Hinduism: My understanding... as of now. From what little i understand, this is what i realize – The name ‘Hindu’ is a misnomer to begin with. There is no such thing like ‘Hindu’. It is just a convenient name given by explorers who came from the other side of the Sindhu (Indus) river, so as to identify the people living on this side of that river. The way of thinking that we are actually referring to is the ‘Sanaatana’ – meaning that which always was, is, and always will be. It is not a religion; it is much bigger and a lot more subtle. It is an attitude… a concept… a way of thinking. It is what we may vaguely call the Universal religion, if we must give a name to it. Sanaatana is a broad-minded school of living. For something to be a ‘way of living’, it first has to be a ‘way of thinking’. Broad-minded and ever progressive thinking. According to my understanding, the essence of this attitude is: 1. Broad minded thinking (catholicity of thought), and 2. Ever progressive thinking. By ever progressive, I mean ever growing, ever expanding, ever evolving. It is not confined to a static structure. It is dynamic. There is no particular pattern or structure of thought or of living which needs to be adopted. A person living the Sanaatana way (the ‘Hindu’ way) has the freedom of adopting whatever faith or philosophy that appeals to him... and YET he continues to live the ‘Hindu’ way. Sanaatana is a non-oppressive way of living and letting live without forcing anyone to believe in and live according to a particular structured framework! A step further. A person following any specific Faith for that matter; if he is broadminded enough to consider and entertain other philosophies and is open to growth beyond the existing structured boundaries of the faith he lives by, he is, in essence, a ‘Hindu’! Contrarily, i would also say that there are several people who claim themselves to be Hindus, but the restricted breadth of their thinking and absence of catholicity in thinking means that they are not living the Sanaatana way! In essence they are not Sanaatana (Hindus). Performing certain rituals like bathing 3 times a day, or visiting a temple daily, or washing hands before meals, or praying with folded hands, or lighting incense sticks does not make a person a ‘Hindu’. Believing in a certain form of God is not what makes a person a ‘Hindu’. Because... Sanaatana (‘Hinduism’) is not a religion, but a way of life...; rather a way of thinking. Sanaatana is an attitude. It is the attitude of acceptance to expand… to grow… to evolve on a continuous basis. There is one more point which I realized. It is believed that a ‘Hindu’ is born a ‘Hindu’. I believe differently. He may be born into a family that follows a particular faith. That particular faith is the beginning for him. A person beginning with any faith eventually matures into a Sanaatana (Hindu). Considering the fact that this Sanaatana (Hinduism) is an attitude, I have come to believe that a person can never be born a ‘Hindu’… nor can he be ‘baptized’ or ‘stamped’ into becoming a ‘Hindu’. He has to Grow Up enough to become a ‘Hindu’. Looking to the true meaning of this concept of Sanaatana, a person has to earn this attitude of acceptance to continuously evolve, so that he can attribute this concept of Sanaatana‘ship’ to himself. In other words, it is then that he can call himself a true ‘Hindu’. It comes back to the same thing; that we need to eventually grow bigger than the religion which we are born into. We need to RISE ABOVE the religion which we are born into. ~ Sujat Shah
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 14:53:13 +0000
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