Have you sometimes wondered about
being a ‘Hindu’?
The feeling of knowing everything
about it, having grown up within the religion which extended into a social,
cultural, devotional sphere amidst festivals, temple gatherings and prayers and
yet not quite knowing everything or even knowing enough about anything that
makes Hinduism?
In my experience I often find that Hindus
usually have the faith but cannot quite articulate what exactly they believe in
or harder still what they do not believe. They cannot always completely or accurately
answer questions thrown at them by others and then choose to simply make things
up as they go along rather than confess to being unaware regarding ‘what Hinduism
is all about’. For example how many different answers have we all heard when an
explanation is demanded about ‘idol worship’ or ‘creation’, or simply ‘God’?
Hindus are proud that
they do not usually thrust their beliefs upon anyone. They celebrate their religion
and it naturally becomes a way of life no matter how modern a
lifestyle Hindus may lead. On auspicious days religion becomes important and
fun so that everyone can be greeted, blessed, celebrated with whereas on some
other days it can become part of a ‘let’s not go there zone’ or at least a
‘private affair’. There is a definite reluctance to excessively attach with our
religion owing to a fear of being labelled a fanatic or a fundamentalist etc which
arises out of and leads to our ignorance of Hinduism itself like a vicious
cycle. It must be right to strike a moderate’s balance but surely it does not
serve as an excuse to be unaware? Some theorists claim that as Indian Hindus
get more prosperous their interest in religion will be renewed and they will
devote more time and resources to learn more about this oldest religion of all
which is perhaps their greatest wealth to treasure without necessarily or
naturally resulting in greater aggression or conflict as is feared.
In fact none of us can ever resist a
jolly good debate about anything and especially so about all things related to
religion. What amazes me is how we all jump into the ring with whatever little
we know and start.. um. fighting. Oh yes we do ‘do God’. Therefore it is almost incumbent upon all of
us believers and non believers to try and learn a little bit more about the
subject at hand, to know Hinduism as it really is before we wax eloquent. We
proudly follow the rituals and happily reap the fruits or the Prasad. How can
we then justify not following up on it whilst calling ourselves modern men of
reason and not try to learn the wisdom behind that worshipping?
My journey aims just to dust off this
same web of ignorance so that the next time I say, “yes I believe”, I do not
have to stop there and can say some more. However I do not intend to use this
blog to promote my views or worse still push them upon others at the expense of
their religious beliefs, nor do I wish to score any major points in making
claims about the vast all encompassing nature of the Hindu religion and my
association with this great religion. This blog simply records my personal
journey in trying to understand what my religion is all about and may not be viewed as
a scholarly source of religious knowledge.
This simple stated aim of mine is a
hugely challenging task! Precisely because Hinduism or ‘Sanaatan Dharma’ as it
is known is so very ancient that some truths have become obscure or some
misconceptions have crept in. The scriptures which form the basis of our
religion for most believers are written in a Vedic Sanskrit that even the most
learned scholars struggle to accurately decipher. Those learned ones who are
kind enough to teach and preach help to decode the Shastras but these contain a
vast amount of information which seems complex and sometimes contradictory.
Moreover we learn differently in this modern world than how ancient people used
to ‘learn’ from their Gurus. So we do not even have the process or path to get
to the truth of Sanaatan Dharma much less the precious knowledge itself.
Nevertheless let us try to uncover what we can and then inevitably to an extent
each one will find his or her meaning. Fortunately this flexibility is embedded
within our faith and so we can all find something meaningful and a practical message
to apply to our current life.
Naturally the content of my blog is not
so much my ‘original work’ but rather a consolidation of the study of what
various eminent scholars have written about Sanaatan Dharma. I am creating this
blog as per what I interpret and understand by reading their books or sites on
Hinduism and its various aspects. This means that the speciality of this blog might
be seen in the format followed by referencing various sources to elucidate
religious concepts with sequential continuity in response to fundamental questions I have
and possibly others have too. Also I will try to lay out my understanding of
each concept in byte sized chunks (followed by my own instinctive thoughts about the concept) which may be useful as well.
Once I have interpreted the
fundamentals or ‘key concepts’ about the ‘Sanaatan Dharma’ to my satisfaction
then thereafter I am going to build on this foundation to find practical
teachings and values that can regularly cast a positive impact on daily life.
The ‘Smriti’ scriptures contain a vast treasure of knowledge imparted through
interesting mythological and historical stories which I would love to learn
more about and record here. I aspire also to use this blog as a journey of
learning about the deities, the temples, the festivals, the celebrations which have grown to
make my religion so colourful, accessible and beautiful over so many years.
Please take in what you find useful
and leave the rest. I do not wish to dispute anyone else’s versions and do not
claim that I will make no mistakes at all in this blog as understanding and
writing about religion after all is a complicated task. I would just like to
ask you therefore to please bear with me.
