Hinduism - Hindu Religion - a positive way of Life (part-2)

The history of religions illustrates the tragic effect of intolerant and exclusive faiths.

God has no special favourites.

God as a jealous one and there will be no peace in the religious world.

According to the भगवद गीता (Bhagavad Gita): "I am alike to all being."
"None is hateful or dear to me। But those who worship me with devotion are in me and I in them"

Hindu seer has no contempt for other religions. He does not believe that salvation is to be had only through any one particular religion. God does not refuse his truth, his love and his grace to any who, in sincerity, seek him, wherever they may be and whatever creeds they may profess. It is unfair to God's love and mercy to assume that he left millions of men to stagnate for thousands of years, practically without hope in the darkness of ignorance.

The word Hindu is a geographic rather than a religious term. Hindus call their religion सनातन धर्मं (Sanatana Dharma)- 'Eternal law'.

It is based on the practice of धर्मं (Dharma), the code of life. Since Hinduism has no founder, anyone who practices Dharma can call himself a Hindu.

Knowledge, vision, wisdom, is the goal of the Vedas/Upanishads. It is a new kind of thinking in which the whole man in implicated. The aim is not intellectual conformity to inherited doctrine, but one of attainment of knowledge. He can question the authority of any scripture, or even the existence of the Divine. Hinduism extends into every aspect of the believer's life.

Hindus have never been communal. They represent an ancient civilization not known either to draw a boundary between the faithful and the faithless, the blessed and the damned, or to engage in heresy hunting and its counterpart, persecution of other faiths.

J. Abbe Dubois, (1765-1848) French missionary, has said that India is:
"the only nation perhaps in the universe which has never sunk into barbarism, and which...may deserve to fix the attention of the philosopher."

To the Hindu, religion is an awareness of ultimate reality, not a theory about it; religion is psychology and method rather than theology and dogma. Hindus have been able to rise above their biological boundaries and roam at will in transcendental realms from which the intellect is forever barred.

Hinduism is life style, where human beings are exalted to God himself. Everyone is God - a minute God. All living beings, human, animals and plants do have an element of God, the soul and again a part of a kind of suzerainty.

हरे राम हरे कृष्ण , कृष्ण कृष्ण, हरे हरे
हरे कृष्ण हरे राम, राम राम, हरे हरे

Hare Rama Hare Krishna , Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Hinduism is not a religion of the book: it is a 'heard' tradition. Its scriptures are recited, or sung not read. Though the Rig Veda is very ancient, it was not written down until almost 3,000 years later.

more to come in part-3 of this multi part series...

Life Lessons: Two Days Without Worry

There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday.We cannot undo a single act we performed; we cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone forever.The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow with all its possible adversities, its burdens,its large promise and its poor performance; Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.Tomorrow’s sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow, for it is yet to be born.This leaves only one day, Today. Any person can fight the battle of just one day. It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities, Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down.It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad, it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring. Let us, therefore, Live but one day at a time.

How Heavy Is Your Bag

One of my teachers had each one of us bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes. For every person we’d refuse to forgive in our life, we were told to choose a potato, write on it the name and date, and put it in the plastic bag. Some of our bags, as you can imagine, were quite heavy.We were then told to carry this bag with us everywhere for one week, putting it beside our bed at night, on the car seat when driving, next to our desk at work.The hassle of lugging this around with us made it clear what a weight we were carrying spiritually, and how we had to pay attention to it all the time to not forget, and keep leaving it in embarrassing places.Naturally, the condition of the potatoes deteriorated to a nasty slime. This was a great metaphor for the price we pay for keeping our pain and heavy negativity!Too often we think of forgiveness as a gift to the other person, and while that’s true, it clearly is also a gift for ourselves!So the next time you decide you can’t forgive someone, ask yourself… Isn’t MY bag heavy enough?And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

Little Candle

Once upon a time a little candle stood in a room filled with other candles, most of them much larger and much more beautiful than she was. Some were ornate and some were rather simple, like herself. Some were white, some were blue, some were pink, some were green. She had no idea why she was there, and the other candles made her feel rather small and insignificant.When the sun went down and the room began to get dark, she noticed a large man walking toward her with a ball of fire on a stick. She suddenly realized that the man was going to set her on fire. No, no!! she cried, Aaaaagghhh! Don’t burn me, please! But she knew that she could not be heard and prepared for the pain that would surely follow.To her surprise, the room filled with light. She wondered where it came from since the man had extinguished his fire stick. To her delight, she realized that the light came from herself.Then the man struck another fire stick and, one by one, lit the other candles in the room. Each one gave out the same light that she did.During the next few hours, she noticed that, slowly, her wax began to flow. She became aware that she would soon die. With this realization came a sense of why she had been created. Perhaps my purpose on earth is to give out light until I die, she mused. And that’s exactly what she did.Lord created you and I to produce light in a dark world. Like that little candle, we all can produce the same amount of light, no matter how small we are or what color we might be. But we can’t produce light until we receive it from an outside source. That source is Lord, the light of the world.

"My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night
But ah my foes and oh my friends
It gives a lovely light...." :Roald Dahl

Life Lessons: Two Days Without Worry

There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday.We cannot undo a single act we performed; we cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone forever.The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow with all its possible adversities, its burdens,its large promise and its poor performance; Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.Tomorrow’s sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow, for it is yet to be born.This leaves only one day, Today. Any person can fight the battle of just one day. It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities, Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down.It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad, it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring. Let us, therefore, Live but one day at a time.

Attitude is Everything - Do not stop growing..

Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man to climb Mount Everest. On May 29, 1953 he scaled the highest mountain then known to man-29,000 feet straight up. He was knighted for his efforts.He even made American Express card commercials because of it! However, until we read his book, High Adventure, we don’t understand that Hillary had to grow into this success.You see, in 1952 he attempted to climb Mount Everest, but failed. A few weeks later a group in England asked him to address its members. Hillary walked on stage to a thunderous applause. The audience was recognizing an attempt at greatness, but Edmund Hillary saw himself as a failure. He moved away from the microphone and walked to the edge of the platform.He made a fist and pointed at a picture of the mountain. He said in a loud voice, Mount Everest, you beat me the first time, but I’ll beat you the next time because you’ve grown all you are going to grow… but I’m still growing!