What is Hinduism? A Personal View

NHK #133 {"Two main theories got propounded - Dharmic & Abrahamic.
Dharmic followers (Hindues, Jains, Budhists, Sihks) believed in re-incarnation. Add Karma to it.
Abrahamic followers(Judaism, Christianiy, Islam) believed in heaven & hell & day of judgement. Add Satan to it."}

Khan Sahib,
The Abrahamic faiths and Hinduism have much in common. It's possible that Islam is the aberration and possibly unique.

Let's see:

God has His Chosen People - the Jews (even the Christians believe that)
Brahma has His Chosen People - the Brahmin (came from the head)
Allah has no Chosen People - not even Muslims

The Holy Trinity where 1+1+1=1, All for One and One for All.
Iswar is One but there are many representation of the one - in diversity there is true unity.
Allah is One and Indivisible - Neither does He beget nor is He begotten"

Even though the First Commandment says "I am the Lord, thy God, Thou shalt not have any graven images before Me," it's kosher to have statues of Jesus, Mary, and various holy men and women, including David with his little weewee.

Hindus may believe in the unity of Ishwar, but are allowed to worship all forms of moortis, objects, animals, from rocks to monkeys, to rats, to snakes - even phallic symbols.

Muslims don't allow any graven images, but prostrate themselves in front of a meteorite in Mecca.

God, Allah, Yahveh, and Ishwar are the lord of all creation, but somehow there are still pagans, protestants, catholics, kaffirs, Mirzaees, gentiles, Palestinians, and untouchables

Hamidumdum Sahib #5, #6, #39, #69, #85, #88

Shaabash Janab Shaabash....I have been following your satanic posts from the inception of this article...you are trying your best to taunt Urstruly Sahib and Madani Sahib into action ... and if they show up, you will only have to blame yourself for the excessive bar bill when you go south to Windsor to drink the Molson camel extract...Not only are you inviting a fat fatwa from the Smith brothers, you may even have some horrible hindoos on your tail because of your irreverent and irrelevant posts concerning the complexities of hunumaniyan philosophy. Did you know that the great Mughal Emperor Humayun was himself a reincarnation of Hanuman, that Abraham was sent to earth by Brahma, and that Ather Veda was inspired by Maulana Ather Kazmi?

Regard #168 {"Best perfumes are known to have excreta components. "}

Regard,
No Shit! I mean "Holy Shit"
Regards,
Salim

Also #179, Arjun Payee,
I always had a feeling that Our Holy Prophet (PBUH) was a tree-hugger long before Al Gore ever invented the Internet. Now, don't tell me that mominas are going to start marrying trees?

Dear arjun_5:

A request:

Please spare this board of this type of cut-and-paste.
MANY THANKS!

#179, Arjun Payee,
Next you are going to tell me that camel urine tastes just like Sam Adams and that I was on the right track all along. LOL :)

Re: # 179

Ouch... that must hurt paki feelings big time... :)

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#176 Posted by Salim_Chauhan on February 2, 2008 6:14:55 pm


You see, sir, Fatwas are about as meaningful to Islam


did someone tell rushdie...or more importantly, did someone tell the muslims out to kill him?

what next? islam is a religion of peace?

Salim_Chauhan#175:

"Does the hindi word "Sankhi" meaning idiosyncrastic have any connection to Sankhya?"

LOL! One can always bank on you for finding something funny everywhere. I think that the relationship between "sanaki" and sankhya is similar to that between cynic and sankhya.

Regard #172 {"Only thing good in ‘Hinduism’s inclusiveness is that, such beef-eaters could live in peace without being hunted by Fatwas. "}

Dear Regard,
Many of us, including several ardent Muslims, are trying to understand Hinduism, its variations, schools, and foundations. With a stupid comment like "hunted by Fatwas," you are distracting the discussion from DM Sahib's original intention of educating readers. You see, sir, Fatwas are about as meaningful to Islam as are the proclamations of BJP/RSS/VHP/JS/BD/SS/SP goons regarding St. Valentine's Day, Christmas, or Mushaairas. Please don't use the unfortunate existence of aberrations to define the original.

{"I am not sure that I fully understand the subtle differences between the various schools, but they vary from the almost agnostic Sankhya to the bhakti flavour, which is part of the Yoga school."}

DM Sahib,
A very informative and straightforward article to educate those of us who truly want to understand Hinduism as it has evolved over the millenia.

One question and I hope that I don't offend anyone. Does the hindi word "Sankhi" meaning idiosyncrastic have any connection to Sankhya? Thanks.

nature_lover#170:

Hindus do waste a lot of ghee in their havans and maybe other rituals. Although I have not personally witnessed, I have no problem in believing that some people wash the feet of their guru and drink it and other such practices which appear as backward to me and most of us. The same may also be true of cow-urine if you have witnessed it, but I can tell you that if an announcement is made in any congregation that the food contains a sprinkling of gau-mutra, most Hindus in the congregation would leave without tasting any food.

Ranjit#162:

I am quite a fan of Aitzaz Ahsan. I have not read enough about the common and distinguishing features of what he calls Indus-Valley and Gangetic civilizations to know whether or not it can stand closer scrutiny. I like it from a Pakistani perspective as it tries to build a national identity based on civilizational instead of a purely religious identity. Even if it is partly a myth, myths can be used as a motivating factor; a momin may not be equal to ten kafirs but the notion can be used to motivate soldiers to fight a bigger enemy; Guru Gobind Singh also used a similar motivator when he said one khalsa was equal to sawa-laakh non-khalsas.

Anyway, this article is about religion and not civilization and so let's not digress into it too much.

#170 nature_lover
I’m not trying to defend Hinduism. My point is that drinking cow urine is not a common Hindu religious practice. But it is used for perfectly valid therapeutic reasons.

If Pakistani friends need issues against Hindu religious practices, there are aplenty and much more serious: caste system, dowry, lack of social responsibility by the rich. Only in India you’ll find such shameless billionaires as Lakshmi Mittal, Azim Premji, Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani … and the list is long who are capable of wasting a few hundred million dollars on family events surrounded by jhuggis of homeless millions. To my mind, this is closely linked to the caste system, which made us so cruel and insensitive to those around us. Hindus are probably the most self-centred and individually egocentrics today. Nothing in common with Islamic community affiliation.

Though Hindu zealots will blow their tops on the subject but beef was probably a part of the regular diet in Vedic times. Only thing good in ‘Hinduism’s inclusiveness is that, such beef-eaters could live in peace without being hunted by Fatwas.

regard, to most people, who have not personally shared your experience - including myself - that sounds like faith at work. That's not a knock on your beliefs since 'faith' of all sorts plays such a big role in people's lives.

As more information accumulates, more people might agree or disagree with what you wrote. Until then, neither side should have a problem agreeing to disagree. Is that fair?

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HP, Ranjit

This may be relevant:

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=94180

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nature_lover, cow urine (along with cow dung) is a very important topic. Investigating it in depth should enhance both our love of nature and our understanding of natural religion.

Hope to read more as you develop greater insights through serious research.