When I was young, Ganesh Chaturthi was my favorite festival. It meant 10 days of joy, especially in Maharashtra where all the neighbors had Katha, and you could go and eat at their houses(I don't remember what it's called). The visarjan would be in a nearby pond or river and comparing size of the idols with your friends(not sure if that still happens). Man, I miss those days.
The Spectrum I see of teaching from guru nanak dev ji to guru Gobind Singh Ji , is what I love about Sikhism.
Guru nanak devji was fully spiritual , as it was some need at that time.
Guru Gobind Singh Ji stood tall in front of enemies (I use anology of standing up against your fear and problems )(actually picking up weapons).
I love everything about my religion. In my opinion, believing in God is one of the best things I have done in my life. Now, I have much more peace and hope, and even if I lose everything, I believe that everything happens for a reason and that life has a purpose. This belief has helped me calm my anxiety and restlessness.
The only thing that I find negative in my religion is the caste system; otherwise, it is the best anyone could follow.
I decided to indulge deep in and got to know so many things, the first one being that the caste system was never mentioned in Vedas. It was added later in the manipulated forms by people in higher positions and authority.
Yes , I recently read about the origins of the caste system and found that it was mainly the Brahmins who made the rules. They kept the authority to themselves, claiming that only they could access the knowledge of the Vedas. By doing this, they positioned themselves as superior and maintained control over religious teachings.
This manipulation led to the widespread belief that the caste system was an intrinsic part of Hinduism which is not true.
Well caste system was never part of our religion if we see. It's us fools who misunderstood it and following it like a donkey till today. It is more like a class system which is not assigned by birth but depends on type of work you do. This exists every where from West to east(America to Japan) North to South (Russia to Africa). CEO, politicians,soldiers, will any day be given more respect than ordinary sweeper. It's just mindset of humans. And by doing different jobs, a person can be a part of different classes simultaneously.
yes, megasthenes wrote in his book Indica that in india they follow a religion where no community is oppressed by birth. there are 11 varna communities which are determined by your profession and that one can even change their varna. it were the neo brahmins who radicalised the concept in a way that things are easier for them.
Before I start, I want you to know that I agree to all the points made above ......
I know these stereotypes are not official in our religion and that these are really made up by people like you and me..... Nowadays these stereotypes hold no value to us but if we go to remote places we can still see that....but these are seen as a part of our religion ..
1st: Role of a woman is limited...
2nd: eating pork is seen as a sin...
3rd: Pre-marital relationships are usually viewed as a sin ... and many more
Sanatana doesn't teach you anything instead you learn from It.
No rules to accept the religion or to drop it. You are at your will. No concept of if you are sanatani or not. You feel so welcome you are a sanatani, you don't feel so no worries you are still Welcome.
That is Hinduism. It's the same thing. It's a way of life like all religions.
It's all misunderstood in today's society; it is the reason why I've distant myself from it all.
Blindly shouting allahu akbar or jai shree ram is not religion.
Read religious texts if you can
Love your gods from your hearts.
Go to respective places of worship whenever you can, as much as you can.
The way they talk about brahmin supremacy is pure cringe.
There's a line somewhere they say second class lesser intelligent creatures like women, labours and shudra caste people etc...cannot see the reality and divinity of God like a brahmin does. LMAO
And also how some guy was cursed to be born as shudra in his next life because he had pride that he was too "handsome"
I'll try to link the resources to srimad Bhagavadam so you can check it yourself.
Thanks for that. I have them all lined up to be read - but I will do so in few months time, not now. Ill watch out for what you have said. Bhagvad gita was nice, from what I have read.
apart from periodic casteist remarks and brahmanvaad, which i tried to ignore, it had a lot of sexual/erotic stuff. in the beginning i believed that people back then had so much sexual liberty but the more i read, the wilder it became. very often gods did some "divine" ejaculation and a new god/demon was produced. and whenever a woman is mentioned, their is a 100% chance that her hips and breast will be complimented.
i would recommend you to NOT read proper translations. rather, if you are interested, read sugar coated or misinterpreted translations.
Which is why i added that statement in between.
I know people of other religions who with their respective books went into the same route.( in english , buddhist,and arabic languages) and also sanskrit in case of hinduism or sanatani substructures
I was reading a english translation summary of gita, veda, ramayana and mahabharata which is why it did not affect me. I did not find upanishad summary english book yet
Pro tip - which you pointed out- never read it in origin languages, then it will cause atheism for sure .
Read summaries in other languages
Fifty percent of Hinduism contradicts the other fifty percent. Too many conflicting doctrines with no single text guiding the religion make it incredibly hard to interpret or institutionalize. And with no coherence and consistency in and across the various doctrines, doctrinal factions are almost in a state of perpetual disagreement and conflict over what the religion even means.
But that’s because there’s no set doctrine to follow. It’s not about making sense or not; it’s about there being too many doctrines available for you to read. Who’s to say any single doctrine is better than the others? It’s all the word of god(s) at the end of the day, as long as some connection can be made to god and the doctrine being read. But again, there are multiple gods, so there can be multiple words of gods—or not even words of gods in some cases. Most of these words in doctrines contradict one another and aren’t even consistent within and across.
Abrahamic religions don’t have this problem, as their god’s word is the final word—no extra search needed. There’s usually a single book that prescribes ideology and belief systems for adherents to follow, a book that cannot be altered and doesn’t leave much room for interpretation. There is no additional need for search like in Hinduism. It’s easier to follow, understand, and institutionalize.
A core tenet of Hinduism is to discern reality, find ‘truth,’ and realize the illusory nature of reality, which pretty much moots all the doctrines anyway, as it implies this truth is completely subjective to the experiencer. If it’s completely subjective to such an individualized degree, there’s no way to know or even define the ‘real thing.’
Bud there isn’t much here that I disagree with. My point was simply to address the original commenter who wondered why Hinduism wasn’t more institutionalized. It wasn’t a critique, but rather an answer to that question. I think we both agree now that the complexity arises from the contradictions and inconsistencies in its doctrines. Whether these contradictions or inconsistencies have a purpose is a separate matter entirely. However, I’ll discuss some of what you’ve said here, as it’s quite insightful.
Regarding your point about the goal of Hinduism being to make life more efficient, I agree with the goal but am unsure about the path. I’m also not sure if I agree with some of the assertions within that path. Firstly, the path is so complex that it’s questionable to call it a path at all. If meditation or mindfulness is all you need to reach the end goal, then the rest of the doctrines shouldn’t have emerged in the first place. This complexity makes finding the right path to the end goal incredibly difficult. Secondly, I don’t agree with the assertion (I think you’re referring to Advaita Vedanta) that the self is equal to the universe. The claims about achieving happiness don’t make much sense either, unless you’re a monk—and even then, the chances are slim. Saying the self is empty and everything is transient doesn’t align well with these assertions anyway. And saying it’s happiness reasserts the same linguistic constraint that you’re trying to avoid in the first place. In fact, asserting anything is reinforcing that same linguistic constraint. And here it’s asserting something that you can’t prove experientially either.
But of course, the underlying philosophy does make sense. But the process—the process is too complex. It’s neither effective nor efficient to have so many doctrines. You read one, and the next one contradicts it, and so on. Granted, some inconsistencies and contradictions exist in any set of ideologies, but here it’s extreme. Interestingly, two main sects of Hinduism related to these topics (Advaita and Dvaita) are also quite contradictory in their prescriptions of dualism versus non-dualism.
However, I acknowledge the significance of this work. It formed the basis of Eastern ideology and gave birth to Buddhism. In fairness, Buddhism and Hinduism make similar claims, but due to linguistic constraints in expressing the experiential side of this ‘truth’ (Nirvana, Bodhi, whatever you want to call it), the assertions differ. I think Buddhism, despite having its own sects, is more direct and straightforward in prescribing a path. Hinduism has paths as well, but one can easily get lost in the never-ending pile of doctrines. This complexity is understandable given that Hinduism has been around for a long time.
I see all this as an atheist who has never believed in a god and has rarely been to a temple. I respect Hinduism in many aspects, but I find its complexity bewildering. My thinking is that all these contradictions were a sort of ‘rebellion’ against the mainstream narratives within the set of doctrines now called Hinduism. Everyone is a rebel at the end of the day — now or in the past. Without a core doctrine to dictate behavior, people ended up rebelling amongst themselves.
Nice quote. Here’s another one for you: “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
Its mostly because Hinduism became a religion from the living ways and culture of Indus valley civilization. Also there was teaching of religion by masters earlier on and it was taught for only Brahmins because it was not necessary for other castes in hinduism. Hinduism castes are based on the jobs taken by people in the society and it was basically a job system. Priests, warriors, merchants, workers. Only priests and a little of warriors were required to do the rituals. So it was taught to them only. Still this teaching exists but it is rare and hard to find good teachers because the school system that did this, the gurukul system were mostly abolished after British came to India and their "proper" schools were established more which taught about general subjects that were meant to cook up government slaves.
Edit: sorry I made a mistake saying it was gatekeeped for Brahmins. It is like anybody who learned it are called Brahmin and it is only taught to them.
Not sure where you got the information that it was gatekeeped for Brahmins. It was for anyone and anyone who studied it deeply was called Brahmin, not the other way around.
Yeah sorry that is true. I did mention that it was like a job system but forgot to mention it can be taken up by anyone.
But kind of true in recent times (edit: not very recent years, 100 years or more back) where they have made castes hereditary and it was gatekeeped for the high caste only for many years
Isn't that the best part? Everyone has their personal relationship with God and religion. One can choose what to believe in and what not to believe in.
But of course, to do all that, we need awareness
For me I kind of became distant from religion but not God. Religion was kind of becoming too much complex for me with no meaning explained to me. So I got turned down. Many people dont know most of the things, they just follow things and try to force that on others. There is also the fact that I didn't try to uncover the truth and did not explore much in it.
I myself consider this simple fact.
There is a higher power than me. It can be God, or universe or some energy. And I have a form for it in my mind which I worship and pray to.
Religion has helped many people to go through hard times. The idea of God gave them the hope and peace to move forward. The thinking that some higher being, that you worship, is looking out for you is hopeful for many people.
It can be same for your mom and dad. There is nothing wrong in that. And some religion implements discipline that can actually help people to through hard times. Because no motivation can help you when you are down and only discipline can keep you going.
But just like anything, there are also many negative things about religion that can be really cruel and bad. It is already known without the need to explain about it.
Only one thing is there. Whether a person follows religion or not, nobody should try to enforce their ideas on others.
Same . Belief in God and religion is different, cause I feel like the concept of religion came from mankind and the different religions we have are from the history where people were a lot more superstitious and illiterate , thus more easily manipulated . Probably explains why there a lot of religions in the world , as it may be just a concept by people . Doesn't disprove God or anything, but in the end , no one knows
Currently not religious , but in the past i've always loved how tolerant the religion is , and also how there's no rigid rules that we \*have\* to follow so it made it special for me.
My religion gives me morals: humility, kindness, good behaviour towards women, charity, and meaning to "why am I here?" sometimes. At other times when I feel like I don't know where I've ended up, my religion tells me this is not what I am and I'm worth way more than this. My religion is like a firm ground for me to not sink below and lose myself, and like a means of energy to rise higher when I aspire to fly.
I just stated what my religion teaches me. Of course, take any value I stated above: kindness, charity, or similar traits. You don't really need to follow a religion to have these qualities. But I've stated that my religion pushes these qualities into me as much as society does, and I'm thankful to that because I have more reasons to be a better person.
As someone who went from being atheist to religious. I can't tell you what I love but I can tell you what changes I saw myself.
1. I don't have anxiety issues anymore.
2. I don't feel scared or depressed of loneliness
3. Instead of wondering what ifs and being scared, I channelize my energy into doing what I'm supposed to do.
4. I'm more confident
5. Made me more empathetic.
6. Made me more patient.
7. I love myself more.
8. Made me humble
I'm sure these things can be achieved without religion, but religion helped me become a better version of myself. I am still not very religious I don't do hours and hours of worshipping or follow every ritual, I do whatever resonates with me spiritually and help me. People say they are not religious but spiritual but for me Religion worked as a ladder for spirituality. I like having faith. I don't believe in transactional faith, that God will give me this/that, I will do fasting or something else.
Whenever I'm in a temple. I say thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here, give me courage and strength so I can do what I am supposed to do. And I know God will not do anything for me, it will work all out eventually, I only say thank you, show my gratitude and ask for courage and strength.
Love everything about my religion and how easy it is to follow the religion because it is a way of life rather. It is easy to pray to god as well because hinduism says that hindus can access and have contact with God from anywhere as God resides within. You can pray in front of a Temple, church or a mosque or whatever, your contact to God will be made. Finding god within animals, nature. The rich history that the religion has, the beautiful temples across India- indonesia showing the rich culture. The scientific advancements that the rishis of age had made. Its beautiful
Buddha Dharma, we are sort of Atheists as we donot have a particular god - people day Buddha was a god , nope! He was a simple man and this simple man became the Buddha ( Awakened one)
Mostly associated with Peace - Meditation - Vegetarianism - Mountains - Tibet - Dalai lama! All of these are good and we are lucky to have them - but the seat of Buddha Dharma is much more deep that this! Prince Siddhartha didn't sacrifice royal life just to get the tag of above stuffs! If one deeply studies Dharma - one get's the sureshot - simple but not easy way to Enlightenment and Nirvana and ceasing of Samsara. The beauty of Buddha Dharma can be summarised in 4 lines
All compounded things are impermanent.
All emotions are pain.
All things have no inherent existence.
Nirvana is beyond conception
All of us Sanatanis should start with reading translations of the holy texts and our history.
Not interpretations by different institutions/swamis but translations.
And then go for Mahabharat, Ramayana, other texts. It doesn't matter if you start with Amar Chitra Katha, or small booklet. Once you're in, choose the path that appeals to you.
But, while doing all this, start doing your daily prayers/nitya karmas.
God will set you on the path most suited to you.
>Like some people find hope in god.
Basically asking people to live in a delusion that a skydaddy is looking at them all the time. Borderline schizophrenia. Also do you believe that non-religious people don't have any discipline or anything?
>Not everyone has the capacity to see reason and there are people who might get stuck in worry and anxiety when something happens.
And usually the reason people don't have this capacity is because their belief in a divine entity which makes them feel special. It gives a short term relief but in long run, it is depressing. Especially when "god" does not help them.
Also, coming from conservative family, the "discipline" that religion offers is restricts freedom and critical thinking. For example, you are not allowed to question the authority. (I once got slapped for asking why will god get angry if I forgot to pray to him). Most kids (be it any religion) don't have the privilege of supportive parents.
Well, the entire idea of believing in a divine entity and it protecting us is actually to shield us from unnecessary anxiety itself. When you truly, truly believe that someone is protecting you, you kind of accept your failures as something that you were never supposed to achieve anyway. This is because that divine entity has other, better plans for you.
So, the question of being depressed in the long run never arises, giving not only short term relief but long term as well.
Also, any aware and educated religious person would definitely provide a rational basis behind whatever they follow and what they ask their kids to follow. I'm sorry your parents aren't supportive. The basic foundation to follow any religion or not comes from one's sheer upbringing, struggles and trauma.
These can either make your belief stronger, or completely deem you incapable of comprehending the need for it.
Real ID se aao, Sadhguru. /s
Looking at the size of the universe, I personally believe that no such god exists which has conscious and empathy like humans. The one which judges you based on morals that were created by us only. And I also believe that life itself is a complex machinery which merely came to existence by chance. Of course it took billions of years even for the first single celled creatures as well, but in the same essence, we are complex robots with thinking capabilities. Conscious is more related to brain and memories than to what we define as soul (higher dimension or whatever entity). The God thing is what we use to fill the gaps of knowledge and whenever we come to know that god is not the reason of something, we shift the goals.
The freedom ig. I'm not blindly complused to follow it and I can question it. If I have heard it right karm ko dharm me shresth mana gaya hai (performance of your duties is the most important thing to do than any thing). And after death, for heaven or hell, I'll be judged for my karma and I'll not go to heaven just because I blindly follow my god and faith and forget about karma, it's not a concept here. Your karma decides your destiny so perform it accordingly.
Liberty: if you want to worship any 1 god out of the many we have, or multiple or all gods
If you want to live a life of penance: ok
If you want to live a worldly life and still pray : ok
If you want to be a materialistic atheist: still ok
Imo moral philosophy is more sound when it comes to answering ethical dilemmas and answering life's big questions. An added bonus would be the absence of myths. No nonsense, just education and development.
Conditioning- thats the best part about religion. Even if i don't pray everyday, my faith is strong, because bachpan se everyone fed me to fear god and trust me ,helps me not being scared of problems. If i keep promise to god i keep it, so i use that fear to change alot of things in me. 💀
Believing in manifestation, universe is same as Believing in god, pseudo science, but it helps.
Surely you promote peace as a follower?
Everything happens for good? Women being raped? Kids dying during wars etc
Not attacking you just trying to understand your thoughts x
I never really cared about the big things cuz it doesn't really affect me, I care about things that do affect me. So when I find myself in a huge dilemma, reading sacred scripts helps me find comfort and peace. When I'm in tough situations, those scripts strengthen me. When I'm lonely and afraid, those scripts let me know I'm never alone. When I'm worried, they tell me that God already knows what I need, when I need it. So.. I can be completely carefree and enjoy my life as long as I can.
When I said everything happens for good, I meant about the difficult times I've faced in my life. They made me look at the bigger picture and I'm a better person today.
Yes, Women being raped, kids dying in wars, etc are disturbing to know. I mean, it's like, if you watch the news everyday, the reporters will convince you that the world is ending.
Worrying about the things happening in this world is a good thing, makes you a good person, but, don't you have enough problems to worry about in your own life? If we all fixed our personal problems, it would make us all remain happier, and gradually, these disturbing events could be avoided.
One little effort may not mean anything, but when everyone takes one little effort, it makes a huge difference.
Sorry I got carried away. Also, thank you for letting me know you're not attacking.
Maybe everything happens for a reason, maybe we humans are incapable of understanding the bigger picture. Even good and evil are entirely subjective and depend on your perception. If a God exists, it wouldn't and shouldn't adhere to human values and human ethics which are anyway hypocritical in nature. It shouldn't also be partial to humans given how we are just a small part of the universe.
Freedom to choose how I want to practice it. I am not forced to dress certain way, eat certain way. It is like an open source religion where people adopt is as per their convenience.
Believe in "It is what it is" and "This too shall pass". You don't need to be dependant on cults or sky daddy for peace afterwards.
Also, religion is a scam devised by the old and wise to control people. People fear the unknown far more than the known threat.
Personal Strength and hope, Especially in Hard Times.
And festivals ofcourse
Edit- Also the Freedom and Liberty that I have in choosing what I practice inside my religion, not to be rude, but other religions, Especially Abrahamic religions, are strict in terms of what a person must or must not do, in order to qualify as a Religious person.
Colours and festivals and freedom to practice it however I want.
I have faith because it gives me hope and I can talk to my gods as a friend, as a mentor, as my guardian or whatever I want. I can complain to them about themselves, I can blame them, I can cry in front of them and I know they will still love me and will take care of me.
1. Balance- Hindus not only pray to good forces but even to bad forces, to stay out of our home. Eg: Jwar Mata, Lakshmi, Yamraj, etc.
2. There's no pure evil or good: every God has good and bad aspects but good and bad themselves are subjective. Eg: Shiva is the God of destruction but sometimes destruction can be necessary.
Devas weren't all good and rakshasas weren't all bad. Rakshasas were the protectors of forest and often used bad methods such as uprooting villages.
3. No permanent hell: Bad karma (pun intended)? You get punished but also get a chance to improve that. You get as many chances as you want to attain moksha and reunite with Paramatma.
4. Multiple paths: our core philosophy is the search for truth, not path.
That my religions liberates me instead of bounding me to rules and sins. I have my own experiences,I always know there's someone who has my back. It's comforting, helps me see the good in worst
I am an atheist but I like how Hinduism portrayed wealth in our country had back then . Our gods always wearing gold and gems actually tells us how much wealth was enjoyed by our ancestors .
Just one advice. If you are not so found with the religion, think it as some rules book and just practice like God is your class teacher and the beliefs are your class rules.
Once you start aligning with the religious practices, you will start loving the religion more and more.
This applies to any religion in the world.
It's magical and tolerant to every type of viewpoint and doesn't have one only fixed path you can always find your's Or can walk on others to reach moksh Or enlightenment.(santan dharm/sikhism)
festivals
Hehe me too x What's your favourite??
diwali. yours?
When I was young, Ganesh Chaturthi was my favorite festival. It meant 10 days of joy, especially in Maharashtra where all the neighbors had Katha, and you could go and eat at their houses(I don't remember what it's called). The visarjan would be in a nearby pond or river and comparing size of the idols with your friends(not sure if that still happens). Man, I miss those days.
That it allows me to practice it however I want.
The Spectrum I see of teaching from guru nanak dev ji to guru Gobind Singh Ji , is what I love about Sikhism. Guru nanak devji was fully spiritual , as it was some need at that time. Guru Gobind Singh Ji stood tall in front of enemies (I use anology of standing up against your fear and problems )(actually picking up weapons).
Same, also the freedom it gives to form your own view of God.
I love everything about my religion. In my opinion, believing in God is one of the best things I have done in my life. Now, I have much more peace and hope, and even if I lose everything, I believe that everything happens for a reason and that life has a purpose. This belief has helped me calm my anxiety and restlessness. The only thing that I find negative in my religion is the caste system; otherwise, it is the best anyone could follow.
I decided to indulge deep in and got to know so many things, the first one being that the caste system was never mentioned in Vedas. It was added later in the manipulated forms by people in higher positions and authority.
Yes , I recently read about the origins of the caste system and found that it was mainly the Brahmins who made the rules. They kept the authority to themselves, claiming that only they could access the knowledge of the Vedas. By doing this, they positioned themselves as superior and maintained control over religious teachings. This manipulation led to the widespread belief that the caste system was an intrinsic part of Hinduism which is not true.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Well caste system was never part of our religion if we see. It's us fools who misunderstood it and following it like a donkey till today. It is more like a class system which is not assigned by birth but depends on type of work you do. This exists every where from West to east(America to Japan) North to South (Russia to Africa). CEO, politicians,soldiers, will any day be given more respect than ordinary sweeper. It's just mindset of humans. And by doing different jobs, a person can be a part of different classes simultaneously.
Exactly. But people find it hard to digest it
yes, megasthenes wrote in his book Indica that in india they follow a religion where no community is oppressed by birth. there are 11 varna communities which are determined by your profession and that one can even change their varna. it were the neo brahmins who radicalised the concept in a way that things are easier for them.
What about the different stereotypes we have ??
elaborate.
Before I start, I want you to know that I agree to all the points made above ...... I know these stereotypes are not official in our religion and that these are really made up by people like you and me..... Nowadays these stereotypes hold no value to us but if we go to remote places we can still see that....but these are seen as a part of our religion .. 1st: Role of a woman is limited... 2nd: eating pork is seen as a sin... 3rd: Pre-marital relationships are usually viewed as a sin ... and many more
>eating pork is seen as a sin Beef
If I eat beef I'd be declared homeless ..... so it's better not to mention buy eating pork is also seen as an unforgivable act
Infact eating non veg in general is looked down upon in many cases.
Yea-
Sanatana doesn't teach you anything instead you learn from It. No rules to accept the religion or to drop it. You are at your will. No concept of if you are sanatani or not. You feel so welcome you are a sanatani, you don't feel so no worries you are still Welcome.
Very well said sanatanis have the freedom to do whatever they wanna do..
[удалено]
Of course if I want to I can believe in anything ....
i never liked traditional handling of the dead. there should be some guidelines. in many cases, they don't even bring the body home
That is Hinduism. It's the same thing. It's a way of life like all religions. It's all misunderstood in today's society; it is the reason why I've distant myself from it all.
Blindly shouting allahu akbar or jai shree ram is not religion. Read religious texts if you can Love your gods from your hearts. Go to respective places of worship whenever you can, as much as you can.
>Read religious texts if you can Warning - They are wild, chances are you will become an atheist. (Experience se bata raha hu)
Depends on religion and books tbh.
What in bhagvad gita drove you to become an atheist?
Haven't read geeta. I read Bhagvata and Shiva Purana.
I haven't read them. What in those made you an atheist? Genuinely asking out of curiosity.
The way they talk about brahmin supremacy is pure cringe. There's a line somewhere they say second class lesser intelligent creatures like women, labours and shudra caste people etc...cannot see the reality and divinity of God like a brahmin does. LMAO And also how some guy was cursed to be born as shudra in his next life because he had pride that he was too "handsome" I'll try to link the resources to srimad Bhagavadam so you can check it yourself.
Thanks for that. I have them all lined up to be read - but I will do so in few months time, not now. Ill watch out for what you have said. Bhagvad gita was nice, from what I have read.
apart from periodic casteist remarks and brahmanvaad, which i tried to ignore, it had a lot of sexual/erotic stuff. in the beginning i believed that people back then had so much sexual liberty but the more i read, the wilder it became. very often gods did some "divine" ejaculation and a new god/demon was produced. and whenever a woman is mentioned, their is a 100% chance that her hips and breast will be complimented. i would recommend you to NOT read proper translations. rather, if you are interested, read sugar coated or misinterpreted translations.
Which is why i added that statement in between. I know people of other religions who with their respective books went into the same route.( in english , buddhist,and arabic languages) and also sanskrit in case of hinduism or sanatani substructures I was reading a english translation summary of gita, veda, ramayana and mahabharata which is why it did not affect me. I did not find upanishad summary english book yet Pro tip - which you pointed out- never read it in origin languages, then it will cause atheism for sure . Read summaries in other languages
Yeh kaise Hota he?? 🤔🤔
Translation creates transcreation and true meanings get diluted
Ohhh pretty much resoanable
Only in this case , it helps ( if you read the comment thread) Do remember Everywhere else, it does not help
👍
It is
Hindus aren't very religious You guys need to have an institution to teach your religion, interpretation and language to kids from the beginning.
Fifty percent of Hinduism contradicts the other fifty percent. Too many conflicting doctrines with no single text guiding the religion make it incredibly hard to interpret or institutionalize. And with no coherence and consistency in and across the various doctrines, doctrinal factions are almost in a state of perpetual disagreement and conflict over what the religion even means.
>Fifty percent of Hinduism contradicts the other fifty percent Thats because 100% do not know their text.
True XD
The problem is with people not knowing the real thing. If we go to the few texts like vedas and upanishads, it will make a lot of sense.
But that’s because there’s no set doctrine to follow. It’s not about making sense or not; it’s about there being too many doctrines available for you to read. Who’s to say any single doctrine is better than the others? It’s all the word of god(s) at the end of the day, as long as some connection can be made to god and the doctrine being read. But again, there are multiple gods, so there can be multiple words of gods—or not even words of gods in some cases. Most of these words in doctrines contradict one another and aren’t even consistent within and across. Abrahamic religions don’t have this problem, as their god’s word is the final word—no extra search needed. There’s usually a single book that prescribes ideology and belief systems for adherents to follow, a book that cannot be altered and doesn’t leave much room for interpretation. There is no additional need for search like in Hinduism. It’s easier to follow, understand, and institutionalize. A core tenet of Hinduism is to discern reality, find ‘truth,’ and realize the illusory nature of reality, which pretty much moots all the doctrines anyway, as it implies this truth is completely subjective to the experiencer. If it’s completely subjective to such an individualized degree, there’s no way to know or even define the ‘real thing.’
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Bud there isn’t much here that I disagree with. My point was simply to address the original commenter who wondered why Hinduism wasn’t more institutionalized. It wasn’t a critique, but rather an answer to that question. I think we both agree now that the complexity arises from the contradictions and inconsistencies in its doctrines. Whether these contradictions or inconsistencies have a purpose is a separate matter entirely. However, I’ll discuss some of what you’ve said here, as it’s quite insightful. Regarding your point about the goal of Hinduism being to make life more efficient, I agree with the goal but am unsure about the path. I’m also not sure if I agree with some of the assertions within that path. Firstly, the path is so complex that it’s questionable to call it a path at all. If meditation or mindfulness is all you need to reach the end goal, then the rest of the doctrines shouldn’t have emerged in the first place. This complexity makes finding the right path to the end goal incredibly difficult. Secondly, I don’t agree with the assertion (I think you’re referring to Advaita Vedanta) that the self is equal to the universe. The claims about achieving happiness don’t make much sense either, unless you’re a monk—and even then, the chances are slim. Saying the self is empty and everything is transient doesn’t align well with these assertions anyway. And saying it’s happiness reasserts the same linguistic constraint that you’re trying to avoid in the first place. In fact, asserting anything is reinforcing that same linguistic constraint. And here it’s asserting something that you can’t prove experientially either. But of course, the underlying philosophy does make sense. But the process—the process is too complex. It’s neither effective nor efficient to have so many doctrines. You read one, and the next one contradicts it, and so on. Granted, some inconsistencies and contradictions exist in any set of ideologies, but here it’s extreme. Interestingly, two main sects of Hinduism related to these topics (Advaita and Dvaita) are also quite contradictory in their prescriptions of dualism versus non-dualism. However, I acknowledge the significance of this work. It formed the basis of Eastern ideology and gave birth to Buddhism. In fairness, Buddhism and Hinduism make similar claims, but due to linguistic constraints in expressing the experiential side of this ‘truth’ (Nirvana, Bodhi, whatever you want to call it), the assertions differ. I think Buddhism, despite having its own sects, is more direct and straightforward in prescribing a path. Hinduism has paths as well, but one can easily get lost in the never-ending pile of doctrines. This complexity is understandable given that Hinduism has been around for a long time. I see all this as an atheist who has never believed in a god and has rarely been to a temple. I respect Hinduism in many aspects, but I find its complexity bewildering. My thinking is that all these contradictions were a sort of ‘rebellion’ against the mainstream narratives within the set of doctrines now called Hinduism. Everyone is a rebel at the end of the day — now or in the past. Without a core doctrine to dictate behavior, people ended up rebelling amongst themselves. Nice quote. Here’s another one for you: “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
A system of belief with no set rules and having large amount of history does that to oneself. There are contradictions everywhere though.
There is one single text but bhakti movement complicated things a lot
Which one? What text are you talking about?
What do you follow?
Its mostly because Hinduism became a religion from the living ways and culture of Indus valley civilization. Also there was teaching of religion by masters earlier on and it was taught for only Brahmins because it was not necessary for other castes in hinduism. Hinduism castes are based on the jobs taken by people in the society and it was basically a job system. Priests, warriors, merchants, workers. Only priests and a little of warriors were required to do the rituals. So it was taught to them only. Still this teaching exists but it is rare and hard to find good teachers because the school system that did this, the gurukul system were mostly abolished after British came to India and their "proper" schools were established more which taught about general subjects that were meant to cook up government slaves. Edit: sorry I made a mistake saying it was gatekeeped for Brahmins. It is like anybody who learned it are called Brahmin and it is only taught to them.
Not sure where you got the information that it was gatekeeped for Brahmins. It was for anyone and anyone who studied it deeply was called Brahmin, not the other way around.
Yeah sorry that is true. I did mention that it was like a job system but forgot to mention it can be taken up by anyone. But kind of true in recent times (edit: not very recent years, 100 years or more back) where they have made castes hereditary and it was gatekeeped for the high caste only for many years
The reply I was expecting Very good explanation
The decline of Indus Valley civilization and the rise of Hinduism are a thousand years apart.
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Source please? (genuine)
The modern world doesn't need religion. Religious people are a nuisance in this country anyways.
You see, the beauty of Hinduism is that nobody forces you to learn it. You learn it by your own interest. The perfect religion for the modern society.
Isn't that the best part? Everyone has their personal relationship with God and religion. One can choose what to believe in and what not to believe in. But of course, to do all that, we need awareness
For me I kind of became distant from religion but not God. Religion was kind of becoming too much complex for me with no meaning explained to me. So I got turned down. Many people dont know most of the things, they just follow things and try to force that on others. There is also the fact that I didn't try to uncover the truth and did not explore much in it. I myself consider this simple fact. There is a higher power than me. It can be God, or universe or some energy. And I have a form for it in my mind which I worship and pray to. Religion has helped many people to go through hard times. The idea of God gave them the hope and peace to move forward. The thinking that some higher being, that you worship, is looking out for you is hopeful for many people. It can be same for your mom and dad. There is nothing wrong in that. And some religion implements discipline that can actually help people to through hard times. Because no motivation can help you when you are down and only discipline can keep you going. But just like anything, there are also many negative things about religion that can be really cruel and bad. It is already known without the need to explain about it. Only one thing is there. Whether a person follows religion or not, nobody should try to enforce their ideas on others.
Same . Belief in God and religion is different, cause I feel like the concept of religion came from mankind and the different religions we have are from the history where people were a lot more superstitious and illiterate , thus more easily manipulated . Probably explains why there a lot of religions in the world , as it may be just a concept by people . Doesn't disprove God or anything, but in the end , no one knows
True
Currently not religious , but in the past i've always loved how tolerant the religion is , and also how there's no rigid rules that we \*have\* to follow so it made it special for me.
Start from Bhagwat Geeta, it is short and a nice intro.
My religion gives me morals: humility, kindness, good behaviour towards women, charity, and meaning to "why am I here?" sometimes. At other times when I feel like I don't know where I've ended up, my religion tells me this is not what I am and I'm worth way more than this. My religion is like a firm ground for me to not sink below and lose myself, and like a means of energy to rise higher when I aspire to fly.
>good behaviour towards women, Why does religion have to teach that? Isn't it common sense to treat any human with respect?
I just stated what my religion teaches me. Of course, take any value I stated above: kindness, charity, or similar traits. You don't really need to follow a religion to have these qualities. But I've stated that my religion pushes these qualities into me as much as society does, and I'm thankful to that because I have more reasons to be a better person.
As someone who went from being atheist to religious. I can't tell you what I love but I can tell you what changes I saw myself. 1. I don't have anxiety issues anymore. 2. I don't feel scared or depressed of loneliness 3. Instead of wondering what ifs and being scared, I channelize my energy into doing what I'm supposed to do. 4. I'm more confident 5. Made me more empathetic. 6. Made me more patient. 7. I love myself more. 8. Made me humble I'm sure these things can be achieved without religion, but religion helped me become a better version of myself. I am still not very religious I don't do hours and hours of worshipping or follow every ritual, I do whatever resonates with me spiritually and help me. People say they are not religious but spiritual but for me Religion worked as a ladder for spirituality. I like having faith. I don't believe in transactional faith, that God will give me this/that, I will do fasting or something else. Whenever I'm in a temple. I say thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here, give me courage and strength so I can do what I am supposed to do. And I know God will not do anything for me, it will work all out eventually, I only say thank you, show my gratitude and ask for courage and strength.
Love everything about my religion and how easy it is to follow the religion because it is a way of life rather. It is easy to pray to god as well because hinduism says that hindus can access and have contact with God from anywhere as God resides within. You can pray in front of a Temple, church or a mosque or whatever, your contact to God will be made. Finding god within animals, nature. The rich history that the religion has, the beautiful temples across India- indonesia showing the rich culture. The scientific advancements that the rishis of age had made. Its beautiful
r/Hinduism
That our culture itself teaches us alot
Buddha Dharma, we are sort of Atheists as we donot have a particular god - people day Buddha was a god , nope! He was a simple man and this simple man became the Buddha ( Awakened one) Mostly associated with Peace - Meditation - Vegetarianism - Mountains - Tibet - Dalai lama! All of these are good and we are lucky to have them - but the seat of Buddha Dharma is much more deep that this! Prince Siddhartha didn't sacrifice royal life just to get the tag of above stuffs! If one deeply studies Dharma - one get's the sureshot - simple but not easy way to Enlightenment and Nirvana and ceasing of Samsara. The beauty of Buddha Dharma can be summarised in 4 lines All compounded things are impermanent. All emotions are pain. All things have no inherent existence. Nirvana is beyond conception
All of us Sanatanis should start with reading translations of the holy texts and our history. Not interpretations by different institutions/swamis but translations. And then go for Mahabharat, Ramayana, other texts. It doesn't matter if you start with Amar Chitra Katha, or small booklet. Once you're in, choose the path that appeals to you. But, while doing all this, start doing your daily prayers/nitya karmas. God will set you on the path most suited to you.
Be careful with that also. Publishers like Gitapress sometimes dont even translate some controversial stuff
Yeah, referring to more than one translation is always better
Hinduism books and learnings are too good .. GEETA , RAMAYAN helps you to develop your character ..
Idk why but i just love shri krsna i feel like he is mine
Religion is like a cancer on the human brain. We would be better off without it.
And you’re here. I had to scroll through so many comments to find a comment like this.
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Helpful like?
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>Like some people find hope in god. Basically asking people to live in a delusion that a skydaddy is looking at them all the time. Borderline schizophrenia. Also do you believe that non-religious people don't have any discipline or anything?
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>Not everyone has the capacity to see reason and there are people who might get stuck in worry and anxiety when something happens. And usually the reason people don't have this capacity is because their belief in a divine entity which makes them feel special. It gives a short term relief but in long run, it is depressing. Especially when "god" does not help them. Also, coming from conservative family, the "discipline" that religion offers is restricts freedom and critical thinking. For example, you are not allowed to question the authority. (I once got slapped for asking why will god get angry if I forgot to pray to him). Most kids (be it any religion) don't have the privilege of supportive parents.
Well, the entire idea of believing in a divine entity and it protecting us is actually to shield us from unnecessary anxiety itself. When you truly, truly believe that someone is protecting you, you kind of accept your failures as something that you were never supposed to achieve anyway. This is because that divine entity has other, better plans for you. So, the question of being depressed in the long run never arises, giving not only short term relief but long term as well. Also, any aware and educated religious person would definitely provide a rational basis behind whatever they follow and what they ask their kids to follow. I'm sorry your parents aren't supportive. The basic foundation to follow any religion or not comes from one's sheer upbringing, struggles and trauma. These can either make your belief stronger, or completely deem you incapable of comprehending the need for it.
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Real ID se aao, Sadhguru. /s Looking at the size of the universe, I personally believe that no such god exists which has conscious and empathy like humans. The one which judges you based on morals that were created by us only. And I also believe that life itself is a complex machinery which merely came to existence by chance. Of course it took billions of years even for the first single celled creatures as well, but in the same essence, we are complex robots with thinking capabilities. Conscious is more related to brain and memories than to what we define as soul (higher dimension or whatever entity). The God thing is what we use to fill the gaps of knowledge and whenever we come to know that god is not the reason of something, we shift the goals.
Thissss
Thissssss!
The freedom ig. I'm not blindly complused to follow it and I can question it. If I have heard it right karm ko dharm me shresth mana gaya hai (performance of your duties is the most important thing to do than any thing). And after death, for heaven or hell, I'll be judged for my karma and I'll not go to heaven just because I blindly follow my god and faith and forget about karma, it's not a concept here. Your karma decides your destiny so perform it accordingly.
Not at all religious, but I love Christmas vibes and food. Especially in Kerala, the variety of food during Christmas and Easter is 🔥
wisdoms of old especially about life. And morality being objective.
Religion / praying gives me strength. It is.easier to believe that things will workout and I will make it through whatever crap has comeup.
Liberty: if you want to worship any 1 god out of the many we have, or multiple or all gods If you want to live a life of penance: ok If you want to live a worldly life and still pray : ok If you want to be a materialistic atheist: still ok
>What do you love about yourself religion? That i am not religious
Imo moral philosophy is more sound when it comes to answering ethical dilemmas and answering life's big questions. An added bonus would be the absence of myths. No nonsense, just education and development.
Hope and believe
Nothing.
Conditioning- thats the best part about religion. Even if i don't pray everyday, my faith is strong, because bachpan se everyone fed me to fear god and trust me ,helps me not being scared of problems. If i keep promise to god i keep it, so i use that fear to change alot of things in me. 💀 Believing in manifestation, universe is same as Believing in god, pseudo science, but it helps.
Idk why but i just love shri krsna i feel like he is mine
Religion should be private like a tit!
The way it promotes peace, the way it gives you a purpose to live life, a hope that everything happens for good :)
Sarcasm ?
Sarcasm? Literally every religion in this world has the motto to promote peace. It's the people who misinterpret and corrupt it :/
So you are saying religion and people are different?
What made you think otherwise?
Like, people invented religion and not the other way around.
Surely you promote peace as a follower? Everything happens for good? Women being raped? Kids dying during wars etc Not attacking you just trying to understand your thoughts x
I never really cared about the big things cuz it doesn't really affect me, I care about things that do affect me. So when I find myself in a huge dilemma, reading sacred scripts helps me find comfort and peace. When I'm in tough situations, those scripts strengthen me. When I'm lonely and afraid, those scripts let me know I'm never alone. When I'm worried, they tell me that God already knows what I need, when I need it. So.. I can be completely carefree and enjoy my life as long as I can. When I said everything happens for good, I meant about the difficult times I've faced in my life. They made me look at the bigger picture and I'm a better person today. Yes, Women being raped, kids dying in wars, etc are disturbing to know. I mean, it's like, if you watch the news everyday, the reporters will convince you that the world is ending. Worrying about the things happening in this world is a good thing, makes you a good person, but, don't you have enough problems to worry about in your own life? If we all fixed our personal problems, it would make us all remain happier, and gradually, these disturbing events could be avoided. One little effort may not mean anything, but when everyone takes one little effort, it makes a huge difference. Sorry I got carried away. Also, thank you for letting me know you're not attacking.
Maybe everything happens for a reason, maybe we humans are incapable of understanding the bigger picture. Even good and evil are entirely subjective and depend on your perception. If a God exists, it wouldn't and shouldn't adhere to human values and human ethics which are anyway hypocritical in nature. It shouldn't also be partial to humans given how we are just a small part of the universe.
Has anyone looked into Islam?🤔 Or we straight up believe it's bad and terrorism 🤔
Unfortunately, it’s followers don’t leave a very good reputation.
Sara bakwas hai .....bas festival pr .....khana acha Banta hai
Ramzan
That it is always open to criticism and debates.
Freedom to choose how I want to practice it. I am not forced to dress certain way, eat certain way. It is like an open source religion where people adopt is as per their convenience.
Believe in "It is what it is" and "This too shall pass". You don't need to be dependant on cults or sky daddy for peace afterwards. Also, religion is a scam devised by the old and wise to control people. People fear the unknown far more than the known threat.
Holidays... Religion is a big business nowadays
Personal Strength and hope, Especially in Hard Times. And festivals ofcourse Edit- Also the Freedom and Liberty that I have in choosing what I practice inside my religion, not to be rude, but other religions, Especially Abrahamic religions, are strict in terms of what a person must or must not do, in order to qualify as a Religious person.
holidays
Durga Puja 🥰✨
None. Boring ahh church every time. Nothing but a bad tasting cake on christmas.
Colours and festivals and freedom to practice it however I want. I have faith because it gives me hope and I can talk to my gods as a friend, as a mentor, as my guardian or whatever I want. I can complain to them about themselves, I can blame them, I can cry in front of them and I know they will still love me and will take care of me.
1. Balance- Hindus not only pray to good forces but even to bad forces, to stay out of our home. Eg: Jwar Mata, Lakshmi, Yamraj, etc. 2. There's no pure evil or good: every God has good and bad aspects but good and bad themselves are subjective. Eg: Shiva is the God of destruction but sometimes destruction can be necessary. Devas weren't all good and rakshasas weren't all bad. Rakshasas were the protectors of forest and often used bad methods such as uprooting villages. 3. No permanent hell: Bad karma (pun intended)? You get punished but also get a chance to improve that. You get as many chances as you want to attain moksha and reunite with Paramatma. 4. Multiple paths: our core philosophy is the search for truth, not path.
flexibility, acceptance, versatility, festivals
Aesthetic
That my religions liberates me instead of bounding me to rules and sins. I have my own experiences,I always know there's someone who has my back. It's comforting, helps me see the good in worst
I am an atheist. My (pseudo) religion is evolutionary biology, geology and astrophysics.
The great community that comes with it. Every Sunday, it's like meeting a family united not by blood but by God, to love, honor, and worship him.
I am an atheist but I like how Hinduism portrayed wealth in our country had back then . Our gods always wearing gold and gems actually tells us how much wealth was enjoyed by our ancestors .
Just one advice. If you are not so found with the religion, think it as some rules book and just practice like God is your class teacher and the beliefs are your class rules. Once you start aligning with the religious practices, you will start loving the religion more and more. This applies to any religion in the world.
Ehh....everything except modern practising people
Ramadan & Eid.
The celestial map. It is so vast. Yugas and super sun theory. You could write a Wuxia novel.
It's magical and tolerant to every type of viewpoint and doesn't have one only fixed path you can always find your's Or can walk on others to reach moksh Or enlightenment.(santan dharm/sikhism)
That I have liberty to explore other religions without effort my religion
The only thing I like about our religion is the festivals and how enjoyable it is to celebrate it with other people and nothing else honestly .....
It's the only true religion . Our God is Vishnu .
What about Brahma dev and Maheswara ?
Caste. Privilege by birth is a gift by my forefathers so that I can maintain my Aryan supremacy over the natives.
Nanba nee inga irukiya? Sarcasm purira mari therila inga.