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Nine Common Questions on Hinduism
Last month (December 08) I presented and answered nine common questions about Hinduism to a group of youth attending a Hindu camp in the Scott Road (Brickfields) Kandaswami Temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malalysia. This lecture weaves in nine common questions asked on Hinduism. After I finished this presentation, I gave the youth the opportunity to ask their questions. This resulted in Five Unique Questions on Hinduism.
Are there many Gods in Hinduism? Especially for us who are living in Malaysia, in a society of majority muslims, this is a common query. The question is usually, why is it that we have so many Gods.
The truth is, in Hindusim we only have one Supreme God. Supreme Godhead in Hinduism is characterized by His or Her ability to Create the world and life. There is only One Being who has this ability. This is the One God whom we all pray to. A quote from the Rig Veda goes like this: "They call Him Indra, Varuna, Mitra or the heavenly sunbird Garutmat. The seers call in many ways that which is One; they speak of Agni, Yama, Matarishvan."
However in Hinduism we believe that All-Mighty God can appear to His or Her devotee howsoever He or She pleases. Thus in Hinduism we have many varied forms of a Singular Godhead. This is also why Hindus understand that people of other religions are also praying to the same God as we are, albeit in another form. Thus you will hear Hindus claim that there is One Truth but many paths leading to it.
An analogy commonly use to explain Gods appearance in varied forms, is as follows: Take a family man. This one individual, to his wife, he is her husband; to his children, he is their father; to his employees, he is their boss and to his friends, he is their buddy. In all his different relationships, though he is the same person, the experience of his wife, his children, his friends and his employees are all unique while having similarities. Even his name, though he will have one legal name, his wife, children, friends and employees will address him differently according to their social standing with him.
Indeed God has a penchant for creating variety. Just look at the world around you. You will see that despite the fact that we are all humans, no two of us are completely identical. Even twins have features that distinguish them from each other. God didn't create the world with just one kind of tree or one kind of bird. He created all sorts of beings and plenty of variety within them. So logically, we can assume that God too allows Himself (or Herself) this freedom of expression in variety.
Are Hindu Gods married? We are accustomed to listening to stories where God is portrayed having a family with children. For instance Lord Shiva has his family where his wife is Parvathi and His children are Ganesha and Murugan (Kartikeya). Even in temple ceremonies there is the Tirukalyanam or Holy Wedding.
Is this the truth of the matter? No. God is actually not married. Logically God doesn't need to be married. When you understand that God is the Creator of the entire Universe it is obvious that he doesn't need to be married and that all the beings in the Universe are already His (Her) children. God is already the Father/Mother of the Universe.
So what about the stories of God being married and all? Well these stories are fictional. Even the popular story like how Ganesha got his elephant face is fictional. These stories are are contained in a series of secondary scriptures called Puranas. There are thousands of Puranas in Hinduism, like the Shiva Puranas, Vishnu Puranas and so forth. These scriptures were created to record history and also to transmit philosophical truths, practical advise, morals and culture to people through entertainment mainly in the form of fictional stories. Without the stories in the Puranas, Hindu teachings would be too cut and dry, and for most people it would be boring to sit in a lecture about Hindu philosophy. Thus gurus of the past and even today continuously create stories based on truths and certain events to teach Hinduism.
As an example let us go back to the story of how Ganesha got his head. It has all sorts of teachings in it and even today the story is fascinating, though there are a lot of philosophical errors in it. For instance, according to the story God (Shiva) cut the head of His son (later to be replaced by an elephant head) because He did not know that the boy was His son. How can the Omniscient Lord not know His own son, one might ask rightly? Why should God have replace his son's decapitated head with that of an elephant, why not use the original head? The truth on the other hand is rather simple. That is that, Ganesha chose to have an elephant face to represent that he is the Guardian of Earth. Indeed the elephant is such an unique animal and a good choice to represent earth. As you can see the truth is simple. The story is lots more fun.
Even in todays scientific times, we are still enamored with stories of fictitious superheros and superheroins. Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, Spiderman and so forth are adored by their fans and their exploits in the stories are often subjects of conversation even if we know they are all imagination. It is the same with the Puranic stories, however, the superhero personalities in these stories are God and the angles and demons of heaven and hell.
The Puranas were also created to trasmit the perception of God's closeness to His devotees in a more mundane and simpler way instead of a deeper more complex spiritual closeness. That is why there is marriage and family issues, so that devotees can easily relate with God in their day to day life and draw examples and anecdotes of idealism and right action from such stories. The ceremonies in the temple too, such as the Holy Wedding (Tirukalyanam) were created for the pleasure of devotees. It is just like the the ceremonies of waking God in the morning and putting Him to sleep at night. God doesn't sleep nor wake up, but the priests and devotees certainly do. So at the start of the day and end of it God is 'awakened' and ceremoniously 'sent to bed.'
These stories are the basis of much drama, song and dance in Hindusim. They are an essential part of our religion. However, one cannot take the Puranas and claim them to be absolute truth of what had happened. So Gods warring with each other or getting married and so forth should be understood in the light that they are fictional stories meant to transmit teachings of Hinduism indirectly.
Are we idol worshippers? This is another commonly misunderstood tradition of Hinduism. Not understanding the philosophy and reasons for worship of images to represent God, many people think Hindus worship stone or the pictures that we use for worship as God Himself. Actually the Hindu representation of God through worship is not much more different than the use of images and symbols of worship that can be found in other religions. However, the use of images for worship in Hindu temples does have a deeper esoteric significance than simple symbolism or as a point of reference for our devotion. Before we get into this deeper aspect of image worship lets understand what an idol is.
Idol is a word often used in a derogatory manner when describing the method of worship in religions such as Hinduism, Confucian Taoism and other religions. However, the word idol itself is a word used for people or personalities we highly regard or admire. In fact it is an age old practice of all civilizations to make idols of influential figures and leaders of their community. Making of idols is recognized as a way for a community or an individual to show appreciation or to recognize the contributions of another. In fact the title of the hit reality show such as American idol describes this meaning of the word idol. When the word idol is understood from this perspective than it is indeed true that Hindus are idol worshippers. We idolize God and make images of Him or Her and use it for worship because this is very much a natural part human expression of appreciation.
However, we certainly do not worship the element the idol or image is made of as God. It is only a representation of God very much like how we don't recognize a statue of Mahatma Gandhi as Mahatma Gandhi the person, but rather as an object in his likeness to remind us of the life and contributions of Mahatma Gandhi to society.
The deeper aspect of image worship in Hinduism is in its use in temples. When established properly in the sanctum of a temple, the image or murthi plays a special role as a conduit of Gods blessings to His or Her devotees. The ceremonies done by the priest in the temple turn the stone, wood or crystal image from a simple physical object to a doorway into God's abode in the Brahmaloka through which communication takes place between the physical and spiritual realms. So the murthi actually becomes a spiritual machine. Thus extra special attention and care is given to a temple deity. People who do not understand this metaphysical science behind the role of the murthi in the temple will generally mistake the reverence we give to the image as a primitive or lowly form of worhsip.
Is there a Hindu bible? When it comes to Hindu scriptures we are accustomed to many varied books. The Bhagavad Gita, Tirukkural, Tirumurais, Tirumantiram and Periya Puranam are the most common books we hear of.
When we think of a bible, the picture that comes to mind is the Christian bible or the Islamic Koran or the Sikh Guru Granth. All these books are singular volumes which can easily be shown or referred to as the authoritative scripture of the religion. Does Hinduism have a bible like these other religions? The answer is yes and no. Yes because we do have an authoritative central Scripture in Hinduism. These are called the Vedas. No because it is not a singular volume.
All Hindus revere the Vedas as the source of Hinduism. It is historically the world's oldest scripture, where scientific dating puts the writing of these Scriptures beyond 5000 years ago (well before the emergence of other scriptures in Hinduism or other religions). The teachings in the Vedas were revealed directly by God to meditating rishis. In Hinduism such God revealed Scriptures are called shruti. These teachings were then passed on orally from guru to sishya and eventually they were written down in ancient books. The revelation of the Vedas to the rishis is similar to God's revelation of Scriptures of the other religions to their prophets.
However unlike the Christian Bible or the Koran, the Vedas is not a singular book. Neither were the teachings in the Vedas revealed to one particular rishi. In fact the Vedas are a collection of books that were written by many (some say thousands) of rishis, most of whom remained anonymous. All together the Vedas consists of about 400 volumes of text. These text are orgainzed into four main collection the Vedas. These four Vedas are the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda. Each of these four Vedas are further divided into the Samhitas (Chants), Brahmanas (ceremonies manual), Aranyakas (teachings of the forest dwelling rishis) and Upanishads (philosophical discussions).
It would take a whole wall cabinet to store the entirety of the Vedas. This is why unlike the Bible or the Koran most Hindus do not have the Vedas at home. The entire collection is available in archives and libraries around the world. It is rare to find publishers willing to publish the entire collection for public purchase. Instead to study the teachings in the Vedas, God has revealed other scriptures to Hindu gurus such as the Viveka Chudamani, the Bhagavad Gita and the Tirumantiram which contain the essence of the teachings in the Vedas. Such singular volumed Scriptures are more accessible and convenient to study. There are many such Scripures to choose from. The choice of which Scripture to study is as in typical Hindu liberal fashion left up to the individual, though it will be most likely connected to his or her Hindu sectarian leaning or the books that their guru recommends.
Why do we worship cows? The worship of cows in Hinduism is practical application of two fundamental beliefs of Hinduism. The first is the reverance of all life as God. My guru used to make us practice 'seeing God in all beings and things.' He taught us to regard all of life: humans, animals, plants and the elements as divine manifestations. The worship of the cow is an expression of this reverance of all life as divine.
The second belief is the importance of ahimsa or the practice of non-violence as the cardinal virtue of spiritual living. Vegetarianism which is an extension of the practice of ahimsa is part of the application of this belief. In this regard the cow represents the animal kingdom.
The question though is why the cow and not another animal? Indeed the worship of the cow is symbolic. The reason the cow was chosen above other animals is mainly out of convenience and the ease with which we can express reverance to it.
The cow is a gentle and easily tamed animal. It is also an animal that is an important provider for the human race. I am of course referring to the milk the cow gives (not the meat!) and its role in the economic activity of rural farming and transportation. One cannot underestimate the role of the cow in life and economics not only of the past but also in present times. Indeed, when we ponder on the importance of the cow in human civilization it is easy to surmise that this animal holds a unique and important role compared to other animals. There is a saying in India that while a mother produces milk for her child only for the first few years of life, Gomatha (mother cow) can provide milk for humans all throughout their life (lactose intolerance not withstanding!). Thus the cow is easily the most suitable creature for the symbolic worship to revere all manifestations of life.
Must we be Vegetarian? In Hinduism there is a cardinal virtue called ahimsa. Cardinal means, of the greatest importance or fundamental. Ahimsa means non-violence. The practice of not hurting other living things either through physical force, words and even thoughts is the highest practice of goodness in Hinduism. A person who is able to live a life while observing all the edicts of ahimsa can be considered a saint. Our Hindu gurus and leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi are and were exponents of ahimsa. By extension of observing ahimsa, vegetarianism came to be. Whereby, the ideal practice of ahimsa inflicts no harm to life even in feeding oneself.
When it comes to rules, such as 'must I be vegetarian to be Hindu,' the answer is no. One does not need to be a vegetarian to call oneself a Hindu. This is because Hinduism does not enforce nor dictate commandments on how to live life. Rather, Hindu scriptures provide guidelines as to the ideal ways of living life and leaves it up to the devotee to 'grow' into them. In Hinduism it is accepted that as a devotee grows more and more spiritually aware, he or she will eventually become vegetarian.
In Hindu culture, to keep devotees reminded of the ideal of vegetarianism and ahimsa, Hindu families who are not vegetarians will observe vegetarianism at least once a week, (usually on the family's temple day) on a day of their choosing and also on religious festival days. I must state that the reason Hindus choose not to eat meat on certain days of the week has nothing to do with superstition or taboos. Instead, it is a practice that is observed to keep us reminded of the ideals of ahimsa, of which vegetarianism is just one of the ahimsa practices, that we should all be striving towards.
When we look at the greater observance of practicing ahimsa, controlling anger, jealousy, greed and hatred, even eradicating these impulses altogether from oneself is of far greater merit than being vegetarian. This is because performing hurtful deeds (through action, speech or even thoughts) out of anger or rage are far more destructive (meaning carrying a heavier negative karma) compared to eating meat.
Thus as Hindus, there is no force nor commandment that we must be vegetarians. However, it is an ideal that we should eventually incorporate in our life.
What is Karma? Karma is a law of nature just like gravity postulated by Hinduism. Karma regulates the consequences to the actions that we do. According to the law of karma, all our actions reap consequences that are equal in nature to our original action, which returns to us at the most appropriate time in our life. To put it simply, the law of karma states that if one does good, good experience of equal measure is received; if one does bad, bad experience of equal measure is received. Sometimes teachers equate karma to Newton's Third Law of Motion, which states that, for every action there is and equal and opposite reaction. However, karma does not govern motion, instead it governs our deeds.
Karma like the law of gravity affects everyone equally. It does not matter whether you believe in karma. Just like the law of gravity doesn't discriminate whether you believe in it or not. Certainly a person who doesn't believe in gravity is not going to become weightless all of a sudden and float away.
According to the belief of karma, one shapes ones own destiny through deeds. Thus the happiness or sorrow that we experience in life are the cause of our previous actions. Karma spans through lifetimes. In other words the consequences of our deeds don't necessarily return to us in the same lifetime, instead it can come back to us in a future life. Karma explains many of the anomalies in life. For instance why should one child be born a natural genius and another mentally challenged. Sure one can say it is because of their genes. However, if you look for deeper purpose and ask why should God allow such a situation, endowing one with a much more superior quality compared to the other, then, only an understanding of the law of karma can give an adequate solution. Reasoning that one's past deeds determines situations in current life.
This also means that we are the masters of our destiny. That by every deed we do to others and even unto ourselves we are shaping our future. Karma puts the responsibility of our lives squarely on our shoulders. Though sometimes it may be difficult to accept that we have to pay for actions (the bad ones that is) we do not remember from past lives, karma, when understood in the right perspective is an ally to our spiritual life. Karma is the teacher. This teacher creates situations (based on our own doings) in our lives for us to derive lessons from and therefore enjoy or suffer in the world. It is through this process that we grow spiritually. I cannot go into much details about the working of karma or how we can use this God given power within us to our positive advantage, in this brief session. However you all should know that Hinduism is all about karma management. The goal of karma management is to maximize the creation of good karmas and minimize if not avoid altogether the creation of bad karmas. This is Sanatana Dharma.
Coming soon to MyHinduPage's Philosophy Lesson will be a chapter on Understanding Karma. To stay updated with the latest in MyHinduPage content please sign up to receive update emails.
Do we believe in reincarnation? Yes, reincarnation is one of the core beliefs of Hinduism. Reincarnation is closely tied to the Law of Karma. In this life process of being born again, what continues life is our soul. Our soul is the part within us that is immortal. The soul is indestructible. It is not affected by the disease nor death of the body. The soul or atma is the most spiritual part of us. It is our primal identity that God created directly out of Himself. Whereas our body came through our parents our soul came out of God. Thus all souls are children of God.
The atma goes through cycles of reincarnation on earth to grow spiritually. All our souls share the same goal of life. That is to return to God. My guru used to quip, "just like a how rain drops originated from the oceans, our soul was created by God directly from His Being. Just like how the rain drop eventually falls on earth and merges back into the mighty ocean as a river flows into the ocean, our soul is born on earth many times but will eventually make its way back to reunite with God."
This is the ultimate goal of all souls without exception. This profound understanding of life means that no soul is ever lost nor ever becomes eternally damned in a place called hell. Instead all souls will eventually find their way back to God. This is why God created the process of reincarnation. God doesn't expect us to perfect ourselves in the short span of one lifetime. Instead he gives us limitless chances to experience life on earth and learn from these experience. This learning is what makes us grow spiritually. In this process karma plays the most important role. For according to how we have lived one life, the next life is determined.
The end to the process of reincarnation comes when we have fully experienced all that life can offer us on earth and our soul has reached a spiritual maturity whence it then 'qualifies' itself for graduation. When the soul reaches this stage of life on earth it will then achieve moksha at the point the body expires. Moksha is liberation from the cycle of birth and death on earth. After moksha the soul will continue life in the ever blissful heavenly realms until the soul finally merges with God in complete oneness.
Sometimes non-hindus who do not understand the process of reincarnation claim that reincarnation is an endless process. That it continues to eternity and as souls we are stuck in it. This is wrong. Reincarnation ends in moksha and according to Hindu scripture and gurus all souls will achieve moksha.
Why do we wear the pottu? The pottu or tilak is symbolic of our soul's eye otherwise know as the 'third eye.' The pottu marks the placement of the third eye on our forehead. It is a sensitive spot in the middle of our brow situated slightly above the eyebrows. If your ran your fingers along the middle line of your brow you will be able to sense this sensitive spot. This is the correct placement of the pottu or tilak dot.
The act of putting the tilak is actually to remind us of our higher spiritual nature that is our soul. That we should endeavour to see and understand life from the higher, inclusive and loving perspective of our soul. It is to remind us to continue striving to perfect weakness in our nature so our personality more and more resembles the peaceful and benevolent nature of our soul. It is also to remind us of our ultimate goal of life, that is to break free from the cycle reincarnation on earth so we may live forever in the Heavens.
Over time the pottu has evolved as a sectarian symbol of within Hinduism. What started as a small dot to mark position of the third eye, became the Saivite Tripundra, the Vaishanavite Naamam and the big round tilak of Shaktism. However, the significance of these forhead markings are essentially the same. In more recent time the pottu has entered the realm of dress fashion. Trendy colored and patterned 'stick on' pottus can be seen on pop celebrities. While our openess in Hinduism allows for such expressions of Hindu symbology, it is important for those who wear it, especially for Hindus, to remember its spiritually symbolic significance. Using the pottu or tilak merely to declare religious identity or as a fashion statement pale in comparison to its mystical significance.
These were the nine questions that I had prepared for the presentation to the youth. Earlier before I started my presentation, while I was introducing myself and getting acquainted with the participants I had asked all of them to write down any questions that they might have on Hinduism for me to answer after I had finished my prepared questions. I got a list of 5 very insightful questions. These are the questions. (By the way I took the original list of questions from Himalayan Academy. You can view these questions and their answers to the same at the following link: http://www.himalayanacademy.com/basics/tenq/ ) Following are the questions the participants had:
1. What is Bhakti Yoga?
2. Who created Hinduism and the Vedas?
3. Is it a must to follow the rules of the religion to the letter?
4. Talking to God, does it help?
5. If we adopt a few religions in doing various activities, is it wrong?
Unfortunately this was at the tail end of my time. I had less than half an hour to answer these questions, so I had to breeze through them. I believe I did not do justice to these thoughtful queries by providing concise answers. To rectify this, I want give these questions and more detailed answers to them a page and title of its own to recognize the contribution of the youth who had attended the 2008 Hindu Youth Camp at the Kandaswami Temple, of Scott Road, Kuala Lumpur. The article which will be titled Five Unique Questions on Hinduism can be read by Clicking Here.
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