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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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I was wondering whether to put this in the religious forum, but this is something I'm curious about. I read in a book that many educated Hinduism tend towards monotheism, and do not literally belief in say Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha, Lakshmi as literal separate deity. I know many Hindus of whatever caste or class do acknowledge these gods are avatars of a supreme being, but it seems this idea is commoner among educated Hindus, many of whom have a more abstract view of things. They still might partake in the various ceremonies and rituals, but they have less 'folk beliefs.' Would you say this is true?
Are most rich Indians still mostly Hindu? Are there many agnostic/atheist Indians? I know India is a deeply religious country, so it'd be few as a percentage, but then again the percentage of really wealthy is small too.
What about the demographic characteristics of Muslims, Christians, Parsis, Jains.etc? In terms of socio-economic status?
Hey, what about tantra? There was a huge scandal in India last year re: some kids got horribly molested by a tantric group. What's the deal with that? I guess it's mostly underground, so the authorities can't shut it down, but if child abuse is happening, how hard could it be for the police to infiltrate some of these groups and arrest people?
I'm an educated Hindu that was born and raised in the US. The ancient religion of the Vedic civilization was monotheistic, bordering on atheistic, and focused strongly on philosophy. Over time Hinduism absorbed elements of the various cultures throughout India, which included various animist cults that worshiped earth deities. From this fusion emerged modern day Hinduism. Most educated Hindus continue to follow the ancient rituals and worship avatars because those traditions are typically associated with a specific village or region. It's thus viewed as comforting and a cultural rather than literal/spiritual activity. Hindus can easily move from ritual to philosophy because our religion allows for a huge degree of intellectual freedom.
I'm an educated Hindu that was born and raised in the US. The ancient religion of the Vedic civilization was monotheistic, bordering on atheistic, and focused strongly on philosophy. Over time Hinduism absorbed elements of the various cultures throughout India, which included various animist cults that worshiped earth deities. From this fusion emerged modern day Hinduism. Most educated Hindus continue to follow the ancient rituals and worship avatars because those traditions are typically associated with a specific village or region. It's thus viewed as comforting and a cultural rather than literal/spiritual activity. Hindus can easily move from ritual to philosophy because our religion allows for a huge degree of intellectual freedom.
Yeahhh exactly what I was going to say.
I was born and raised a Hindu but abandoned religion altogether many years ago, I'm Atheist now.
Hey, what about tantra? There was a huge scandal in India last year re: some kids got horribly molested by a tantric group. What's the deal with that? I guess it's mostly underground, so the authorities can't shut it down, but if child abuse is happening, how hard could it be for the police to infiltrate some of these groups and arrest people?
How do you know police already aren't doing it?
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