Hinduism: The way , I look at it.

                            Hinduism: The way , I look at it. 

Ok..let me start then, with all your blessings...

#1:Hinduism is not a 'religion' by the general definition used to describe other Religions.

The word 'Hinduism' came up only after the British arrived in India...They were trying to

figure out the spiritual process out here...Since the locals didn't give them any name..the

British themselves gave a name called 'Hinduism.( From the limited understanding they

had)...Funfact: the Sankrit name for Hinduism is 'Hindutva' and the English name for

Hindutva is 'Hinduism'

#2: Hope all of you know the difference between monotheism and polytheism... monotheism

is basically " one God,one book" ,if it could be described in very very rudimentary words....

polytheism is multiple god's,multiple books...Jesus and Mohammed paved the way for

monotheism....

Out here, since it was still more ancient,and several spiritual processes

survived over the centuries, it was polytheism here...( Though there were attempts to make

it monotheism not only by the Muslims, but believe it or not ­ by the Buddhists too...those

attempts didn't work is another matter altogether...so which system is better? There is no

such thing.

#3: So, if there was no word called 'Hinduism''...what was it then? Thing is, in this

land,there was no religion ( by Western standards..... western means west of india)...what

we had was "sampradaya"...you must have heard this name...it simply means tradition. So,

we had pockets of people following their own traditions, but each tradition having some

common factor in the nearby tradition...it could be further argued that " Buddhism"

"Sikhism" " Jainism" were simple another sampradaya of this land...there are enough

proofs for that...( One example: Guru Grant sahib has multiple references to SriRam etc)...but the

 ignorant British named them as seperate religious and we are continuing it as of today..

#4: Ok.. So Hinduism was ' implanted' word...what about the word 'Hindu' then?... Hindu is

basically a amalgamation of two words "hi"Malaya and "Indu" Sagara( Indian ocean)...

There is another version to it... saying they were called Sindus earlier because of the

inhabitants of banks of River Sindhu....and then the word Sindus got changed to Hindus

because certain people in the west started pronouncing it as such....both the methods

establish that it was a geographical identity....(Example:African elephant)... Religion had

nothing to do with the name Hindu, even though they existed as Hindus....the Chinese still

call us ' indus'...I myself have heard them say....the Arab Muslims refer to indian Muslims as

"Hind Muslims" ... because the word "Hindustan" existed since ages....there are records of

people in far­off Iraq/Iran referring to having trade with people from " Hindustan" more

than 2000 years ago.

#5: so, what about the book? Similar to the Bible and Quran, is Bhagwat Geetha 'the

book'?... actually it's not...there are several reasons to it...when the British put in place a

judicial system they knew only the system they had ,back in England...that is: swearing on

Bible and then hoping that the guy speaks truth in the court...British didn't study the

existing system in India to find out how it works...here, we used to have panchayats ( still

do in some places), who used to decide minor disputes themselves... Only if the dispute got 

complex, would it go to the local King for resolution... However in all the cases, no

swearing in etc was done...it was assumed that, you will speak the truth, orelse the 'karma'

 would act on you.... This'karma' is so into our system, that even today, we use it in our

vocabulary... But the British could not make our the karma thing... So, they wanted a 'holy'

book to swear upon in a court...since probably Geetha was widely read, it was chosen as 'the

book'...another reason: in both Christian and Muslim weddings,Their holy book is a integral

part of the ceremony...not so in Hindu marriages...in none of the Hindu marriages , that I

have been, I have seen the Geetha being a big part of it...and in most cases no part at

all...the main witness there is usually the "Agni' ...I know a close friend who's a Hindu for 42

years,but didn't have a Geetha in her house...but she is a Hindu and a proper one at

that...so, how relevant is the Geetha? It's a great book anyways...no question about it...

#6: Speaking about books, let's talk about Rig Veda...the first of the series of four

Vedas....recent research shows rig Veda to have originated around 21,000 years back...yes

21k !.... And how do we know that? Because it talks about river Saraswati flowing to her

full glory.... River Saraswati is no more...parallel studies on river Saraswati through satellite and

other methods have pointed the river to be flowing fully around 21,000 years back....was it

written in a book form? No....in this land , we had two types of books, divided into Smriti

and #6: Speaking about books, let's talk about Rig Veda...the first of the series of four

Vedas....recent research shows rig Veda to have originated around 21,000 years back...yes

21k !.... And how do we know that? Because it talks about river Saraswati flowing to her

full glory.... Saraswati is no more...parallel studies on river Saraswati through satellite and

other methods have pointed the river to be flowing fully around 21,000 years back.( Read also Michel

 Danino's Lost River)...was it written in a book form? No....in this land , we had two types of books,

 divided into Smriti and Shruthi...Smrithi bieng orally transmitted and Shruthi bieng word written

 format...rig Veda belongs to the smrithi tradition...so ,for centuries, the Vedas were transmitted orally

from one generation to another....it's simply awesome that, it's still alive today after so

many centuries....how alive is it?..let me give a example...we have a ceremony called

upanayana... similar to christening...where a sacred thread is put on a boy when he is around 10­-12

 years old, after which he is supposed to do Sandhya Vandana after bath­ every day....during

which ,he says a mantra called Gayatri mantra....well, Gayatri mantra is from the Rig

Veda...

#7 continuing on books: it's a known fact that no one person has read all the Hindu 'books',

because there are simply too many....we have the 4 Vedas,then the Puranas,the

Upanishads,the shastras,the Sutras etc etc... at least a couple of hundred to say the least...

of course the Ramayana and the Mahabharata too ...there have been studies on the dating of these

these books...estimates say.. Mahabharata is 7000 years old... Ramayana 14000 years old...i

read a recent book by Neelkhant Oak ,where the exact date of commencement of the Mahabharata war

 is calculated logically through astronomy etc.... Mahabharata is easily the longest novel in the

world...people talk about the Greek book ' Ulysses" bieng a long one.. Mahabharata is ten

times that...Funfact: Mahabharata is actually a abridged version of the original...the

original was called 'Jaya'....so ,when you have so many books to choose from,it was difficult

to nominate one as 'The holy book'...

#8: Moving from books to temples: This is a big big subject...there are different types of

temples, different types of deities etc...all this was decided the way the moorthi was

consecrated...'idol' is a poor English translation of 'Moorthi'...In this land, we had mastered

the art of consecration... consecration is a process by which the whole temple and

moorthi/deity gives out the required energy field around it...it's a subtle art.. Each temple

was built for a purpose...some gave you material benefit,some health benefits,some

spiritual, etc etc...Example: Tirupati is built for material benefit...I know persons from my

community ( highly educated too) who are into business ,who have sort of a understanding

with the deity of Tirupati of giving a certain percentage of thier profits every year.They

say, if they forget to deposit the promised share,he appears in thier dreams to ask for

his share...that's Tirupati...then there is Sabarimala: for spiritual growth...the deity there requires

you to be a Sanyasi for a certain time and then approach the temple to recieve the

grace...so, if you are not a Sanyasi,then atleast for a few days,you lead a life of a Sanyasi abstaining

 from non-vegetarian, alcohol,sex etc...for 21 days or so and then go to the

temple to recieve his grace...I have been to a temple in Tamilnadu ,where the name of the deity itself

means 'doctor',( temple name: vaideeshwaramkoil)people go there if they have any medical

issues...all this is because of the consecration process....there is a book on this called Agama

shastra,where it's explained in detail...it's not a statement of arrogance when we say "

here,in this land,we have learnt the art of creating god".

#9: So, what is this statement mean" in this land, we create god?"...well, you guys have

been doing it all this while,but perhaps not noticed.... example: Ganesh chaturthi­ : what do

you exactly do during that festival? On the first day, a clay form is bought, consecrated by a

Pooja....sweets are offered, music,dance and the whole cultural stuff is played up...at the

end of 11 or 13 days, you take the deity and dissolve him in the water....what did you

actually do? You created a godly entity on the first day...and dissolved it on the last day...if

this is not " the art of creating god", then what else is?...in a temple it's a bit more complex

because the energy has to be remain for forever....a temple can be consecrated by mantras

or energy ( prana pratistha) etc...by the way, there are temples which cater to dead

too....there are temples which gave occult dimensions to it( though its existing only in

Kerala and Bengal these days)...there is a temple near Kundapur which caters to women

who have problems having children....you name the issue and be sure ,that a temple has

been built for it....so, what are you actually supposed to do in a temple ,when you get

there?

#10: continuing on temples. If you look at the geographical location of old temples, the

town temple came first ,the houses were build around it...temple was always given more

importance than the house, because people recognized the importance of a temple in thier

midst...the tradition was, once you wake up,finish your morning rituals, you visit the

temple and then proceed to your work...in my native place,this practice is still alive through

the centuries...what do you do there? Because of the consecration,that place exudes a certain 

energy...so your whole aim was to get exposed to that energy...in some southern Indian  temples,

you have to walk after dipping yourself in the nearby lake...that is, you are supposed to

walk in dripping wet ( both male and female)..I have myself visited such temples...a wet or

a just bath body is supposed to be more receptive to the energy...there are others, where

males have to go in bare chested ( most of the southern temples have this practice)...the

whole point is, you try to make yourself  available for the grace... of course barefoot is a

must...so that your foot is in constant touch with the temple floor... when you prostrate,

you are supposed to prostrate in such a way ,that atleast 8 points of your body is touching

the ground...called astanga­ namaskara...all this is just to maximise the impact of that

energy on you...you sit there for some minutes atleast  ...not touch your bottom and leave...there is

no one leading any prayer as in monotheist religious practice...( Though these days ,some

people are blindly copying it)...that's all you do...sit there for atleast a couple of minutes in

the energy vicinity...all the rest ,that's happening is just part of a maintenance process for

the deity and the temple....did I miss anything?

#11:Talking about a particular controversial topic now. Entry of women into Sabarimala Ayappa temple.

 Case is in supreme court now...for a western educated person,it looks absurd..." Why no equality?" Etc

 etc...they are perhaps not aware that, there are many temples ,where men are not allowed... prominent

 among them is kumari Amman temple at Kanya kumari, where no man is allowed...thankfully,nobody

 has gone to court for that...by the way, only the Sabarimala Ayappa temple is barred for women of a

 certain Age( reproductive age)...the other Ayappa temples all over India have no such restrictions.

.( suppose some one comes with a argument " oh- its discrimination against menstruating women". they

 should read about the Kamakya temple in Assam).once we recognize a temple as a energy place and

 not a place for prayer...things become more clearer... Ayappa at Sabarimala is consecrated in such a way

 ,that it's better if women don't enter that space...it may not be good for them... that's why traditionally ,

 hill temples which were far away from the town had distinct energy dimensions,requiring devotees to

 be in certain way.... similarly ,it's said that women should avoid Shani temples because of the occult

 dimension to it....I have been fortunate to visit a place in Coimbatore, which was consecrated just a few

 years back..specialty of that place is, it's got two temples...in one;­ no rituals are done...but maintained

 by men for fifteen days..and by women for the next fifteen days...in the other temple which is a Devi

 temple, men are not allowed in the sanctum sanatorium...the women are solely responsible for its

 maintenance.... bringing in this dumb sense of equality will only bring disaster....in the name of

 equality, can we have public toilets where both men and women visit it? It would be so ugly..( Though

 heard ,that's happening too in some countries?)...

Discretion should not be confused with discrimination.

#12: Caste system: lots of misconceptions etc...this subject itself, requires a book in itself...

anyways...word ' caste' came basically from the Portuguese word ' Casta' means lineage...it

came to  be loosely equalized to our "jaatis"...the colonial powers which came here due to thier

misunderstanding gave the word caste...we have nearly more than 1000 jaatis in this

land...it goes by region/territory etc .   what we instead had was ' varnas'... Basically 4

varnas'... Brahmins,Kshatriya,vaishya and shudras...unlike caste ( I will stick to the word

caste instead of jaatis,since you are all familiar), in which it was mostly decided by your

birth, the Varna system was based on your capabilities..you may be born a shudra,but if you

displayed enough qualities during your younger days, you could become a

brahmin...likewise the opposite was true.( Rigveda talks about this system, Krishna talks

about this in the Mahabharata too)...it was basically bifurcation of your duties..it was a

flexible system...which means the ' change' factor was always there...indicating a

progressive society....the problems of exploitation came later due to various reasons...now, I

am a brahmin by birth,but my profession could be put in vaishya category......at

independence,we had a opportunity to dismantle caste system completely and go back to

Varna system...but Gandhi was in favour of continuing it...and Ambedkar and Savarkar

were in favour of abolishing it ( if Savarkar is a new entity to you, read about his works...if

you want to understand BJP, Savarkar is one of the keys)..well, Gandhi prevailed and here

we are...is there a abuse of the Reservation system meant to uplift the backward caste's ?  

Ofcourse there is...but no political party will publicly proclaim it...the political risks are simply too 

high...so the solutions have to come from the society...when it will happen ? I really don't know.

#13: Rituals: 'modern western' educated generation scoffs on this .....But if we notice, we

all have rituals...check out the things you do,once you wake up in the morning...that's a

rituals...that's why it's called 'morning rituals'. Every religion has rituals...Religion is

basically rituals+ spirituality,isn't it? Ofcourse the system is put together by the

priests/pandits/Maulvis... There is a spiritual or a logical reasoning to a ritual...you only

have to find it...let's see about two rituals...one : tying sacred thread/ amulets on your

body...there are many issues in this...some are supposed to help in overcoming fear,some

for bad spirits..some for general well bieng..it all depends on how it has been

energized...mostly all religions promote this...will it completely solve the issue...no ways..is

it atleast genuine? I have a particular Rudraksh mala(it's a seed from a tree) with me..I

have shown and proven to many, on how it is able to recognize good and bad energy...

getting it from the right place makes a huge difference... second: Offering milk to

nagdevtha( snake god) on nagarapanchamj....the usual criticism to this is, " why waste milk? Feed it to

 the poor"...let's talk about that question later...the religious answer to this

are many...you can find various reference about offering milk to nagdevtha in various

puranas...coming to a logical reason: unlike today, previously snakes were more than

humans..he had to constantly encounter them,while he went through forests/

vegetation's...Snakes don't drink milk..they usually stay in anthills...the point of pouring

milk in the ant hill was to attract insects/ rodents for the milk becoming a food for the

snake.. so that he doesn't venture out to trouble the humans... Fair enough?..so, why only

on one day? Well..it's not so...you were supposed to offer milk on every Panchami( many

still do).but if you can't ,atleast one day a year....coming to the second question about

bieng a waste of food...first of all, let's make it clear who don't have a right to ask this

question...if you believe in any religion you can't ask... because every Religion has

some "wasteful" practice in thier rituals...unless you are a atheist Hindu( yes, we have a tradition of

 having such people since ages..example : charvakas ).. however,don't consider yourself a atheist,if

 when great troubles comes  your way you cry' oh god ,do something'..you are not a atheist..you are a

 opportunist..you don't have a  right...if you go to movies/hotels/vacations/buy clothes more than once a

 year/ have car/big house  etc..you also dont have a right to ask this question.. because that ritual

 practice gives a feeling of  pleasure/satisfaction just like you feel after a meal in a restaurant...the only

 one who has the right to ask this question is, genuine need to know the reason behind it.

#14: Time to wrap this thread ..a pause...so what's the whole gist of ' Hinduism'?..I am

going to heavily draw from my Guru on this...so, if it's looking, like you have heard it

somewhere before...you are right...other thing is, many Hindus may actually not like what I

write further...Thing is, in this culture, belief was never given much importance...you

believing in God or not was not important...the key was seeking...seeking to know the

truth...the truth about karma and moksha etc...liberation was the highest goal...God was

just a stepping stone towards it...liberation from this cycle of birth and death...for this

purpose, people came up with several divine entities...you think of anything and you will

see that,it's been worshiped here...animal, bird,trees , plants, air ,water sky... everything

that is possible...why? We even worship machines( ayudhapooja)... The point was to

repeatedly remind you that, everything is divine...when you actually experience it, there is

no need to give you advice on environment/ecology etc...the other thing was

Karma...meaning your action will have ramifications for you...not as a moral code, simply

the result of your actions... physical,mental, emotional actions ­all contribute to your

karma....there is no someone sitting up there ,handing out rewards or punishments...you

are the creator of your karma...meaning you are the creator of your destiny...all the

temples/rituals etc are only to assist you reach that realization...if you want,you can get

there,without visiting a temple or performing rituals..it's totally up to you...it's said, we have

33 million gods and goddesses in this land...maybe when the population was 33 million...if

you visit a normal Hindu home having total of 4 people,you will find minimum of 15 god's

in the Pooja room...it's your choice ,to whom you want to worship...you can add too,one of

your choice...that's the kind of range of choices offered..but but... your goal is mukthi...all

this is just to remind you that...you may have noticed ,many of the ' English educated '

Hindus actually feeling shameful,when some one reminds that ,"why do they have so many

god's? We have only one..and that's good enough"... The point is, comparing western

religions with this culture( I try my best not to mention it as a religion, simply because the

characteristics of what makes a Religion in the west is completely different than the way it's

out here) would be as foolish to compare apples with oranges etc...does it mean,this is

better or that is better? There is no such thing...but it would be a stupid idea to even think

about comparing ...one thing though is, out of all the ancient religions in the world.example: Mayan,

 Egyptian, pagan....here it's still survived...there could be many reasons...maybe because of its organic 

nature...maybe the intelligence and experience gained over the thousands of years...there is something 

called civilizational memory...maybe that has helped it to retain some parts of it atleast...a detailed 

 criticism of this culture can be done only after reading all the Vedas/ puranas/ Upanishads/

darshanas/shastras etc etc...don't know in living memory of anyone doing it all...it's simply

too much for a human bieng to get it done in one lifetime...