hinduism isn't a religion?

hi, remember me? i was the college student who was asking all the questions! school has been out a while, but i'm still very interested about hinduism. i was reading the faq's in this forum, and two things stuck out to me:
1) hinduism is not a religion, it is a set of beliefs an traditions
2) you may be a hindu and follow any religion

would anybody like to explain this more? i'm very interested about how this all works...thank you very much!

 

As briefly as I can state it:

Hindu originated in ancient times as a term used by the residents of Persia...modern-day Iraq...to refer to those populations residing east of the Sindhu or Indus river.

The correct term for the set of beliefs and traditions commonly referred to as "Hinduism" is Sanatana-dharma, and can translated from the Sanskrit language as Eternal Truth, Eternal Religion, or Eternal Duty.

The best-known and most explanatory scripture for Sanatana-dharma is Bhagavad-Gita. This scripture is an essential part of the body of Vedic scripture and tradition, which originated in ancient India. Tradition and most scholars date the Gita and other Vedic scriptures to the time of Old Testament events.

There are literally hundreds of translations of the Gita in existence.

My favorite version is Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, a translation of and commentary on the original Sanskrit text, by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. This version presents the concepts of Sanatana-dharma from the dvaitin or theistic point of view; many other translations present this from the advaitin or non-theistic POV...I won't say "atheistic" in reference to advaitin tradition because both the dvaitin and advaitin schools of philosophy are dedicated to eternal and transcendental spiritual knowledge.

Simply, dvaitin tradition accepts a supreme personal God; advaitin tradition does not.

Sanatana-dharma is by defintion all-inclusive and non-sectarian, because Eternal Truth is what essentially Is, the reality that underlies all "religions".

A better term for Hindu is Vedantist, or follower of Vedic tradition. A person can be a Vedantist and still remain a member of a particular religious faith.

My advice: read the 1972 edition of Bhagavad-Gita As It Is, and I'm sure other members here will suggest additional versions for the advaitin point of view.

 

"Simply, dvaitin tradition accepts a supreme personal God; advaitin tradition does not."

i would like to disagree here sir, Advaitan perspective (In my humble opinion) chooses to see God as one's supreme self, eliminating focus on oneself and directing it on the Ishvara (Supreme Controller/krishna) within.

 

It is a sea of beliefs really. Hinduism talks about Dharma : Namely one's duty... hence the name Sanatana Dharma - one's eternal duty.

According to what I understand from my limited experience with Hinduism, the goal of one's life is realization of one's true identity.

Hinduism basically asks the question "Who am I" and answers the question from various perspectives.

In all these perspectives (Dvaita, Advaita, Vishistadvaita), we see that Hinduism tells us we are not the body and that body is simply a vehicle for transportation of one's self within this world. Then, what is one's "self"? would be the next question. This is something you have to realize on your own and there are many people who wrote many things in the past about their realizations.

Oh yes do read Bhagavad Gita.... krishna's talk with Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

Oh by the way... how did you do in your course? hope you did well !!!

 

thank you very much for the responses, and Jedi, i got an A in the course! thanks to all of you!
Bhagavad Gita...i will defiantly keep that in mind next time i go to the library...
this is all very interesting, and i think i'm beginning to understand. so, for example, could somebody be a christian, and still believe in hinduism? they seem like two polar opposites...

 

There are so many shades of meaning to these terms, and it's hard to distill for someone seemingly completely new to them...that's why I didn't refer to the advaitin perspective as atheistic, as some would, and stressed that advaita and dvaita are both spiritual perspectives.

 

Well thats true I guess. There are too many meanings out there.

 

Agree.

Maybe I oversimplified in regard to adviata and dvaita viewpoints, but the purpose was to not get a newly-enquiring person fom a different philosophical background too confused from the start.

 

Yes. I'm one of those people... it seams so opposite, but you can make it work.

 

I already stated this before, and I am stating it again. If being a christian means believing in Christ, then I am a christian.

I am a dharmik-christian-deist-bahai-taoist. :sunglasse

 

There is no unified establishment that is recognized in Hinduism (like that of the catholic church). So the practice is purely your interest, if you want to be a christian, a jew, a muslim and still consider yourself a hindu then there is no one to really say no, that means yes , you can be whatever you want to be.

Also, they are not really opposites, but really two different viewpoints that simultaneously support each other. for instance, God is the creator , the sustainer and the destroyer in this world according to christianity... Hinduism just says that God is everywhere... showing that creation comes from God, it is in God and it gets destroyed in God. So really... God is the only permanent figure, all else is impermanent.

 

jedi, you always seemed to explain things so well, you make things easier to understand, i'm so sorry to see him go.

 

That's one angle on the question.
However, that is coming from a Hindu perspective.
There are propblems for traditional Christian belief in accepting any other religion, as the basis of 'salvation' for the christian is the sacrificial death of Jesus, and they believe that salvation is not to be had via any other route.

Indian religion(s) on the other hand accept a multiplicity of paths.

Really, I think it is only very liberal/universalist christians who accept Hinduism.

 

If you call those intolerant individuals christians , then my perspective is not from the Hindus either. Why?- because there are many radical hindus who claim that their path is the only true path. There are also many vaishnavas who roam around thinking that vaishnavism is the only way to God. Nothing wrong with that though, the problem arises when people who think like that also sometimes insult other religions and ideas. Intolerance is the issue here, not christianity.

 

Well put Jedi. Paramahamsa Yogananda very beautifully explains in his commentary on Biblical verses that when Christ says "None shall come to the father except through me" he is speaking in the way krishna spoke (from the transcendent standpoint) and so none shall come to know god except through the higher consciousness that Christ totally identifies himself with. He encourages the disciples also to see themselves as such - ye are the light of the world.

 

Thats all well and good, but the thing is that christians of the major denominations like catholicism take the position that without jesus death is no redemption for anyone. No doubt there are a few liberal christians who are open to other ideas, but the vast majority are narrow minded.

Even pope benedict speaking some years before his election when he was a cardinal described hinduism as 'an eternal circle of hell with no hope of release', he added that it offers people 'false hope'.
This don't forget, is the head of the world's largest church.

It's easy for Hindus to see Christianity as just a branch of Sanatana Dharma, but Christians will not accept this view it seems, except in a tiny number of cases.

 

So you don't have problems with christians but you have problems with intolerant individuals. Is that what you were saying?

 

This begs the question: Is Christianity what Christians believe or is it what Christ taught?

 

Mmm that is a good question b/c early Christianty taught reincarnation for quite awhile...

I really think everyone should be looking more at what Christ taught...I'm not saying the rest of doctrine, the rest of the New Testament, and everything else outside of the 4 Gospels is total crap (lol I wrote carp) or anything ...I'm just saying ...you have to take it with the 4 Gospels and most importantly Jesus's words first and foremost.

As mentioned by both Bhaskar and Jedi, Jesus's words have more depth to them than just surface value. I kind of think instead of popping around trying to tell people they are wrong and going to Hell...that we all need to look at Jesus's words, reflect on them, and see what they mean to us, in the context of our lives, and how we can apply and live them. Jesus was the one who said that before we can remove the beam from our brother's eye, we have to remove the one from our own.

 

Catholics are supposed to take their beliefs from the church's authority, represented by the pope. They are not free to decide for thmeselves. It's not a few individuals, but the largest religious organization on the planet.