Know Your Religion Through Its Philosophy
Prakash Shesh
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Being born into a religion is a statistical accident. Knowing its philosophical tenets is far more important than just being proud of your religious identity. Rituals should not be confused with philosophy! For example, reciting shlokas and worshipping in any prescribed manner need not necessarily make someone a better Hindu.In a multi-religious country like ndia, understanding basic principles of all religions would surely lead to more olerance and acceptance. For instance, t is good to know of the eight important pillars of Hinduism:
1. Rebirth:
A person is reborn, depending on his deeds of the previous birth. Becoming a human being is considered to be the highest form of ebirth but due to your deeds, you could get reborn amongst a species that is ower on the evolutionary ladder.
2. Salvation:
Known as moksha, the final objective of human beings is to lead a virtuous life so that we can free ourselves from this cycle of multiple rebirths and achieve moksha.
3. Principle of non-duality:
Hindu philosophy postulates that everything in this world is a part of the same entity; the `Creator' and the `created' are really one and the same thing.Therefore, there is no point in hating others as they are really a part of you.
4. Destiny:
We are playing out our life as per our karmas and destiny .
5.Tolerance and acceptance:
Hinduism should really be a delight to all modernists who value independence: (a) it accepts that there could be other paths leading to God; (b) it gives complete liberty to its followers to choose a god of their choice; (c) it does not have strict dress or appearance codes; (d) it encourages you to use your own methods of worship; (e) it does not want to `market' itself and spread amongst those who are outside its fold; (f) it is liberal enough to see atheism as a legitimate pursuit.
6. Four ashramas:
Living life `fully'. It decrees that the four ashrams or stages of life, namely , brahmacharya before marriage; grihasta married life and raising a family as householder; vanprastha delegation of authority to children and spending time in contempla tion; and finally, sanyasa detachment from family and renunciation of worldly plea sures, have different objectives and need to be lived and enjoyed robustly . One is expected to perform different duties in different stages of life.
7. Equanimity:
Fully concentrating on the process of achieving your objective without excessive botheration about the end result, becoming a Sthithapragya This is the famous teaching of Krishna in the Bhagwad Gita.
8. Avatars:
God or the Supreme Power visits earth in some form or other as an avatar to increase virtuosity.The uncanny similarity between the 10 avatars in Hindu mythology and the relatively recent Darwin's theory of human evolution is astounding.Beginning with the Matsyavatar (fish); and going on to Kurma (tortoise); Varaha (wild boar); Narsimha (half animal half man); Vamana (dwarf); Parshurama with axe (tool); Rama the Maryadapurusha; and the eighth avatar, Krishna the playful and serious avatar; and ninth, Buddha the Enlightened One; we now expect to welcome the 10th avatar, Kalki, a genetically supreme bionic man.
It is indeed impossible to encapsulate an ancient philosophy in merely eight principles but these give a good enough starting point to understand what it broadly stands for and then choose to embrace it or not.
1. Rebirth:
A person is reborn, depending on his deeds of the previous birth. Becoming a human being is considered to be the highest form of ebirth but due to your deeds, you could get reborn amongst a species that is ower on the evolutionary ladder.
2. Salvation:
Known as moksha, the final objective of human beings is to lead a virtuous life so that we can free ourselves from this cycle of multiple rebirths and achieve moksha.
3. Principle of non-duality:
Hindu philosophy postulates that everything in this world is a part of the same entity; the `Creator' and the `created' are really one and the same thing.Therefore, there is no point in hating others as they are really a part of you.
4. Destiny:
We are playing out our life as per our karmas and destiny .
5.Tolerance and acceptance:
Hinduism should really be a delight to all modernists who value independence: (a) it accepts that there could be other paths leading to God; (b) it gives complete liberty to its followers to choose a god of their choice; (c) it does not have strict dress or appearance codes; (d) it encourages you to use your own methods of worship; (e) it does not want to `market' itself and spread amongst those who are outside its fold; (f) it is liberal enough to see atheism as a legitimate pursuit.
6. Four ashramas:
Living life `fully'. It decrees that the four ashrams or stages of life, namely , brahmacharya before marriage; grihasta married life and raising a family as householder; vanprastha delegation of authority to children and spending time in contempla tion; and finally, sanyasa detachment from family and renunciation of worldly plea sures, have different objectives and need to be lived and enjoyed robustly . One is expected to perform different duties in different stages of life.
7. Equanimity:
Fully concentrating on the process of achieving your objective without excessive botheration about the end result, becoming a Sthithapragya This is the famous teaching of Krishna in the Bhagwad Gita.
8. Avatars:
God or the Supreme Power visits earth in some form or other as an avatar to increase virtuosity.The uncanny similarity between the 10 avatars in Hindu mythology and the relatively recent Darwin's theory of human evolution is astounding.Beginning with the Matsyavatar (fish); and going on to Kurma (tortoise); Varaha (wild boar); Narsimha (half animal half man); Vamana (dwarf); Parshurama with axe (tool); Rama the Maryadapurusha; and the eighth avatar, Krishna the playful and serious avatar; and ninth, Buddha the Enlightened One; we now expect to welcome the 10th avatar, Kalki, a genetically supreme bionic man.
It is indeed impossible to encapsulate an ancient philosophy in merely eight principles but these give a good enough starting point to understand what it broadly stands for and then choose to embrace it or not.
