Is Hinduism an 'Organized Religion'?

[Guest guest]

[An excerpt from the book, " Hinduism: The Eternal Tradition, " by

David Frawley.]

 

Hinduism is not an organized religion such as we ordinarily consider

one to be. There is no Hindu church, no Hindu Pope, no Hindu Rome,

Jerusalem or Mecca that all Hindus should go to, no Hindu messiah or

prophet all Hindus must revere, no one Hindu Bible all Hindus must

read.

 

Hinduism has no prescribed day of the week for worship, no one

prescribed mass, ritual or call to prayer that everyone must do. The

different sects within Hinduism have their different ashrams,

temples, leaders, holy places, holy days and holy books, but there is

no one set of these for all Hindus.

 

We could say therefore that Hinduism is the greatest disorganized

religion in the world. It has never organized itself along monolithic

lines, with a set dogma and specific canon of beliefs. It has

remained decentralized and localized, which is perhaps why of all the

ancient imagistic and mystical religions, it alone has survived

through the millennia.

 

Therefore, Hinduism as an open tradition appeals to all those who are

looking for a religious tradition with a great diversity of teachings

that does not require any exclusive loyalty. Hinduism is the religion

of the individual and allows each person to choose his or her own

approach to Divinity based upon various teachings that encompass all

human capacities.

 

However, Hinduism is organized in the sense that it contains

systematic teachings for all manner of temperaments and all stages of

life. As Sanatana Dharma it has teachings that encompass all of human

life and culture from medicine and science, art and music, occultism,

spirituality and Yoga.

 

In this regard Hinduism has probably the best organized and most

complete teachings of all religions and has addressed in detail all

aspects of our existence, including those considered to be outside

the domain of religion in other cultures. The literature of Hinduism

in these different fields is both much older and much larger than

that of any other religion. Hinduism is not organized as a belief or

social institution but as a vast set of teachings that we are free to

approach from our own angle.

 

Some people have wondered if Hinduism is a religion at all. They

state that its very absence of organization and its non-seeking of

converts disqualifies it from being a religion in the common sense of

the word, and that it thereby fails to have a world view. They would

see it just a collection of local cults from the Indian subcontinent,

with every sort of primitive ritual and superstition that has long

been discarded in the Western world.

 

On the other hand, Hinduism contains some of the world's most

profound spiritual philosophies, like Vedanta, which have inspired

many great Western thinkers including Thoreau, Emerson, Goethe,

Schopenhauer, and a number of modern physicists. Hindu sages

themselves have looked upon the West itself as spiritually primitive

and lacking in any real experience of the Divine or higher states of

consciousness, for which even terms are lacking in European

languages.

 

Hinduism as a religion sees the validity of all aspects of human

spiritual aspiration, from the use of simple images to the most

exalted formless meditational approaches. Those who judge it by one

side only reveal their own lack of comprehension. Hinduism is a

multidimensional tradition that no form of linear thinking, whether

scientific or theological can grasp.

 

Certainly Hinduism stretches the limit of the idea of religion. Yet

the very things that make Hinduism different from organized creeds

provides it with a greater claim to be a religion in the true sense

of the word, which is a teaching that helps us to unite with Truth or

God.

 

Though Hinduism is not a religion as a convenient and exclusive set

of dogmas, it is a religion in that it addresses all the prime issues

of life and death, God and immortality. Hinduism contains a

consistent set of insights, principles and practices that reveal the

highest truths of Self and cosmic knowledge. It provides various

methodologies or paths of Yoga to enable us to perceive this truth in

our own consciousness.

 

Hinduism has its particular spirit, its universality, spirituality

and yogic view. This goes back to the most ancient Vedic texts and

their ability to identify any name or form of the Divine with all

others, as when the Vedas proclaim the Sacred Fire, Agni, includes

within itself all the Gods or Divine powers.

 

Hinduism is a vibrant ocean of spiritual, religious and occult

insights and practices, woven into a vast culture. It has the

complexity of life itself, which cannot be reduced to a formula,

understood in a single book, or controlled by any church or

organization.

 

Have you ever looked at the complexity of a tree, with its roots,

bark, branches, leaves, flowers and fruit? Then look at the

complexity of other trees and plants in the forest. The universe

contains great diversity and uniqueness everywhere but with an

underlying unity. The Divine similarly has various layers and

dimensions as part of an Eternal and Infinite Being and Consciousness

which defies all definitions, however clever, rational or appealing.

 

SOURCE: Hindu Books Universe

URL: http://www.hindubooks.org/david_frawley/hinduism/index.htm