and happiness found in Hinduism, our

ancient religion

which brings forth

the wonderful feelings of a belief in the cosmic

processes of reincarnation

coupled with

knowledge of the laws of karma and the

wisdom of dharma in which everyone has

his rightful place and purpose in life. It brings

the broadmindedness of total acceptance of

all other religions as expressions of the One

God’s creation, the blessing of a complete

devotional path revolving around powerful

temples, the fulfillment of a profound mystical

teaching founded on yoga and brought

forth by the seers and saints and gurus, and

so much more. Our religion is so strong, so rich

and varied that very few can claim to understand

it in its completeness. It is immense, an

immense religion, so immense that we have

difficulty sometimes explaining it to those who

hold to a simpler doctrine, especially if they

have been subjected to erroneous concepts

about our religion promulgated by invaders

and missionaries of a score of alien religions.

It is time that the world knew of the greatness

of Hinduism, knew it as it is. Of course,

we cannot explain it in an evening. My satguru,

the great Siva Yogaswami of Columbuthurai,

would say, “The time is short and the subject

is vast.” But we can have a look at some of the

aspects of Hinduism that bring such joys and

happiness to over a billion devotees around

the world. 診ach Hindu’s belief in reincarnation

is so strong that it totally eliminates

the fear and dread of death. No true Hindu

really fears death; nor does he look forward

to it. The word death in the vocabulary of the

Hindu holds a different meaning. He

does not take death to be the end of

existence; nor does he look upon life

as a singular opportunity to be followed

by eternal heavenly existence

for those souls who do well, and by

unending hell for those who do not.

Death for the Hindu is merely transition,

simultaneously an end and a

new beginning. Over two thousand

years ago, Saint Tiruvalluvar wrote,

“Death is like falling asleep, and birth

is like awakening

from that sleep”

(Tirukural 339). In one of the ancient

languages of our religion, the physical

body had a name which literally

meant “that which is always drop

dropping off.” 貿he Hindu’s knowledge of reincarnation

gives him the hope of attaining a future

birth and in that birth making further progress

toward the perfection that he intuitively

knows is his atman, his soul. He is working in

this life to gain enough good merit, enough

punya, to deserve welcome into a fine religious

family as a good soul that will not upset the

family but add to its love and harmony and

productivity. That is one aim ever on the

mind of the devout Hindu, to live well that

he may live even more perfectly in a future

life on this planet. That is our aim; and our

other beliefs, our accumulated knowledge

and the many facets of our religion, give

us the strength and the wisdom to believe

in such a far-reaching way, to look beyond

the immediate day-to-day concerns

into

our ultimate objective, which is realization

and liberation, moksha. 賁or is this

belief in the cycles of earthly existence, in

reincarnation, merely a belief. It is a certain

knowledge for those who have had

even a tiny glimpse into their origins to

the point of remembering another life or

just intuiting that the soul did not come

into existence just before one’s birth. The

Hindu believes that the soul undertakes

many

sojourns on the planet. We see the wisdom in

this cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

Karma Is Always Just: We see reincarnation

as an explanation for many of the apparent

inequalities observed

in life. Thus we

understand the fairness even in a bad

birth, say a birth as a cripple or a child

who dies in infancy. To the Hindu this is

not an accident, but is a natural event

brought forth by the soul itself through

the karma of unseemly acts and desires

in a previous life. To the Hindu there is

not one force in the universe at work to

make all things good and an opposing

force trying to destroy the soul. No. All

is God’s work. All karma is natural and

worthy of the soul to which it comes.

貿he Hindu knows that it is the younger

souls who lack understanding, who

cannot live in harmony with others and

who shun the higher forms of culture

and faith. Rather than inheriting eternal suffering

for their acts, they earn instead another

opportunity for experience, for learning, for

evolving. The ideas of sin and evil

are different in Hinduism from the

concepts held by Abrahamic religions.

If there is such a thing as sin

to the Hindu, it is the breaking of

the natural laws, a lapse in the patterns

of karma and dharma,

and

that transgression brings its own

punishment in the form of an additional

karma created to then be

worked

out. Thus the Hindu does

not live in fear of sin or under the

notion of original sin. We do not

look upon humanity as inherently

sinful, but inherently

perfect and

striving to unfold that perfection

from within. The Hindu knows that

we will have as many opportunities as needed

to refine and evolve our nature—a thousand

lives or more if needed. We don’t have to think

that we only have a single chance, a one life in

which everything must be accomplished and

all desires

must be fulfilled. Therefore, we are

not in a hurry. We are patient.

We exhibit more patience with

circumstances than do those

who believe in a one life, and

we are more forgiving

of ourselves

when we fall short. Thus

it is that Hinduism

offers a great

joy to its followers—a blessing

of fearlessness in the face

of death, an assurance of the

continuation of consciousness

after physical death, another

assurance

that each soul creates

its own karma and that such karma

is just and right, even when it

seems that some people are less

fortunate than others and that

fate has unfairly given all the advantages to a

few. All these things are bestowed on Hindus

simply because they understand the doctrine

of reincarnation.

象induism is a hopeful and

comforting religion. Hope for a future

life makes this life worthwhile,

joyous,

contented and happy, because the

Hindu

can live and deal with current

problems, knowing that they are transitory

problems, that they will not last

forever; nor will they affect us forever.

They are problems; we cannot deny

that. But they are problems to be

worked out with a positive attitude

and a high energy and a helping hand

from our Gods.

The World As Our Teacher: The

Hindu also wants to improve conditions

in the world, in the physical

world. We do not look upon all that

happens to us as unreal. That is a misconception.

It is real. Life is real. It is through life that

we progress. Life is the means provided by

the Primordial God for finding Reality. True,

it is maya. But it is maya in the form of mind,

in the form of form. Maya, or form, or mind,

is created for a purpose, to help man evolve,

not to bind him in illusion. The Hindu understands

this. We want to help humanity,

and simultaneously we know that we

may well return in another physical body.

So we are working not only for ourselves,

but for our loved ones, not only now, but

in the future as well. We are improving

the world for future generations in which

we will play a part. 貿hrough our knowledge

of reincarnation, we have a great

love and understanding

for every human

being, for they have been our mothers,

our fathers, our sons and daughters, our

grandparents and companions in many

past lives, or perhaps will be in a future

incarnation. This expanded

knowledge of

the interrelatedness of humanity brings

with it a deepened appreciation,

helping us to

understand why it is that some people seem

so close to us though we hardly know them

and others are strangers or even enemies after

years of close association. To the Hindu,

everyone younger is his brother or sister.

Everyone older is his mother or father, and

he maintains a deep respect for others.

We have this knowledge by having lived

through many hundreds of lives on this

planet and having been associated with

many thousands of people. We know that

in our current pattern in this life we often

attract those to us whom we have been

with in past lives. So we have a great joy

and happiness in meeting them again and

a deep knowledge of our relationships,

our psychic relationships, with them in

past lives. 貿he Hindu believes in the law

of karma, the ability to earn one’s rewards

as well as punishments. All this we can do ourselves

with the help of our Gods and our personal

relationship with our Ishta Devata,

the

individual God that we have chosen, or rather

that God who has chosen to love, guide and

protect us through an incarnation. 貂n Hinduism

there is no priest standing between the

devotee and God. The priest is a servant of

the God, just as is every other devotee.

Even the satguru, the spiritual

teacher, does not stand between the

disciple and God, but seeks instead to

strengthen the devotee’s direct experiential

relationship with the Divine.

The Hindu thus finds a great joy in his

relationship with God and the Gods. It

is his relationship, and he alone is able

to perpetuate it. No one can do this

work for him or on his behalf. There is

a great happiness there between the

devotee and the God resident

in the

Hindu temple, which is the communication

point with the God, as is the

sacred home shrine.

The Joy of Pilgrimage: In our religious life,

one of the most fulfilling aspects is pilgrimage.

We have a joy in looking forward to a spiritual

journey, and we experience a contentment

while on our pilgrimage and later

bask in the glowing aftermath of

the pujas. It is like going to see a

great friend, a devotee’s most loved

friend—the Ishta Devata. We travel

to the far-off temple where this

great friend is eminently present. At

that particular temple, this personal

God performs a certain function,

offers a specific type of blessing

to pilgrims who make the pilgrimage

to that home. In this way, different

temples become famous for

answering certain types of prayers,

such as requests for financial help,

or prayers for the right mate in marriage,

prayers to be entrusted with the raising

of high-souled children, or help in matters of

yoga, or help in inspiring bhakti and love. 貿he

Hindu does not have the feeling of having to

take a vacation to “get away from it all.” We

don’t lead a life of mental confusions, religious

contradictions and the frustrations that result

from modern hurried living. We lead a moderate

life, a religious life. In living a

moderate life, we then look at our

pilgrimage as a special moment, a

cherished time of setting ordinary

concerns aside and giving full stage

to our religious longings. It is a time

to take problems and prayers to our

personal God. 貸nlike the proud

“free thinkers” who deem themselves

emancipated, above the religious

life, we Hindus feel that receiving

the darshana from the Gods and

the help that comes therein invigorates

our being and inspires us to be

even more diligent in our spiritual

life. Unlike the rationalists who feel

confident that within themselves lie all the

resources to meet all needs, and that praying

to Gods for help is a pathetic exercise in futility,

the Hindu wisely submits to the Divine

and thus avoids the abyss of disbelief. 詛ll

in life that one would want to “get away

from” the Hindu takes with him on a pilgrimage

to the temple, to the feet of his

personal God, to the inner-plane being or

Mahadeva, who needs no physical body

with which to communicate

with people—

to the God who has a nerve system

so sensitive and well developed that as it

hovers over the stone image, which looks

similar to how the Deity would look on

the inner planes, this being of light can

communicate with the pilgrims who

visit the temple. This being of light, this

Mahadeva, can and does absorb all of

the dross the devotees have to offer, and

gives back blessings which bring happiness

and release to them. Thus, the pilgrimage is

not travel in the ordinary sense of travel, but

rather going to see a personal friend, one who

is nearest and dearest, but does not live in a

physical body. 貿he Hindu has another great

joy—the certainty of liberation. Even

in difficult times, we are solaced in the

knowledge of our religion which tells us

that no soul that ever existed or ever will

exist in future extrapolations of time and

space will ever fail to attain liberation.

The Hindu knows that all souls will one

day merge into God; and he knows that

God, who created all souls, slowly guides

our maturing into His likeness, brings us

back to Himself, which is not separate

from ourselves. The Hindu, through striving

and personal development in this life

on this planet, knows that liberation into

God is the final goal. This knowing and

this belief release us from any ego, from

any superiority

by which one person

considers himself or herself as especially meriting

God’s grace while others are lost. For the

Hindu, there is an assurance that all souls will

eventually enjoy liberation, and that includes

ourselves and all of our friends and

family. We need never fear otherwise.

The Joy of Mystisicm: Then there

is the joy of the mysticism of Hinduism.

It is the world’s most magical religion,

offering worlds within worlds of

esoteric discovery and perception. The

inner worlds are what Hindu mystics

tell of in the greatest richness and

freedom of expression that exists on

the planet. Mysticism in Hinduism is

more out-front than in all the other

religions of the world. As a result, it is

enjoyed by more of the people in our

religion. Mysticism is discussed more

broadly and not limited to a few great

souls or a handful of pandits. The mysticism

of Hinduism is for all the people; yet, too, in

its esoteric aspect it is protected at its core

and kept sacred by being kept secret. How

grand is the Hindu mystical tradition, with its

sadhanas and yogas, with its wealth of understanding

of the etheric bodies, of the nadis

and the chakras, of the aura and the pranas,

of the various states of consciousness

and levels of existence, and so much

more. No other religion on the Earth

can ever begin to equal Hinduism’s

mystical teachings; all that wealth is

the rightful inheritance of each Hindu.

貿he Hindu enjoys all the facets

of life as transmuted into a religious

expression in art. The Hindu’s art is a

religious art—drawing, painting

and

sculpture of the Gods, the devas, and

the saints of our religion. The music

is devotional and depicts the tones of

the higher chakras, echoes the voices

of the Gods; and the dance emulates

the movements of the Gods. We are

never far away from sights, sounds and symbols

of our religion. A mountaintop represents

Lord Siva; a hill represents Lord Murugan,

Karttikeya;

and sugar cane fields represent Lord

Ganesha. Everything

that one sees on the

planet represents something religious. Art is

not merely for egotistical and existential selfexpression,

but for spiritual expression, done

consciously in service to the Divine. That is why

one seldom sees or even knows the name of

the artist of the great Hindu artistic creations.

The artist is not creating in order to become

famous or rich. He is surrendering his talents,

serving his Gods and his religion through his

art, and his art takes on a certain sacredness.

費ne great joy that the Hindu has is the appreciation

for all other religions. Hinduism is theocentric,

that means God-centric, whereas most

other religions are prophet-centric, revolving

around the personality of some living person

or some person who once lived in history and

interpreted religion to his culture in his time.

Hinduism has no founder. It was never founded.

It has neither a beginning nor an end. It is

coexistent with man himself. That is why it is

called the Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal Path.

It is not one man’s teaching or interpretation.

It is not limited to a single facet of religion, but

consists of the entire spectrum, seen in its various

components as if through a prism. It does

not say that this religion is wrong and this one

right. It sees God everywhere, manifesting all

the great religions. The Hindu can appreciate

Buddha without becoming a Buddhist. He can

understand Jesus without becoming a Christian.

Therefore, the joys of all the religions of

the world become the joys of the Hindu. 詐ut

as Hindus, we must first think of the joys and

happiness within our own religion. Consider

our blessings. Come closer to the Gods of our

religion. The many Gods are in the Western

world now and have circumferenced the

planet with their shakti of radiant rays that

penetrate with spiritual power, bringing harmony

and culture, balancing out the dharma

of the planet. 象induism is such a great religion.

All practicing Hindus are very proud of

their religion. Unfortunately, these days

too many born into the religion are not

all that proud to be Hindus, but this is

slowly changing. Hindus are now welcoming

into their religion others who are,

of their own volition,

adopting or converting

into the Sanatana Dharma. They

are proud enough of their faith to want

others to share its wisdom, its mysticism,

its scriptures, its broadmindedness, its

magnificent temples and its final conclusions

for all mankind. To all Hindus, who

today are found in every country on the

Earth, I say: Courage! Courage! Courage!

Have the courage to know beyond

a doubt that Hinduism is the greatest

religion in the world. We must be proud of this.

Hinduism Cannot Be Destroyed: It is false

to think that one has to be born a Hindu in

order to be a Hindu. That is a concept postulated

by certain caste-based Hindu lineages

and reinforced by the Christians in their effort

to hinder the growth of our religion, to deprive

it of new life, to hold it down while they in

turn try to convert Hindus en masse

to their religion. Swami Vivekananda

 , a Hindu monk and missionary

who wrote extensively on the Hindu

Dharma, when confronted by this same

issue in the West would explain how Hindus

who have been converted by force

should not be denied an opportunity of

returning to their ancestral religion. As

for the case of those not born into Hinduism

who might be interested to join it,

he simply said, “Why, born aliens have

been converted in the past by crowds,

and the process is still going on.” Dr. S.

Radhakrishnan

 , the distinguished

Hindu philosopher who became

the second president of India, confirms this

view in writing, “In a sense, Hinduism may be

regarded as the first example in the world of a

missionary religion. Only its missionary spirit

is different from that associated with the

proselytizing creeds. It did not regard as

its mission to convert humanity to one

opinion. For what counts is conduct and

not belief. The ancient practice of vratyastoma,

described fully in the Tandya

Brahmana, shows that not only individuals

but whole tribes were absorbed into

Hinduism.” 訴uring the era of India’s

domination by alien religions, when Hinduism

was scheduled to be destroyed,

the attack was to be carried out in three

ways. The first strategy was to convince

the women to abandon their age-old stri

dharma—

of maintaining the home, its

purity and ways of worship—thus drawing

them away from the household in order

to receive a so-called “higher education” or to

teach in alien religious schools, thus denying

future generations the mother’s religious counsel

and grounding in the dharma. The second

strategy was to overtly break down the various

castes of temple priests by enticing them to

accept other, often higher paying, occupations,

thus leaving the temples unattended.

貿he third strategy was to convince

Hindus that they had inherited

a crude and outdated religion.

This last attack was accomplished

mainly through ridicule, by ridiculing

every aspect of the religion

that could possibly be ridiculed.

For example, those who slandered

Hinduism claimed it has no sacraments.

Why, Hinduism has more

sacraments, more sacred rites and

ceremonies for its members, than

perhaps any other religion in the

world. These sacraments include

the namakarana samskara, name-

giving sacrament; annaprashana, first feeding;

karnavedha,

ear-piercing; vidyarambha, commencement

of learning; vivaha, marriage; and

many others. 貿hough India was politically

dominated for generations by adherents of

alien faiths, and though every attempt

was made to discourage, weaken and

crush the native religion, the carefully

calculated, systematic assault failed to

destroy Hinduism. Hinduism cannot

be destroyed. It is the venerable eternal

religion, the Sanatana Dharma. But

it was an effective campaign that has

left in its wake deep samskaric patterns,

deep subconscious impressions, which

still persist in the minds of the Indian

people. It is going to be difficult to

completely eradicate these impressions,

but with the help of all the millions of

Hindus throughout the world, in adhering

to and extolling the benefits and

joys of Hinduism and the gifts which it

holds for mankind, this is possible and feasible,

within the range of accomplishment, perhaps

within this very generation.

Bringing in Ardent Seekers: Hindus

should freely welcome sincere devotees

into

their religion, not those who already have a

firm religion and are content, but those who

are seeking, who believe,

as millions in the

West already believe, in the laws of karma

and reincarnation and the existence of the

ever-present God that permeates this

planet and the universe. Hindus should

freely embrace those who believe in

the Gods and all we have been speaking

about earlier, for whom other religious

avenues have proved empty and

fruitless. There are certain matured

souls for whom the Sanatana Dharma

can be the only true religion, who have

no other religion and who will seek

and seek until they come upon its profound

truths, perhaps in an old scripture,

or in a temple sanctum during puja or in

the eyes of an awakened siddha yogi. These

souls we must help. We must teach them of

our religion and allow them to fully accept or

reject it, to accept it because they know it, or

to reject it because they know it and

are not ready to meet Maha Ganapati

and humbly sit at the feet of this most

profound Lord. 貿here are many lost

souls on the planet today who die in

the physical world—lose their physical

body—wander on the astral plane a

short time and are caught up immediately

in another womb. They have

no knowledge of other states of existence

or of the workings of reincarnation.

They have no time for the bliss of

these in-between, astral states. They

have no time for assessing their last

life and preparing for the next, which

they could then enter with new knowledge,

no time for inner attunement

with the Gods in the inner worlds between

death and birth. Instead, they are caught in a

constant cycle of flesh, making flesh and living

in flesh, with the soul being immersed in

ignorance and the darkness of the consciousness

of flesh. Hinduism eradicates this cycle by

offering knowledge of the states between life

and death and then life again. It creates deep

impressions within the mind of these individuals,

which then bring them out of this syndrome

so that they can enjoy months,

years, in fact, of education and knowledge

in the inner planes of consciousness

between births, so that they can

come back into a physical body a

more awakened soul than when they

left their last physical sheath at death.

超e must not be reluctant to welcome

these sincere Hindu souls and

to assist them in finding the answers

they seek and do not find elsewhere.

It is our dharma to help them. Hinduism

has always welcomed adoptives

and converts. Bring in new people to

the religion. Teach them. Help them.

Counsel them. Proceed with confidence.

Have courage,

courage, courage.

 

(The Blog  is reverently for all the seekers of truth, lovers of wisdom and   to sharethe Hindu Dharma with others on the spiritual path and also this is purely  a non-commercial)