A Simple Insight on Hinduism

WARNING: This post is not intended to preach to anyone, to convert one’s religion, nor to suggest tattooing one’s forehead with idiotic definitions. IT IS A SIMPLE EXPLANATORY ARTICLE. This is a probably the longest article I’ve published, and if you have the attention span of a fruit fly, or the patience of Mike Tyson, kindly do not leave, but go on to read my other shorter posts.

I purposely delayed the posting of this article as I wanted the furore over some religious issues of late to subside. Tattoos, conversion, reversion, and such. I was privileged enough to be surrounded by people of different faiths ever since I was a kid, and it has thought me a considerable lesson in life. I learned a lot from my enviroment. One of my best friend is a Christian, and also my roomate for 4 years. I learned a lot about Christianity from him, and also from other friends as well. My grand-uncle (may his soul rest in Peace) was a Muslim, who was in fact an Imam at a mosque in Klang and also a religious teacher who had ALSO performed the Haj. I’ve worked in a predominantly Chinese populated enviroment, whom mostly are Buddhists. I have friends (and neighbours) who are of the Bahai faith. I even know of some Athiests.

Thus I am NOT saying I know EVERYTHING about all these religions, but that I know SOMETHING about these religions. Nevertheless, I still strive to learn more about my religion, Hinduism, as the journey towards attaining knowledge is never completed. The biggest problem among us is that we do not take into account the factors that make up other religions, thus creating disharmony. When it comes to the Malaysian context, I am not talking about Muslims alone, but Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists and all the other people with their respective beliefs.

Here I stand now, to explain about Hinduism. Why am I doing this? You’ll see why later on.

I came across this excellent piece “Am I a Hindu” explaining Hinduism in its simplest terms. I recommend every one to take a few minutes to read through this. It is the simplicity of talking with a young girl that makes this article beautiful. please note that I have edited the article for conciseness.

Four years ago, I was flying from JFK NY Airport to SF to attend a meeting at Monterey, CA . An American girl was sitting on the right side, near window seat. It indeed was a long journey - it would take nearly seven hours!

I was surprised to see the young girl reading a Bible - unusual of young Americans! (Later I came to know that September 11 has changed mind-set of lot of US citizens. They suddenly turned religious, it seemed..) After some time she smiled and we had few acquaintances talk. I told her that I am from India .

Then suddenly the girl asked: “What’s your faith?”

“What?” I didn’t understand the question.

“I mean, what’s your religion? Are you a Christian? Or a Muslim?”

“No!” I replied, “I am neither Christian nor Muslim”. Apparently she appeared shocked to listen to that.

“Then who are you??”

“I am a Hindu”, I said.

She looked at me as if she is seeing a caged animal. She could not understand what I was talking about.

A common man in Europe or US knows about Christianity and Islam, as they are the leading religions of the world today.

But a Hindu, what? I explained to her - I am born to a Hindu father and Hindu mother. Therefore, I am a Hindu by birth.

“Who is your prophet?” she asked.

“We don’t have a prophet,” I replied.

“What’s your Holy Book?” “We don’t have a single Holy Book, but we have hundreds and thousands of philosophical and sacred scriptures,” I replied.

“Oh, come on?at least tell me who is your God?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Like we have Christ and Muslims have Allah - don’t you have a God?”

I thought for a moment. Muslims and Christians believe one God who created the world and takes an interest in the humans who inhabit it. Her mind is conditioned with that kind of belief.

According to her (or anybody who doesn’t know about Hinduism), a religion need to have one Prophet, one Holy book and one God. The mind is so conditioned and rigidly narrowed down to such a notion that anything else is not acceptable. I understood her perception and concept about faith. You can’t compare Hinduism with any of the present leading religions where you have to believe in one concept of God.

I tried to explain to her: “You can believe in one god and he can be a Hindu. You may believe in multiple deities and still you can be a Hindu. What’s more - you may not believe in god at all, still you can be a Hindu. An atheist can also be a Hindu.” This sounded very crazy to her.

She couldn’t imagine a religion so unorganized, still surviving for thousands of years, even after onslaught from foreign forces. “I don’t understand, but it seems very interesting. Are you religious?”

What can I tell to this American girl?

I said: “I do not go to temple regularly. I do not make any regular rituals. I have learned some of the rituals in my younger days. I still enjoy doing it sometimes.”

“Enjoy? Are you not afraid of God?”

“God is a friend. No - I am not afraid of God. Nobody has made any compulsions on me to perform these rituals regularly.”

She thought for a while and then asked: “Have you ever thought of converting to any other religion?”

“Why should I? Even if I challenge some of the rituals and faith in Hinduism, nobody can convert me from Hinduism. Because, being a Hindu allows me to think independently and objectively, without conditioning. I remain as a Hindu never by force, but by choice.” I told her that Hinduism is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and practices. It is not a religion like Christianity or Islam because it is not founded by any one person or does not have an organized controlling body like the Church or the Order, I added. There is no institution or authority.

“So, you don’t believe in God?” she wanted everything in black and white.

“I didn’t say that. I do not discard the divine reality. Our scripture, or Sruthis or Smrithis - Vedas and Upanishads or the Gita - say God might be there or he might not be there. But we pray to that supreme abstract authority (Para Brahma) that is the creator of this universe.”

“Why can’t you believe in one personal God?”

“We have a concept - abstract - not a personal god. The concept or notion of a personal God, hiding behind the clouds of secrecy. Telling us irrational stories through few men whom he sends as messengers, demanding us to worship him or punish us, does not make sense. I don’t think that God is as silly as an autocratic emperor who wants others to respect him or fear him.” I told her that such notions are just fancies of less educated human imagination and fallacies, adding that generally ethnic religious practitioners in Hinduism believe in personal gods. The entry level Hinduism has over-whelming superstitions too. The philosophical side of Hinduism negates all superstitions.

“Good that you agree God might exist. You told that you pray. What is your prayer then?”

“Loka Samastha Sukino Bhavantu. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti,”

“Funny,” she laughed, “What does it mean?”

“May all the beings in all the worlds be happy. Om Peace, Peace, Peace.”

“Hmm. Very interesting. I want to learn more about this religion. It is so democratic, broad-minded and free?” she exclaimed.

“The fact is Hinduism is a religion of the individual, for the individual and by the individual with its roots in the Vedas and the Bhagavad-Gita. It is all about an individual approaching a personal God in an individual way according to his temperament and inner evolution - it is as simple as that.”

“How does anybody convert to Hinduism?”

“Nobody can convert you to Hinduism, because it is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and practices. Everything is acceptable in Hinduism because there is no single authority or organization either to accept it or to reject it or to oppose it on behalf of Hinduism.”

I told her - if you look for meaning in life, don’t look for it in religions; don’t go from one cult to another or from one guru to the next. For a real seeker, I told her, Bible itself gives guidelines when it says ” Kingdom of God is within you.” I reminded her of Christ’s teaching about the love that we have for each other. That is where you can find the meaning of life.

Loving each and every creation of the God is absolute and real. ‘Isavasyam idam sarvam’ Isam (the God) is present (inhabits) here everywhere - nothing exists separate from the God, because God is present everywhere. Respect every living being and non-living things as God. That’s what Hinduism teaches you.

Hinduism is referred to as Sanathana Dharma, the eternal faith. It is based on the practice of Dharma, the code of life. The most important aspect of Hinduism is being truthful to oneself. Hinduism has no monopoly on ideas. It is open to all. Hindus believe in one God (not a personal one) expressed in different forms. For them, God is timeless and formless entity.

Ancestors of today’s Hindus believe in eternal truths and cosmic laws and these truths are opened to anyone who seeks them. But there is a section of Hindus who are either superstitious or turned fanatic to make this an organized religion like others. The British coined the word “Hindu” and considered it as a religion.

I said: “Religions have become an MLM (multi-level- marketing) industry that has been trying to expand the market share by conversion. The biggest business in today’s world is Spirituality. Hinduism is no exception.”

I am a Hindu primarily because it professes Non-violence - “Ahimsa Paramo Dharma” - Non violence is the highest duty. I am a Hindu because it doesn’t condition my mind with any faith system.

Well, aren’t you enlightened a bit more than you were before? Like I said, this is not to preach to a targeted group or to brand anyone as haters. A simple insight, to raise awareness. Hinduism is not about praying and

Now let’s get serious. The reason why I wrote this. Not long ago, a popular (Muslim) blogger highlighted the fact about converting to Islam. In fact, he still does that regularly. Nothing wrong in that. Actually other than the “tattoo” controversy, he didn’t irk me much either. There was once where he highlighted a Hindu man (let’s call him Mr. X) who converted (”reverted”, according to his words) to Islam. Nothing wrong there either. It was his choice made with a sane mind. The thing that actually triggered my switch is that when the blogger mentioned that Mr. X had studied Islamic teachings for a while, and he began to accept it as his religion.

Here’s the thing. Did he or did he not study Hinduism in the first place? What made him convert? Surely it is because he had a lack of understanding and knowledge about Hinduim. Or maybe he even did, though I actually doubt that. That is why I posted this article: to at least help in a small way for all the Hindus to learn the basic principle of Hinduism.

Maybe yes, I am trying to preach something here. Well, it’s not my “religion” I’m trying to preach. I’m preaching common sense. I’m preaching that do not take something as serious as religion so lightly, that you ultimately forget which path that you are treading upon. I’m all for conversion, but in doing so, please be very much well-informed of both sides, not only one side. Surely every religion condems one who converts as he likes.

Well, I better stop here before some religious zealot accuses me of trying to lure Muslims or Christians out of Islam and Christianity (though I see no wrong in that; if you can do it, so can I). Please be reminded again that this article is for you to gain a little bit more insight on Hinduism. That’s all. Nothing personal against anyone, and I hope you are not offended by the above article (if you are offended, I suggest you to channel you frustration directly to me, and not crap out in the comments section).

And please, don’t be afraid to leave a comment

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place - Mahatma Ghandi

(Disclaimer: I am sorry to not have put proper links for the article, as it came from many different and mixed-up sources. If you feel I should provide proper linking to you or your site for publishing this article, pls inform me and I will comply promptly.)

1. A Simple Insight on Hinduism
2. Insight On Hinduism « Smartpirate’s Weblog