About Hinduism

[Guest guest]

Hello,

 

Below is an excerpt from a mail in reply to some questions

on Hinduism. I thought the mail was relevant to this group.

 

With love,

Gomu.

 

-----------------------------

 

> ...

> im just unclear as to whether or not the other gods are to be understood as

> beings or just part of the one.

 

This question arises to almost everyone who tries to understand

Hinduism.

Hinduism represents the peak of what I would call " religious democracy " .

It

recognizes the fact that " One shirt does not fit all " . So various facets

and

forms are given to God to suit the temperament of the devotee.

 

Regarding the concept of one God, Hindusim goes one step further. It

not only says that there is one God, it also says that everything is a

manifestation of the one God. Whatever you see, dream or imagine are all

manifestations of God, which means tables, chairs, trees, clouds, men,

women, animals, stones, galaxies, astreoids and also imaginary things

like

fairies, demons, ghosts, etc are all different manifestations of God.

Even

non-existent concepts like the son of a barren woman are manifestations

of

God. It is God who has become all these.

 

But it is not possible for everyone to be intellectually and

emotionally

so healthy as to be able to see God everywhere as everything and free

from

attributes and character. People need some personal ideas and idols to

worship. Being of the idea that we have human forms, it is emotionally

more appealing to worship God also with a human form. As God is all

pervading, including the human form, it is not wrong at all. It is

quite natural that the form chosen by the devotee will be coloured by

his

cultural background. Also, we have different human relationships with

different people in our daily life like father, mother, children,

husband,

wife, teacher, friend, etc. Hence it is natural for us to see God also

with

these relationships. For example, several people consider God as their

father or mother. Several women consider God as their husbands. This is

common not only in Hindism, but in other religions like Christianity

also.

Hinduism tries to give a wide range of forms and emotions for the

devotee

to choose from. To this effect, there is a huge and ever increasing

amount

of mythology, legends, stories of saints, etc to satisfy the emotional

and

spiritual hunger of the devotees. Unlike other religions, Hinduism is an

open book. New pages keep adding to it. Hinduism accepts all prophets

and

saints of the past, present and future, in any corner of the world. It

never restricts any aspect of God to a particular country or community.

People are free to choose any aspect of any god or godess or saint for

worship, depending upon the mental temperament and cultural background.

Hinduism supports worship of God without form, but with attributes

(like Islam) and also God without form and without attributes (like

Advaita).

 

The only thing needed from the devotee is sincerity. The exact

form, rituals and words used are immaterial.

 

Thus, the core of Hinduism is not its plethora of forms and figures,

but the concept that it is God who has manifested as everything, and the

devotee can worship God as any form and in any manner to suit his/her

temperament.

 

Because of this, there is no concept of conversion in Hinduism.

Hinduism encourages a worshipper of Krishna, Christ or Allah alike to

worship his/her own God with all sincerity. Thus, if you believe in

religious freedom and religious democracy, you implicitly believe

in Hinduism.

 

-----------------------------

--

-----------------------------

Email: gomu

Phone(Off): +91 44 4466448, 4466449

Phone(Res): +91 44 8270104

Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/gokulmuthu/

-----------------------------

It is better to wear out than to rust out. - Swami Vivekananda

-----------------------------