Return to Index1) Hindus believe in the divinity of soul –
every soul – human or otherwise.
Everything is sacred because it is embibed with the presence
of the omnipresent Universal Spirit.
2) Hindus believe in an
absolutely omnipresent,
omnipotent God.
This God is not jealous nor feels threatened by “other gods”, as all
aspects of divinity are aspects of the self same GOD !
Hindu GOD is polymorphic rather than polytheistic.
3)
Hindus believe the Vedas to be the breath of GOD.
As "breath" is constant and eternal,
Hindus believe God
talks to all His creation all the time and there is no end to this conversation !
The Vedas we have are but a fraction of that
conversation.
4)
Hindus believe time is
truly eternal.
There is no begining and no end to divine cycles of creation and destruction.
There was no time when there wasn’t God and
there will be no time when God will not be there.
Being omnipresent, God is everywhere, at all times.
5)
Hindus believe in the universality of the law of
Karma, which enjoins everyone to work to better their lives.
It clearly states that what you do "now" will affect your future, so work and
work hard to have a wonderful future.
We are not fatalistic
- ie believe in "fate" - we believe in "action" !!
God
usually does not interfere with the karmic cycle, and hence the
Law of Karma is aligned with the laws of
science – action = reaction !
6)
Hindus believe the soul is eternal and does not
suffer death.
Hence, when the physical body
“dies”, the soul simply moves on to another body.
Therefore, there is no value in a physical resurection of the "body".
As a result, we are perfectly OK to dispose of the dead body by burial, burning
or disposing in the waters.
Hindus see even "re-birth" as simply trans-migration of the soul.
7) Hindus respect everyone's
right to find that their own spiritual path.
There is no dogmatic, "YOU MUST DO IT THIS WAY OR I WILL KILL YOU" in Hinduism.
That is one of the reasons why Hindus could not understand the whemence with
which Islam and Christinaity insisted they were the only ones to be right.
HHindus gave Jews, early Christians and Zorastrians safe refuge when they faced
anhiliation in their own lands.
8) Hinduism gave birth to Jainism,
Buddhism and Sikhism.
Even if at times these religions haven't acknowledged their debt to their
philosophical source, Hinduism has been on friendly terms with religions it gave
birth to.
9) Judaism gave birth to Christianity and Islam.
These three religions have been at constant war with each other. Though
they preach 'tolerance', history bears witness to lack of tolerance between
them. Christianity and Islam are constantly trying to convert people to
their own faith. Both these religions believe that their messiah will only
return when all Jews have converted to their faith. As a result, Jews have
been coerced, converted by forced or killed to speed up the arrival of the 'END'
days.
10) Hinduism is resilient.
Despite living under hostile rule of Islam and Christianity for nearly a
thousand years, Hinduism has survived in the land of its origin.
In most countries where Islam rules, local religion and culture is wiped out and
history before Islam is obliterated. Egypt is an exception but even here,
Europeans rediscovered the history of Egypt in 19th Century and Muslims have
only let the big monuments survive because there is tourist dollars to be made
from it.
In most countries invaded by the Christians, native religion has been declared
as pagan or uncivilised and its institutions shut down.