These days I am reading some Books on Hinduism; here are some pointers I have underlined:
• In Hinduism there is no concept of Devil. There are angels and demons, good and bad people, but there is no Devil. Only there is God.
• Every Hindu ritual is concluded with chanting "Shanti, Shanti, Shanti" - Peace, Peace, Peace, which is achieved only when we appreciate the world in totality, looking from every point of view. It is symbolized in Brama's four heads facing the four directions...
• According to Vedic scriptures, God didnt "create" this world. God simply made all creatures "aware" of it. Awareness leads to discovery, Discovery is Creation. I think this concept is so different from those in other religions...
• Lord Vishnu rests on a serpent. Serpent is symbol of earth, regularly regenerating itself with the seasons and tides. Lord Vishnu rides into battles when faced with disorder on an eagle. Eagle is a symbol of sweeping wind of change, the revolution that brings back hope...
• A Hindu temple is not a prayer hall or the space where the faithful gather. It is the residence of God. Each day the deity is bathed, fed, bedecked and adored. In earliest phase of Hinduism, known as the Vedic age, there were no temples. The need for permanent shrines came much later.Temple or no temple, the need of invoking the divine in all phases of Hinduism has been the same. The present phase of Hinduism is Age of Worship, Bhakti era. I think in this era, temples play an important role.
• Dakshina is a fee paid for services. It clears debt. Daan is an act of charity. It earns equity.
• Lord Vishnu carries Sudarshan Chakra, a discus, in his right index finger. Sudarshan means Positive Outlook. The Chakra's whirring round God's right index finger is indicative of nature and culture's rhythmic order.
• Lakshmana-rekha, the line that Lakshmana traces around Rama's hut, is the divide between nature and culture. Within the line Rama's law applies. Outside in the wilderness, the realm of Ravana. Another word for Rakshasas would be barbarias, jivas who follow the rule of the jungle known in Hindu scriptures as Matsya Nyaya or the code of fishes, which tells that might is right. Manavas follow code of Dharma which is based on roles and responsibilities.
• Bhagwan Shiva, the fountainhead of Yoga is associated with all things that never die and never change. He sits atop a mountain, under a banyan tree, located under the pole star, in the north.
• In Maharashtra, following the rains, Gauri, dressed in green, is worshipped along with Ganesha. Green is the color of vegetation, motherhood, fulfilled desires. Gauri represents fulfilled desires, the fructification of earth's fertility. She is the domesticated form of the Goddess. Her hair is tied in a bun with a string of flowers.
• Hindus are advised against reading the Mahabharata inside their homes for the fear that ideas in that book such as brothers fighting over property will pollute family values. They prefer reading the Ramayana because in it brothers never fight over inheritance. The principle underlying this custom is called "sympathetic or imitative magic". According to this events in a household are influenced by the ideas expressed in sacred symbols, rituals and narratives. That is why during marriage and childbirth symbols associated with fruition and fertility and opulance are placed in all corners of the house.
(The title of the post(s) may look curious. As I explained to a friend's query; I said, "I am a part time student of Hinduism; taking evening classes in self study mode" :)
3 comments:
Hinduism in my opinion has the best symbolism and theology among all religions. But we certainly have not imbibed the concept of brotherhood from Islam (I was in a Arab country and it felt surreal) or the service component from Christians (90% of nurses in this country come from here, so do the best schools in almost in every town). Hindus have become a synonym of corruption as Winston Churchill dissuaded Gandhi for asking independence. He said," Indians don't have your moral stature and they will descend into barbarians." Sadly he has proved prophetic.
Thanks Anonymous friend, for your comment.
I don't know how true is this quote from Churchill, which is both racist and illogical. Racist because of obvious reasons. Illogical because to say that anyone who didn't have the moral stature of Gandhiji would descend into barbarians - is far from being consistent to facts and logic. By that logic, whole world should have become barbarians by this time, since almost no one today has the moral stature of Gandhiji. Btw, Churchill is too famous for his anti-India views, so we should not take his comment as anything but his colored idiosyncrasy.
Coming back to the interesting comparison you made; my take is this:
Christianity and Islam are "missionary" religions. Therefore, these religions have the culture, tradition and traits of missionary religions or sects. (1) Brotherhood of Islam - because of the same trait their followers have been accused of being unpatriotic to the land (like India or non-Islamic states); and having extraterritorial interests. Secondly, their brotherhood is exclusively gender-based, since there is no corresponding sisterhood. Women don't enjoy right to sit for prayers en masse - like males do. Since Hinduism developed over ages in such a vast and diverse rich land like India, it didn't have this singularity from the beginning. Hinduism also is not a "centralized" religion like Christianity and Islam. Such diversity is both its boon and a bane. But I agree that we need better unity as a lot - it is very critical for the challenges we face. (2) Service of Christians, schools and hospitals: As I said, it came into Christianity because of its missionary methods, which was not present in Hinduism. No one went to faraway lands with the intention to convert others into Hinduism taking the route/means of "service". But we should have far-sight to see that such tactics will fail when a time comes when there is no dearth of good secular schools and secular hospitals! Without doubt, Christian missionaries made victories in poor and pitiable places all across the world. It is logical to think that when a time will come when most of the world is prosperous, their such tactics of service-route missions won't work anymore. Though so many Hindu saints and mutts have been doing great work for social welfare, they don't get that much visibility because of lack of media interests, which the Christian organizations enjoy. Also, Hindu organizations can't match the global fund collections and volunteers recruitment, which Christian orgs enjoy because of their missionary/evangelist qualities. Anyways, I fully accept that Hindu organizations need to do much more...
Hinduism is most vast to learn...
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