Officially a Hindu? - 1

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Understanding

Hinduism<br>======================<br><br>Many Hindus complain that people

misunderstand what

it<br>means to be a Hindu and find it impossible to

make<br>them understand what Hinduism is all about. I

have<br>personally faced this problem. This is my small effort<br>at

helping non-hindus, both from India and other<br>outside

India what being a Hindu means.<br><br>The Golden

Rule<br>===============<br><br>This is one rule I will keep referring to.

Whenever<br>you are trying to understand any concept

about<br>Hinduism keep this simple statement in mind.

<br><br>Hinduism is not a religion.<br><br>There are more than ten

explanation and interpretation<br>of every concept.<br><br>So

What Is Hinduism?<br>====================<br><br>When

ever you come across anything "Hindu", you

will<br>realize it is actually Philosophy, Religion

or<br>Society. I believe, in that order.<br><br>In the mind of a

Hindu is easy to extract the<br>philosophy, religion

and societal parts of events,<br>practices and

concepts. That is one aspect non-hindus<br>often miss. How

to see what concept is philosophy,<br>what religion

and what purely related to an ancient<br>society.

<br><br>On being bombarded with Hindu ideas, it may

be<br>worthwhile for the person to ask, am I to treat

this<br>information as a piece of philosophy, religion

or<br>reflections on a society.<br><br>Hinduism is a complex mix to

these three or any<br>permutation and combination of

these. It is for a<br>Hindu to decide how one wants ones

Hinduism to be.<br>That is the flexibility and trust the

ancient society<br>put in each individual.<br><br>Top Ten

Myths About

Hinduism<br>============================<br><br>Myth number 1 2 3 - Hindus Are

Idol

Worshippers<br><br>Let us steal all pleasure of having taught

idol<br>worshippers of India a lesson from Chengiz Khan and<br>other

invaders. Hindus are not idol worshippers. Let<br>me put it

this way. <br><br>When I was in college away from

home, I had lots of<br>pictures form back home with me.

A friend came to<br>visit me and asked me what all

this was. I showed him<br>the pictures. "This is my

father!". "This is my<br>mother!". "This is my father at

work". He is a doctor.<br>I had label on picture of him

in the green operation<br>overalls - Miracle-man. I

showed him that picture too,<br>saying "Look a man who

can work miracles at work. He<br>saves lives.". I had

another picture of my mother when<br>she worked as

teacher. I had labeled it Lady-Ferocious<br>as she was a

very strict teacher. I showed him that<br>picture too,

saying "Look a lady you don't want to<br>upset". Showing

the pictures of my brother, "Look my<br>brother."

<br><br>He looked at me with shock in his eyes. Here is

what<br>he told me,” Poor you! These are not your

parent,<br>these are mere photographs. You are living a life

of<br>delusion. You have only one parents. They are

back<br>home."<br><br>I got confused. I said, "What!?! Yes, I have only

one<br>parents. But these are my parents too. These

are<br>pictures. There are my parent. See, look!"<br><br>"No these

are not your parents". And he snatched

the<br>pictures form my hands and tore me. He believes

he<br>saved me from falsely believing the photographs

were<br>my parents.<br><br>Well nothing like this happened

with me. But something<br>like this happens with

Hindus everyday.<br><br>No Hindu worships the idols.

They worship the God<br>represented by the idol.