Questions about HInduism answered by a Hindu

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Sarada said:
A quasi Hinduism has found a home amongst "New Age" beliefs. There are many false gurus who have taken advantage of this and have gained significantly in the finance department. Some of these "New Agers" are what's left of the hippies, the younger ones I would call hippie wannabes. Many actually call themselves Hindus. I have not seen many of these attend a real Hindu temple or a mandir on a regular basis. They seem to be fascinated by the "exotic" and somewhat "esoteric" aspects of South Asian beliefs. I believe that there are people who dabble in Buddhism in a similar way.

As a westerner who is serious about Hinduism, I have been treated with nothing but respect. Any where I go, I am welcomed with open arms. But then Hindus like all South Asians, are very hospitable. As far as complete acceptance is concerned, yes. I feel completely accepted, with the exception, I imagine, of the odd castist. I have not run into any one with castists views here in Toronto, but, I suppose, they must exist.
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that's cool!
thanks for your reply. yes - i know a bit about the "new age" type - my godson is one of them, got "om" tatooed on his back and the whole bit! :hmm:
your answer reminded me of something else i've wondered. where do non-hindus/non-south asians fit in the caste system - are they automatically regarded as outcastes by those that still concern themselves with caste?
 
snakelegs said:
that's cool!
thanks for your reply. yes - i know a bit about the "new age" type - my godson is one of them, got "om" tatooed on his back and the whole bit! :hmm:
your answer reminded me of something else i've wondered. where do non-hindus/non-south asians fit in the caste system - are they automatically regarded as outcastes by those that still concern themselves with caste?
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I am not really qualified to answer this question, since I have no experience with the caste system and have never been to India, except to say the caste system as it is presently in India, is a social construct. See my HUMUNGOUS reply in an earlier post#136:


http://www.islamicboard.com/compara...ut-hinduism-answered-hindu-10.html#post810418

On a personal level, I am married to a Hindu from Guyana (His grandfather arrived in Guyana from Uttar Pradesh in 1900). His family do not know what caste they belong to. There are Christians, Hindus and Muslims within his/our family. We treat every one with the same love and respect.


Not everything within a culture can be ascribed to the dominant religion.

Take the prevalence and social importance of beer drinking in Germany, should we say that is based on Christian scripture?


There is, however, and article about the present day status of the caste system in India in Wikipedia that you might wish to read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_caste_system#Modern_status_of_the_caste_system
 
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thanks sarada.
it is really hard to separate religion and culture. (same thing with islam).
caste is strictly taboo in islam and sikhism. yet sadly, south asians still practice it, though to a lesser degree.
it seems like it is a hard thing to completely get rid of.
 
as a hindu, are you encouraged to learn sanskrit? like do they offer courses at temples?
 

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh



(May the peace, mercy and blessings of God Almighty be upon you)

**


1.What’s the main differences between Hindu’s & Christians Trinity ?




2.What’s the difference between Lord & God ?


sorry ..did not follow the thread. If these are already answered ...just ignored


verses we all need for this life & the hereafter



[FONT=&quot]'Did you think that We had created you without any purpose and that you would never return to Us (for accountability)?'

[/FONT]

-Quran (23:115)
 
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snakelegs said:
as a hindu, are you encouraged to learn sanskrit? like do they offer courses at temples?
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It is not the same as in Islam, where it is stressed that one should learn Arabic, so that one can read the Qu'ran in its original form. Learning Sanskrit is not stressed nearly as much amongst lay people in Hinduism, and that is unfortunate.

It's a little different, as Sanskrit is not so much an actively spoken language (much the same as Latin in Christianity). It is not easy to find a place to learn Sanskrit, or even the Vedas in English. One pretty much has to be a scholar of Sanatana Dharma to gain access to this knowlwdge.

For centuries, Brahmins have kept this knowledge secret. This is one of the many negative aspects of the caste system. With the advent of the internet, however, things are changing. Those Brahmins and Sannyasins who are more forward thinking are posting these things on the internet, and slowly, it is becoming more available to the masses.
 
The quotes are from a post in athread called "Considering Islam"

http://www.islamicboard.com/discover-islam/48794-considering-islam-2.html#post821556

Salaam, Michael

I have posted my answer to your quote in this forum, because this is a more appropriate place for a discussion on Hinduism

Michael said:
Actually, I have done quite a bit of reading about Hinduism. I have read the first few chapters of Bhagavad Gita, some of the first canto of the Bhagavata Purana, the first book of the Ramayana, a little of the Shiva Purana, and stories about the various Hindu "gods", especially Krishna. I actually identified as a Hindu for a point in my life and prayed to the Hindu "gods". I was also involved with Hare Krishna for almost a year, and attended services at their temple. So as a result of this, I actually know more about the theology and teachings of Hinduism than my girlfriend, who was raised a Hindu in Malaysia.


I posted the relevant quote from the Bhagavata Purana, showing how the divine can incarnate in those eight forms. When I visited the Hare Krishna temple, I was told that the "deities" (statues) were really God/Krishna. They were woken with prayers, bathed, dressed in special clothes, had food prepared for them, had a special ritual called the 'arati' offered to them at various times during the day, and put to sleep at night by various prayers.

If this isn't idol worship, then I don't know what is.
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The statement that Hindus are idol worshippers can only come from an incomplete and rudimentary understanding of what Hinduism really is.

One year of being involved with ISKCON, a very small segment of Hinduism, hardly makes one an expert. There are many stages and levels of understanding in Sanatana Dharma, and it takes years of intense spiritual practice to progress from stage to stage. In the early stages, often, Brahman is seen as Saguna (in various forms), but as one progresses, one eventually experiences Brahman as Nirguna (formless).
 
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salam all,

has any one asked about worship of shiva lingum and kali mata yet?
 
Sarada,

What about the Shiva Lingam? I've heard that this is a representation of Shiva's penis.

It just seems strange to worship a god in the form of his penis.
 
Sarada said:
For centuries, Brahmins have kept this knowledge secret. This is one of the many negative aspects of the caste system. With the advent of the internet, however, things are changing. Those Brahmins and Sannyasins who are more forward thinking are posting these things on the internet, and slowly, it is becoming more available to the masses.
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good!
i think sanskrit may be the oldest of all the indo-european languages.
there are a number of sanskrit words in urdu, the language i am trying to teach myself and of course, many more in hindi. (which also uses a sanksrit derived script).
 
NoName55 said:
I think the question was about the worship of the said object
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ok.... they want to ask for fertility so they worship an object that "represents" spirituality... who knows... I've heard that there is a symbol of woman's private part being worship too...

Maybe we should wait for Sarada.:thumbs_up
 
Salaam, Sisters and Brothers, http://www.shaivam.org/shplinga.htm

I was wondering when and who would bring up the subject of the LINGAM.


The Shiva Lingam is the most sacred symbol of Lord Shiva that is used to worship him by his devotees. The sanskrit word li.ngam means symbol, so Shiva Lingam means symbol of Lord Shiva.

It is considered the foremost sacred symbol for shaivaites and has been used as a focus for worship for thousands of years. The purANas like The Shiva MahA PurANam discuss about the superiority of li.nga worship.
 
^^ ROFL Some of us were raised surrounded by hindus for first 20 or so years of our life in a hindu majority country and have some firsthand experience and have working knowledge of their deities, terminology and rituals as well as having seen them lynching people suspected of slaughtering gao mata. And wont be taken in by all these fraudulent posts. Then others of us will believe any old rubbish, while some others will just pretend to be all lovey dovey and will let you promote any ole tripe as long as you give them approval and praise them.

wa salam to all
 
The story that I heard ran something like this.

A group of sages sought out Shiva, asking for enlightenment. But Shiva thought that the sages were still too prone to anger, so he refused them and then went and seduced their wives. When the sages heard about this they were furious and castrated Shiva. However, the whole cosmos shuddered and went dark. Realizing their mistake, the sages immediately started worshipping Shiva's penis, and then light returned to the world and everything was all right. From then on, the worship of Shiva's penis has played a big part in Hindu worship.

I can't entirely remember all the details of this story, but I read it in a book called The Hidden Glory of India that I purchased from the Hare Krishna temple in Christchurch. I can't find my copy at the moment, so what I'm writing comes entirely from memory and I could have made mistakes.

While 'lingam' may mean 'symbol', it also means 'penis'. In the Kama Sutra, the word lingam is used in contexts when it is quite clearly referring to a man's sexual organ.
 
Sanskrit is one of the oldest languages. It is also one of the most complex. It contains eight cases (changes to the endings of nouns to show grammatical functions), three numbers (singular, dual and plural, like Arabic), and three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter). There are also ten classes of verbs, and the whole Sanskrit verb system looks extremely complicated (even to me, and I've studied Latin and Ancient Greek).
 
Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh


(May the peace, mercy and blessings of God Almighty be upon you)



Sarada said:
Salaam, Sisters and Brothers, http://www.shaivam.org/shplinga.htm

.
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i just visited & read few lines.


When those two great gods were fighting between themselves,
the Greatest of all Lord shiva


--i read earlier that they are 3 in 1 God. But this link is telling that Shiva is the greatest . Will u explain it ?


I dont remember from where i got this link .


http://www.hatkeshver.org/history.html


I found the story how Shiva became stone here like this.



The Brahmins became very angry with Lord Shiva and they prepared a weapon, "Brahmashtra" of "Darbhshalak" and used it against Lord Shiva.



Hence Lord Shiva were transformed into "Shiv-linga" and fell on earth


.....Lord Brahma requested prayer said to Lord Shiva to become a Golden "Shiv-linga" and that He (Lord Brahma) shall worship it.


I dont understand ...how human being can use a weapon against Greatest of all Lord shiva ? Why one Lord needs to worship other Lord ?



hope u did not find my questions irritating. I can understand , it needs a lot of patinece to ans so many questions . so , pl. take ur time.



verses we all need for this life & the hereafter



'Did you think that We had created you without any purpose and that you
would never return to us (for accountability)?'

-Quran (23:115)
 
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The Hindus worship a lot of different gods. They are all part of the one Brahman, who, as far as I have read, is an impersonal "God", but actually more like the Dao (Tao) in Daoism (Taoism) or the Force in Star Wars. All of these 33 million gods are part of Brahman.
 
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