is just a symbol, a form to identify with to connect to and concentrate all the energies on....An abstract concept of a higher individual/God might be appealing to an intellectual mind but how will a common man or child understand or identify ...an idol in a way becomes a point to concentrate on ......each aspect of nature is celebrated by a different symbolic representation...we pray to the representation who most suits our emotional make up.The idols are only instruments to communicate with the higher individual or God...The image or icon of worship is a focus for our prayers and devotions.
Adam Wykes
2 votes by Devesh Kumar Pandey and Madhumitha Rajakumar
Bhavik Shah
5 votes by Jason Thibodeau, Eshan Chordia, Dhrumin Shah, (more)
Fact #7 is incorrect:
Hinduism is not a parent religion to Jainism
http://en.wikipedia.org/w
Jains are not a part of the Vedic Religion (Hinduism).[62][63][64] Ancient India had two philosophical streams of thought: The Shramanaphilosophical schools, represented by Jainism movement, and the Brahmana/Vedic/Puranic schools represented by Vedanta,Vaishnava and other movements. Both streams have existed side by side for few thousands of years, influencing each other.[6
Hinduism is not a parent religion to Jainism
http://en.wikipedia.org/w
Jains are not a part of the Vedic Religion (Hinduism).[62][63][64] Ancient India had two philosophical streams of thought: The Shramanaphilosophical schools, represented by Jainism movement, and the Brahmana/Vedic/Puranic schools represented by Vedanta,Vaishnava and other movements. Both streams have existed side by side for few thousands of years, influencing each other.[6
Bhavik Vora, avid reader of Hindu and Jain
1 vote by Bhushan Reddy
Hinduism is not a religion, its way of life ie. dharma.
More about it here - http://hinduism.about.com
More about it here - http://hinduism.about.com
Kirti Dhingra,
1 vote by Nalin Sav
This is a topic on which you could get all the wisdom in the world and all of it would be different, some interesting facts are
Also, one must mention that Hindus mostly have an insatiable appetite for mythological content. Re-makes of the Ramayana and Mahabharatha have been made endless number of times on television. Currently, it is Lord Shiva who is ruling the airwaves http://www.globalmasala.c
- Hinduism is known to have more than 330 million deities however in a broader sense this number is supposed to represent infinite suggesting infinite forms of god
- Vishnu and his ten avatars actually represents the process of evolution on earth can be closely linked to Darwin's theory of evolution
- Most of the religious destinations in India which are referred to in the various scriptures exist till today. Some of them exhibit phenomenon which is not easily explained by science.
Also, one must mention that Hindus mostly have an insatiable appetite for mythological content. Re-makes of the Ramayana and Mahabharatha have been made endless number of times on television. Currently, it is Lord Shiva who is ruling the airwaves http://www.globalmasala.c
Shurjendu Dutt-Mazumdar,
4 votes by Norma Mejias, Shravya Yakkali, Vishakh Ranade, and Aswath Narayanan
Hinduism means "Indianism". Its self-given names are Sanatana Dharma (the Forever Faith, Perennial Philosophy, or Eternal Holding), Arya Dharma (the Noble religion), and Veda Dharma (the Holding/Faith of Knowledge).
It is acknowledged by historians and anthropologists as being the oldest-known major organized religion, that is still extant after continued existence from its inception. Sanatana Dharma is a syncretistic religion based on the sacerdotal and philosophical systems of the nomadic Aryans from Iran and indigenous worship patterns from the subcontinent. It is older than even Judaism, with experts in Indology, History, Anthropology, Religion and Literary Studies concurring that Sanatana Dharma ("Hinduism") took form some time between 4500 and 1600 BCE, with prototypical beliefs forming in Mohenjodaro and Harappa (cf. the Pashupati seal).
Tracing the founding of Judaism to a mythical figure like Abraham, who IS SAID to have lived around 2,000 BCE, is nonsensical and wishful thinking. As an organized religion, Judaism probably took shape as a distinct faith no earlier than 1,000 BCE.
Hinduism's main diktat comes from the 10th Mandala (a section) of the Rg Veda, one of its foundational books from beyond a millennium B.C.E.. That diktat is "Ekam Sat, Vipraaha Bahudha Vadanti |" ["Truth is one, though sages know it variously <as many things>."] This ecumenicalism or universalism in religious thought is TRUE catholicism (which literally means universalism). Sanatana Dharma (a.k.a. Hinduism) is the first and only major religion to embrace such an enlightened view on religious doctrine.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Also, to correct a misperception: Sanatana Dharma (a.k.a. Hinduism) does not in fact espouse a caste system. It was written in the Vedanta or Upanishads, the final books of the Vedas (the founding literature of Hinduism) that gotra/varna ("lineage", "color" or 'caste') is only determined by the color of one's character, by one's attitudes and one's deeds in life. There is a famous Upanishadic parable in the Chhandogya Upanishad (4.4.1-5) related to just this question.
" Once upon a time Satyakama Jabala addressed his mother Jabala, 'Mother, I desire to live the life of a celibate student of sacred knowledge in the teacher's house. Of what caste am I?'
She said to him, 'My child, I do not know of what caste you are. I, who was engaged in many works and in attending on others, got you in my youth. Having been such I could not know of what lineage you are. However, I am Jabala by name and you are named Satyakama. So you speak of yourself only as Satyakama Jabala.'
He went to Haridrumata Gautama and said, 'I desire to live under you, revered sir, as a Brahmacharin; may I approach your venerable self (for the same)?'
Gautama asked him, 'Dear boy, of what caste are you?' He replied, 'Sir, I do not know of what lineage I am. I asked my mother; she replied, "I, who was engaged in many works and in attending on others, got you in my youth. Having been such, I could not know of what lineage you are. However, I am Jabala by name and you are named Satyakama". So, sir, I am Satyakama Jabala.'
The teacher said to him, 'No one who is not a Brahmin can speak thus. Dear boy, bring the sacrificial fuel, I shall initiate you as a Brahmacharin, for you have not deviated from truth'."
ESSENTIALLY, this parable is saying that IT IS WHAT ONE DOES, WHO ONE IS, which determines one's truth color/varna/caste, not some rubbish, onerous hereditary class system imposed on the people by power-hungry priests who used their position to instantiate their power by ordaining some sort of "divine right" to their status by twisting sacred scriptures to justify what they said.
In the old days, young boys would learn and progress into professions based on a meritocratic system. Then wily, wicked, and corrupt priests founded an evil system to make sure that their sons would never miss out on becoming Brahmins just because they demonstrated laziness or a lack of innate intelligence.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Among Sanatana Dharma (a.k.a. Hinduism)'s major facets are its six orthodox Vedic philosophical schools: Purva Mimaamsa, Uttara Mimaamsa (Vedanta), Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya, and Yoga. The Yoga philosophy of Patanjali derived largely from Uttara Mimaamsa (Vedanta, the core/end of the Vedas or the Upanishads). Funnily enough, people all over the world divorce Yoga from Hinduism, even though the greatest Yoga scripture alongside the Yoga Sutras is the Bhagavad Gita (from the Mahaabhaarata or 'Great India', the second-longest epic, a poem, in the world's history).
There are many other things apart from age, Yoga (the PHILOSOPHY from the Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad Gita AS WELL AS Patanjali's Hatha Yoga, with its emphasis on Ahimsa/non-violence), its unparalleled hermit culture, and incredible artwork (like the Ajanta and Ellora caves, Jagannath Temple in Orissa, and hundreds of others temples across the world) which distinguish Sanatana Dharma (a.k.a. Hinduism) from most other faiths,
It is acknowledged by historians and anthropologists as being the oldest-known major organized religion, that is still extant after continued existence from its inception. Sanatana Dharma is a syncretistic religion based on the sacerdotal and philosophical systems of the nomadic Aryans from Iran and indigenous worship patterns from the subcontinent. It is older than even Judaism, with experts in Indology, History, Anthropology, Religion and Literary Studies concurring that Sanatana Dharma ("Hinduism") took form some time between 4500 and 1600 BCE, with prototypical beliefs forming in Mohenjodaro and Harappa (cf. the Pashupati seal).
Tracing the founding of Judaism to a mythical figure like Abraham, who IS SAID to have lived around 2,000 BCE, is nonsensical and wishful thinking. As an organized religion, Judaism probably took shape as a distinct faith no earlier than 1,000 BCE.
Hinduism's main diktat comes from the 10th Mandala (a section) of the Rg Veda, one of its foundational books from beyond a millennium B.C.E.. That diktat is "Ekam Sat, Vipraaha Bahudha Vadanti |" ["Truth is one, though sages know it variously <as many things>."] This ecumenicalism or universalism in religious thought is TRUE catholicism (which literally means universalism). Sanatana Dharma (a.k.a. Hinduism) is the first and only major religion to embrace such an enlightened view on religious doctrine.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Also, to correct a misperception: Sanatana Dharma (a.k.a. Hinduism) does not in fact espouse a caste system. It was written in the Vedanta or Upanishads, the final books of the Vedas (the founding literature of Hinduism) that gotra/varna ("lineage", "color" or 'caste') is only determined by the color of one's character, by one's attitudes and one's deeds in life. There is a famous Upanishadic parable in the Chhandogya Upanishad (4.4.1-5) related to just this question.
" Once upon a time Satyakama Jabala addressed his mother Jabala, 'Mother, I desire to live the life of a celibate student of sacred knowledge in the teacher's house. Of what caste am I?'
She said to him, 'My child, I do not know of what caste you are. I, who was engaged in many works and in attending on others, got you in my youth. Having been such I could not know of what lineage you are. However, I am Jabala by name and you are named Satyakama. So you speak of yourself only as Satyakama Jabala.'
He went to Haridrumata Gautama and said, 'I desire to live under you, revered sir, as a Brahmacharin; may I approach your venerable self (for the same)?'
Gautama asked him, 'Dear boy, of what caste are you?' He replied, 'Sir, I do not know of what lineage I am. I asked my mother; she replied, "I, who was engaged in many works and in attending on others, got you in my youth. Having been such, I could not know of what lineage you are. However, I am Jabala by name and you are named Satyakama". So, sir, I am Satyakama Jabala.'
The teacher said to him, 'No one who is not a Brahmin can speak thus. Dear boy, bring the sacrificial fuel, I shall initiate you as a Brahmacharin, for you have not deviated from truth'."
ESSENTIALLY, this parable is saying that IT IS WHAT ONE DOES, WHO ONE IS, which determines one's truth color/varna/caste, not some rubbish, onerous hereditary class system imposed on the people by power-hungry priests who used their position to instantiate their power by ordaining some sort of "divine right" to their status by twisting sacred scriptures to justify what they said.
In the old days, young boys would learn and progress into professions based on a meritocratic system. Then wily, wicked, and corrupt priests founded an evil system to make sure that their sons would never miss out on becoming Brahmins just because they demonstrated laziness or a lack of innate intelligence.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Among Sanatana Dharma (a.k.a. Hinduism)'s major facets are its six orthodox Vedic philosophical schools: Purva Mimaamsa, Uttara Mimaamsa (Vedanta), Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya, and Yoga. The Yoga philosophy of Patanjali derived largely from Uttara Mimaamsa (Vedanta, the core/end of the Vedas or the Upanishads). Funnily enough, people all over the world divorce Yoga from Hinduism, even though the greatest Yoga scripture alongside the Yoga Sutras is the Bhagavad Gita (from the Mahaabhaarata or 'Great India', the second-longest epic, a poem, in the world's history).
There are many other things apart from age, Yoga (the PHILOSOPHY from the Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad Gita AS WELL AS Patanjali's Hatha Yoga, with its emphasis on Ahimsa/non-violence), its unparalleled hermit culture, and incredible artwork (like the Ajanta and Ellora caves, Jagannath Temple in Orissa, and hundreds of others temples across the world) which distinguish Sanatana Dharma (a.k.a. Hinduism) from most other faiths,
Mayank Joshi
1 vote by Amit Gupta
Anon User
I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned (albeit indirectly):
No (hindu) scripture uses the word 'hindu' - the 'religion/practices/belie
It's mentioned in a few answers how the word 'hindu' came into existence - used to refer to the people on the 'West' of the Indus river but not that there is nothing 'hindu' about the scriptures themselves :)
No (hindu) scripture uses the word 'hindu' - the 'religion/practices/belie
It's mentioned in a few answers how the word 'hindu' came into existence - used to refer to the people on the 'West' of the Indus river but not that there is nothing 'hindu' about the scriptures themselves :)
As some one mentioned Hinduism is a way of life more than a religion [compared to other religions].For someone conversant with Software it's like a framework always open for extensions.
Living in India, it was interesting to find out how Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism started out as all being rebellions against Hinduism. Jainism was a rebellion against the Hindu multitude of deities. Buddhism against the multitude of deities, the caste system, and the belief in Hinduism at that time, in sacrifices both human and animal. Sikhism against the caste system. For the Sikhs believe in communal kitchens, where everybody sits down and dines together. In Hinduism, a Brahaman would never sit down and dine with an Untouchable.
Yuddandi Sivasubramanyam, aviation specialist
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment