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Thread: where to start

  1. #1

    where to start

    How do i start to learn about Hinduism ?
    getting involved with the forum and getting more information about Hinduism ?
    Can some please guide me

    Thank you

  2. #2
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    Re: where to start

    Quote Originally Posted by Ella View Post
    How do i start to learn about Hinduism ?
    getting involved with the forum and getting more information about Hinduism ?
    Can some please guide me

    Thank you
    Namaste.

    It all depends on how much you already know about it. If you really mean 'start', I can give you a very basic crash-course that will lead you to peruse other branches of this 'Tree of Hinduism'.

    Yes, Hinduism is a tree that has quite a few branches and we all are the leaves.

    In the beginning, there was Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma created everything, Vishnu maintained everything and Shiva destroyed it.

    People worshiped each aspect of this 'Trinity' along with their various Celestial Forms and Avatars - like how Lord Krishna is an Avatar of Vishnu.

    Some people also worshiped Divine Goddess as the 'wife' of their chief deity - from Saraswati to Lakshmi to Parvati (wives of respective Gods).

    So, the tree of Hinduism had all these branches on it, along with some smaller ones for the 'offspring' of these Gods (Ganesha, Murugan) - there were many, many Gods, 1008 of them, but the main 5 were Brahma, Vishnu, Krishna, Shiva and Shakti (Generic Goddess).

    Then, for some reason (nobody knows why) Lord Brahma fell out of favour with the rest of the 'Elite 5' - maybe it was because Lord Brahma lied to Lord Shiva, claiming he found the end of the Limitless Pillar of Light and thus deserved to be the 'Greatest God of All' not Shiva....which led to lord Shiva transforming Himself into my beloved Kala Bhairava and decapitating the lying-mouthed head...

    Anyway, for whatever reason, Lord Brahma isn't worshiped anymore (maybe a few small sects in India still do), so we are down to the 'Elite 4' - Vishnu, Krishna, Shiva and Shakti. Those are the main 4 branches of the 'tree'.

    Some will worship and water one branch, others will combine 2, like Vishnu + Krishna (called Vaishnavas) and Shiva + Shakti (Called Shaiva and/or Shakta). These are the main two schools of thought in Hinduism and are both as different as apples and oranges.

    There is a 'root' of the tree - that which nourishes all of it and supports it. That taproot is called Sanatana Dharma:
    http://veda.wikidot.com/sanatana-dharma

    See that bird sitting on that branch there and it's about to fly away? That's called Advaita Vedanta - that's a branch of Hinduism that doesn't afiliate with any notion of a 'God' save to represent a formless state (called Brahman). Advaitins believe that everything is God in whatever name/form we eventually 'perceive' it as.

    There are many scriptures and books - for the Vaishnava, there's Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Vishnu Puran, Bhagavatam.
    For the Shaiva, there's the Shiva Stuthis, Shiva Puran, Vijnana Bhairava Tantra.
    For The Advaitin there's the Vedas, the Upanishads.

    There are lots more that I cannot think about right now. It's a very broad subject to even try and 'start' at beyond a sacred Lotus springing from Lord Vishnu's navel. It depends on how you want to approach it.

    I can try and answer any questions if you have them though.

    Aum Namah Shivaya

  3. #3

    Re: where to start

    Namaste Ella. Welcome.

    I think Necromancer has explained the tree well (Just one thing - for some, VishNu and KrshNa need not be two in the list, they are One really - the differences in VaishNav ways is minor).

    Now that we have the tree, I would like to describe the seed.

    What is the crux, essence, seed of SanAtan Hindu Dharma?

    To me it is
    1. Recognition of interconnectedness of all entities, phenomena, things.

    2. There being One Divine principle behind everything
    -- that exists or potentially exists - sat,
    -- that makes a difference or an impact - chit
    -- that is independant in terms of being situated in bliss - Ananda. i.e. This original Divinity does not depend on anything to be happy or in bliss, blissful. Therefore it is AtmArAm (Self-situated, indepandantly happy and complete).

    3. This original Divine Principle is eternal. There was never a time when it did not exist, and never will there be a time when it will cease to be.


    Given this knowledge, what are we really?
    How does our coming going existing or not,
    conquering forts or not,
    achieving things or not,
    possessing abstract and concrete ideas and things or not,
    matter?

    How does anything matter? Do our fingers and toes pursue happiness, become sad, strive to feed themselves, struggle for power, prestige, honour? Lament over loss of illusiory possessions?

    "That is mine!" "Don't touch that, that's mine." This applies to ownership of abstract concepts as well as concrete toys.
    So the lowest common denominator of all that is done and said is:

    Are you peaceful and happy? Is your so-called happiness an illusion? Transient? fleeting? temporary?
    Are you being the itsy-bitsy spider that went up the water spout?

    Hindu Dharma calls this pursuit of the reality as
    a) manah-shAnti ----- peace of mind
    b) shAshvat sukha ----- eternal bliss

    And after that, says Shri KRshNa in Bhagavad GitA Chapter 15, after figuring out "so what is the point?" and "is there any point in this (worldly)?" , search for that Divine -- deeper. What kind of a Divinity
    is this? How do I associate with the Divine and divinity at all times so that "I" (whatever that is) do not break the continuum of this blissful state of consciousness?

    For that I have to know the source of this bliss, and associate with the source. We already saw WHO and WHAT the source is - source, owner and substratum of that Divine principle.

    This Original Ultimate Eternal All-emcompassing Divinity is called Bramhan.
    Therefore, the first aphorism of Veda-VyAs's Bramha-sUtra (aphorisms on this Bramhan), is
    athato bramha-jidnyAsA
    Translation: Now, [it is time] to inquire about Bramhan (The Divinity we talked about).

    <Now that you are born as a human. Don't waste this precious birth! Goal of human life is this first aphorism. Animals can't do this.>

    ---------
    Scriptures - which I would tackle in order:

    ROUTE 1:
    1. Bhagavad GitA
    2. Upanishad - 10 major ones
    Then,
    you drink the nectar of the Divine's pastimes.
    This is adding nectar to the menu of dry philosophical quest.
    The devotional purANa --- ancient events of Divine manifestions interwined with wisdom, philosophy,
    ontology, principles of devotion.
    The itihAs -- history of ways and manifestations of Divine on earth

    ROUTE 2:
    Agamas and Tantras - philosophy, knowledge, methods, aphorisms, noble ways, Divine ways, tools.

    ---
    You can choose any of the routes or a non-contradictory combination of both.
    When choosing, one should remember the seed (above), the crux, essence, the whole point. This way you will not be overwhelmed.

    ~ ~
    Last edited by smaranam; 03 October 2013 at 05:35 AM.
    || Shri KRshNArpaNamastu ||

  4. #4

    Re: where to start

    Quote Originally Posted by smaranam View Post
    1. Recognition of interconnectedness of all entities, phenomena, things.

    2. There being One Divine principle behind everything
    -- that exists or potentially exists - sat,
    -- that makes a difference or an impact - chit
    -- that is independant in terms of being situated in bliss - Ananda. i.e. This original Divinity does not depend on anything to be happy or in bliss, blissful. Therefore it is AtmArAm (Self-situated, indepandantly happy and complete).

    3. This original Divine Principle is eternal. There was never a time when it did not exist, and never will there be a time when it will cease to be.


    Given this knowledge, what are we really?
    How does our coming going existing or not,
    conquering forts or not,
    achieving things or not,
    possessing abstract and concrete ideas and things or not,
    matter?

    How does anything matter? Do our fingers and toes pursue happiness, become sad, strive to feed themselves, struggle for power, prestige, honour? Lament over loss of illusiory possessions?

    "That is mine!" "Don't touch that, that's mine." This applies to ownership of abstract concepts as well as concrete toys.
    So the lowest common denominator of all that is done and said is:
    My Dear Dear Dearest Divine Lord,
    Nothing is "mine", everything is Yours
    I am just a part of You as a tiny piece of thread in a woven fabric
    Where is the fruitless and pointless struggle of assertion, struggle, of independant existence going to lead,
    Given that You are the Source
    And You alone are the sink?

    He HRshikeshA mAdhavA
    i do not know how to be
    therefore i just let go
    and surrender myself unto Thee
    and blend into You, turn as You turn
    twist as You twist
    May You take charge of the steering wheel,
    the chariot reigns,
    the control panel of the ship and airplane
    Foolish it would be to assert my temporary existence
    as independant of You.
    May I realize You, Your nature
    and put aside this false ownership as ignorance

    May You rule, may You win may the glory be Yours as it really always is
    Where is the question of i me my mine?
    I learn this is defined as ego, very very false, petty and fragile

    So, here is the KEY to the precious DOOR
    It is THAT EGO I must give up
    To peacefully and rightly be.

    ~ ~
    30 Sept 2013
    Last edited by smaranam; 03 October 2013 at 05:36 AM.
    || Shri KRshNArpaNamastu ||

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    Re: where to start

    Namaste.

    Necromancer now gets to use her favourite quote from the Gita (2:12):

    3. This original Divine Principle is eternal. There was never a time when it did not exist, and never will there be a time when it will cease to be.
    na tv evāhaḿ jātu nāsaḿ
    na tvaḿ neme janādhipāḥ
    na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ
    sarve vayam ataḥ param

    Translation: Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.

    That's also a very beautiful poem - very true too.

    No matter from what sect/backround we come from, there are certain things we can all agree on as Hindus.

    Ironically, that also happens to be the impersonal nature of a personal deity.

    I'll go with route #2 though.

    Aum Namah Shivaya
    Last edited by Necromancer; 30 September 2013 at 09:46 AM.

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    Re: where to start

    Quote Originally Posted by Ella View Post
    How do i start to learn about Hinduism ?
    getting involved with the forum and getting more information about Hinduism ?
    Can some please guide me
    Why don't you start by reading some books by some Hindu spiritual teachers?
    I recommend these: http://vedabase.net

    Here are a couple of good introductory books:
    http://prabhupada.org.uk/sp_expose/life/life_comes.htm
    http://prabhupadabooks.com/pdf/Perfe...ition-SCAN.pdf

    regards

  7. #7

    Re: where to start

    Namaste Ella,

    Try to find yourself in a local nearby temple or listen to the hindu Kathas on the radio.Start by reading the abriged versions of the scritures like the bhagavad gita (the very small one)and the puranas always be clean in body and try silence or clear you mind from the daily fustrations when you are just about ready to read, say a prayer to lord ganesh(Ohm Gam Ganapataye Namah) asking him to guide you to your goal. While going through these little books you will be inspired by them
    to take your next course of action.Your actions should speak from your heart..Take care..

    Ohm Namah Shivayah..

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