hinduism

[Guest guest]

i have been researching on this religion, and there is no main objective... I have found that hinduism is about beleiving in everything and everything worshipped even sexual parts....

 

My friend is a hindu and he says that smoking weed is a religious act. I find this really absurd.

[Guest guest]

In popular language "Hinduism" is a collective noun for the many hugely diverse religious systems of India and therefore can never be addressed as a single religion on it's own.

 

" The term 'Hinduism' has been derived from 'Hindu'. 'Hindu' is a Persian word which means dark [Firuz al-Lughat (Lahore: n.d.), p. 615. Also see Lugat Sa'idi: (Kanpur: 1936), p. 633.]. The word was first used by Muslims [H.G. Rawlinson, Intercourse Between India and the Western World, (Cambridge: 1926), p. 20.] for the inhabitants of the 'land beyond the Indus (Sindhu) river' and later, for the ancient Indians in general. The word was never used in Indian literature or scriptures before the advent of Muslims to India [Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (ERE), (New York: l 967), 6:699. Also see Swami Dharma Theertha, History of Hindu Imperialism, (Madras: 1992), p. vii.]."

 

This superficial bit of information can be obtained without the slightest bit of difficulty. My tip to you therefore, is to first assess the thoroughness of your method of research before engaging in any kind of statements.

 

Haribol!

[Guest guest]

of course there is a main objective in hinduism, to all hindus the main objective is happiness, to some this occurs through loving and worshipping God, to others it is through realising oneself as God, either way there is a very strong sense of purpose, everything is realised to be part of God so from that point of view everything is honoured, not necessarily worshipped, as for smoking weed, there are many sadhus in india and nepal who smoke, i think this is mostly a shiva tradition, but you are correct it is absurd, no drug is going to help you find happiness or God, the great message of all hindu traditions is that God is right here with you, not so separate that you don't even know who He is, also all religion has its origin in hinduism anyway because it is so diverse really, as for sexual parts being worshipped, this is nonsense, there are traditions that use sex as a form of meditation but it is never just about sense gratification, even then it is about a higher purpose, but again sex parts aren't worshipped, but why shouldn't they be respected? there is nothing wrong with sex parts...you could spend you're entire life studying the indian traditions and wouldn't cover everything, there is room for every point of view and belief...all hail india!!!

[Guest guest]

Your Hindu friend is a ignorant fool, he doesn't know anything about the religion.

 

Hindusim is the oldest religion in the world, in fact around 2 Biliion years old. Also the word 'hinudism' in the modern name for the Vedic religion.

 

A Billions of years old religion has been tested over time and thus it's the absolute truth.

 

Learn the facts about the Vedic religion from:

 

www.Gitamrta.org

 

[Guest guest]

sanatana dharma is the oldest and eternal religion in the world

 

hinduism is a name that, for someone, reunites various indian religions, sometimes with opposite goal and meaning

 

not all these religions are sanatana dharma... many are absolutely adharmic

 

so hinduism is not a synonym of vedic religion

[Guest guest]

Obviously your friend is referring to the lingam and yoni. One aspect of it IS a bisexual symbol, very simply it means that God is neither masculine nor feminine. That is why you have things like the Aradanishwara, half shiva half parvati. Lingam also means SYMBOL. It is the symbol of Lord shiva. It has a form being solid and oval etc etc.. and it is formless- no arms no legs etc.. Thus it gives some more insight.

 

A picture says a thousand words.

[Guest guest]

Hinduism is the Sanatana Dharma!

It is the Vedic religion! There is no doubt about it!

Different people have attacked it at different times which is still continuinig!

Hinduism is the modern name for Sanatama Dharma!

 

There maybe many non standard cults within it that may not fully represent it, but it is the Vedic culture neverthless!

Don't be misguided about it! Only an authentic Vedic religion with deep roots could survive the onslaught of 1000 years of Islamic oppression and 200 years of British oppression on it and still survive in its prestine glory! Bhakti is no different from it! Most cults and Sampradayas spring from Hinduism. Its a different thing that they try to establish a separate identity for themselves to earn a seperate name!! This is something different!

[Guest guest]

You are doing the research as a lip service. You seem fine the way you are, watching TV, seeing what's beautiful & ugly, fat & great figure, nice & not nice, graceful & absurd etc.

 

Be patient and may be you will get more opportunities in life to lead you to hinduism, as it's a wealth of spiritual knowledge. A query for spirituality has to be for oneself & not for clearing mis-concenptions.

[Guest guest]

"HINDUISM"

by Satyaraja das

 

It should be pointed out that the word "Hindu" is not found in any of the classical writings of India. Nor can it be traced to the classical Indian languages, such as Sanskrit or Tamil. In fact, the word "Hinduism" has absolutely no origins within India itself. Still, it persists, and traditions as diverse as Shaivism and Jainism, Shaktism and Vaishnavism, have been described as "Hinduism." This may work as a matter of convenience, but ultimately it is inaccurate.

 

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder and spiritual preceptor of the present-day Hare Krishna movement, saw the word as a misnomer:

 

"Sometimes Indians both inside and outside India think that we are preaching the Hindu religion, but actually we are not. One will not find the word 'Hindu' in the Bhagavad-gita. Indeed, there is no such word as 'Hindu' in the entire Vedic literature. This word has been introduced by the Muslims from provinces next to India, such as Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and Persia. There is a river called Sindhu bordering the northwestern provinces of India, and since the Muslims there could not pronounce Sindhu properly, they instead called the river 'Hindu,' and the inhabitants of this tract of land tehy called, 'Hindus.'"

 

Prabhupada’s explanation of the word “Hindu” is not his own construction. Such explanations are well-known among scholars of the Indian tradition. In Seven Systems of Indian Philosophy, for example, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait writes along similar lines:

 

“…The current popular usage of the term Hinduism does not correspond to its original meaning. When Alexander the Great invaded the subcontinent around 325 B.C.E., he crossed the river Sindhu and renamed it Indus, which was easier for the Greek tongue to pronounce. Alexander’s Macedonian forces subsequently called the land to the east of this river India. Later, the Moslem invaders called the Sindhu River the Hindu River because in their language, Parsee, the Sanskrit sound s converts to h. Thus, for the invaders, Sindhu became Hindu, and the land east of that river became known as Hindustan.”

 

The concept is also articulated by historian C.J. Fuller, who underscores the fact that the word "Hindu" originally meant something geographical, not cultural or religious. In addition, he points out the convenient usage of the term in separating Muslims from other peoples in India:

 

"The Persian word 'Hindu' derives from Sindhu, the Sanskrit name of the river Indus (in modern Pakistan). It originally meant a native of India, the land around and beyond the Indus. When 'Hindu' (or 'Hindoo') entered the English language in the seventeenth century, it was similarly used to denote any native of Hindustan (India), but gradually came to mean someone who retained the indigenous religion and had not converted to Islam. 'Hinduism,' as a term for that indigenous religion, became current in English in the early nineteenth century and was coined to label an 'ism' that was itself partly a product of western orientalist thought, which (mis)constructed Hinduism on the model of occidental religions, particularly Christianity. Hinduism, in other words, came to be seen as a single system of doctrines, beliefs, and practices properly equivalent to those that make up Christianity, and 'Hindu' now clearly specified an Indian's religions affiliation."

 

Using the overarching term "Hinduism" for the many religions of India is comparable to ignoring the different religious orientations within each of the Western traditions, arbitrarily merging them under a single banner—"Semitism" (which, like "Hinduism," merely denotes geographical location). Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and other constitute the diverse religious traditions of the Western world. Just as the term Semitism is too broad and reductionistic to represent properly the unique religious manifestation of the great Western traditions, and just as it would be inappropriate to refer to all these traditions as one religion, the term Hinduism falls short.

 

Thus, "Hinduism" is more problematic than "Hindu," since it implies a unified form of Indian religion that can comfortably fit under one banner. Considering the varieties of religion that currently exist in India, such as Vaishnavism and Shaivism, a single term is hardly appropriate