What is Hinduism? A Personal View

laddu#7,8:

"DM talks about "certitude" and ignores the certitude of idolator like me who considers that the formless can only be attained through the worship of idols depicting the positive qualities of the Sakaara Brahman."

I do not think that your certitude is shared by your coreligionists. Go to any dargah in India on a Thursday and you would find that the majority of those praying at those dargahs are not Muslims but Hindus.

Thank for your other comments. Re. Charvak, I agree that he is materialistic and I included him among Sankhya people because he is non-theistic. Charvak fascinates me but I could find very little on him on the Internet.

DM,
Your 'definition' in the last paragraph may describe most hindus. But it is not sufficient as a definition because it does not exclude Non-hindus.
Many westerners would desribe themselves this way without identifying themselves as Hindu.

mohar11:

I take the Abrahmic faiths' definition of religion because the concept itself is Abrahmic, in my opinion. Why must Hindus insist upon theirs being A Religion? I think that it is perhaps more accurate to call it as a convenient term that encompasses a number of faiths.

Having said that, I would add that most of these faiths do have some common threads, the most common being a belief in the concepts of reincarnation and moksha.

The good thing about this amorphous nature of Hinduism is that it lets a thousand flowers bloom; the negative side is that it lacks the discipline of a single faith, so you have people worshipping snakes and temples devoted to rats, not to mention that mushrooming of con-artists masquerading as swamis and "godmen".

khurram#18:

I would call them "hinduised". A true believer in Judaism, Christianity and Islam would believe his religion to be the Absolute Truth. There is a lot of openmindedness these days, especially in the West, with respect to new ideas even in matters metaphysical.

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Re: # 16

" do not think that your certitude is shared by your coreligionists. Go to any dargah in India on a Thursday and you would find that the majority of those praying at those dargahs are not Muslims but Hindus."

You mean you did a head count?? What about the certitude of millions who walk all the way to Tirupati or Vaishno Devi?? You have a poor understanding of their faith my dear!! I think your understanding of contemporary hinduism is very much dhimmized which appears to emphasise 'superiority' of "formless" form of God (as in Sikhism). You must read more of Visistadvaita or even Dwaita paramparas in order to appreciate the issues regarding Nirvikara and Sakara Brahman!!
If possible try to understand and also perform Shodapochar Pujan on some idols of your Ishta Deva/devi!! Perhaps then you would understand that "certitude" does not come from reading books but from "parokshanubhava"!!!

Re: article
Dost,
One of my dad’s friends describes Hinduism as “Your search for your God”. According to him there are the religious books are there to help you along the way. But what you believe in is up to you. Quite like doing a PHD, there is a lot prior work in the field i.e. the religious books. But your thesis has to work for you.

Your thoughts!

Regards,

Faruk

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allah, philosopher:

You might want to exchange your "pleasantries" on Unplugged. Thanks.

laddu#22:

"You mean you did a head count?? What about the certitude of millions who walk all the way to Tirupati or Vaishno Devi??'

I obviously do not ask people of their religion. But as you know, it is possible to guess our people's faiths, esp. for women, by their dress, etc.

I do know of the multitudes who go to Tirupati and Vaishno Devi (I have been to both these places, the Hindu deities do occupy scenic places at hilltops!). I also know that many of the same people would also go to the dargah of Nizamuddin.

And while I do not have an isht-devta to pray to, I have immense admiration for the philosophies expounded by Hindu sages and I do listen to and enjoy bhajjans and shabad-kirtans.

DM,

I was talking about millions who are not 'true believers' in anything. They are often referred to as 'seculars' , 'humanists', 'free-lance monotheists' or some such term. What has that got to do with hinduism? yet they would fit your definition.

Faruk#23:

I do agree with that way of thinking. This is similar to what J. Krishnamurti used to say.

It is quite rare to find an article on Hinduism written with as much objectivity as possible by a Hindu or an outsider for that matter. I can say that most Hindus' sentiments on their religion/way of life will be echoed by this write up.
On Sankhya Yoga though, I think Bhagvad Puraan and not Bhagvad Gita gives a better description of being thesitic as opposed to athestic. There is some confusion regarding Kapila muni. There were two different ones perhaps. But the Sankhya philosophy mentioned in Bhagvad Puraan is somewhat as follows:
The universe is made up of 25 different qualities. Of these 24 are static and only the 25th i.e. time is dynamic and creates a dynamic and ever changing universe. The 24 qualities include consciousness, matter etc.
I don't remember Gita speaking about Sankhya philosophy in this vein though.
Anybody volunteer to dispell this confusion?

Adios

Re: # 27

DM ji ,

The issue was about "certitude" . I am saying I have certitude about my faith...I say those millions who walk all the way to tirupati and vaishnodevi have "certitude" about their deities.

Yet you prefer to ignore that and talk about dargahs.
Try to understand that dargahs are like "samadhis" of Nath munis and of various Sadhus of different ascetic panths.
Also , these sufis are considered munafiqoons by the traditional muslims- going to dargah does not mean that hindus have a dhimmized reverence for the Allah!!

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