Why I Am a Hindu

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Hinduism and Buddhism have many similarities. Buddhism, in fact, arose out of Hinduism, and both believe in reincarnation, karma and that a life of devotion and honor is a path to salvation and enlightenment. Dr Shashi Tharoor, the erudite and eloquent author of 16 earlier books, now takes up his pen to express his views on Hinduism. As he says in the introductory note to this book, his purpose is two-fold: to “understand… the extraordinary wisdom and virtues of the faith” and to “show the… intolerant and often violent forms of Hindutva…” According to the author himself, this book is targeted at the English-speaking twenty-first century reader. Overall, the book’s first part does a fine job of showing how Hinduism has historically been accepting, non-dogmatic, and pluralistic; and the second part neatly describes the many ways in which the Hindu nationalist movement has abandoned those same values – ironically moving away from Hinduism’s open and agreeable nature to adopt the parochial and fanatical ways that they’ve decried in others. Hindus can also worship at home, and many have a special shrine dedicated to certain gods and goddesses. But some key differences exist between the two religions: Many strains of Buddhism reject the caste system, and do away with many of the rituals, the priesthood, and the gods that are integral to Hindu faith. Medieval and Modern Hindu History

The Smarta or Smartism tradition of Hinduism is somewhat more orthodox and restrictive than the other four mainstream denominations. It tends to draw its followers from the Brahman upper caste of Indian society.It is only the period immediately before and after India's Independence, which has seen the rise of political figures with a fundamentalist view of Hinduism where the author has stated his own views. Increasingly this age-old religion is being used by politicians to manipulate voters, and like many free-thinking Indians of today, the author has expressed the worry of India turning into a fundamentalist religious country much like our north-western neighbour. This should not come as a surprise, knowing the author's political affiliations. Though he does not claim this to be an unbiased work, I would have rated it 5-star if he had managed to keep it objective till the very end. Hinduism’ is thus the name that foreigners first applied to what they saw as the indigenous religion of India. It embraces an eclectic range of doctrines and practices, from pantheism to agnosticism and from faith in reincarnation to belief in the caste system. But none of these constitutes an obligatory credo for a Hindu: there are none. We have no compulsory dogmas. This is, of course, rather unusual. A Catholic is a Catholic because he believes Jesus was the Son of God who sacrificed himself for Man; a Catholic believes in the Immaculate Conception and the Virgin Birth, offers confession, genuflects in church and is guided by the Pope and a celibate priesthood. A Muslim must believe that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is His Prophet. A Jew cherishes his Torah or Pentateuch and his Talmud; a Parsi worships at a Fire Temple; a Sikh honours the teachings of the Guru Granth Sahib above all else. There is no Hindu equivalent to any of these beliefs. There are simply no binding requirements to being a Hindu. Not even a belief in God.” Throughout the decades after Independence, the political culture of the country reflected these ‘secular’ assumptions and attitudes. Though the Indian population was 80 per cent Hindu and the country had been partitioned as a result of a demand for a separate Muslim homeland, three of India’s eleven presidents were Muslims; so were innumerable governors, cabinet ministers, chief ministers of states, ambassadors, generals, and Supreme Court justices. During the war with Pakistan in 1971, when the Pakistani leadership was foolish enough to proclaim a jihad against the Hindu unbelievers, the Indian Air Force in the northern sector was commanded by a Muslim (Air Marshal, later Air Chief Marshal, I. H. Latif); the army commander was a Parsi (General, later Field Marshal, S. H. F. J. Manekshaw), the general officer commanding the forces that marched into Bangladesh was a Sikh (General J. S. Aurora), and the general flown in to negotiate the surrender of the Pakistani forces in East Bengal was Jewish (Major-General J. F. R. Jacob). They led the armed forces of an overwhelmingly Hindu country. That is India.”

The om symbol is composed of three Sanskrit letters and represents three sounds (a, u and m), which when combined are considered a sacred sound. The om symbol is often found at family shrines and in Hindu temples. Hinduism Holy BooksShaktism is sometimes practiced as a monotheistic religion, while other followers of this tradition worship a number of goddesses. This female-centered denomination is sometimes considered complementary to Shaivism, which recognizes a male deity as supreme. So who knows truly whence this great creation sprang? Who knows whence this creation had its origin?

The primary sacred texts, known as the Vedas, were composed around 1500 B.C. This collection of verses and hymns was written in Sanskrit and contains revelations received by ancient saints and sages. Hinduism as we have it today is a collection of belief systems, some call them sampradayas or darshanas, and they are bound together by the core concepts of karma, punarjanmam and mukti. Whether one literally believes in any or all of these, he/she who is consciously a Hindu seeks the truth of these within the tradition to reach mukti as he/she copes with the challenges of day to day living. At the same time he has no problem respecting the paths of others to find their own truth. The book leads me to believe that Sashi Tharoor is one of them and it is to be welcomed. Hindu worship, which is known as “puja,” typically takes place in the Mandir (temple). Followers of Hinduism can visit the Mandir any time they please. Hindus strive to achieve dharma, which is a code of living that emphasizes good conduct and morality.But Vivekananda’s thesis neatly flattened out the challenge that Buddhism had posed to Brahmanical power, the monarchical state, ritualism, and caste discrimination. It simply assimilated Buddhism into Hinduism. I read it for a different reason: There is no end of English-language literature on Hinduism written from one of two perspectives: either erudite, academic analysis or wit a specifically Christian, and usually missionary, view. (There's a lot of material that amounts to, "How to talk to a Hindu about Jesus" which presumes that Hindus need to be something other than what they are.) Shaivism spread from southern India into Southeast Asia and is practiced in Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia as well as India. Like the other major sects of Hinduism, Shaivism considers the Vedas and the Upanishads to be sacred texts. Even as Orientalists, colonial administrators and intellectuals in Western universities set about translating, codifying and reducing a complex philosophic system to manageable proportions, we witnessed the creation of a homogenised Hinduism. This was upheld by nationalists as the anchor of an Indian identity. Such is the power of intellectual colonialism!

Most forms of Hinduism are henotheistic, which means they worship a single deity, known as “Brahman,” but still recognize other gods and goddesses. Followers believe there are multiple paths to reaching their god. Hinduism could not have a more articulate proponent than Dr. Shashi Tharoor, who is Hindu both by birth and conviction and also thoroughly at home in the English-speaking intellectual world. For an American reader, a great strength of this book is precisely that it was not written for a Christian audience--since I am not at all sure that someone from an Abrahamic tradition even CAN really grasp Hinduism, in all of its hospitable plurality and avoidance of sectarian certainty.

Where do Hindus worship?

In an age of manipulation through fake-images and messages spread through social media, people have been taught to hate the real soldiers of India’s freedom struggle, forgetting that these ‘Hindutva’ proponents made little or no contribution during the struggle for India’s independence. But Shashi Tharoor is no pushover to let them go easily. His book is a timely and sensible argument against the malady that is ‘Hindutva’, a product of fear and paranoia. The first section is titled “My Hinduism” which contains four chapters. The first and second chapters generally cover the basic tenets and beliefs of the faith. Here are some representative extracts from the first chapter: Hinduism embraces many religious ideas. For this reason, it’s sometimes referred to as a “way of life” or a “family of religions,” as opposed to a single, organized religion.