Learning India

You should approach this article with skepticism.

As we have said, while beliefs are an important component of religion, they are not the most important part about being a Hindu. A Hindu can reject nearly all the usual teachings of Hinduism and still confidently call herself a Hindu if she belongs to a Hindu community and performs the normal behaviors.

So, what do Hindus believe?

Hindu beliefs can be extremely diverse. Since Hinduism was formed as an amalgamation of several belief systems and not from one common source, it is very hard to identify some universal beliefs that apply to most Hindus.

So, you should cautiously approach anyone who says, “This is what Hindus believe.”

Instead of trying to give a full systematic theology for Hinduism (which doesn’t exist), I’ve pulled out five things that most Hindus will incorporate into their belief systems, as well as how they talk and act. [Read more…]

 

It is a great idea on your part.

You are working with Indians or moving to India, and you want to be prepared. You want to be sensitive. So you start learning about the culture and decide you need to know something about Hinduism. “What is Hinduism?” you ask yourself.

You get online and browse around some websites. You order a book that looks good. Maybe you get really ambitious and try to read the Bhagavad Gita.

You are trying to dip your toe into the shallow end of the pool just to get a feel for what Hinduism is, and how learning about it will help you live and work better with India.

However, if you are like most of us, you will abandon this pretty quickly for one or more reasons:

 

1. The content is way too philosophical. It tries to explain the difference between Vedanta and Mimamsa in the second chapter. It gets too deep too fast, and there is no frame of reference.
2. The content is overly spiritualized. Everything seems to be about seeking the inner god in you, being a good person, etc. It strikes you more as “new age” than a multi-millennia religion.
3. The content isn’t consistent. If you are comparing what you read from different sources, you notice large gaps and contradictory statements that make no sense when put together.
4. It doesn’t match up with what you observe and experience in everyday life. The whole reason you wanted to learn what is Hinduism in the first place is to gain an insight into working with Hindus. However, more than 90% of what you learned is useless in conversation and understanding daily life.

There ends your short journey into learning about Hinduism.

 

I don’t claim to be an expert on Hinduism, but I think we are approaching it the wrong way. Trying to learn abstractly about Hinduism and then apply those lessons onto individuals will not help you. [Read more…]