Arjuna, Krishna, Giampaolo Tomassetti

Are you a “practising” Hindu ?

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In recent times, I see this question pop up everywhere … Are you a “practising” Hindu ? My answer is “NO”. The idea of “practising” one’s religion is a gift of Christianity and Islam because both these religions and other similar religions have a set of “practises” that are codified. You “have to” go to church on Sundays to be a practising Christian, or you “have to” confess your sins to be a practising Catholic or you “have to” do prayers five times facing Mecca if you are a practising Muslim, or you “have to” do the Haj pilgrimage with your own money if you are a practising Muslim etc etc.

As a Hindu, I can go to a temple or I need not, I can read the shlokas of my choice or I need not, I can put money in the Hundi or I need not, I can wear a Bindi or I need not, I can wear any clothes I want or go without clothes, I can make anyone or anything as my ishta devta and pray or I can be an atheist, I can light a lamp in the evening or switch on the electric lights, God is NOT important to me, my enlightenment is which leads to merging with the universal energy, I can fall at your feet as an elder or I need not, ……. there are no “have to” things/diktats/rituals/practises that make me a Hindu. So the question of “practising” Hindu is an oxymoron – if you forced to practise something, that’s not Hinduism. If you forced to believe in something, that’s not Hinduism. If you not allowed to question or debate anything, that’s not Hinduism.

Being a Hindu means being free, free to live the way you want, pray to whoever or whatever you want or not pray at all, dress the way you want, question everything, debate every scripture or epic … no restrictions. The only ask that Hinduism has is to treat everything as divine, treat human beings, animals and every rock as divine. You can choose not to and you don’t stop being a Hindu because each soul has its own Karma to fulfil and Karma is a balance sheet, you reap as you sow !!

Its precisely this freedom to be who you are and seek God/Universal Truth/Understand Mother Nature etc the way you wish to that bothers Islam and Christianity. Both the Abrahamic religions try and dictate a way of life and Hinduism lets you choose your way of life … this is the crux of the conflict. Mull over it and choose with awareness, and if you are a Hindu please don’t “practise” Hinduism, just be a Hindu.

The following thread on Twitter caught my attention and inspired this blog because Hindus have adopted many terms and “practises” from other religions and they try to pass it off as Hinduism. There are many ramifications of this happening, the smallest of it is the annihilation of my “way of life”. Its important to understand that and nip this flower (no longer a bud) atleast now. Again, you can choose to be a Hindu or not be… but remember that “choice” is/maybe/could be short-lived in the current world scenario.

The twitter thread –

Thread by @mysql_sync: #thread TEN THINGS A HINDU SHOULD AVOID WHILE USING ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1. Please STOP USING the word “GOD FEARING” – Hindus never ever fear Go…

#thread
TEN THINGS A HINDU SHOULD AVOID WHILE USING ENGLISH LANGUAGE
1. Please STOP USING the word “GOD FEARING” – Hindus never ever fear God. For us, God is everywhere and we are also integral part of God. God is not a separate entity to fear.
@Sanjay_Dixit @Aabhas24 @agniveer
2. Please DO NOT USE the meaningless term “RIP” – Rest in peace, when someone dies. Use “Om Shanti”, “Sadgati / Vaikuntha / Sivaloka praptirastu” or “I wish this atma attains moksha”. Hinduism neither has the concept of “soul” nor its
@VandanaJayrajan @sambhashan_in @mkm4118
“resting”. The terms “Atma” and “Jeeva” are, in a way, antonyms for the word “soul”. 3. Please DON’T USE the word “MYTHOLOGY” for our historic epics (Itihas) Ramayana and Mahabharata. Rama and Krishna are historical heroes, not just mythical characters.
@BabaIndic @SoniUpadhyaya
3. Please DON’T BE APOLOGETIC about IDOL WORSHIP and say “Oh, that’s just symbolic”. ALL RELIGIONS HAVE IDOLATRY in kinds or forms – cross, words, letters (calligraphy) or direction. Also let’s stop using the words
@Alphha9 @prashantiAshish @MohanShobitha @gopugoswami @JAIN_24T
the words ‘idols’, ‘statues’ or ‘images’ when we refer to the sculptures of our Gods. Use the terms ‘Moorthi’ or ‘Vigraha’. If words like Karma, Yoga, Guru and Mantra can be in the mainstream, why not Moorthi or Vigraha?
@Simran79 @Priyankavanshi @radvind @DharmaOfVedas
4. Please DON’T REFER to Ganesh and Hanuman as “ELEPHANT GOD” and “MONKEY GOD” respectively. You can simply write Shree Ganesh and Shree Hanuman.
@caa_nrc_best @Anshulspiritual
5. Please DON’T REFER to our TEMPLES as PRAYER HALLS. Temples are “devalaya” (abode of god) and not “prathanalaya” (Prayer halls).
6. Please DON’T wish your children “black birthday” by LETTING THEM TO BLOW OFF the CANDLES that kept at the top of the birth day cake.
@vishalaary
Don’t throw spit on the divine fire (Agni Deva). Instead, ask them to pray: “Oh divine fire, lead me from darkness to light” (Thamasoma Jyotirgamaya) by lighting a lamp. These are all strong images that go to deep psyche.
@reenasingh81 @aiyer_meera @Ji0402Shree @mehergardhBaloc
7. Please AVOID using the words “SPIRITUALITY” and “MATERIALISTIC”.
8. For a Hindu, everything is divine. The words spirituality and materialism came to India through evangelists and Europeans who had a concept of Church vs State. Or
@SujayRane @BolakaniKomal @Aadishakti_101
Science vs Religion. On the contrary, in India, Sages were scientists and the foundation stone of Sanatan Dharma was Science.
9. Please DON’T USE the word “SIN” instead of “Papa”. We only have Dharma (duty, righteousness, responsibility and
@shagun_bh @brahman_kanya @Nidhi283
privilege) and Adharma (when dharma is not followed). Dharma has nothing to do with social or religious morality. ‘Papa’ derives from Adharma.

10. Please DON’T USE loose translation like MEDITATION for “dhyana” and ‘BREATHING EXERCISE’ for “Pranayama”.
@LiberanduTweets

It conveys wrong meanings.
Use the original words. REMEMBER, THE WORLD RESPECTS ONLY THOSE WHO RESPECT THEMSELVES!
Credit for the thread : @nevileprpt
I think its time to put down my pen . Hope you ill like this thread too

Thanks & Regards

#Agyaat

Credit for this post : @fgautier26 sir 🙏🙏

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