Guest guest Posted October 21, 2003 Report Share Posted October 21, 2003 Namaste, After reading an article on how hinduism is viewed outside of india especially in the west, i would like somebody in our group to shed more light on the above subject. Can anyone give me a proper distinction between the above two and also shed some light on where hinduism fits in? As far as my knowledge goes on, i feel advaita propogates monothiestic views. Please correct me if i am wrong. Also there are some voices which say "Hinduism is NOT monotheistic. Right from Vedic times it has been polytheistic. Monism is an aberration introduced in the Kaliyuga by neo Buddhists led by Shankaracharya and his cohorts." The above statement as per my knowledge is a blatant misquote..... Please clarify... Regards, Ram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2003 Report Share Posted October 21, 2003 Namaste Ram Prasadji. My comments are in brackets. > After reading an article on how hinduism is viewed outside of india especially in the west, i would like somebody in our group to shed more light on the above subject. Can anyone give me a proper distinction between the above two and also shed some light on where hinduism fits in? [Do we have a definition for Hinduism? Indians, as far I know, didn't name it so. If others did, they have simply mixed a concoction of various schools of thought of Indian origin, put it inside a bottle and labelled it Hinduism. So, it is their (whoever did it) responsibility to define it.] > As far as my knowledge goes on, i feel advaita propogates monothiestic views. Please correct me if i am wrong. [Advaita says there is nothing but God. That is not monothiestic like saying there is only one God. Monothiesm implies the existence of some entity other than God who says that He is there. I, therefore, feel that there is no proper word existent in English language to describe Advaita. Those in the West, who have understood Advaita well, have refrained from putting it under any specific category or label.] > > Also there are some voices which say > > "Hinduism is NOT monotheistic. Right from Vedic times it has been > polytheistic. Monism is an aberration introduced in the Kaliyuga by neo > Buddhists led by Shankaracharya and his cohorts." [if Advaita is what you mean by Hinduism, well, then the pre-Buddha and pre-Sankara upanishads are there to prove them wrong. Still, monism is not the word for what the upanishads reveal.] PraNAms. Madathil Nair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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