I bet, if you have landed in here then, I have succeeded luring your attention just by this thread?s title per se. Well! Amusing is it?s it? Sankaracharya, one of most accredited Hindu guru is counting his days in the confinement and it hasn?t merely stirred anyone back in so called world?s only Hindu kingdom Nepal. I believe it?s an anti Indian sentiment at play, why bother a dhoti being arrested by bunch of dhotis? But I often muse over how Nepal would have reacted given the scenario Mr. Sankarcharya fleeing in Nepal dodging arrest but India demanding Nepal to cooperate for his arrest. The circumstances screech a big NO! We would have seen yet another brag of Hinduism. Yeah, I know I have put forward case of ?what if?, which could be argued on the ground ?no it has not?. Still, I am skeptical and against to those ardent Hindu followers who think, Hinduism is the greatest religion and philosophy of all.

I was born Hindu, but I don?t feel comfortable claiming myself a Hindu. I have surpassed the word HATE in here. I don?t have any explanation to ask with other religions, even if they opine their religion is the greatest. I am still egalitarian but bonded by Hindu culture. For me, I don?t get accustomed to the Hindu cultures and traditions for me but for my peers, and I know what exactly to do if they are not around.

I would have been loyal to religion only if I had cocksure answer why people are treated as a pariah for smoking marijuana or prostituting or deceiving? Epic states Lord Shiva enjoyed getting high, King of Heaven God Indra always had apsaras, dance bar girls in the contemporary world, amusing him, Lord Ram bamboozled the ethics of war by arrowing down Bali from behind the stone.

One should look at on his own boots before regarding other down. Let?s not get confused with religion, nationalism, frustration and confusion.

dear symlyn,
I agree with you at some places. When people ask me my religion I reply, I was born in a Hindu family. I agree with you when you talk about Ram, Indra and Shiva. But I dont know if we should evaluate the whole Hindu religion based on few stories. The stories which I am not sure if I should take them as a false deviation from the original blueprint or they could even have originated because of a purpose of the Guru or seer who told them or wrote them. Infact since I dont know sanskrit and what I know about those stories are that they are translated by some people. How reliable are those people who translated. You can find deviation in stories that are told even about Manthara in Ramayana. Some say she knew it Ram was a god and it was actually Ram who told her to persuade his father to send him away. Yet some other people say she was an evil person.
The point I am getting at is, there are definitely flaws we can point out, but what is the probability that we are pointing out the flaws of what we know as Ramayana and not the actual Ramayana written originally.
With regard to Hindu philosophy, though I am not completely satisfied with what it has offered me till now, but the solutions to how one should live a good life and understand it I find it best answered by Hindu philosophy. But I have to admit I have only mediocre knowledge of Buddhism and Christianity and none of Islamic religion.
So I suggest, before pounding heavily and totally refuting Hindu philosophy, its best to try and understand what it has to offer and take those which make sense to you.
If Sankaracharya had fleed to Nepal, let suppose, I think Indian government would have no trouble getting him back. First reason being, Nepal is not in a situation to deny India's demand. Secondly even religiously there are many other institution established like that of sai baba and om shanti, and people are moving towards them rather than the traditional sankaracharya.

Buddham Saranam Gacchhami...

Hey Symlyn,

The hindusim you are talking about today is not the real hinduism. Read the vedas, then you will understand what real meaning of Hinduism is. And speaking of Shiva getting high, those are just losers who can not becomee anything in life, so they go and rip off the title as a sadhu and spoke marijuana saying shiva did that. Well thats tottally false, read the Shiv Purana you'll find out why he did that, and it wasnt Marijuana, and he wasn't getting high. And who gives a shit about Shankaracharya getting arrested or whatever. Organized religion is crap and there are faults in every religion. Look at the preist who are busy molesting little boys.

Regarding your claim about todays' hinduism is not real one. Read the vedas, then ..............
Isn't it in Vedas where it is written that one should cut the head off if untouchables start chanting mantras or does tapa............
Wasn't that the cause Rama chopped the head off of that poor untouchable guy who was doing tapa chanting some mantras.

Please please enlighten me

It's sad how hindu children are ignorant about their religion and are embarrased. The hinduism they teach now about worshipping idols is crap. Most people don't know this but Hinduism is a monotheistic religion. There is only one supreme being and that is BRAHMAN (not the caste brahmin, and not the god brahma). The only reason we have idols is people could not comprehend how god c ould be everywhere. Yes there is shiva yes there is vishnu but they are all one supreme being. its one cosmic being. Every religion that is now formed all came from the concept of Hinduism. The ten commandments that are found in the bible and the torah, originated from Hinduism. The vedas are so extensive if you compare the bible or any other religious book, everything that they have recorded is already in the Vedas. And the vedas are the oldest religious book int he world. Also things like Noah's ark, that is actually from hinduism. During the ramayan, hinduism wasnt only present in the indian subcontent, the empire was actually vast and stretched all the way to the arabian sea. archeologist are actually finding that the Mahabharat was taken place in iraq area, they found chariots that were found in the vedic times. Also the dead sea scroll that was just discovered contradicts the existence of christianity, the dead sea scroll was found in sanskirt. Also the vedas has recroded that jesus actually came to the kashmiri reigion and learned the vedas from the hindu rishis. He learned tantra and all other spirtual power and went back to the middle east. This is the lost 14 years of jesus christ, that the bible doesnt record. it is found in the vedas. CHristians deny this and the church has banned this and hid from christians because they do not want to admit that their religion and teaching came out of a nother religon.

Hindus should be proud and ashamed. That is why if you really want to know about your faith, stick to the Vedas, not the present day idol worhsipping crap. Also, the whole rakesh thing and half monkey half human stuff existsied. we are talking about hundreds and thousands of years. There were people like that. Did you know that the bridge that ram built to get sita from india to lanka...called setubanda, that we hindus believed all along existed. Westerners found it fake and stupid. well guess what, NASA recently found the bridge. ANd those right winged christians call it THE ADAMS BRDIGE. heres the link:

http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/indexback49.html

oh and you know the whole thing about atomic bombs and da vincis flying stuff, one of the vedas had all that recorded way before. the germans actually came to india and translated those books and took it back to germany. they came up with the atomoic bomb. recentley they finally admitted that they got all these scientific stuff from the hindu vedas. its espically hard for us hindus living in usa because we find all thest jehovah witnesses knocking on our doors to convert then we that that asshole from the 700 club every sunday preachign his jesus lloves us, love him back or go to hell.

Stick to the original santana dharma.

no that is not from the veda, it is from the manu smriti. It was written by a right wing hindu who hated the lower caste. he made up crap to divide the low class from the upper class. Manu Smriti is not a religious text. You can find things like that in any religion.

I know what you are talking about that chopping head part. I even knew that from childhood. This guy wanted to be saved or something and a guru had told him that in order to save ur self or something, you must keep repeating the name "ram" over and over. ANd while he kept saying ram ram ram, he was indulged by evil or something so he started saying "ra" "ra" "ra"which actually in sanskrit is a root for rakesh. So then the guy kept meditating on ra ra ra and became evil or something. So he was eventually killed like good over evil. SOmething like that.

raksesh, sorry not rakesh.

Vedic life,

Thanks much for your post. I hope people now have a clear idea of what Hindusim is. I totally agree with you. Hinduism is Monotheistic religion. And the supreme god is the Brahma(n). If people read the Upanishads, the best one I have raed is the translation by Robert Hume, people will know what really is Hinduism. I am not a philosophy, religion person, so if there exists a better translation, let me know. The conversations of gargi, yagnabalka and so on. If I am not mistaken, Kena Upanishad actually says, enjoy life. There's no god, there's no rebirth, there's no afterweorld- Charwak.

And yes, we created all gods, just because we could not know oursleves. If one knows the supreme Brahma(n), then one becomes a god himself. This is what the Upanishads tend to say.

Please feel free to correct me.

To me Hinduism is more of a way of life than a religion.Forget Sankaracharya, anyone who does sin should be punished....if god Shiva rapes a woman, his holy Linga should be chopped off.
I am Hindu.I like being Hindu.It's the only religion/way of life in which you can criticize it and still be a part of it.You can eat beef and still remain a Hindu.I hate Musaltes.Christians(the extreme ones) are very superficial.So, I am glad that I was born a Hindu and will remain one.

the first criterion for a spiritual seeker is respect.

If something is in me which can be called religion than it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.
I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism.

I do not believe in the immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it."
If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for a reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.


It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him.
Religion is a byproduct of fear. For much of human history, it may have been a necessary evil, but why was it more evil than necessary? Isn't killing people in the name of God a pretty good definition of insanity?

Fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand in hand. . . . My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race.

Fear is the parent of cruelty, therefore it is no wonder if religion and cruelty have gone hand-in-hand."

I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive. I am not young, and I love life. But I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation. Happiness is none the less true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting."
I am myself a dissenter from all known religions, and I hope that every kind of religious belief will die out.

Faith means not wanting to know what is true.So long as the priest, that professional negator, slanderer and poisoner of life, is regarded as a superior type of human being, there cannot be any answer to the question: What is truth?

All religions bear traces of the fact that they arose during the intellectual immaturity of the human race ? before it had learned the obligations to speak the truth. Not one of them makes it the duty of its God to be truthful and understandable in his communications.
The most serious parody I have ever heard was this: In the beginning was nonsense, and the nonsense was with God, and the nonsense was God.

There is no devil and no hell. Thy soul will be dead even sooner than thy body: fear therefore nothing any more.

The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.
At present there is not a single credible established religion in the world.

Fear believes?courage doubts. Fear falls up the earth and prays--- courage stands erect and thinks. Fear is barbarism---courage is civilization. Fear believes in witchcraft, devils and ghosts. Fear is religion, courage is science."
"Hands that help are far better then lips that pray."

For the most part we inherit our opinions. We are the heirs of habits and mental customs. Our beliefs, like the fashion of our garments, depend on where we were born. We are molded and fashioned by our surroundings.
Environment is a sculptor -- a painter. If we had been born in Constantinople, then most of us would have said: 'There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.' our parents lived on the banks of the Ganges, we worshipers of Siva, longing for the heaven of Nirvana.
As a rule, children love their parents, believe what they teach, and take great pride in saying that the religion of mother is good enough for them.


Why should I allow that same God to tell me how to raise my kids, who had to sacrifice His own?"


Religion is an illusion that mature men and women should lay aside. The idea of God was not a lie but a device of the unconscious which needed to be decoded by psychology. A personal god was nothing more than an exalted father-figure: desire for such a deity sprang from infantile yearnings for a powerful, protective father, for justice and fairness and for life to go on forever. God is simply a projection of these desires, feared and worshipped by human beings out of an abiding sense of helplessness. Religion belonged to the infancy of the human race; it had been a necessary stage in the transition from childhood to maturity. It had promoted ethical values which were essential to society. Now that humanity had come of age, however, it should be left behind.


So my friends, its getting too long, I do not know how to say things in short like others

enjoy the life

Isolated Freak,

Your right. Ok this is kinda off topic in some way, but I'm sure most of you guys have seen the matrix trilogy. Did you know that it was actually copied from hindu philosophy. The Matrix is actually "Maya" in hinduism. Maya is an illusion. And if you've read the vedas, they keep talking about the MAYA. This world is all illusion, the cars your drive the places you live what ever is happening in this world, this is all illusion. The absolute concessioness is brahman. When we die, we really don't die. Our body dies, but our sould (our atma) is brahman, it leaves this state and then just goes into the next life.
Going back to the Matrix, if you seen the last part. There is a famous song "Asatho Maa Sad Gamaya,Tamaso Maa Jyothir Gamaya Mrithyor Maa Amritham Gamaya" means

Lead me from untruth to truth;
Lead me from darkness to light;
Lead me from death to immortality

!!!

And also whole concept of neo and the centenials makes sense

The centenials are actually the Yakshas, semi demon gods that come down to the maya and destroy evil or just about anything. Neo represents krishna and avatars. I had wrote an early explanation but i don't know where I placed it but if you go and search on google and type matrix and hinduism, it'll tell you everything.


Deepblue thats, cool. Same with me I don't mean to hate but when i look at muslims, i just see them as some supressed group of people who are just F**** up in the head. The men in that religion are so sexually repressed that they become terrorist and go kill themselves.and as for christians, man I don't even wanna go there. They say you will go to hell if youre not christians. OK i find that as pure bull shit. So I've a person was like a saint, all religious and never hurt or cursed anyone. When death comes, would he go to hell coz he's not a CHRIRSTIAN? TECHNICALLY SPEAKING, JESUS WAS A JEW, so that means He'd also be in hell with all us non chritiians!!!!!!!


Good thing about hinduism is is that we're not after conquesting people and making them convert. Because we really dont believe in converting. If you are born a hindu then you are a hindu. Actually, there is no such word as Hindu. Hinduism is not a religion, it is dharma. Our ancestors never used the name "HINDU" it was called Santanna Dharma. The reason why we are called hindus was when the persians came to india, they passed the SINDU river (indus river). Persians couldn say "ssahh" so they said "hhhuhh" so then they said anyone east of the river is called "hindu".

And about shiva lingham, I know people poke fun saying oh we worship shiva's dick. When i was in high school, my teacher was saying that, I didnt even know i was so damn embarrased that i kept sliding down the chair, trying to hide my face. Then I actually researched it. There is a reason why the lingham is worshipped. Coz it symbolizes fertility. HInduism is the only religion that actually talks about sex being a good thing and all the other so called "erotic satanic preachings" stupid christians say. We're the only religion thats bold to say that you can go and have sex, and don't worry you wont end up in hell! For christians, they say sex is sin, so if you have sex, youll go to hell. WELL THAT ALSO MAKES CHRISTIANS TO GO TO HELL. SO IN THEIR THEORY, everyone goes to hell, even christians!!!

All the skeptical hindus, if you really want to knwo what hinduism is really about, you should stick with the vedas. Try reading Swami Pharmahansa Yogananda, or vivekanda. Theya ll talk about Vedanta (end passages of the vedas) When you read the vedas and compare it to the hinduism today, you will se a big differense. As time goes by, religion because more of politics not spirtuality. Every religion now is corrupt. That is why its best to go with the real teachings of hinduism. If you want to be spirtual, go with the vedic life, and its exactly what you think it is, doesnt say anything about worship this god, be in the caste, and then reach engligtenment. Vedas dont even mention anything about god, just supreme atma, your atma and how you can reach self happniness and de attach your self from this MATRIX.

la vedic_life, you're the Guru. And yes, the Matrix was pretty much built on the concept of Maya. I'm not a religious person, but it was very interesting to read your post. I have thought that Christianity, Budhism and others are forms of moral principles that one should follow in life, but Hinduism is a philosophy, more than moral principles.

The Muslims have it in their book that a guy shouldnt sleep with his sister, the Bible's one of the commandment says that a guy shouldnt commit infidelity (sleep with someone else's wife), but nowhere in Veda does it talk about any such things because Hindu philosophy is way beyond that level of indulgence. La, do you have a copy of the Vedas that you could send it to me? Honestly, havent read it, and while you're here to answer my questions and enlighten this soul, I might as well gain some knowledge...haina ta? :)

What are you talking about, ofcourse hinduism has all that stuff, all those morals came from the vedas. and please dont mock me as a guru, I dont' know why you people think someone thinks they are all that when they know something that they dont know. And i'm not here to enlighten your ass, if you so want to be engligthen, then go read what ever makes you englgthen. Qu'ran also says that a man can have 4 wives, and it also says that you can marry your cousin. Qu'ran also says that if people don't believe in the name of islam, you can throw a holy jihad and kill all of them.

And if you want to gain some knowledge on the vedas. Heres an online site of all the sacred text of all religions.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm

Ahileko Kaliyug ma bhalo kasaiko nagarnu bhanthe hajurbaule, ho raicha... :S

Well Kaliyug is the last phase. after kaliyug they say kalinki will come and destroy this whole maya and the world will begin again. Kaliyug is the age of evil. And in the vedas it says that vishnu's last avitar will come In a mechanical horse etc. See the vedas have already written things that no one can even imagaine that would happen now. It goes into details saying he will be in a Mechinaical made horse. THAT SOUNDS LIKE THE FUTURE.

You guys really stirred the thread with lotsa inputs. Thanks!!

Yet, I am still adament that philosophy is one thing and practice is next. To become ethically good human one don't need search through volumes of epic. There are very basic "fundas" and almost every religion's "pre-requisite" to become a human has same direction. don't hurt.. don't steal.. etc etc. (Again, some might argue this is a copied thing). Anyways, on the ground that we follow one of the oldest religion, can we (said earlier still tied up with Hindu culture) disaparange other religion, their philosophy and their way of life?

Let try and seek differences between "the art of living" our vedas
teach, and "the way 'manu' live". Last year,I was attending a lecture on religion, when some ardent Hindu follower got excited and starting claiming "Kandahar belongs to us because we know Mahabharat mentions Kandahar Naresh", I didn't understand what he meant by "we". SO is the case in the documentary in "Godhara tak", One saint says "it's not just Kashmir, we have to go far ...", I bet he has also priortized "world's only Hindu nation" in hitlist. I tried to exemplify some of the cases of Hindu arrogance (or
chauvisim??), again I can not prove anything with few examples, but yet examples do reflect something.

great thread here, i had hesitated to click on this thread but after coming here, i couldnt stop reading all the replies, esp frm vedic_life..

Hindusim is a very moderm term, it was a term that was later introduced by greeks/persians/ arbains...for ppl living in northen india...Hindu philosophy is one of the highest philosophy that exists in this planet, and there is soo many things to learn in hindusim, because it has existed for so many years. And yes, there are many contradicting ideas in hindusim, this is because of its long long survival history, where ppl tried to fit hinudsim for their own purpose.

ok let me also contribute a little to this thread..by describing maya and bramhan, :)

Fristly, what is bramhan?
Bramhan is sat-chit-ananda which means, the truth, consciousness and ananda....
and two very major points abt bramhan is
bramhan is perfect than anything imaginable, because imagination is human attribute. bramhan cannot be imagined, bramhan is simply perfect.
bramhan is not finite. because bramhan is perfect bramhan is also infinite. and so is the universe, because bramhan is the universe.

Our mind exists, and with mind we reason, precieve the world, which is maya, so therefore maya is universal name for mind. So, maya exists with all of us.We precieve the world with maya.. There is one reality and that is Bramhan. Bramhan is everywhere, there is not a single place where bramhan is not aware of itself, so hence that concludes bramhan is present in our mind. and again how cud we even talk about bramhan, if he didnt exist in our mind. How can we get to the reality ? one has to be desireless, then slowly he will see the truth, and it is possible to witness the truth with by living in this world..


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symlyn, answer to ur question lies in Hindusim itself. A man should descover himself, he should not preceive anything blindly, guru's are the physical "god" who can only help u guide your mind, so gurus sud be limited as a guide of our disturbed/lost mind, but many ppl wrongly follow the gurus, which are only supposed to be "gods" who guide your mind.and ofcourse let not us not talk abt hoax gurus... like pashupati's pundits.. and again, if every human, follows the vedas and seeks the truth, than this world wudnt exist, wud it? SO, we need to realize this world is a maya, and all of us including u and me are just the preceivers. and again like hindusim says, if u do good, u will be done good. if u do bad, u will be done bad. u are ur own creation, we are all created equally, and we choose to lie and we choose to be honest.

that was the long answer, the short answer to ur querry wud be, We Are Just Humans..

ok this is all the time i have :P if u all have questions regarding my post, post it, i will try my best to answer :)