HINDUISM: MY HUMBLE UNDERSTANDING ABOUT THIS PHENOMENON
This article was written in the background of certain events in India regarding a certain attire being prohibited in educational institutions which were branded as religious. The rampant misinformation compelled me to write the following.
I am not writing for or against the issue. I came across certain opinions regarding religious attires and accessories followed in Hinduism and I realised not many people have true understanding of Hinduism. I don’t blame them. Hinduism is not what we consider as simple.
The first mistake most people make is that they consider Hinduism as a religion and its followers have many gods.
A BIG NO!!!
Hinduism is not just a religion, it is Dharma. Dharma is not the same as religion. It’s a way of life involving fulfillment of responsibilities.
Next comes the point of worshipping many gods. Hindus have only one God whose form is unknown and who does not have a gender. The idols Hindus worship are of Devas and Devis who are not gods. They are beings with superhuman abilities and as far as I understand, they live in a different dimension called Devaloka. (As readers can see, I have added hyperlinks to certain words so that they can have a clear understanding. I could have defined those terms here but that would make this article extremely lengthy.) Yes, you read that right, Hinduism does include the concept of existence of multiple dimensions.
As far as I could understand, people from the Earth dimension were inducted into Devaloka if they achieved something great in magnitude which has affected the society in a positive sense.
Devas are divine beings who are benevolent towards humans or earth dwellers. Similarly, there is another race of divine beings called Asuras who live in another plane of existence called Patal lok. They are in constant conflicts with the Devas. Asuras in general are considered as malevolent but a few of them have benevolent nature and almost all of them are in possession of superhuman abilities. As per records of Mahabharata, Yudhishthira had asked help from Krishna to set up the capital of Indraprastha. Krishna in turn invoked Vishwakarma who designed the whole capital. Vishwakarma called upon Mayasura, an asura who was an accomplished architect to build the palace in indraprastha. So, not all Asuras were bad. This fundamental brings out the fact that even divine beings are not devoid of flaws and this projects the open mindedness of Hinduism.
As we are on the topic of Devas and Asuras, let’s understand the concept of worshipping deities or idols. First of all, Hindus do not worship the physical form of the idols but the divine entity and the energy the idol represents. The idols are just mediums of focus. Next point, deities are not replacements of Devas but they represent the form of Devas as per Hindu records and understanding. It’s not limited to the above explanation. A Deva or Devi may have more than one form. For example, goddess Kali is an incarnation of Parvati, the wife of Lord Shiva. Durga is another form of Parvati who is a demon slayer. Some Hindus pray to the form of Kali and some worship the form of Durga and some worship both. So, as you can see, Hindus worship or revere the energy or power represented by the deities and not the deities themselves. I’ll reiterate myself here, these deities of Devas are not Hindu God. As a conclusion, Hinduism cannot be called polytheistic. It’s deeper than the meaning of the word polytheism.
Why do Hindus pray to these deities? There are several reasons. Firstly, the reader needs to understand that Hindus are not preached to fear the energy or power these deities represent. As a matter of fact, some Hindus worship Asuras too. Hindus are taught to respect the energy as the abilities of the Deva or Asura represented surpass that of the person by a great magnitude. So, some Hindus worship to respect the power, some worship to gain skills in the relevant area of the Deva or to gain some other gift or boon. I’d like to produce the example of Shikhandi here who is known to have killed Bhishma. The past of Shikhandi is long and I won’t go into the minor details. The gist is Shikhandi was reincarnation of Amba who had vowed to kill Bhishma for certain well founded reasons. Amba, to fulfill her objective had tried a lot of strategies and approached a lot of mighty people to defeat Bhishma but was unsuccessful. So, in the end she underwent rigorous penance towards Lord Shiva who in turn granted Amba a boon since he was pleased with her devotion. The boon given to Amba was a reincarnation as a female who would later turn into a male and become a fierce warrior who would kill Bhishma. From the above example, we can observe three things. One, Devas can be pleased by austerities. Two, reincarnation is a concept in Hinduism. Three, karma which can be loosely defined as actions and the ripples created by those actions, has repercussions which can span generations.
I believe I have clarified certain doubts regarding so called idol worship in Hinduism. Also, those so called monotheistic religious who discourage idol worship, themselves use some figurine or object in their places of worship or their homes to which they pray. I have seen multiple instances and if anyone has any doubt regarding my opinion, he or she can go check any monotheistic religious place of worship. I don’t judge these practices, I just don’t appreciate the hypocrisy.
As I had said earlier, my article is a response to opinions raised in current events. So, another point was raised regarding people wearing rings or other accessories related to astrology and it was said that such accessories are part of Hinduism. It’s an absolutely ridiculous claim. Astrology is a specific branch of mathematics that calculates the effect of planets and stars and their motions on various events on Earth. Yes, this concept might sound absurd but it does involve mathematical calculations and the origin of astrology isn’t even in India. It originated in Mesopotamia in third millenium B.C. whose modern day location spans over Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey and Syria. Not a single country mentioned above has been associated with Hinduism. I wonder how eminent personalities opine without evidence or knowledge of facts.
The earliest record of astrology in India dates back to Vedic period. Astrology or jyotiṣa is listed as a Vedanga i.e. part of Vedas. The earliest records relevant to Jyotisha date back to second millennium B.C. The form of astrology practised in India has Hellenistic influence. As the evidence provided here suggests, Astrology is not exclusive to Hindus.
Along with astrological accessories, some other accessories and adornments were mentioned like bangles, tilak( vertical marking on the forehead), saffron shawls, necklaces made of rudraksha.
Rudraksha is indeed related to Hinduism since it literally means Shiva’s teardrops. However, it can be worn by anyone irrespective of gender, ethnicity or religion. So, technically speaking wearing a rudraksha garland is not exclusive to Hindus.
The tilak that is a vertical mark put on the forehead and the reasons for applying tilak vary according to situations. The substances used for the tilak also vary as per the ritual. For example, a tilak maybe applied after certain austerities are completed. The substances maybe vermillion and haldi but it can also be ashes and clarified butter or something else. It depends on the ritual. Tilak is also used as a form of greeting guests. Yes, it is an age old Hindu tradition but its origin is still a mystery. It has certain scientific significance to it. The position of the tilak starts from Ajna Chakra that is between the eyebrows and goes upwards along the forehead. Further details can be found here. However, I should mention that a tilak can be applied on anyone’s forehead irrespective of religion, ethnicity or gender. Also, the application of tilak is practised in many religions, even Christianity. You can refer to Wikipedia.
Next, I’d like to address the issue saffron attire, be it shawls or dhotis or any other garment. I’d come to the origin of the above coloured garments a while later. First, I should clarify that Hinduism and guidelines pertaining to Hindu culture provide a lot of choices and freedom. It should have been somewhat clear from the previous matter of this article. Now, coming to guidelines regarding dresses in Hinduism. Well, there are none. It totally depends on the choice of the individual. I agree there are various sects among Hindus and they claim to understand Hinduism. Each sect worships a certain form of God or Deva. For example, Shaivism is one of the largest sects among Hindus that believes Lord Shiva as the supreme being and its followers, Shaivites worship Shiva and they have their own rituals. They have their own food habits and guidelines regarding attire. However, it should be duly noted that Shaivism does not define the whole of Hinduism. It’s just one of many outcomes of choices given under Hinduism. Like Shaivism, there are other sects.
Some of those sects have been formed by pious, respectable people who guide their followers in the best possible manner. I can’t say that they provide precise knowledge, because I haven’t seen anyone till date who can define what Hindu Dharma is.
Now, I should mention that there are certain sects formed by malevolent people who have perverted the meaning and culture of Hinduism. I will not be ashamed to name one such person, Asaram bapu. He is convicted of raping a minor and is in prison. There are other so called Sadhus and Sadhvis ( Sadhu can be defined as an ascetic, holy man who has renounced wordly pleasures and desires. Sadhvi is the feminine of sadhu) not only preach lies and perversions to people but are also involved in the most heinous crimes you can imagine. These sadhus are fake. The list of such people is long. These people are able to reach such mass following by exploiting the ignorance of people. Karl Marx rightly said “Religion is the opium of the people.”
Now, I must mention that there are people who are Sadhus or Sadhvis in true sense. They have their own way of life away from material world. Frankly, I wish I could be one of them but I won’t give up meat even if I become one of them and I will need high speed internet. As I was saying, there exist people who are Sadhus almost by definition. I say almost by definition because there are different sects among Sadhus and again different sects have different rituals. Thus, we can’t define a Sadhu other than the fact that they renounce worldly ways.
I had started writing the previous topic to explain the relationship of saffron coloured clothes and Hinduism. I got a little side tracked but I guess you have some idea about sects in Hinduism. There’s not a single sect that compiles all the principles or meaning of Hinduism. It is simply not possible because Hindu philosophy accepts all kinds of thought processes, even those which are opposing to each other. I’ll stop beating around the bush and explain the association of saffron colour with Hinduism.
I have to present a basis for the explanation regarding saffron colour. As per Hindu Dharma, everything around us is made of five basic elements of nature that is earth, water, air, fire and ether. Eventually, fire took precedence over other elements. Fire has deep association with Hindu rituals and is revered as a source of purification, sacrifice, bringer of light, warmth as well as a mighty destroyer under influence of which everything can perish. The colour saffron or bhagwa in Hindi term, hasn’t been derived from any God or Deva. It has been derived from Agni (fire in English). So, the Hindu temple flags also called bhagwa dhwaja reminds us of Hindu heritage and sacrifices made and warmth. It stands for purity and divine light. Saffron also stands for renunciation. Sadhus wear saffron coloured dresses to signify their renunciation of materialistic desires. So, essentially the wearer of saffron coloured dresses is expected to be spiritual and devoid of any desire for material pleasures. I leave the choice of formation of opinions on the readers regarding the so called right wing activists wearing saffron coloured attire.
There are some more areas of fundamentals regarding Hindu Dharma I’d like to shed some light on but this article has already become quite lengthy.
I’ll continue with my impressions pertaining to Hindu philosophy in the next article. I promise it won’t be long.
