WHAT IS HINDUISM?


Hinduism or “Sanatana Dharma”, means Righteousness Forever or ‘that which has no beginning nor end’. According to historians, it was the Persians who after invading India in the 6th century B.C. gave the name ‘Hinduism’ originated from the root word ‘Indus’, which originated from the Persian word meaning ‘river people’. Other historians however feel that as Alexander could not pronounce the name ‘Sindhu’, (the Sanskrit name for the river Indus), and called it ‘Hindu’ and hence the term ‘Hinduism’. However, the name ‘Sanatana Dharma implies that eternal truths are forever, and our ancient rishis were probably the first to discover, know, understood and proclaim them to the world. It is the relentless yearning and thus pursuit after truth. As such it is a religion forever. In fact, in my personal view, Hinduism is more than a religion – it is a WAY OF LIFE.

Looking at the development of Hinduism through the ages one is forced to acknowledge that Hinduism is a thought-process that developed with the development of mankind towards a more structured and civilized form of society. That is why you see in it a perfect co-existence of primitive religion along with a very advanced, philosophical form of religion. Since the period of the Rig Veda (the earliest book of the Hindus), Hinduism has never done any ‘house cleaning’. Thus to a person who tries to read the Hindu scriptures haphazardly may find them containing confusing, contradictory thoughts and philosophies. But the fact of the matter is that through the ages, Hinduism has allowed for free thinking of its seers. It has absorbed new ideas like a sponge and adapted itself according to the times. It is solely because of this inherent adaptability and flexibility of thought that is allowed in Hinduism that, even today, far from being a dead religion, it is a living, thriving religion. In fact, contemporary modern thoughts helped recharge Hinduism at every stage through history while simultaneously keeping alive its ancient traditions. It is because Hinduism gave the freedom to think and argue on any subject that allowed a diaspora of viewpoints to propagate within its folds. This helped enrich Hinduism allowing it to grow with its roots going deeper, rather than getting uprooted with the passage of time. In Hinduism alone one can see the strange coexistence of an atheist, and agnostic and a theist. While Socrates and the Sufis were persecuted in the West, in India Buddha and Mahavir (who did not recognize the authority of the Vedas) are recognized among the great saints. Hinduism has tolerated even Charvaka, who not only ridiculed the Vedas, but also attacked the mere existence of God.

It is the one religion that has no hierarchy, no establishment or governing body with no rigid do’s and don’ts laid down in its scriptures. So let us face it, in Hinduism one can find a religion tailor-made for each of us, whatever be our way of thinking. Does any other religion give man such liberty of thought? Hinduism can afford to give man this liberty because it recognizes that people on the earth are on different spiritual and intellectual levels. Matters do not apply or appeal to all persons in the same manner. This is the reason why Hinduism, which is filled with varied ideas, appeals to all. In Hinduism, it is probably that man has made God in his own image – that is why different Gods have been given a human form and they are given attributes that the particular devotee wants his God to possess. The Bhagavad Gita (4:11) says, “Whatever and whichever way men approach Me, even so do I accept them; whatever paths they may choose finally lead to Me. Oh! Arjuna!” The underlying thought that comes to mind on reading these words is that it is not inherent in Hinduism to state that its path is the only path towards God-realization. Hinduism not only tolerates, but it accepts all forms of thoughts. Have you ever heard of anyone ever being forcefully converted into a Hindu? There is no need to, because according to Hindu ideology man can worship the Almighty in its formless state or having a form like Krishna, Rama, Jesus or Allah or as anyone or anything, and God will make his faith steadfast in that form alone. The Gita says “ In whatever form a devotee seeks Me, I will appear to him in that form”. Is it a wonder then that there are numerous Gods and Goddesses being worshipped by the Hindus! Hinduism believes that as long as you have true faith in your personal form of the Almighty, you are always on the path towards God, you can never be lost. Mirabai was enchanted by Lord Krishna, SriRamakrishna Paramhansa cried for Mother Kali and Lord Chaitanya cried for SriVithal – but they were all Hindus. All of them started with their attachments to a personal god and finally ended up with an Almighty that is timeless and formless. Swami Vivekananda said, “I am proud to belong to a religion that has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. As different streams having different sources all mingle their waters in the sea, so different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to God.” Hinduism is filled with all kinds of ideas. To give an example, on the surface, the Dvaita and the Advaita philosophy seem to be totally contradictory, but still both form an integral part of Hindu ideology. It allows for criticism within the Hindu fold. In the true sense, Hinduism is a religion having unity in diversity!

On being asked to explain the essence of the Hindu way of life, a Guru once replied: “Nobody knows what is right or what is wrong; nobody knows what is good or what is bad; there is a deity residing within you; find it out and obey its commands”. Of course, it goes without saying that the Hindu seers placed great faith and responsibility on the judiciousness of man’s intellect not to misuse this freedom of action! This is so as the above words are not to be interpreted as a license toward doing things as our emotions may dictate, but to be cautious, because emotions can dupe even great men into believing in their own personal egoistic sentiments and thus behaving foolishly and irresponsibly. Thus the one great message that Hinduism propagates is that God is not something that is alienated from either from Man or Nature. Hinduism makes man see God in all aspects of Nature – whether living or non-living! In fact Hinduism says ‘Tat tvam asi’, meaning “That thou art”! This is why Hinduism can tolerate, accept and absorb everything like a sponge and still retain its identity. This is the beauty of Hinduism!

In the early ages, there was not much distinction between Science and religion – in fact the principles of Science lead to religion as Man tried to understand and explain the secrets of Nature by observation and experience. However, with the passage of time a fundamental difference developed between them. Science looked at the world objectively, whereas religion started looking at everything with eyes filled with magic and blind faith. Science was open to the idea that its conclusions may not always be reflecting the absolute truth. Hence with further addition of new data and information, it had (and has) the flexibility to modify or even reject its earlier conclusion (albeit with resistance at times). This readiness for self-reformation is the basic spirit of Science. However, religions all over the world have a certain inflexibility and a blinkered attitude – hence they do not allow for change – which is so fundamental to the scientific spirit. But going through the history of Hinduism one starts to realize that the ancient seers of Hinduism had the wisdom of this even in those early days and that is why the Hindu society allowed for such freedom of thought where debate and dialogue on the truths and guiding principles of life and the universe were the order of the day among the great men of those days – when ideas and ideologies were presented to the masters and after long discussions and great scrutiny were accepted or rejected! Therefore from this standpoint, one is tempted to say that Hinduism was a religion with the scientific spirit inherent in it. Albert Einstein once said, “The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion – based on experience and free from dogma” – was he describing ‘Hinduism’!!!

Yet somewhere during the medieval period, Hinduism went into a shell – midway it just put a plug on its free spirit of inquiry for further advancements in knowledge - maybe as a basic survival tactic against the onslaughts and invasions from the peoples of the new religions of the world. Otherwise how is it possible that for a culture which had discovered and understood the concept of gravity and that our Solar system was Sun-centric and not Earth-centric (to name a few), at least a 1000 years before the Western world awoke to it, is today, lagging behind to such an extent. Otherwise with so much of a head start, we should have been the leading light in the field of scientific discovery. We are a people who had rishis, who in that hoary past had not only ideas and concepts, but knowledge and understanding of the truths of life and the Universe, which are in complete agreement with the ideas of Einstein, Heisenberg, Stephen Hawking and the proponents of the latest String Theory. Modern scientists have discovered this knowledge by using highly sophisticated instruments to extend the range of the human senses. The rishis of yore however, got access to these truths of the nature of Universe without any aid to their human senses. Also they had no need to pollute and create havoc with Nature in their quest for knowledge, unlike the modern intrusive methods of modern scientists. These great masters unraveled these truths by expanding and fine tuning their mind. Today, Science has accepted the limitless power of the human mind. Hindus truly have a glorious past and yet today, we are people who have the misfortune of being saddled with certain ideas and ideologies which are not only antiquated, but outdated and totally out of context and irrelevant in today’s world. It is thus obligatory on every Hindu to restore to Hinduism its lost pristine glory. We have to help clean up the cobwebs, remove the dust from its gems, thus rejuvenating Hinduism and putting it on track again so it can help the world move towards a society that is rooted, balanced and yet every hungry for unraveling newer knowledge – knowledge that will lead mankind to a better tomorrow on higher planes of existence. This will also help dispel in the eyes of the world the myth that Hinduism is a religion which emphasizes on ‘otherworldiness’ and is ‘this world denying’. Rather they will be forced to accept that Hinduism is actually a Science that shows Man to remain and enjoy this world and yet evolve to higher dimensions of existence by expanding his Mind. In the words of an author (I forget the name) Hinduism is actually a religion that propagates a “THIS WORLD IS EXPANDING” spirit and tradition .


DR.POONAM MEHRA