Hello! Seeing the trend I wanted to make a thread too. I welcome everyone to ask questions and the other Hindus in this forum to join me in answering them. I'm a Semi-Orthodox/Semi-Traditional Hindu who still practices certain rituals and traditions. While I don't go to the temple every day or week, I still crave spiritual comfort. Please keep the questions and any discussions here clean. Ask away!
Yep people, fire away! I'm from a semi-traditional Hindu family too, although I do not practice any rituals. I'm bordering on being an agnostic, I don't know yet. There's a lot of time for me to decide
I have a few questions! 1: i've read up a lot on hinduism. From what i understand, hindus actually just believe in one god, and about 33 different incarnations of him, which control some aspect of life. But the thing i don't get is, if there a so many different schools ( vaishnavism, shaivam, shakti) Which all say that the god they worship is supreme, how can they all be right? And part of the sane religion at that. 2: do you guys believe that the gods are beyond space and time(like islam and judaism) can take human form,( like christianity) or are human-like( like greek and roman gods) What do hindus see their gods as, i mean? 3: most people in abrahamic religions grew up with religious stories about People like Abraham, moses, david, Solomon, Elijah, And jesus or Muhammad. Most of us were taught that these stories were literal and actually happened the way they are described in the books. I know that hindus also have their own narrative scripture ( the Itihasas: Ramayan and Mahabharata, which is also the longest story ever told,fun fact, and the puranas.) i've read the summaries of some of them, so i'm a bit familiar. my question is: do hindus take those stories literally, as in they actually happened? Or are they allegorical or something? They contain a lot of wierd stuff, like giving birth to 100 children after a two year pregnancy, talking monkey people, and a ten headed demon king, and a girl who gets married to 5 men because of a mistake her mother made! Those all sound nearly impossible so that's why i'm asking. I have a lot more, but this all i can think of for now.
In Hinduism, as noted all other Gods and demi-gods are manifestations of the Supreme. People worship different deities but indirectly, they worship the Supreme as all other Gods and demigods are His incarnations. It might seem a little absurd, but think of it the worship as a pathway to one Supreme, the His reincarnations as the differents routes the devotees take. Hinduism percieves God as beyond Space and Time, He is Space and Time, and the Universe too. (I sound like a priest but I'm quoting my favorite book on Lord Krishna). But He can manifest himself in human forms too. He has many human incarnations wherein He has lived as a human being, carried out deeds like a human, etc. Basically there are ten avatars or incarnations of Vishnu, some are Krishna, Ram, Parashuram, etc. These are His human incarnations. While Narasimha, a God with the head of a Lion, is more aggressive, and semi-human. Some Hindus worship these human incarnations like Krishna, Ram etc. While some worship Shiva, Vishnu etc. Some of the epics like Mahabharata, and Ramayan are belived to be factual, but not in their entirity. Example, the war in Mahabharat is believed to be actual, but events that led to the war like Draupadi's marriage to 5 husbands are far more allegorical, and I do not take them as fact. Now for the Monkey God or Hanuman, are allegorical according to me. It is said that many animals helped God in the war, building a bridge to Lanka, so why could'nt it be so that people worshipped these animals too. In order to make it more easy to accept, they created animal-human forms like Hanuman, who can be percieved as a symbol of animals, and nature working to His will etc. Please forgive if I've made any mistakes. Not meant to offemd anyone. If there are any mustakes feel free to point them out. P.S. Try reading KRSNA: The Supreme Personality of Godhead. It's a good book, im english and provides in-depth answers to your questions
Hinduism is confusing actually. Even for a person like me. That is because it's existed since a long time. So people have their own spins on their beliefs and traditions. Most Hindus believe in 3 supreme gods. The trinity who are called Tri-Dev (3 Gods) or Tri-Murthi [Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver/Protector and Shiva the Destroyer]. This is a simple enough concept which says that there is a power in thenuniverse which creates us, preserves and protects us and then gives us death to end life. The cycle of birth-living-death is propagated again. Then it begins to get tricky. The Tri-Murthi or Tri-Dev are said to have 3 wives too. They are the Tri-Devi or the Tri-Mata (3 mothers) [Lakshmi the consort of Vishnu, Saraswathi the consort of Brahma and Parvati the consort of Shiva]. There are also many other gods who are considered children of one of the Tri-Dev. It also gets tricky when you consider that some puranas(ancient/old scripts) say that Brahma is the son of Vishnu and that Parvati is Vishnu's Sister. This is where the different schools come in. Vaishnavism is a school of practice which roughly states that Vishnu is the Supreme God and that he is the ultimate power. The followers of this sect may or may not believe in the existence of other gods. But in doing so they still say Vishnu is the ultimate one. Shaivism counters this by saying that Shiva is the ultimate god. That he existed even before the emergence of Brahma and Vishnu. This is a reason why Shiva is also called Mahadeva (Greater God) in some sense. Shakthism goes beyond this and says that the energy of the universe and the creator, preserver and destroyer of all beings in the universe is the Universal Mother. The devotees of this sect consider her to be the Mother of all Devas (Gods) even going to the extent of stating that she is the mother of Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma. Most consider the avatars (incarnations) of Goddess Durga to be this of this form, while others say that Goddess Parvati (Wife of Shiva) is also Durga. Hinduism considers no right and wrong. That is why so many worshippers and so many sects co-exist without major problem. I'll tell you how this is done. In my immediate relatives and family circle there exists one concept we live on. This is the concept of Ishta-Devata (God you like), Kula-Devata (Patron God of your Community/Family) and Grama-Devata (God of the Village). Everyone has one. Since every family you find in India can trace their roots to villages, you will have a God of the Village. Your family will have a patron god they consider as the Family Protector, some families have this in a much stronger fashion as they might be patrons of a temple dedicated to that family god especially. Others will also Ishta-Devata which is a god they will pray to as they feel a connection to that god. While this is a confusing scenario, I hope you could understand some of what I'm trying to say. Please let me know in case you need further clarification on anything. Personally I don't. I believe in a higher power, I also believe in the fact that multiple forms of that power exist. But I don't believe in gods taking human forms in today's society. The vedas (Holy scriptures) say that 4 ages of life on earth exist. These are called Yugas (eras). According to the Vedas - Satya Yuga (The age of Truth), Treta Yuga, Dwarapa Yuga and Kali Yuga exist. We are currently in Kali Yuga, which is an age of unrighteousness and greed. It is said that Gods took human form (incarnations and Avatars) on earth and lived during the first 3 yugas, but it is not so in Kali Yuga. It is said that God's presence will not be physical but more of spiritual in the Kali Yuga. At the end of the Kali Yuga, the whole world will come ablaaze and the heavens and earth will combine and burn. The Creator Brahma will make a new world and new heavens and the 4 ages will restart. The figurines you see of the various hindu gods are nothing but a physical representation of what we sense spiritually. People over the ages have had various reasons to bring about the existance of various gods. The only way they could show the god to others and make them believe was in the form of these figurines and statues. Others think that in the first three ages (Yugas) since Gods were seen on earth, everyone knew what they look like. But in Kali Yuga, since God cannot come down on earth, it was a need for people to see God. Hence the physical representation of such. In one word, Yes, People do believe that the Ramayana and Mahabharata and the Upanishads contain somewhat accurate re-tellings of what actually happened. To many these scriptures contain morals and things to learn about. In my opinion, they are nothing but stories. They could be a representation of what life was a how it was led way back then. But to me they are stories. Somethings are impossible. But then again these happened years ago. Ramayana was said to have happened in the Treta Yuga (which was over 900,000 years ago by my calculation). Mahabharata happened during the Dwarapa Yuga (Which was over 500,000 years by my calculation). I could be wrong, but if an age actually existed so long ago, it is nothing but a myth. Feel free to ask any more questions. I will try to answer then to your understanding.
First of all, thinking of Hinduism as a religion is not accurate! Because Hinduism has various conflicting philosophies and it is a cafeteria system so to say, where one can choose what they want to believe and follow, I believe the ideally defined religion doesn't give this freedom! Furthermore there are schools of Hinduism which reject or deny the existence of God! So its more complex than a religion, it is a culture , it is a way of life. When the Europeans step foot on India, they weren't able to get the essence of what was going on and consolidated the way of life of everyone below the Sindhu river as Hindus! Now that explains why there are so many superior gods and conflicting thoughts within Hinduism! Your next question is do Hindu gods transcend space and time! Well yes out of the six schools of astica philosophy only one called Vedanta believes in God! Now Vedanta is of three essential types advaita , visishtadvaita and dvaita! Advaita philosophy believes that the whole universe or whatever exists is one indefinite energy or paramathman which means the great soul and each one of us is a part of this energy and have some of it in us called atma! This is very similar to the teachings of spirituality! Hence according to advaita there is no superior God , God is not restricted to space and time he is space and time! Smartism is the culture developed from this philosophy and smartas don't believe in any particular supreme God! The next theory or visishtadvaita believes that atman is a part of paramathman but is dependent on paramathman and hence there is a semi duality! This is a philosophy by ramanujacharya and he believed that the paramathman is mahavishnu! All the types cultures like shaivism, vaishnavism and shaktism are a corollary to this philosophy! The other philosophy dvaitism believes in duality of existence! They believe in one supreme God and that atma is completely independent of God! They believe that the world is Maya or a testing ground, somewhat similar to Abrahamic religions ! Madavas a specific sect of South Indian brahmins believe in this theory ! One step ahead mimamsa and various other Hindu schools of thought have atheistic views they believe that existence of God is impertinent to life on earth! They believe that the various gods you know of are just a symbol of a particular energy important for life and that mantras help you acquire this energy for achieving the required endpoint! In short Hinduism is like a capsule of various views and philosophies ranging from polytheistic worship to monotheism to agnostism to atheism , can you still call it a religion?
Secondly about the form of God! God primarily in core Hinduism is one who or which transcends space, time or all the known dimensions represented as parmatman, God also can be various deities who are represented in form of human like figures mainly Because that's the easiest way humans can relate to God and form the devine bond these human like deities are principally the thrimurtis with their consorts and shakti or durga, God can also be the human form of these deities who walked on earth in the past yugas, God is also represented or understood as human forms to elements of nature such as sun, moon, the planets, wind , rain, water , fire and earth! There are gods that are partly animal and partly humans! There are gods in the form of plants ! So yes it ranges from spiritual worship to human like figures to God in the form of humans to God in nature! Also each community gives importance to different gods of this platter! If you project it to a world scenario you have elements of the Abrahamic philosophy, of pagen philosophy, of the various world mythologies ,tribal philosophy (nature worship), Zoroastrian philosophy, even aethisim where one can believe there is no God and forms of agnostism ! So the answer is Hindus can see God the way they like Third about stories, Hinduism has three main decisions of scriptures , Vedas or spiritual science, shastras or guidelines to live a fruitful life, puranas or epics to draw values from ! All these scriptures are flanked with numerous numerous stories! These range from the epics like Mahabharata , Ramayana and puranas like skanda purana , garuda purana , bhagavatam, devi mahatmyam , narayaniyam etc, which are meant to signify the victory of good over evil and to teach moral lessons and to glorify the powers of God! Now for the enlightened these needn't be true events but just stories or it can be manifestation of God on earth which happened in the yugas of the past! Now why people believe in these strange things is that the nature of the earth in those yugas was said to be very different, men lived for thousands of years, they were huge physically, etc, the 100 babies thing is somewhat like a twisted version of cloning taken to the next level so to say! Yes people do believe they occurred , but its not necessary to believe in them to be a Hindu The next set of stories in Hinduism are of laymen of kaliyuga and their interaction with God! These can be seen in sathyanarayan katha and various other scriptures of the like! What is relevant is the influence of these stories in our culture, these stories play an important part in our festivals, they play an important role in our weddings and other traditions broadly termed as loukikas ! Furthermore till say the last decade or two they have been our fairy tales and childhood stories! It wasn't ginger bread man or Cinderella or goldilox n the three bears that was told to a lot of us ! Our granny's tell us stories of various gods in creative and fun ways! In all its an integral part of our culture whether we believe it or not!
Secondly about the form of God! God primarily in core Hinduism is one who or which transcends space, time or all the known dimensions represented as parmatman, God also can be various deities who are represented in form of human like figures mainly Because that's the easiest way humans can relate to God and form the devine bond these human like deities are principally the thrimurtis with their consorts and shakti or durga, God can also be the human form of these deities who walked on earth in the past yugas, God is also represented or understood as human forms to elements of nature such as sun, moon, the planets, wind , rain, water , fire and earth! There are gods that are partly animal and partly humans! There are gods in the form of plants ! So yes it ranges from spiritual worship to human like figures to God in the form of humans to God in nature! Also each community gives importance to different gods of this platter! If you project it to a world scenario you have elements of the Abrahamic philosophy, of pagen philosophy, of the various world mythologies ,tribal philosophy (nature worship), Zoroastrian philosophy, even aethisim where one can believe there is no God and forms of agnostism ! So the answer is Hindus can see God the way they like Third about stories, Hinduism has three main decisions of scriptures , Vedas or spiritual science, shastras or guidelines to live a fruitful life, puranas or epics to draw values from ! All these scriptures are flanked with numerous numerous stories! These range from the epics like Mahabharata , Ramayana and puranas like skanda purana , garuda purana , bhagavatam, devi mahatmyam , narayaniyam etc, which are meant to signify the victory of good over evil and to teach moral lessons and to glorify the powers of God! Now for the enlightened these needn't be true events but just stories or it can be manifestation of God on earth which happened in the yugas of the past! Now why people believe in these strange things is that the nature of the earth in those yugas was said to be very different, men lived for thousands of years, they were huge physically, etc, the 100 babies thing is somewhat like a twisted version of cloning taken to the next level so to say! Yes people do believe they occurred , but its not necessary to believe in them to be a Hindu The next set of stories in Hinduism are of laymen of kaliyuga and their interaction with God! These can be seen in sathyanarayan katha and various other scriptures of the like! What is relevant is the influence of these stories in our culture, these stories play an important part in our festivals, they play an important role in our weddings and other traditions broadly termed as loukikas ! Furthermore till say the last decade or two they have been our fairy tales and childhood stories! It wasn't ginger bread man or Cinderella or goldilox n the three bears that was told to a lot of us ! Our granny's tell us stories of various gods in creative and fun ways! In all its an integral part of our culture whether we believe it or not!
Secondly about the form of God! God primarily in core Hinduism is one who or which transcends space, time or all the known dimensions represented as parmatman, God also can be various deities who are represented in form of human like figures mainly Because that's the easiest way humans can relate to God and form the devine bond these human like deities are principally the thrimurtis with their consorts and shakti or durga, God can also be the human form of these deities who walked on earth in the past yugas, God is also represented or understood as human forms to elements of nature such as sun, moon, the planets, wind , rain, water , fire and earth! There are gods that are partly animal and partly humans! There are gods in the form of plants ! So yes it ranges from spiritual worship to human like figures to God in the form of humans to God in nature! Also each community gives importance to different gods of this platter! If you project it to a world scenario you have elements of the Abrahamic philosophy, of pagen philosophy, of the various world mythologies ,tribal philosophy (nature worship), Zoroastrian philosophy, even aethisim where one can believe there is no God and forms of agnostism ! So the answer is Hindus can see God the way they like Third about stories, Hinduism has three main decisions of scriptures , Vedas or spiritual science, shastras or guidelines to live a fruitful life, puranas or epics to draw values from ! All these scriptures are flanked with numerous numerous stories! These range from the epics like Mahabharata , Ramayana and puranas like skanda purana , garuda purana , bhagavatam, devi mahatmyam , narayaniyam etc, which are meant to signify the victory of good over evil and to teach moral lessons and to glorify the powers of God! Now for the enlightened these needn't be true events but just stories or it can be manifestation of God on earth which happened in the yugas of the past! Now why people believe in these strange things is that the nature of the earth in those yugas was said to be very different, men lived for thousands of years, they were huge physically, etc, the 100 babies thing is somewhat like a twisted version of cloning taken to the next level so to say! Yes people do believe they occurred , but its not necessary to believe in them to be a Hindu The next set of stories in Hinduism are of laymen of kaliyuga and their interaction with God! These can be seen in sathyanarayan katha and various other scriptures of the like! What is relevant is the influence of these stories in our culture, these stories play an important part in our festivals, they play an important role in our weddings and other traditions broadly termed as loukikas ! Furthermore till say the last decade or two they have been our fairy tales and childhood stories! It wasn't ginger bread man or Cinderella or goldilox n the three bears that was told to a lot of us ! Our granny's tell us stories of various gods in creative and fun ways! In all its an integral part of our culture whether we believe it or not! ---------- Post added 24th Jan 2016 at 11:00 PM ---------- sorry for multiple posts of the same message, my mobile is evidently playing tricks, forgive me for the typos!
There is no specific process of conversion , we ourselves aren't initiated Into Hinduism ( in comparison to christening ).In India there are religious leaders or gurus who reside in institutions called Matts or matthas , so one such guru , Sri jayendra saraswati of kanchi Matt was once asked by a christian named Anthony- "what should I do to convert to a hindu" the guru's reply was - "when you have started thinking Hindu, when you believe in Hindu philosophy and when you have the desire to lead a Hindu life , then you have already become a Hindu" So yes there is no conversion or anything, in fact it's a very personal religion where you choose what you want to follow ! Propaganda and spreading the religion is not a part of Hinduism and hasn't ever happened until the bhakti movement started because of the growing ignorance in British India !
Pick what you like about Hinduism and follow it. It doesn't even have to be prayer. It can even be spiritual thought. Voila. You're a convert. It's easy as that. Sure, religious leaders and spiritual people might "insist" on some "conversion" stuff to do like rituals and everything, but I find them to be crap.
Unfortunately I can't think of any specific questions since I know very little about Hinduism to begin with, though I've been deeply curious to read some of the important texts, verses, epics and other writings. So I guess my question would be: Are there any particular English-language translations that would be recommended? Hopefully with a good balance of accuracy and stylistic quality, as one or the other usually seems sacrificed.
