Skip to main content

The Distorted Face of Hinduism

Faced with uncertainty about Hinduism in theory I started to write this post hoping my beliefs would coincide with the source of Hindu beliefs. To a great extent, the fact that I have been trained to be a Brahman, though non-practicing has helped illuminate my heart with the desire to suggest and promulgate feelings that I experience through the course of existence. There is no mention of the word 'Hindu' in ancient religious scriptures such as the Vedas. The devotees of vedic gods were commonly known as 'Aryas' and not Hindus. Indian mainland was referred to as the land of the 'Sapta Sindhus' or the seven rivers by the Persians who also coined the term 'Hindu' omitting the emphasis on 's' while pronouncing.

Avatars or reincarnations of Vishnu who appear on earth in the face of crisis do not find mention in the vedas. The vedas also do not prophesize division of society into castes as determined by birth. However, they do mention the concept of division of work. At the same time they do not have either the beginning or the end. Hence, division of work and consequently condition of human life is prone to changes from time to time.

The Bhagavad Gita does declare division of work into castes however. And, when in different ages, the preserver were to appear in living form - what is to be followed as the sacred book of Hinduism is still a question I am faced with!

The Vedas do not speak of creation but the Bible does. Hinduism, though, is the most flexible of all religions, another name for which is the Sanatan Dharma or Universal Reality. It teaches the world universal tolerance through acceptance of all religions and faiths.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Material Musings

At a Flower Store As we travel into time, we bead our little moments and they hookup to form a garland that engulfs us completely when time stops, the fragrance continues however. Whether it smells of dry hay or lilac, we render through our Karma. In a Boat on a River Picture yourself in a boat on a river with your beloved, as you hold the oars in your hands. You want to hold her but if you do, you lose control of the oars. What would you do? You don't drown, the waters are still. It's a river afterall. Save a little for yourself. Our passions grow on us, time doesn't. On my Way Back Home Others expect at work, but my home demands. If I were to size down demands, would others' expectations out of me lower equally? We belong to our homes as much as homes belong to us! On Country, Geographical Barriers and More If God created Oceans to curb the intensity of the Sun, would landlocked countries be left to punish in Hell? God created Divide, so we may...
1 comment
Read more

10,000 Years: Going Home Alive

Gold, silver and purple streaks of light, Strike my chest and rebound, all so bright, I am traveling home finally, far far away, As I wade across the galaxy called Milky Way. I was once a little piece of dot, A shelter in a cold galactic place I'd sought, Among Neptune, Pluto and Jupiter, I found this Earth, to be the most near. I am done with my worldly duties, Sometimes a son, at other times a sister, At times an angel and rarely a sinister, Today as I am released of my worldly ties, I am no longer indebted to the aborning sunrise. My journey so far has been fruitless, The day I split, I knew I'd become worthless, Somehow I knew I had to live through it all, Tasks they all came, big or small. Still deep down inside, there was loneliness, Although in the world, there was vast openness, In the early stages, I assumed a blacksmith or cobbler, Towards the end, I became a generous struggler. When the time had come to clear off my karma, Since I ha...
1 comment
Read more

My Saddest Tale, Ever So Pale

Every year in the month of March,  I'd bring home, a bagful of books and the scent of familiar starch,  Once I'd masked with plastic sheet, I'd sense my heart beat,  As labels and stickers would summarize my yearly feat.  A burst of energy swiveled across my body,  In a few days, I was to become a scholarly somebody.  Samuel Adams and Christopher Columbus,  They may all wait, with them would Oedipus.  With what I read back then,  I would mostly outperform my peers,  Now as I begin to write, I sit amidst a cesspool of tears. Very soon you will, dear readers if any, Be introduced to a gargantuan globe hinged by many. During later years at crossing vectors and dotting differential equations, My History, Geography and Economics, floated across vesting nations. I drew the world map, this time I was twenty four, Sat with a histogram and outlined to each its own score. That's when I found my country, pleading for ...
3 comments
Read more