Open to people of all denominations.
YEAH...
Hey guys. Thanks for the invite. I wonder if my old Hinduism thread still exists...no energy to go looking for it now.
hail everyone, thanks for the invite to join. fish, you should revive the hinduism thread from time to time, there is always plenty to debate. oh btw when i question things it is mainly to establish ideas in my mind and to find interesting tangents, tis all.
Wouldn't Jains have to put Cloth over the fans on their computer so insects didn't get sucked in? Only joking. Just dropped by to say salaam to all you Ahl al-Kitab.
Hello everyone thanks for the invite, appreciate it. I'm Hindu, any Jains here?
to Spamurai, nahnu kuffar, mush ahl al-kitab, ....we dont deserve the salam...
Hinduism actually means any religion from India ... It is a big and diverse forest.... I do not like how the media is trying to portray us as simple idol worshippers, if we do not have the profoundest philosophies in history, we would not have survived since Bronze Age or more.... Zoroastrianism came way after, and it is now gone, many religions came after, and are now gone, but we are still here, and we will still be here saaadhu...
One can be a Buddhist and almost anything else. :wink: Almost.
yes I agree... Vedic religions are beautiful, accepting, tolerant and extremely diverse
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=181751 I made this .. can you guys help me decide.. thx
I've always liked that sloka. Plus it dovetails so nicely with my Vaisnava tendencies.
Pivra's making me consider Hinduism.
Hey Pivra, I definitely like the sloka. I'm more of a fan of your first drawing. Thank you for everyone who joined, and Vindicaire, and Spamurai for dropping a word in. So interesting theory, it's slightly long. My Dad's friend-a professor at Denver University-is writing his thesis on the Veda-and-Avesta split. Basically in an extremely truncated summary, the followers of the Avesta are supposed to be of the Advaita Philosophy. The Followers of the Veda were of the Dvaita Philosophy and were followers of Bhrihaspati. It was pretty interesting, I'm going to find the paper he made and link it here. I'm sure Fish, Pivra, and Ummon, you'll know a lot more about this than I.
I think Gandhi was a follower of Advaitism as well, maybe the One God theory splits from Advaita philosophy and formed Zoroastrianism while we stayed with the Paramatman (Parama+Atman; the Brahman) I like that shloka the most because it is one of the lines that takes away any doubt that Arjun had and the Gita is a very beautiful book. I am a Shaivite, but I think the Gita is one of those books that even if you take an devouted atheist and have him argue with it, he will lose and probably end up getting a religion.
Buddhism and Jainism are deeply more than knee-depth deep in the Upanishads,living in a Theravada country which was Hindu until the last 7-8 hundred years ago, Hinduism' presence is still very very strong and apparent. (Sinhalese who come here will probably be surprised by the type of Theravadism that exists here, it different from the one that exists in Sri Lanka that did not have a long Hindu presence) Temple's here many, have Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Ganesha, Indra, Virun, Aditya, Agni, Chandra or some other gods on the façades, and the Brahma and Indra are still widely worshipped here. To all my Indian friends, what happened to their popularity in India? How come Brahma and Indra are not worshipped as much anymore? Here, we have shrines for Brahma at every corner possibly one of the most famous in Asia (if not the world) is here.
that is very strange. I dunno; Indra became a lot less popular after Mahabharat. I know that There was a strong Vishnu and Shiva Resurgence and right now they are the biggest dieties. There are only 2 Brahma Temples in all of India.
oh no you guys are all horrible !!! ..... maybe because Southeast Asia disconnected itself almost completely after the wars with Chola Empire and the fall of Northern India, hence why Hinduism in this area is a lot more preserved in its old form than in India...
Eravan Shrine .... despite its name.... is the most famous shrine for Brahma in Thailand there is a big statue of Indra on his Eravan three headed elephant in the place where I live.. the emblem of our capital city is Indra... so you also see him on public benches and stuff too lol
Here's my understanding of it, but let me make a seemingly totally unrelated preface, first: Vedic hymns have to be understood on three different levels: first is the literal translation of the mantra, the second level is at the Devata level, where the specific deity in question (Agni, Indra, Mitra) is being addressed, and finally at the Parabramhan level, where the most hidden and metaphorical meanings are locked, which connect the Karmakanda to the much more overtly philosophical meanings of the Gnana-kanda (the Upanishads). Thus, the depth and complexity of the Vedas becomes astounding. Now for my theory: OVERTLY, the Vedas use much more pastoral and mythological language than the Upanishads do. They are also (again, if only taken at the literal level) much more concerned with ritualistic aspects than the more philosophical Upanishads. In India, the Gnana-kanda and the subsequent philosophical schools which arose became dominant, which was only solidified by the rise of Buddhism and the resulting shift in Hinduism towards the Vedanta schools of Sankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva. With the Upanishads becoming the dominant philosophical texts and rise of the Bhakti movement, the Puranas and Ithihasas became the main devotional texts in the public imagination. These texts are heavily devoted to Vishnu and Shiva, with Indra, et al relegated to positions of dependence upon them (this is especially seen in the stories of Vishnu's avatars, the majority of which begin with the Devas begging Vishnu to help them out in some way or the other). My understanding of Hinduism in Southeast Asia is that it is still very much influenced by the Karma-kanda aspect; at least in Balinese Hinduism, I know that ritualistic animal sacrifice and the like is widespread, something which has almost totally disappeared from mainstream Hinduism in India.
