Some thoughts on Hinduism

Hinduism is an ancient and possibly the oldest amongst religions. Hinduism is a concept and not just another religion. It has a wealth of knowledge and age-old thought processes conceived over time and well tested by time.

Dharma: One of the guiding principles for life is Dharma. There is no exact translation for Dharma in English, but roughly it could be meant as applicable code, laws and principles to an individual in leading his life.

Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi: The principles of truth and non-violence are underlying principles deeply embedded in Hinduism and amply elucidated in Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Harischandra Kavya and so on. Mahatma Gandhi was influenced by these stories in his childhood and this formed the basis for his developing Ahimsa and Satyagraha as tools in his fight against imperialism. Those thoughts were not new, but arguably Mahatma Gandhi was the first to conceive them and put to use in public life in modern Indian History.

Buddha was born in a Hindu family and approached a lot of Hindu teachers and saints in his time in his quest for ultimate truth. Ironically, though, in Buddha's times, some Hindu Kings used to indulge in sacrifices and blissfully sacrificing animal lives in the process. Buddha had to educate the Kings of core Hindu values and separate the meaningless customs that had come to be mistaken at that time for religous practice.

The core of Buddha's thoughts bear a lot of Hindu influence and Buddhist thinking is not entirely independent of underlying Hindu Dharma. In my opinion, this is possibly the reason why Buddhism did not reach out as a separate religion in India as it was more fitting to be treated as a branch of Hinduism than a separate religion in itself.

God: God is possibly amongst the toughest and yet an obvious subject that one can discuss about with nearly no end to a discussion. I don't seek to go into that either but I will like to share a thought a two on this aspect. With due respects to other religions, it's defying one's intelligence to believe that God could have been 'born' on a given date and time. This gives rise to question who was playing the role of God till God was born. I am not sure this question is satisfactorily answered in other religous texts. I am open to listening on this point and would definitely not want to sound finalistic on this point. There cannot have been a time when God did not exist, if it were to be, then God is only as good or as powerful as any other Human. [Obviously, the discussion presumes that there is a God in some form, though we will come to this a bit later and question this assumption too]. According Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that there was never a time he did not exist nor will there be a time when he would not exist. This way, it follows that the primordial force never ceases to exist but it incarnates in different forms from time to time.

The Upanishads state that there is a superior force which is responsible for creating the universe. Human mind would find it difficult to perceive leave alone retain this in concentration. This gave rise to worshipping God in forms that we find it easier to accept and retain. But, a careful reading of Bhagavad Gita clearly brings out that God exists in various forms and is manifest in several forms around us.

Hindus were aware that welfare of society is instrumental for peaceful co-existence of people. Even today, it's common to hear George Bush and Americans, in general, to say, "God bless America". (I watched this recently in CNN when the new peace foundation was laid in place of old World Trade Centre in late 2006). Unfortunately, they don't seem to realize that God has to bless all world citizens for everyone (including America) to live peacefully. The society is inter-linked in ways beyond we can imagine and hence peace and prosperity should be widespread for everyone to live peacefully. Hindus knew this centuries back and said 'Sarvo Jana Sukhino Bhavantu'. Hindu prayers, as far as I am aware of, never say that only Indians or Hindus should leave peacefully and prosperously.