What is Hinduism? A Personal View

Re: # 19 dm
[... Why must Hindus insist upon theirs being A Religion?...]

Well, you are the one who wrote the article making the comparison and hair-splitting distinction!!!... :)

For most hindus religion, faith, dharma - it's the same thing... .it has been there among humans for ages, in one form or the other... the concept of god and religion is NOT abrahamic, it's universal...

You are basically creating a strawman and stumping on it...

Am not qualified to comment much here, but DM ji, laddu raises a rather important point. The resolution of that apparently complex issue is simplicity itself, if as always, we go to the basics of all Indian thought (Hinduism or not, one couldn't care less). And that Indian point has been articulated, amazingly, by Faruk!

Laddu, the anubhava that creates Indian 'cetitude' is a reflection of our own inherent/inner godhood, or to put it in terms of semitic faiths - each person's inalienable right to be his or her own 'Prophet' or son or daughter of "God."

That realization - what Indians have for ages called atma gyam (or even brahma gyan) creates 'certitude,' without reading any books. Books become another, temporary, reflection of certitude of some people at certain time and place.

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khurram, you should see the bitterness with which many 'fundamentalist' christians/scholars accuse these 'liberals' or 'new agers' of being Hindus and pagans. Of course, the liberals or new agers don't accept that, and that is perfectly ok for "Hindus" for whom labels tend to be meaningless (which is a big problem in political terms)....
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laddu, tragically, Islamic sufis and Hindus go to dargahs for totally different reasons. For that reason alone, Hindus should totally stop patronizing any of these places. That must be a political move, not a religious one.
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Anyways, would rather read and learn from others here. Thanks for the opportunity, DM ji.

Re: # 27

"...the Hindu deities do occupy scenic places at hilltops!.."

See you try to mock my sacred places...yes indeed divinity descends on the hill tops .....you actually have only a bookish understanding of hindu way of life............

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lol, mohar, I refer to semitic religions and the rest of our deligions, so we can differentiate between things that only look the same but are not the same at all.

Just as we don't have religion, semiticists don't have dharma (although sufis might desecend upon us again to protest). What's more, it's hard for each side to see the possiblity or the wisdom of the other, without being accused of 'selling out' and destroying the 'essence.'

Re: # 34

"Laddu, the anubhava that creates Indian 'cetitude' is a reflection of our own inherent/inner godhood, or to put it in terms of semitic faiths - each person's inalienable right to be his or her own 'Prophet' or son or daughter of "God."

That realization - what Indians have for ages called atma gyam (or even brahma gyan) creates 'certitude,' without reading any books. Books become another, temporary, reflection of certitude of some people at certain time and place."

well said.!!!

dost,

....can you recommend a book on hindooism - something like "hindooism for idiots" which can explain my grandpa's faith to me ..........

....... unlike islam which is a simple religion for simpletons, hindooism seems to be a complex religion for thinking folks (arjun being the exception) ...... at first reading it is obvious that islam and other abrahamic faiths were thought up by uneducated and ignorant sheep-herders, wheras hindooism is the product of brainy intellectuals over many centuries ...... maybe that is why christianity and islam appeals to stupid people - you accept jesus christ as the son of god and you get a ticket to heaven; you kill an infidel and you get to cavort with seventy virgins in heaven ......... simple and easy to understand ! ....... who has the time to figure out the process of reincarnation and all that other 'heavy' stuff .........

........why can't i become a hindoo by simply saying, " there is no god but ishwar and ram is his prophet" ?

Re: # 25 and #24

why are you being so cruel to yourself? self-immolation is a crime slyder, and worse is a sin far greater than coveting someone else arse....

Anyway enjoy what allah said he would give you in #36

"laddu, tragically, Islamic sufis and Hindus go to dargahs for totally different reasons. For that reason alone, Hindus should totally stop patronizing any of these places. That must be a political move, not a religious one."

why should hindus stop going to dargahs? sufis are considered to be outside traditional Islam indulging in kufr and bidda. We consider sufis to be part of the sadhu parampara

Re: # 39

"appeals to stupid people"

Are you saying pitamah Gopinath was stupid?
Is that why you guys deny your hinju past
and go all the way to Bagdad or Basara
or somewhere there?

laddu bhai, unfortunately, that is a suicidal path for Hinduism, but for reaching that conclusion we need to figure out what sufism exactly is. If that is ok with you, let's leave that for another time.

For now, all I would submit is, sufims is NOT hinduism, it has nothing to do with Hinduism. It is not Islam either, not by a long shot, but merely one of the many tools towards the larger unit/unity of Islam.

That is perfectly fine and respectable, but it is just different. Probably that is not convincing enough, for which, I apologize.

Re: # 37kaal

dude - it's the same thing - religion, dharma, faith... you and DM - you guys just raising strawmen out of nowhere and then stomping on it and creating a big hoopla about nothing...

I am not sure what's the reason for this hair-spliting excercise, this urge to define and re-define ancient concepts... you guys have studied abrahmic faiths and may be got too "close" to it... you guys are getting too narrow and one-dimensional in your thinking... :)

Vishnu has a thousand names and 10 different manifestations, but He is One... religion, faith, dharma - it may be a dozen different words, it's the same thing...

Come on - do i really have to teach you the basics?

LOL, you may be right, after all, mohar bhai. Still, for the sake of peace and preservation of life, I would advise my Hindu friends to not want to intall a statue of Vishnu in any mosque anytime soon, even if it is a mosque headed by Indian "sufis". :)

Re: # 43

Eklavya Bhai Saheb,

Sufism's summum bonnum is "Fanaa" which is like ascetic goal of "Samadhi" - so it is very much part of hindu ascetic orders!!!

Re: # 45

Eklaya ji,

I think you got it all wrong..........you would probably NOT find a sufi heading a mosque!!
And there is already a Vishnu in Mashhad Masjid in Iran.

Eklayva,
All pagans are not hindus. Hindus have a connection to a body of Indian thought - no matter how vaguely defined. This is missing from DM's definition in the last paragraph.