Tuesday 12 November 2013

REVIVING HINDUISM



Why Hinduism? Why not reviving any other religion  from around the world ?  It is only  the Hindu philosophy which can bring about a sweeping change in the  way people think around the world. 
True Hinduism is not about Idol worshiping, about rituals and about  temple hopping. Hinduism is all about  self-realization and  logical approach  to life , which has been influencing us for over  8000 years.  Hinduism, in its true and pure form  is a way of life that  in a nutshell teaches you:

1.      Do not attach yourself to this worldly life, or you will  suffer now and in rebirth.

2.      Adopt a  peaceful way of life. Non-violence approach to life will  only brings peace to the society.

3.      Never kill man or animal, unless necessary to protect society.

4.      Make your mind  your weapon to conquer all that you want to, for mind  is the strongest  part of any body.

5.      Live a simple and clean life.  Be humble and  respect others. Be tolerant and  live on vegetarian diet.



Very few people  across the globe  knows the true philosophy of  Hinduism. The ancient philosophy of Hinduism are based upon the four Vedas:

The Vedas are the oldest and most authoritative scriptures of Hinduism.  All other scriptures are subordinate to them.  They were not composed by anybody but were ‘revealed’ to the Rishis; hence they are also called ‘Shruti’, ‘that which is heard’.  The earlier part of the Vedas may have been composed between 2000 B.C. and 1000 B.C.  There are four Vedas: Rig-veda, Yajur-veda, Sama-veda and Atharva-veda.  Each of these has four divisions: Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka and Upanishads.

Samhita:  This section is a collection of hymns addressed to various deities.  Many of these hymns have deep mystical significance.

Brahmana:  This portion deals with various rituals and also with moral principles.

Aranyaka:  This portion contains various meditations.  Some of these meditations are mental recreations of external rituals.

Upanishads:  These are the records of the transcendental experiences gained by Rishis by following different contemplative techniques.  These experiences are actually revelations about Atman, Brahman and other eternal, universal truths regarding the ultimate Reality.

These eternal truths and principles of the spiritual world, lying scattered in the Upanishads, were brought together and codified by Badarayana in the form of sutras or aphorisms in the 5th century B.C.  These sutras known as Brahma Sutras form the foundation of the system of philosophy known as Vedanta-Darshana.



Vedanta

Thus the term Vedanta stands for three inter-related things:

(a) the Upanishads collectively, which form the last and the most important part of the Vedas;
(b) the eternal truths and principles of the spiritual realm;
(c) the system of philosophy based on Brahma Sutras.

However, it is mostly in the last sense of Vedanta Darshana (Vedanta Philosophy) that the term Vedanta is commonly used.

In this connection it should be pointed out that five more systems of philosophy arose in India in the early centuries of the Christian era.  These are:

1)     Mimamsa, founded by Jaimini

2)     Vaisheshika, founded by Kanada

3)     Nyaya, founded by Gautama

4)     Sankhya, founded by Kapila

5)     Yoga, founded by Patanjali



These five systems of philosophy always remained confined to small groups of intellectuals.  They never became identified with the mainstream religion of the land and, in due course, they ceased to be in vogue.  Vedanta alone remained the main philosophy of India from the Vedic period, and Vedanta alone got identified with the religion of the land.  As already mentioned, Vedanta is both philosophy and religion.  This combined religious and philosophical tradition of India came to be called Sanatana Dharma, “Eternal Religion” and, still later, as Hinduism.



The greatness of Hinduism lies in the following few words:



“Vasudhaaiva Kutumbakam” means the world is a one big family.

“Ayam bandhurayam neti ganana laghuchetasam,

Udaracharitanam tu vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”

(Maha Upanishad: ch6, verse 72)

Which means,  “One is my brother and the other is not- is the thinking of a small minded person, for those with a broad noble mind, this world is a big family”



“Yathum Oore Yavarum Kelir”

Which means “every place is my home town; everyone is my kin”

(Song 192, by Kanniyan Poongundran 100BC)



Tell me,  which religion or philosophy across the world can   compare with the mind and heart of a true Hindu? Nevertheless, who is a true Hindu?  Unfortunately, I have no  answer to this.  Hindus are not the  true Hindus anymore, they have been corrupted mentally and culturally by the alien invaders in course of these few thousand years.  With the repeated  alien invasions came  new  and  unwarranted culture and lifestyles. With the alien invasions, one Hindu was  used against another Hindu to pass on secret information to the invaders. This ultimately made the Hindus corrupt  who got the taste of easy money by  helping the invaders by providing  information on another Hindu in order to weaken the once ruling Hindu Kings and regions. This trend continued and is still  in vogue today. This is why we see so much corruption and  decay in the Hindu culture today.



 When we think we are advancing and progressing by  imitating the  Western culture, we are in fact losing too much on improving upon our spiritual values. There is a craze for new cell phone, new cars, new computers and tablets and designer clothing. Universally, we human   like to lead a superficial life  by getting attracted to  luxury, comfort and   super gadgets. This has happened to the Hindus too. With alien cultures came intense meat eating , smoking and alcohol , ignoring the cardinal principles of Ahimsa and self control.  With the passing of time Hindus totally lost their philosophical  origin and not only did they accept alien cultures but also corrupted their own philosophical values, religion and culture. Hindus are mostly influenced by the Gods and Goddesses from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Instead of taking a lesson from the dialogues and words from these Epics, they instead built temples to worship the images of these Gods and Goddesses. Huge amount of money are  collected by these temples and huge amount of money and time  are wasted on religious activities. These are mostly a deviation from the original Hindu philosophies of  self-realisation that one can find in the Upanishads/Vedanta.



Hindus today are confused lots, with the alien cultures and religions left behind by the alien rulers for India to nurse and nurture them, Hindus, with little persuasion and material attractions are quickly being converted into  different religions, completely losing their identity and culture. They do not even know their own religious philosophies. Ignorance of their rich religious philosophies and  taking advantage of  the many Gods and Goddesses that Hindus worship, the alien religions try and prove why the Hindu religion is a myth and theirs’ true,  as Gods remain unseen in their religions.



Unless the Hindus are educated in their own culture and religious philosophies, they will continue to convert into different religions and in time turn a minority in their own country. The  Hindus are only bringing this upon themselves by not inculcating  the essence of Hinduism  into their own people.



I speak to Hindus from different regions of India about religions, their versions are varied and different too, except for the historical facts from the Epics.



Hinduism needs to be revived in order to survive the test of time and  to spread its philosophical values across the globe. In today’s world it is only and only  Hinduism that could bring back the  glorious peace across the length and breadth of the globe.  In order to revive Hinduism we need to  consider certain facts and  resolve upon the following:



1. Stop spending money and time excessively on rituals, pujas and religious occasions. Collect those monies and use it to penetrate into every little inch of Indian land and teach the people, our philosophical values.

2. Compulsory education in Bharatiya philosophy from kindergarten until High school. The teachings of Upanishads, Jainism and Buddhism should form a compulsory subject.

3. Instead of building temples and religious places, those monies should be used for the construction of better public facilities, like homes for the senior citizens, schools, colleges and centers for Indian philosophies, where laymen could attend free lectures on the ancient Indian philosophies, a certificate of attendance could offer them a better job or facility.

4. Active and educated people from the Bharatiya dharma should preach their philosophical teachings among the ignorant Indian people. Indian people should know what the “educated” white people think about our philosophies instead of blindly converting to another religion. Our Indian philosophies are rich in logic and meditation. It is a gift to the world. Unfortunately, we have not been able to spread those across the globe.

5. It is better for an Indian to follow any one of the three religious philosophies- Hinduism, Jainism or Buddhism, instead of following any non-Indian religion.

6.      Remember, the first religion in the world that was sent to mankind was Hinduism, some 8000 years ago. It came from the heaven, right into the hearts of the Rishis and the Seers, who could not read or write. Reading and writing came some 1000 BC ago, when the Vedas were compiled in a written form. The Rishis and the Seers were enlightened and the words of the God were sent to them, who in return, spread it amongst their people from the words of mouth. So the first heavenly set of books are the Vedas; last one being the most important-The Upanishads.
   7.      We are witnessing a strange phenomenon across the world; violence. Violence in the form of terrorism, organised crimes,  senseless mass  shooting, rape,  murder, loss of emotion, sentiment and values, which are all  in the news all the time all over the  world.  Strange enough, there is one thing common to all  the violence all over the world; people involved in all these crimes are those eating animals, birds, fishes and other  living creatures. Killing, torturing and eating  creatures, all goes a long  way in  conditioning our minds. It is not necessary, those eating meat would turn violent and  killers; the same way not all the students studying in the same class in the same school  ranks first, second and third in the group.  With the practice of killing, torturing and eating living creatures, some turn killers, some  violent, some  arrogant, some  angry, while some  remain calm but   victims of diseases and terminal illnesses. Unfortunately, our ancient Indian  doctrines of Ahimsa and Re-birth  as preached by the Bharatiya Dharma comprising of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, are yet to be  understood and accepted by the people across the world. For example, take for instance any remote  Indian village in  Rajasthan and Gujarat, with the absence of  non-vegetarian people, the  animals and the village people, practicing vegetarianism, live in harmony. The  doctrine of  Ahimsa clearly forbids us from torturing and killing  any living being, eating any living being, spilling blood or showing anger. Once  we learn to practice  and respect the doctrine of Ahimsa, we learn to respect and value  lives  in all forms. We learn to  control our emotions and  practice  non-violence, road that leads us to  peace and  harmony in our lives.  In the same way, Re-birth  a cardinal principal  in the Bharatiya Dharma (comprising of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism)  believes in the rebirth of every living being in this world, in the form of human or any other living creature, which are reborn here  to live for a specific period of time. When we believe in this basic and primary principal, we also believe in the  right to life for  each such  living creature, who is re-born  in this world  as a living creature for a specified time period . When we  prematurely forfeit the lives of these living creatures and turn them into our food, we bring  upon ourselves the curse of those living beings, which manifests itself in the form of such heinous  crimes all around the world. With the   premature  killing of living beings, we dangerously  turn the balance of   birth and rebirth against  the wheel of time.  This disturbance  in the natural rebirth process  is the cause of all that evil, violence and  sin that man is  committing  all over the world. With the passing of time the  intensity of  such crimes are becoming severe and  frequent. This is evident from the nature and the frequency of the crime rates all over the world, between now and  50 years ago.
8.       An ideal India needs to be established immediately introducing the richness of our ancient philosophy. Our motherland, which feeds, clothes and shelters us, has all the right to ask her citizens to know her ancient past and her philosophies.

9.       Indian indigenous religions, comprising of Sanatana Dharma(Hinduism), Buddhism and Jainism should immediately sit and resolve issues and form “Bharatiya Dharma”. With unity and effective planning, every inch of India should be reached and the ancient Indian philosophies preached to the people and with some economic and social incentives, reconvert them into the folds of Bharatiya Dharma. I am positive, with the right approach, many Indians who converted themselves from indigenous religions to foreign religions due to economic or social attractions, would readily reconvert themselves to one of the indigenous religions, if they got same or similar incentives.

10.  The money that lies in the religious treasuries of Temples, Monasteries and other religious sansthas, should be used for spreading the ancient Indian philosophies and for financing the reconversion process of the Indian people who may have gone astray due to financial conditions or social stigma.

11.  Indians are becoming more religious by the day. People from each community are actively engaged into religious rituals and gradually letting themselves into the whirlpool of rituals, customs and ceremonies. An occasion, which was never celebrated some 50 year ago, today finds a national holiday in the Indian calendar. This is an unhealthy trend and to appease the Indian public the ruling government bows down to the pressure in recognising a given event or religious occasion.

12.   The true Indian doctrine of “Ahimsa” and “Re-birth” should be reintroduced in our constitution and Indians should uphold the beauty and the dignity of both these cardinal principles on which the ancient Indian philosophies are based; India needs to be compulsorily a vegetarian country.

13.   Today the misery, suffering, malady and hopelessness the majority of the Indian people are experiencing, is due to the conflict between what they are supposed to follow and what they are actually following in reality. Indians are supposed to be spiritually strong, knowledgeable, vegetarians, peace loving, merciful, compassionate , loving and forgiving. In reality, with the alien invasions, influence of the Greeks, the Huns, the Barbarians, the Arabs, the Turks, the Moguls and the British, Indians have forgotten their roots and got into following a mixture of cultures of the alien invaders and many of them even take pride in following the superficial life style and culture of these aliens, which are mostly violence based and void of philosophy and compassion. They find it below their dignity and pride to practice the humbleness of our Indian philosophies. Many of them even find the humbleness weak and humiliating. For instance “vegetarian” foods are regarded as weak while “non-vegetarian” foods are regarded as manly, tasty and strength giving. Such myths are ignorance based, only compulsory introduction of vegetarianism in India could eradicate such thoughts from the minds of the ignorant Indians.

14.  Superficially, the temple hopping, spending billions of rupees on deities and pujas are all very impressive and glamorous. Did anyone of you ever stop to think, with the passing of time you are immersed into worshipping while squandering the wealth you accumulate for unproductive purposes? If you realise what I am saying you will immediately recover from the intoxication you are immersed into and straightaway stand to attention to my alarm and realise that while all of you were immersed into performing the pujas and deriving pleasure from it, wholesale, many of your brothers and sisters converted themselves into different religions which are not a part of the Bharatiya Dharma. If you still keep yourselves immersed in the pujas and worshipping and keep squandering the wealth that your religious bodies accumulate for religious purposes instead of spending it for spreading the Bharatiya religions, you will find in another 50 years from now the Bharatiya Dharma will almost not exist and by then repentance will be terminal.

15.  The ancient Indian philosophies are for all the seven billion people across the world and not only for the Hindus, the Buddhists and the Jaina. Each and every one around the globe needs to, at least, take a dip into it and turn up knowledgeable and rediscover himself or herself. There is no shame if I profess another religion; knowledge is for each one of us and there is no end to gaining knowledge. Unless we take a dip into it how will we learn what we are missing. It is the duty of the active people from the Bharatiya Dharma to approach the people first in India and then across the world to spread the message of our saints and seers which is incomparable and filled with love, compassion and mercy. The miracle of our philosophies will humble those sword wielding, clenched fisted tyrants, once they take a dip into the ocean of knowledge that the ancient Indian philosophies offer. Only a dip can be taken into this vast ocean of knowledge because one lifetime is too small to acquire the eternal knowledge that the Indian philosophies hold.

16.  Every Indian should know the atrocities of the alien invaders upon India and Indians and the basics of Indian history before they are issued with an Indian Passport. 

It is time we standardise the Sanatana Dharma in order to spread its teachings and philosophies across the world and humble the violent and destructive minded people, making them believe in themselves and in controlling themselves spiritually rather than the urge and desire to control the world and its people. Success in each one of us lies in our ability in controlling our desires, greed , passion, expectation and ambition instead of  seeking to control other people, land and the world at large. This is true Hinduism in its truest form.  If this knowledge and spirit is inculcated into each and every person across the world, this world will itself turn into a heaven. In our hands lies our ability to turn this world into a heaven for all of us, just by following the Ancient Indian Philosophies in its truest form. 
Other websites by the same author:
www.peacefulindians.co.in,  www.compassion.net.in, www.vegetarianmuslims.org





Ershad Hossain-Author
Please write and express your point of view so that I may clarify your questions.
Please help me by registering as many email addresses of vegetarian people across the world, whichever religion they may belong to. This will help unite a large section of people in order to fight for animal rights. Right now we are all scattered and there is no co-ordination among the vegetarian people. 
peacefulindians@gmail.com

Other blogs and websites by the same author:
www.universaltruth4u.blogspot.com,
www.vegetariansuperpower.blogspot.com,
www.indiaspastb4passport.blogspot.com,
www.compassion.net.in,
www.peacefulindians.co.in,
www.vegetarianmuslims.org,