What is Hinduism? A Personal View

Regard#138:

You have made some pertinent comments. BTW that post was by nature_lover and not shoresaheb.

mohar11#148, eklavya#154:

It was never my intent to show Hinduism to be better or worse religion than others; the attempt was to describe Hinduism as I saw it. Whether you consider Hinduism to be better or worse than Abrahmic religions depends upon your own value system; for instance, do you find certitude in matters of faith to be a good or bad thing? if you do, then you shouldn't find Hinduism to be 'good', if you don't, then Hinduism is for you. You would notice that most Muslims have, in fact, liked the article and did not find it offensive or derogatory to their faith. Except for this reference to 'certitude', there is no mention in the article to any Abrahmic faith.

Mohar, I do not think that religion is a universal phenomenon. I think that you are confusing religion with faith which, I would agree, is a universal phenomenon.

Eklavya, this article actually grew out of the discussions on Unplugged. There were so many threads on Hinduism that I thought that there was a need for a full blown discussion on the topic on FP.

Kamath#155:
"As far I am concerned, let me quote a well known author whose name I do not recall at this time,He said,that Hinduism is a religious Super Bazar!. It has everything in it. Profound, esoteric, intellectual,spiritual, exortation to followers to live an ethical and moral life and so on etc. and also plenty of ugly things like caste system, anything you want!

Take whaterver you want and don't bother with the rest.."

Kamath saheb:

I must be badly lacking in communications skills because this is precisely my view also of Hinduism; indeed, I have often used the word 'smorgsbord' to describe the Hindu religion.

"That is enough about Hinduism. Time to have cup of Tea!"

...and for me, it's time to go to bed!

"

Re: # 139

Ah!Mr. NKG himself!

Your comment: "Islam is very harmful to humanity" does indicate that you've watched too much television. Read the Quran instead. Which devilish humanity are you siding with?

Islam only hurts the 'santaan of rakhshas' that has been destabilising the world for a long time now. Do visit http://www.tarpley.net/bushb.htm#Table

Happy reading.

Re: # 139

Ah! Mr. NKG himself!

Your comment: "Islam is very harmful to humanity" does indicate that you've watched too much television. Read the Quran instead. Which devilish humanity are you siding with?

Islam only hurts the 'santaan of rakhshas' that has been destabilising the world for a long time now. Do visit http://www.tarpley.net/bushb.htm#Table

Happy reading.

Re:HP 122-129

HP, you seemed to be quite influenced by Aitzaz Ahsan and his book - "The Indus Saga". He makes virtually the same points and quotes the same references that you have quoted. Basically it is an attempt to establish a cleavage in culture and civilization between India and Pakistan that stretches to ancient times, way beyond the hindu-muslim issues, so that Pakistan can take pride in its pre-islamic past without feeling guilty of somehow supporting India inadvertently.

In my opinion this is a naive and superficial interpretation of history. The subcontinent has a cultural continuum that stretches across the length and breadth of the land, even as we see mind boggling diversity. If Sindh has cultural similarity to Baluchistan, it has similarity to Rajasthan and Gujarat as well. Sindh and Punjab have as much similarity, as say Rajasthan and Punjab or Punjab and NWFP. So it is kind of silly to look at the international border today and say that anything east of it is a different civilization than anything west of it.

Secondly the hindu caste system is universal across the subcontinent and still exists in full force everywhere including Pakistan. Even after a thousand years, it is common to see Pakistanis proudly claiming Rajput, Jat, Arain, Gujar and other caste affiliations. This includes matrimonial relations as well. In addition, we know quite well that just before the arrival of the muslims, there was entrenched upper caste hindu rule in the areas of Pakistan. Punjab and Afghanistan had HinduShahi rule. Hindushahis were blue blooded khsatriyas such as Janjuas who are descended from the Pandavas in Mahabharat and still hold a highly respected position in Pakistani social hierarchy. Similarly Sindh was ruled by Raja Dahir who was a brahmin. His father Chach established the clan of Chibbers, who are known as Punjabi brahmins now.

So it is naive to say that the Indo-Gangetic plains followed the caste hindu system while the Yavanas and Vangas were outside the scope of hinduism. It was one giant kichchri across the subcontinent and it remains that way. The cultural affinity of entire north india is quite evident given very similar interests in music, arts, culture and of course, bollywood. Heck the entire place looks the same to people who have traveled to both sides in spite of all the walls separating them....

Ranjit,
Your reply is emotionally laden. Nothing serious to reject what Aitzaz wrote! The point was only to inform people that Sangh parivar can only lie and the chief Sanghi's research is selective.

#158 slyder It is certainly not psychological. My brother was a toddler and no auto suggestion or placebo works at this age.

I’m not an Ayurvedic or Unani doctor and can’t go in details. But it is known that urine is highly antiseptic and can be used as such under certain circumstances. The bacterial life in the digestive system of a cow is similar to that of human. Besides we were asked to use urine of a cow, which had given birth recently. This is the time of high presence of some hormones, which even give immunity to a child during first few months of his life. I can’t elaborate further lest I commit a factual error. But I’m sure some doctor can throw light at it.

Please check if you're also not using some medication where some body fluids have not been used- cod liver oil, blood extracts. Best perfumes are known to have excreta components.

regard, if your brother had mixed camel mutra with gao mutra, results would have been even better...who knows he could have turned into Einstein or like.:-)

it is ok to do something for the sake of ritual or tradition but actually believe in that bullshit is mind boggling.

Dear Dost Mittar, Shore sahib, regard and others..

I never mentioned about openly drinking of cow's urine or gomutra in temples ...my point was about sprinkling of religious foods with a spoon full of cow's urine or gomutra...

I also observed that one priest was in a trance kind of state and he was burning perfectly healthy and edible coconuts and other fruits in fire...there was smoke and pollution in the air and food was being burnt in order to make fire godess happy ...where people were starving on the streets..??

I saw another priest who produced a bottle out of his pocket and sprinkled a spoon full of gomutra or cow's urine over the food which was being cooked for public and devotees ..

Dried powder kind of Cow's dung is also sprinkled during high profile occassions

In Amreeka,.. little bottle of Gomutra is available at the cost of 10 dollars..

Moreover feet of high priest were being washed with milk and fruit juices and what came out was being gathered and mixed in the drinks for spiritual reasons..??

Indian governments of some provinces are officially promoting "gomutra" or cow's urine and they are exporting it to devotees of North America and Europe ..

readers are more than welcome to do google search about gomutra, washed feet etc..

Regards,

regard, to most people, who have not personally shared your experience - including myself - that sounds like faith at work. That's not a knock on your beliefs since 'faith' of all sorts plays such a big role in people's lives.

As more information accumulates, more people might agree or disagree with what you wrote. Until then, neither side should have a problem agreeing to disagree. Is that fair?

------------

HP, Ranjit

This may be relevant:

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=94180

------------

nature_lover, cow urine (along with cow dung) is a very important topic. Investigating it in depth should enhance both our love of nature and our understanding of natural religion.

Hope to read more as you develop greater insights through serious research.

#170 nature_lover
I’m not trying to defend Hinduism. My point is that drinking cow urine is not a common Hindu religious practice. But it is used for perfectly valid therapeutic reasons.

If Pakistani friends need issues against Hindu religious practices, there are aplenty and much more serious: caste system, dowry, lack of social responsibility by the rich. Only in India you’ll find such shameless billionaires as Lakshmi Mittal, Azim Premji, Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani … and the list is long who are capable of wasting a few hundred million dollars on family events surrounded by jhuggis of homeless millions. To my mind, this is closely linked to the caste system, which made us so cruel and insensitive to those around us. Hindus are probably the most self-centred and individually egocentrics today. Nothing in common with Islamic community affiliation.

Though Hindu zealots will blow their tops on the subject but beef was probably a part of the regular diet in Vedic times. Only thing good in ‘Hinduism’s inclusiveness is that, such beef-eaters could live in peace without being hunted by Fatwas.

Ranjit#162:

I am quite a fan of Aitzaz Ahsan. I have not read enough about the common and distinguishing features of what he calls Indus-Valley and Gangetic civilizations to know whether or not it can stand closer scrutiny. I like it from a Pakistani perspective as it tries to build a national identity based on civilizational instead of a purely religious identity. Even if it is partly a myth, myths can be used as a motivating factor; a momin may not be equal to ten kafirs but the notion can be used to motivate soldiers to fight a bigger enemy; Guru Gobind Singh also used a similar motivator when he said one khalsa was equal to sawa-laakh non-khalsas.

Anyway, this article is about religion and not civilization and so let's not digress into it too much.

nature_lover#170:

Hindus do waste a lot of ghee in their havans and maybe other rituals. Although I have not personally witnessed, I have no problem in believing that some people wash the feet of their guru and drink it and other such practices which appear as backward to me and most of us. The same may also be true of cow-urine if you have witnessed it, but I can tell you that if an announcement is made in any congregation that the food contains a sprinkling of gau-mutra, most Hindus in the congregation would leave without tasting any food.

{"I am not sure that I fully understand the subtle differences between the various schools, but they vary from the almost agnostic Sankhya to the bhakti flavour, which is part of the Yoga school."}

DM Sahib,
A very informative and straightforward article to educate those of us who truly want to understand Hinduism as it has evolved over the millenia.

One question and I hope that I don't offend anyone. Does the hindi word "Sankhi" meaning idiosyncrastic have any connection to Sankhya? Thanks.

Regard #172 {"Only thing good in ‘Hinduism’s inclusiveness is that, such beef-eaters could live in peace without being hunted by Fatwas. "}

Dear Regard,
Many of us, including several ardent Muslims, are trying to understand Hinduism, its variations, schools, and foundations. With a stupid comment like "hunted by Fatwas," you are distracting the discussion from DM Sahib's original intention of educating readers. You see, sir, Fatwas are about as meaningful to Islam as are the proclamations of BJP/RSS/VHP/JS/BD/SS/SP goons regarding St. Valentine's Day, Christmas, or Mushaairas. Please don't use the unfortunate existence of aberrations to define the original.