What is Hinduism?

The word Hindu refers to geography, or culture of the land, not a religion.

This is same as every parent is good to the children. For individuals, their own parent is the best, best of all the parents on the planet. The child does not want his/her parent to be shared as father or mother of the children in the locality. However, other children in the locality have their parents. For them, their parents are the best parents. They can openly say that and respect other parents too in the society. And, that is okay. In fact, beautiful. Why can this not be replicated when it comes to God? Your chosen form of God is best for you. Same is true for others with their chosen form of God for them. This is spiritual democracy.

First, let us see what it is not. It is not a hardcore religion. It is a culture. The land was called Hindustan earlier. People living in Hindustan are called  Hindus. If one does not identify with that as the Hinduism is also branded as a religion, that is okay.

Hinduism is such a culture that it encompasses all. Some say that Hinduism is a culture and some say Hinduism is a religion but it encompasses all. No questions asked. It is not about conversion, call yourself a different religion and take whatever you can, at the end of the day, God is one.

There was not a single messenger who started Hinduism. It is simply an evoltion of the people living on this land. Many people excelled in their quest for evolution and started sharing the knowledge. So, unlike various religions, it was the other way round. The culture came first and there were some pioneers. Then, people started sharing their knowledge wither others and were called saints.

Some people worship idols, some worship formless God. All of them come from the same culture - Hinduism. Some Hindus say Ram was a historical personality while some say Ram was the main character of an epic. Nevertheless, they candidly discuss the topic and love Ram.

Without any conversion, by origin, people of all colours of skin belong to Hinduism in Bharat. It was not started by a particular person or race and no people were converted from any other religion but the story of evolution began as people grew with one another.

Hinduism is not polytheism, its pluralist. Same ultimate reality is called by different names and forms. There are so many ways to think about God. Isn't it nice that you can relate to Him in a form of your choice to relate and reach the same ultimate.

It allows one to relate to God in a personalized manner. Else, if you talk only about Brahman then that is a principle that people cannot relate to in normal life and that poses a danger of remaining disconnected.

Within Hinduism, we see the spiritual democracy where a person believing in one form of God worships other forms also. At the same time, it is monist also with the belief that all forms of God belong to one single, they are one and same.

People with diverse thoughts live in harmony. Some renounce money, some like the pursuit of wealth.

Hinduism has been pro-science from the beginning. It evolved as a culture instead of getting started by a founder. One can choose the path as per own choice for evolution.

Hinduism is the oldest known culture with literature dating back to 7000 BC.

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