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What exactly is Hinduism?
[Quick links]
[Pause]
If you ask this question to a Hindu, probably he
would flounder to give a straight simple answer. He could speak for
hours about what Hinduism is all about but never define it precisely
in unambiguous words.
Most would talk about set of cultural practices,
myriad Gods and their worship, mythologies and what not. Some among
them would confuse you by high sounding philosophical jargon which
they themselves have never understood 😉
And
there are others, who always think that it is their duty to reform
‘others’. So, they tell you what Hinduism is not. And how it can
be reformed by proper religious training, exposure to high philosophy
of Upanishads, and moving back to the ‘originals’- whatever that
means.
In India, religion - you may call it Hinduism
if you so wish - is not really about straitjacketing into some
ideology, or the so called ‘meta physics’, or ‘the hidden
meanings’. But it is actually in deep rooted value system. Religion
is a wrong word in Indian context. It is called dharma.
Let me give two simple examples.
There is an incident well picturized by the
great Indian director G.V. Iyer in his Sanskrit movie on
Shankaracharya. As per the depiction, once a thief climbs up a
coconut palm to steal some coconuts. The palm belonged to an orthodox
Naboodari Brahmin from South India.
The Brahmin comes to know about this. He comes
to the spot, and sees the thief atop the tree. He ties his
‘angavastram’ (a shawl worn by a Hindu) to the coconut
palm high up, while the thief is still up on the palm. Now the thief
cannot escape since he cannot cross the angavastram belonging to a
Brahmin due to caste rules. Nor he can jump down from such a height.
So, he remains on the tree helplessly.
The Brahmin returns home.
Fetches a plate full of food and a bunch of coconuts. He keeps the
food and the coconuts below the palm. Unties the angavastram from the
palm, and asks the thief to get down. When the thief finally gets
down, he offers him the food as well as the coconuts and advises him
never to steal again. He even suggests that he should ask for them,
if he is really in need.
The Brahmin is orthodox and practices
untouchability. But that does not stop him from sympathizing with the
needs of the thief that have forced him to become a thief. The
Brahmin has no intention to punish the thief but he only wants to
correct him, in his own way.
This could well be a concocted story but it
speaks a lot about the value system that is at the heart of Hinduism.
I have seen families of very orthodox Brahmins,
who often worked for the welfare of poor and suffering people,
crossing all the caste restrictions. In one such family, I have seen
the members feeding the poor during the time of famine by opening up
a free meal camp. These people are otherwise very orthodox, they
rigidly practiced caste discrimination. But when it came to humanity,
all bars were lifted.
It is a different matter that there are many
violations of this Dharma by pseudo Dharmics.
This is where the real Hinduism is. It is not
in high philosophy, nor in metaphysics, nor in digging out the hidden
meanings, but in deep rooted values. Most Indians fortunately inherit
this by birth. It is just that modern ‘wild goose chase’ has
taken them away from this basic value system which till recently -
and I believe even today - was with them to a large extent. That is
what silently defines the Hinduness.
This, if at all, needs to be taught in our
schools and nurtured. Teaching philosophy, imparting formal
religious training, can only make one knowledgeable and to some
extent conceited, but can never instil the most important thing,
namely the values.
It is not true that India is in dire need for
religious training, the religion as meant by Dharma, that I
have attempted to describe. There are many great Indians who are
silently working on that. They may not be very visible nor they care
for publicity. They silently do their job. That is the reason why
Dharma still lives on in India - thanks to such people who always
keep a low profile.
© Dr. King, Swami Satyapriya 2025
You can borrow audio books directly from the author at https://tinyurl.com/mylibrary1234 at highly affordable prices.
View all episodes
By Dr.King, Swami Satyapriya[Quick links]
[Pause]
If you ask this question to a Hindu, probably he
would flounder to give a straight simple answer. He could speak for
hours about what Hinduism is all about but never define it precisely
in unambiguous words.
Most would talk about set of cultural practices,
myriad Gods and their worship, mythologies and what not. Some among
them would confuse you by high sounding philosophical jargon which
they themselves have never understood 😉
And
there are others, who always think that it is their duty to reform
‘others’. So, they tell you what Hinduism is not. And how it can
be reformed by proper religious training, exposure to high philosophy
of Upanishads, and moving back to the ‘originals’- whatever that
means.
In India, religion - you may call it Hinduism
if you so wish - is not really about straitjacketing into some
ideology, or the so called ‘meta physics’, or ‘the hidden
meanings’. But it is actually in deep rooted value system. Religion
is a wrong word in Indian context. It is called dharma.
Let me give two simple examples.
There is an incident well picturized by the
great Indian director G.V. Iyer in his Sanskrit movie on
Shankaracharya. As per the depiction, once a thief climbs up a
coconut palm to steal some coconuts. The palm belonged to an orthodox
Naboodari Brahmin from South India.
The Brahmin comes to know about this. He comes
to the spot, and sees the thief atop the tree. He ties his
‘angavastram’ (a shawl worn by a Hindu) to the coconut
palm high up, while the thief is still up on the palm. Now the thief
cannot escape since he cannot cross the angavastram belonging to a
Brahmin due to caste rules. Nor he can jump down from such a height.
So, he remains on the tree helplessly.
The Brahmin returns home.
Fetches a plate full of food and a bunch of coconuts. He keeps the
food and the coconuts below the palm. Unties the angavastram from the
palm, and asks the thief to get down. When the thief finally gets
down, he offers him the food as well as the coconuts and advises him
never to steal again. He even suggests that he should ask for them,
if he is really in need.
The Brahmin is orthodox and practices
untouchability. But that does not stop him from sympathizing with the
needs of the thief that have forced him to become a thief. The
Brahmin has no intention to punish the thief but he only wants to
correct him, in his own way.
This could well be a concocted story but it
speaks a lot about the value system that is at the heart of Hinduism.
I have seen families of very orthodox Brahmins,
who often worked for the welfare of poor and suffering people,
crossing all the caste restrictions. In one such family, I have seen
the members feeding the poor during the time of famine by opening up
a free meal camp. These people are otherwise very orthodox, they
rigidly practiced caste discrimination. But when it came to humanity,
all bars were lifted.
It is a different matter that there are many
violations of this Dharma by pseudo Dharmics.
This is where the real Hinduism is. It is not
in high philosophy, nor in metaphysics, nor in digging out the hidden
meanings, but in deep rooted values. Most Indians fortunately inherit
this by birth. It is just that modern ‘wild goose chase’ has
taken them away from this basic value system which till recently -
and I believe even today - was with them to a large extent. That is
what silently defines the Hinduness.
This, if at all, needs to be taught in our
schools and nurtured. Teaching philosophy, imparting formal
religious training, can only make one knowledgeable and to some
extent conceited, but can never instil the most important thing,
namely the values.
It is not true that India is in dire need for
religious training, the religion as meant by Dharma, that I
have attempted to describe. There are many great Indians who are
silently working on that. They may not be very visible nor they care
for publicity. They silently do their job. That is the reason why
Dharma still lives on in India - thanks to such people who always
keep a low profile.
© Dr. King, Swami Satyapriya 2025
You can borrow audio books directly from the author at https://tinyurl.com/mylibrary1234 at highly affordable prices.