O citizens of the world!
Live in harmony and concord.
Be organized and co-operative.
Speak with one voice
And make your resolutions with one mind
As our ancient saints and seers,
Leaders and preceptors
Having performed their duties righteously
Similarly, may you not falter to execute your duties
Rig Veda 10.191.2
In my turn towards Hinduism in the last 10 years I realised something about people who were supposedly already Hindu. Nobody had a clear understanding of what Hinduism was. I would get a different answer from each person I asked. One would say "Hinduism is the worship of many gods and goddesses" another would say, "Hinduism is the worship of one god" One would say, "Hinduism is not a religion, it is culture of India, consisting of millions of divergent religions, philosophies, sects" another would say "Hinduism is a religion" Similarly, I would get divergent views on everything within Hinduism, like its teachings and its history. On issues like caste system, dowry murder and sati, I would often get apologies like, "That happened in the past, we don't do that anymore" It became increasingly clear to me the Hindus I conversed with had no knowledge of Yoga and Vedanta. Barely any of them had read the Gita, let alone the Upanishads. They would often come to me to get that knowledge. Ironic.
As I learned more about Hinduism I became aware of the sinister north/south politics that pervades Hindus. Some see themselves as Aryans and some see themselves as Dravidians. Some claim Hinduism is the Aryan religion and some claim it is the Dravidian religion. One Hindu told me that all the Vedic gods are Aryan and Shiva and Rama are Dravidian gods. The Vedic people were sacrificial and the Dravidian people were Yogic.
Now can you imagine how confusing this is to somebody being introduced to Hinduism for the first time? There is little wonder why Hinduism is so divided today, why other religions perceive it as a weak target, and why it is so easy to confuse the Hindu masses and why it is so easy to distort our history and get away with it. Hindus todays are a hopelessly divided people.
But this can be remedied if Hindus stand up and speak with one voice. When Alexandra the 'Great' invaded(or rather tried to invade) India, the clever Hindu prime minister Chanakya realised that India would fall if the various feuding Hindu kingdoms did not unite to thwart the invading Greek army. So he discoursed with many Hindu kings and was able to convince them to unite and fight against the invading army. When the Greek army saw the hundreds of thousands of united Hindu soliders standing in unison, they fled for their dear lives.
The same can happen today. Those forces that are attacking Hinduism today will flee with a similar display of cowardice if Hindus unite. However, this unification has to be ideological, political and philosophical. First of all Hindus need to agree what Hinduism is, what its teachings are and what its history is. Otherwise, how could Hindus unite?
On this we need discussion and need to arrive at a consensus. I already have a very strong idea of what Hinduism is, whats its teachings are and what its history is based on my extensive reading over more than a decade. Allow me to share this with you:
1. What is Hinduism?
Hinduism is simply the foreign name(coined by the British) given to Santana Dharma that pervaded the Indian subcontinent. Although, at the time there was no name given to this religion, it was clear that this religion existed. The British realised that the various major religious traditions(which are more accurately sects of Hinduism) in India shared a common religion that consisted of the following main distinguishing characteristics:
1) It accepted the authority of the Vedas
2) It accepted karma and reincarnation
3) It practiced some form of Yoga(Bhakti, Raja, Jnana)
4) It taught some varient of Samkhya-Yoga-Vedanta philosophy
In other words, Hinduism is the Vedic religion. It is the religion that is based on the Vedas which were composed by the enlightened sages of India, the Risis. The Risis discovered the ultimate truths about reality in their superconscious states and documented these in the Vedas. They practiced Yoga and meditation, which in their time was called tapasya.
2. What are Hindu teachings?
The teachings that are contained in the Vedas are written in a very archaic language known as Vedic Sanskrit, and because of this they are very difficult to translate. Even great Sanskrit scholars like Swami Dayananda Saraswati(founder of Arya Samaaj) said that the Vedas would require generations of scholarship to translate them accruately. However, one thing is very clear, the European translations of the Vedas are incredibly perverse and distort the Vedas beyond recognition. Part of the reason for this is the Europeans believed in the myth of the Aryan invasions and considered the Vedic people to be barbarians. They refused to consider that the Vedas would contain the sublime philosophy that is later enunciated in post-vedic texts like the Upanishads, Gita, Darsanas etc. They even refused to use traditional Sanskrit methods of translating them, accusing the Hindu Brahmins of fabricating "ficitious etymologies"
I will categorically state now the Vedas do indeed contain the same philosophy of the Upanishads, Gita, Darsanas etc and this will become clear to you if you read a proper translation of them done by authentic Sanskrit scholars. However, it is not entirely important for you to read the Vedas to learn the teachings of Hinduism. The Upanishads, Gita and Darsanas are just as valid sources to learn those teachings
These teachings can be summed up in 7 core tenets:
1. This entire universe is governed and maintained by eternal laws and principles which collectively are known as dharma. These in turn define the law of karma, if you live your live in accordance with these principles, you incur no negative karma, and you prosper materially, intellectually and spiritually. If, however you go against these principles, you incur negative karma and suffer. Such people are called Asuras(A+Sur: out of rhythm with eternal law)
2. One must know and learn about these principles that govern the universe by using empirical, rational and phenomenological means. The scientific method is one way to discover these principles, but the scientific method is limited only to the empirical, and cannot discover the true nature of these principles. However, Hinduism already has done the necessary research in the Samkhya-Yoga-Vedanta Darsana of these principles. Now modern science is increasingly corroborating this research.
(e.g., Ian stevenson has produced very valuable scientific evidence for the reality of reincarnation)
3) There is an absolute spiritual reality(Hindu concept of god: Brahman) which is of the nature of pure consciousness, pure knowledge and pure bliss(satchitananda) It is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscientst and all of creation is its expression only.
4) The purpose of life is for the soul(karana sharira) to reconnect to this absolute spiritual reality and manifest all its divine qualities. Such a soul will express pure consciousness, pure knowledge and pure bliss and becomes an instrument for the divine. The soul reaches this state through continuous spiritual evolution by reincarnating again and again, until it has absolved all its karma by eradicating desire and gaining full mastery of its mind and senses. There is not fixed period in which this can be done. The Vedas say it is possible in a single lifetime, provided your tapas is intense.
5) In order for the soul to gain complete mastery of the mind and senses it requires initiation into Yoga sadhana by an enlightened Guru. It is said in the vedic tradition there is no knowledge without the Guru and hence why the guru parampara has continued since Vedic times. This is absolutely true, for somebody to liberate their mind with their own mind, is like a fire trying to put itself out.
6) This entire material universe is made out of 5 elements which correspond to our 5 senses i.e., it is a perceptual or sensory universe. It is fundamentally the vibration of the primal matter - Prakriti - which is the energy of pure consciousness(Krishna says Prakriti is his energy) The primordial sound is pranava - AUM. These vibrations of primal matter are known as the Gunas which are either expansive, contractive or static. When our mode of consciousness changes, then so does our appearance of reality. (Gunas are similar to quantum superstrings in string theory)
7) There are 5 recognised layers or kosas of the body which correspond to different vibrational levels of reality. The first is the physical body which is made up chemicals(flesh, bone, water etc) This is kept healthy through an Ayurvedic lifestyle. Then there is the energy body which is made up complex energy circuits and energy plexus points(chakras) this is kept healthy though Yoga asanas and pranayama. Then there is the mental body which is made up of thought forms, this is kept healthy by using meditation. Then there is the intellectual body and the spiritual body which are kept healthy through jnana, karma and bhakti.
These collectively are the 7 core tenets of Hinduism. This is what defines Hinduism as Hinduism. Next time somebody asks you what Hinduism is tell them these 7 core tenets.
3. What is the real history of Hinduism?
Make a firm stand against Aryan invasion theory because this is one of the most sinster political machinations against Hinduism. It is used not only to divides Northen Hindus against Southern Hindus, it is also used to shrink Hinduism's 10,000 history into a ridiculously small time-frame beginning from 1500BCE(so-called Vedic period) The scientific evidence that has been mounting up for decades now from the excavations of the Indus valley sites is more or less conclusive that no Aryan invasion ever happened and the Indus valley is decidely vedic.
The Rig Veda has now been dated to as early as 7000BCE based on the internal evidence in the text. Now, marine archaeology confirms urban settlements in India during this period which have been submerged. This means the actual timeframe for the history of Hinduism based on current evidence starts from approx 7000BCE. Thus the dates of many important events and personalities is going to have to be revised.
Please do not insist on the million years cycles of the Yugas because even if this is true there is no scientific evidence to back this up at the moment, and insisting otherwise, puts the Hindus in the same category as a biblical creationist. Hinduism is a scientific religion after all.
The Indus-Saraswati civilisation beginning in 7000BCE is the oldest known civilisation in the world. It reached impressive heights in science, technology and engineering and established a maritime empire which spread Hinduism all around the world. The global footprint of Hinduism can be found in Western Europe, in the Middle East, in South East Asia and even the Americas. From 7000BCE to 1000AD India was a Hindu nation and commanded a massive 32.9% of the worlds GDP. It was a global juggernaut and had a legendary status in the world for its industries, its culture, philosophy, religion.
It was a pioneer in all fields. The first to build planned cities with underground sanitation; the first to build dockyards; the first to build hospitals; the first to build universities; the first to manufacture steel and zinc. The first to advance many sciences such as chemistry, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, botany, meterology, prosody, grammar
From the period of 1000AD to India fell to brutal invasions by Muslims. However, Muslims did not succeed in completely taking over India, as Hindus fought tooth and nail with them constantly, and even defeated the Muslims in many wars. This is why the Muslims failed to convert the Hindus to Islam. Then in 1600 when the British and Portugese arrived they captialised on this in-fighting between Muslims and Hindus, exploited it, and used it to subvert the country. In the 400 year period of British rule India's economy was systematically depleted - bled to death - all its traditional industries were taxed to death and its education system was outlawed leading to the massive poverty and illiteracy India is infamous for today. The biggest achivement of the British was to create a ruling elite English speaking class, loyal to the British.
India has been freed from the British, but it is still colonized by this English speaking Westernized class that control the government of India, the media of India and economy of India and oppress the masses. It is a sad fact that 80% of Indians still live in villages and do not enjoy the economic prosperity the Western elite class do. They are discriminated against in their own country for not speaking English.
The Western elite class routinely ridicule the native culture. When are we going to be free from them? Who is going to lead this revolution?
4. Criticisms of Hinduism
Western people and people from other religions are very quick to criticise Hinduism. They talk about the caste system, sati, dowry, child marriage and maltreatment of women. So blatant is this criticism that it is taught within educational institutes itself. Christian missionaries in particular delude many tribal communities in India by pointing these out and seduce them into accepting Christianity to save them.
Hindus need to stop apologising, because none of these things have anything to do with Hinduism. These are the results of British colonial politics and economics and Islamic terror. The practice of sati was an act of honour suicide that Indian women commited to not fall into the hands of Muslim men(who would enslave them and rape them). The Purdha(veil) was introduced into India by Muslims, which required women to always cover themselves. Child marriage was done to secure the future of the woman, so that when she reached maturity, she could be quickly married off. Otherwise she would fall prey to Muslim men.
The vast majority of the Dalit population today were the result of the British abolishing India's traditional industries, which rendered the entire nation destitute. The Dalits lost their trades and then had to resort to menial labour to survive.
To get a true picture of what Indian society was like during Hindu rule read the Arthashastra. It will become completely apparent of how progressive Hindi India was. In the Arthshastra a woman is allowed to serve in the army, she is allowed to own property, she is allowed to choose her own spouse, she is allowed to divorce, she is allowed to remarry. In the legal system a woman always gets half of the punishment a man does and she never gets capital punishment(a man does) She is also entitled to education, and some women were even Risis and gurus. About 30 of the Risis in the Vedas are women.
Nowhere else in the world did women enjoy the freedom and equality they did as they did in India. In contrast in other parts of the world women were treated like sub-human beings. In the bible she is an expendable part of man, a mere rib and a baby making machine. Many Christian saints villified woman calling her the source of evil, baby making machines, useless. This culminated in the witch-burning where millions of women were burned at the stake.
Hindus need to get in the habit of pointing a finger back at those who point fingers at us.
How can any other religion criticise us when they themselves are full of such unmitigated evil? In the Old Testimant god himself orders genocide, rape, murder. The punishment for most crimes in the bible is death(idol worship is one of them) Women are stoned to death for adultrey and women who are found not to be virgins when married, get burned to death. In the Quran a woman is considered inferior to man in all regards and sanction is given to beat women to discipline them. Prophet Mohammed himself beats his wife Aisha(he marries when she is a child)
And who can forget the endless streak of violence, death and destruction Christianity and Islam have inflicted on the world? Crusades, Jihads, inquisitions, witch-burning, genocides, colonialism. Entire civilisations have been exterminated such as the Native Americans and Aboriginals. Today the Native Americans and Aboriginals are subjected to dire discrimination, many Native American women get raped by white man, Native American elders get sexually and physically abused. In America, the wealthiest nation in the world, Native Americans live in isolated areas in third world conditions. The Aboriginals in Australia suffer similarly.
Hindus need to be able to bring all this up when they get attacked by other religions and Western people, because it will shut them up. Rather than us having to apologise for our non-existent crimes, it is they who end up apologising for their undoutable crimes.
In conclusion then this is my suggestion for what a united Hindu voice should consist of. If we do not arrive at a consensus on what the Hindu voice should consist of, we will continue to have division amongst us. Until we do not unite Hinduism will be plagued with the problems it is plagued with today. The internet is a great place to spread the Hindu voice and represent our religion. There are dozens of religion forums, Yoga forums, politics forums, Indian forums, history forums where we can spread the Hindu voice in a polite but direct manner. If we can build a Hindu voice on the internet it will be the start of a great Hindu movement to show to the world Hindu solidarity.
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