There is an understandable ignorance in the world about other religions as we always hear and know more about our own religion and have less time spent on others. With less knowledge, it is difficult to comment and also come to right conclusions. Hinduism is one of the oldest religions and as many records are not available, it is difficult to check and cross check the facts . that is the reason, Hinduism is unique in the sense, even own religion people do not know much though some facts are available which we will discuss in this blog.
It is the only religion, even name of the religion is given to it by other people. In reality , there is no Hindu name for the religion, as some people still call it a way of life , rather than a religion. The word "Hindu" is an acronym for "Sindhu" which is a river beyond which Arabs and other Persian peninsula people were referring to a group of people. When many Indians were travelling for trade to signify Indians, they were referred to as people beyond Sindhu.(river). As pronunciation of "Sindh" is difficult, perhaps some Arabs started pronouncing as "Hind". in sanskrit , "Sindhu means water which refers to river "Sindhu" which is a mighty river at that time. With the confusion on the name, Hindu religion is also shrouded with other myths.
if Hinduism is monolithic or not. Even many Hindus believe, it is NOT monolithic. That is due to the fact, the vast majority of Hindus were illiterates. Education was free , but given to only a fraction of people who are NOT supposed to amass wealth ,but live on alms given by society.But they are supposed to protect the Knowledge, which they did to an extent as all old Indian Wisdom in the form of Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana and Mahabharata and Puranas are protected till date though script was not available. Purely division of labor was reason for the castes. But like any system it was misused and abused, though main purpose of keeping knowledge alive is fulfilled. However as knowledge is not distributed among all members , like science it is confined to scientists, Truth about the religion is confined to a small group of people.
That is why "Adi Shankara" re-established the Truth and untied all 6 religions and earned a name as " shanmarag Stapana acharya" means, established 6 routes to God > subsequently, Madhva Acharya Ramanjucharya and Chaitanya Maha Prabhu argued and established the finer points of Truth. Thus the acharyas( teachers of religion) are clear ,but evolution of Hindu religion is not known to all its members leave alone the knowledge , they do not even know if they have to worship which deity. hence majority started worshipping all deities. Though in theory, all are different paths to God, . there is no compulsion to follow another path , when we are already progressing in one path. In fact, that culture of accepting other's path is the reason why Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists are very comfortable in India than in any other country. In fact, India has largest population of Muslims and they are safe here as no Hindu , Except very few extremists who are present in Muslims also and cause problems every where they are present.
having established that God is unique in the whole universe, Hindus are more poised to accept world religions than any single religion in the world. However this fact did not come out clearly as Hindus who are un-educated people keep arguing while learned keep accepting other religions. Remember, Dalai Lama came to India as refugee NOT even a single Hindu objected to it. . Similarly several muslims from pakistan came to India and Hindus never complained though Pakistan had problem in explaining why Hindus want to leave Pakistan.
Hinduism is the only religion who do nto have a prophet or a single person who can claim His/her supremacy over religion. hence, any Baba is encouraged to speak his mind, spread his word, fidn his path and even influence, propagate his path. Thus more religions liek Osho's keep coming up and unlike Americans or other countries, in India , who are predominantly Hindus never objected to out siders, especially religions.
Another unique nature of Hindu religion is that it is evolutionary. How it keeps changing ? each individual is respected for his honesty, method and Truth which he/she realsied about himself/herslef is listened to by learned. If convinced, they incoporate the fact in the religion.
Few tousands years back, Kapila maharshi propsoed " Sankhya " philosophy which propsoed man is not made up of physical things or the 5 elements . it is was readily acepted and inscoporated. Kanada proposed Atomic theory and iis taken into Hindu philosophy and that philosophy is very nearer to present day Atomic science,. subsequently "Advaita theory" which is based on illusion of world and permanence of Brhman is well received after tough arguments by all learned people from Kerala to Kashmir.
There are four prmanas or standards used in discussions, before arriving at Truth.
1. Pratyksha - direct understanding or explanation.
2. Anumana- Hypothetical way as first proposal and them proving it.
3. .Aitihya - Historical sequence. ( similar to to-day's literature survey in thesis)
4. Shabda- By sound. that is jsut by listening the sound. it is like voting by Voice.
above all, the honesty with which people argued was exemplary as it is for the establishing Truth. many times, people with great mystic powers and super natural powers used them to convince others. For example, Sri Ramanaja showed his Yoga Shakti to go into the sanctum and sanctorium to install shanku and Chakra( conch and shell) on Tirupati balaji Murthy ( idols) to establish Vaishnavite method of worship.
So also Shankaracharya could fly over night to a different place to argue with a dying saint to counter" IDol Worship). . Shankara established transcendental form of worship .Krishna Chaitanya prabhu also took the devotional path, and transcendental service.
The uniqueness of Hindu religion is the evolution of religion which is not the case in any other religion.
Evolution means not denying the past but improving over the past. Thus religion is kept fresh always while keeping the continuity. That is the main reason, youth of to-day are not able to crack the logic of Hindu religion , while other religions as people get more educated, they are questioning the old theories.
another unique feature of Hindu religion is that it includes the atheists also . sage Charvaka , proposed a theory who lived as contemporary to Sri rama who has more temples dedicated to Him has accepted Charwaka to continue his practice of worship. Lord ShiRam himself never declared His Avatarhood , but people accepted Him as one incarnation of Vishnu. The religion is so complicated and accommodative, Jain religion is stated from Hinduism, where King Rishibha deva renounced his kingdom and went to forests in pursuit of Truth and found a new path which is now followed as Jainism. The more we discuss about Hinduism, the more we get convinced that it is "Santahana Dhrma" meaning, oldest way of Righteous living.
Thanks to the liberal principles of Hinduism, India is home for almost all religions which are existing in the world and when Persians ( now Iran) s asked the old faithfuls to evacuate the country due to the advent of Islam, they came to India and still now pursuing their religion and they are called "Parsis" who are one of the most prosperous communities in India.
what more we need to talk about Uniqueness of Hindu religion ?
It is the only religion, even name of the religion is given to it by other people. In reality , there is no Hindu name for the religion, as some people still call it a way of life , rather than a religion. The word "Hindu" is an acronym for "Sindhu" which is a river beyond which Arabs and other Persian peninsula people were referring to a group of people. When many Indians were travelling for trade to signify Indians, they were referred to as people beyond Sindhu.(river). As pronunciation of "Sindh" is difficult, perhaps some Arabs started pronouncing as "Hind". in sanskrit , "Sindhu means water which refers to river "Sindhu" which is a mighty river at that time. With the confusion on the name, Hindu religion is also shrouded with other myths.
if Hinduism is monolithic or not. Even many Hindus believe, it is NOT monolithic. That is due to the fact, the vast majority of Hindus were illiterates. Education was free , but given to only a fraction of people who are NOT supposed to amass wealth ,but live on alms given by society.But they are supposed to protect the Knowledge, which they did to an extent as all old Indian Wisdom in the form of Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana and Mahabharata and Puranas are protected till date though script was not available. Purely division of labor was reason for the castes. But like any system it was misused and abused, though main purpose of keeping knowledge alive is fulfilled. However as knowledge is not distributed among all members , like science it is confined to scientists, Truth about the religion is confined to a small group of people.
That is why "Adi Shankara" re-established the Truth and untied all 6 religions and earned a name as " shanmarag Stapana acharya" means, established 6 routes to God > subsequently, Madhva Acharya Ramanjucharya and Chaitanya Maha Prabhu argued and established the finer points of Truth. Thus the acharyas( teachers of religion) are clear ,but evolution of Hindu religion is not known to all its members leave alone the knowledge , they do not even know if they have to worship which deity. hence majority started worshipping all deities. Though in theory, all are different paths to God, . there is no compulsion to follow another path , when we are already progressing in one path. In fact, that culture of accepting other's path is the reason why Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists are very comfortable in India than in any other country. In fact, India has largest population of Muslims and they are safe here as no Hindu , Except very few extremists who are present in Muslims also and cause problems every where they are present.
having established that God is unique in the whole universe, Hindus are more poised to accept world religions than any single religion in the world. However this fact did not come out clearly as Hindus who are un-educated people keep arguing while learned keep accepting other religions. Remember, Dalai Lama came to India as refugee NOT even a single Hindu objected to it. . Similarly several muslims from pakistan came to India and Hindus never complained though Pakistan had problem in explaining why Hindus want to leave Pakistan.
Hinduism is the only religion who do nto have a prophet or a single person who can claim His/her supremacy over religion. hence, any Baba is encouraged to speak his mind, spread his word, fidn his path and even influence, propagate his path. Thus more religions liek Osho's keep coming up and unlike Americans or other countries, in India , who are predominantly Hindus never objected to out siders, especially religions.
Another unique nature of Hindu religion is that it is evolutionary. How it keeps changing ? each individual is respected for his honesty, method and Truth which he/she realsied about himself/herslef is listened to by learned. If convinced, they incoporate the fact in the religion.
Few tousands years back, Kapila maharshi propsoed " Sankhya " philosophy which propsoed man is not made up of physical things or the 5 elements . it is was readily acepted and inscoporated. Kanada proposed Atomic theory and iis taken into Hindu philosophy and that philosophy is very nearer to present day Atomic science,. subsequently "Advaita theory" which is based on illusion of world and permanence of Brhman is well received after tough arguments by all learned people from Kerala to Kashmir.
There are four prmanas or standards used in discussions, before arriving at Truth.
1. Pratyksha - direct understanding or explanation.
2. Anumana- Hypothetical way as first proposal and them proving it.
3. .Aitihya - Historical sequence. ( similar to to-day's literature survey in thesis)
4. Shabda- By sound. that is jsut by listening the sound. it is like voting by Voice.
above all, the honesty with which people argued was exemplary as it is for the establishing Truth. many times, people with great mystic powers and super natural powers used them to convince others. For example, Sri Ramanaja showed his Yoga Shakti to go into the sanctum and sanctorium to install shanku and Chakra( conch and shell) on Tirupati balaji Murthy ( idols) to establish Vaishnavite method of worship.
So also Shankaracharya could fly over night to a different place to argue with a dying saint to counter" IDol Worship). . Shankara established transcendental form of worship .Krishna Chaitanya prabhu also took the devotional path, and transcendental service.
The uniqueness of Hindu religion is the evolution of religion which is not the case in any other religion.
Evolution means not denying the past but improving over the past. Thus religion is kept fresh always while keeping the continuity. That is the main reason, youth of to-day are not able to crack the logic of Hindu religion , while other religions as people get more educated, they are questioning the old theories.
another unique feature of Hindu religion is that it includes the atheists also . sage Charvaka , proposed a theory who lived as contemporary to Sri rama who has more temples dedicated to Him has accepted Charwaka to continue his practice of worship. Lord ShiRam himself never declared His Avatarhood , but people accepted Him as one incarnation of Vishnu. The religion is so complicated and accommodative, Jain religion is stated from Hinduism, where King Rishibha deva renounced his kingdom and went to forests in pursuit of Truth and found a new path which is now followed as Jainism. The more we discuss about Hinduism, the more we get convinced that it is "Santahana Dhrma" meaning, oldest way of Righteous living.
Thanks to the liberal principles of Hinduism, India is home for almost all religions which are existing in the world and when Persians ( now Iran) s asked the old faithfuls to evacuate the country due to the advent of Islam, they came to India and still now pursuing their religion and they are called "Parsis" who are one of the most prosperous communities in India.
what more we need to talk about Uniqueness of Hindu religion ?
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