Hinduism stands tall among the league of religions.
how & why?
There are many answers.
The greatness of Hinduism can be summarized in few words.
"Freedom of Thoughts and Actions."
1. Hinduism is a way of life, a culture and not an organized religion like Islam or Christianity.
There is no POPE or hierarchy in Hinduism. Only thing Hinduism have a lot of scriptures.
2.
. Hinduism is a Culture and all the eastern religions like Buddhism, to some extend Jainism, Sikhism came from Hinduism. Judaism is also a culture/religion from which organized religions like Islam and Christianity came.
3 Hinduism never ever had a “spring cleaning” like all other religions do. What ever any one wrote for the last thousands of years are still there for people to study and discuss.
4
No body is killed or crucified since he or she challenged Vedas or any other scriptures. In fact, Hindus worship Lord Buddha who challenged authority of Vedas and Hindu form of worship.
5 Hinduism never state it has monopoly on truth or God. According to Hinduism, God & truth are universal.
Rig Veda states: 'ekam sat viprah bahudaa vadanti' …meaning Truth or God is one but learnt men describe it in many ways.
6 Hindu scriptures state, “Sathya meva Jayathe” meaning “Truth alone triumps, never falsehood.” So Hindu scriptures allow FREE FLOW OF THOUGHTS.
Hindu authors knew that by allowing absolute free of expression, every one will finally end up attaining truth. They preached, "Ignorance is the root cause of all evils and knowledge eradicates ignorance.'
7 Hinduism never state only by becoming a Hindu, one can attain salvation. Instead Hindu scriptures state, “Salvation or self-realization is open to all, irrespective whether a person Hindu or not. Even an agnostic and atheist can attain salvation.
8 Nobody is denied salvation in Hinduism. The best among us will attain with one life. The worst among us will attain through many lives.
Salvation or self-realization is the process by which one is attaining the true knowledge that he is the immortal soul Atman within and giving up the false knowledge that one is the perishable material body.
9 Hinduism never forcefully convert others to Hinduism like other religions do. Hinduism as a culture and it does not force any one to become a Hindu. Those who convert to Hinduism are doing that since they fell in love with Hinduism.
10 Hinduism believes in one and only God Brahman which expresses itself in trillions of forms. Hindus believe in a one, all-pervasive Supreme Being who is both immanent and transcendent, both Creator and Un manifested Reality.
According to Hindu scriptures you can worship that God which has NO name or form [nama-roopa] in any form & with any name.
You can worship that God calling it Jesus or Allah or Brahman or Krishna or Buddha or anything else you wish. In all worships, finally worshiper ends with a God which is spirit, which has no name or form.
11 Even atheists can proudly proclaim they are Hindus. In fact the Charvaka philosophy or Nastika philosophy, (existed during the Vedic period) founded by Charvaka rejected the existence of God and considered religion as an aberration. Nobody killed Charvaka. He died a natural death.
12 Hindus do NOT worship idols.. Hindus use idols like everyone else to concentrate on a God who has no name or form. All worships in all religions start with God with a name and form. As the devotee matures in devotion, devotee start sees a God without any form at all.
14 Hindus believe that the universe undergoes endless cycles of creation, preservation and dissolution. This belief is in parallel with the modern big bang theory.
15
Voltaire in Essay on Tolerance wrote:: "I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death, your right to say it."
Hinduism is the symbol of what Voltaire wrote.
I agree Hinduism has the good, the bad and also the ugly aspects in it like any other culture or religion in the world.
Only thing we have to do is to eradicate bad and the ugly aspects, to better the lives of millions of Hindus, for years to come.
Rig Veda wrote:
Vasudhaiba Kutumbakam
(the world is a family)
Rig Veda also wrote:
Let noble thoughts come to us from every side.
