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In case anyone is curious to know more about the Sanatana Dharma (aka Hinduism), please post your questions here. I'll do my best to provide any answers.
A few key things to know:
-Hinduism has grown to become the world's third largest religion, after Christianity and Islam. There are about 837 million followers - 13% of the world's population. You probably know it as the dominant religion in India, Nepal, on the Indonesian island of Bali, and among the Tamils in Sri Lanka. There are about 2 million Hindus in the USA.
-Hinduism is generally regarded as the world's oldest organized religion.
-Most forms of Hinduism are henotheistic religions, recognizing a single deity, and view other Gods and Goddesses as manifestations or aspects of that supreme God.
-There is no basis for a discriminatory caste system in Hindu scripture. Caste was the division of the ancient Indic civilization based on four general occupational groupings, which included workers, business people, law enforcers and lawmakers and priests. Within these four groups were thousands of sub-groups. Over the millennia, what was to be a skills and aptitude based guild system was rigidified into a hereditary hierarchy. This distortion was a result of certain social practices and taboos gaining acceptance over time.
-Hindus generally do not proseletyze (seek to convert others).
-One must not be Indian to be a Hindu.
-We don't worhip cows.
-Not all Hindus are vegetarians (maybe 20-25% are).
Is it true that one's conduct determines what they will be reincarnated as? What if a human is reincarnated as a snail? How does the snail get to be a human again? Do snails know right from wrong in Hinduism?
There really isn't any Hindu equivalent of hell. Hindus believe that the soul is immortal and evolves by experiencing varied lives through the process wherein the soul reincarnates into different physical bodies through cycles of birth and death. Guided by the Laws of Karma, the soul continues on its path of spiritual evolution. The ultimate aim of Hindus is for the soul to attain freedom from this continuous cycle of birth and rebirth and discover its divine origin.
Initially, one is reborn on account of desire: a person desires to be born because he or she wants to enjoy worldly pleasures, which can be enjoyed only through a body. Hinduism does not teach that all worldly pleasures are sinful, but that they can never bring deep, lasting happiness or peace.
After many births, every person eventually becomes dissatisfied with the limited happiness that worldly pleasures can bring. At this point, a person begins to seek higher forms of happiness, which can be attained only through spiritual experience. Naturally, the more challenges one must face in life, the greater chance one has to develop spiritually. In this lifetime, the disadvantaged have a head start (in spiritual development) over those who have it easy, provided they realize it and seek to grow and understand. Chasing material pleasure gets us sidetracked from spiritual development. Overcoming the ego is (IMHO) even tougher.
When (after lots of spiritual practice) a person finally realizes his or her own divine nature—ie., realizes that the true "self" is the immortal soul rather than the body or the ego—desires for the pleasures of the world will vanish, since they will seem trivial compared to the spiritual. When all desire has vanished, the person is not be reborn anymore. When the cycle of rebirth thus comes to an end, a person is said to have attained moksha, or salvation.
BTW, most Hindus I know believe that we reincarnate as humans while snails reincarnate as snails.
I am half Indian and use to live in India, so I guess I should know more about Hinduism but I don't
How did Hinduism start in India? Why is it so prevalent there?
Great question! The civilization of the Indo-Gengeatic Plain is one of the oldest in recorded history and one of the first to start writing and storing information. It was during the Vedic period when the sacred Vedic Sanskrit texts such as the Vedas were composed. The associated culture, sometimes referred to as Vedic civilization, was centered in what we know today as India. Academic scholars place the Vedic period into the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE, continuing up to the 6th century BCE.
Thanks for starting this thread, it's always interesting to hear the views and beliefs of people of different religions.
My question is, how do Hindus view those who follow other religions?
You are very welcome!
It depends on the Hindu since there are as many varieties of Hindus as there are sects of Christianity. Most modern practicioners of Hinduism subscribe to religious pluralism - meaning we accept that each chooses his or her own path (to include not following any path at all). Of course, there are some very conservative Hindu nationalists who think that other paths are invalid - its a shame that sometimes people end up thinking that this is what we are all about.
Personally, I have great respect for Sikhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism.
Great question! The civilization of the Indo-Gengeatic Plain is one of the oldest in recorded history and one of the first to start writing and storing information. It was during the Vedic period when the sacred Vedic Sanskrit texts such as the Vedas were composed. The associated culture, sometimes referred to as Vedic civilization, was centered in what we know today as India. Academic scholars place the Vedic period into the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE, continuing up to the 6th century BCE.
Can you talk a bit more about moksha? As well, am I remembering correctly that nirvana takes place prior to moksha? What school of Hinduism do you adhere to???
Thanks!
Take gentle care,
June
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