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Revision as of 23:05, 24 October 2012 by Hihi222 (talk | contribs) (→Status of Women)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) This article is about social and cultural criticism of Hinduism. For bias and/or prejudice against Hindus, see anti-Hindu. | This article contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (July 2010) |
Some of the practices and beliefs held by Hindus have been criticized, both by Hindus and non-Hindus. Early Hindu reformers, such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy, had questioned practices such as Sati and discrimination based on the Caste system and Jantu Bali i.e. animal sacrifice,though Sati was never a forceful part in Vedic hinduism . Vedic Hinduism treats every living thing with respect and states that every living thing in this world has equal rights if Existence, It is said in Hinduism that no person /animal should be killed unless it becomes a threat for Humanity . However, these misconceptions about wrong practices in Hinduism are no longer prevalent in Independent India. Similarly several critics allege that the stringent caste system evolved over several centuries a by-product of the varna system that is mentioned in the ancient Hindu scriptures.
Mythology
Hinduism in Kali era is a compilation of Scriptures and philosophies over 5000 years. Hinduism has Theist, Atheist, Vedic, and non-Vedic Scriptures.
New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (1977) states: "Indian mythology is an inextricable jungle of luxuriant growths. When you enter it you lose the light of day and all clear sense of direction. In a brief exposition one cannot avoid over-simplification. But at least one can point out how, in the most favorable circumstances, paths may be traced leading to a methodical exploration of this vast domain" Every person can understand and follow theistic Hinduism, which will lead to inner peace . Hinduism is a "Way of life" . Most of the principles in Hinduism is Scientific. For Example "Surya Namaskar" which regulates bodily functions and helps to stay fit and decease free. YOG i.e. various forms of Meditation is miraculous in treating deceases . "Ayurved" Natural Medication by use of herbs was developed by Hindu yogis/ rishimuni (i.e. Sage/ Saints), Ayurveda medicine has no Side-effects . First Surgery in the World was performed in India by a Hindu Sage (Sage in hinduism is a term for person with true and immense knowledge ). Actually,it is based on universal principles of nature,life and universe. For example look their basic mantra i.e. Gayatri Mantra,it is about the Goddess Sandhya or gayatri that is morning or evening time it is regarded good time to pray or be calm in every religion or living style/pattern whether human or not.
Idol Worship
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Western criticism of Hinduism as superstitious idolatry are based on the religious texts of Abrahamic religions which denounce and condemn the practice of creating Idols and Worshiping them.But the lesser known fact is that Hinduism in its core believes that All Gods and idols are one, they have come of the supreme creator of the Universe, who has no shape, no size. The supreme creator is immense form of Enegry from which everything is made up of . Scientifically idol worship helps to visualise god and makes it easy to follow good principles . Each GOD/Idol in Hinduism represents a group of special Quality, those which a person can try to follow and inherit from the deity. It makes it easy to believe in a "form" of Supreme Power god, rather than believing in Formless Supreme Power . Hinduism Clearly Sates that "GOD , the supreme power if formless , He takes Several Forms to help Humans and Humanity". A lot of misconceptions about Hinduism has come in to existence after Invasion of India by Mughals, One of the passages in the Bible that criticize idol worship reads as follow.
Their idols are silver and gold, The work of the hands of earthling man. A mouth they have, but they cannot speak; Eyes they have, but they cannot see; Ears they have, but they cannot hear. A nose they have, but they cannot smell. Hands are theirs, but they cannot feel. Feet are theirs, but they cannot walk; They utter no sound with their throat. Those making them will become just like them, All those who are trusting in them.- Psalms 115:4-8
Hindu reformist movements in the 18th - 19th centuries such as the Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj, were highly critical of image worship. The 11 th century Persian scholar, Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī, was the first non-Indian to analyze Hinduism in the context of idol worship while translating the works of Hindu cleric Patanjali from Sanskrit to Persian. He concluded:
The Hindus believe with regard to God that he is one, eternal, without beginning and end, acting by free-will, almighty, all-wise, living, giving life, ruling, preserving; one who in his sovereignty is unique, beyond all likeness and unlikeness, and that he does not resemble anything nor does anything resemble.
However the truth is, although Vedas describe God as a power beyond imagination, they do not reject Idol Worship. In Puja Vidhaan/Prakriya, there is a host of procedures such as (1).Suchi i.e. cleanliness, use of silks, (2). Muhurat i.e. Auspicious Timing (3).Guru vandanam(4).Symbols such as wearing preferably silks, donning tilak or decoration of the pooja griha and mandir with lights, flowers & rangoli (5). Solemnising the deity - avaahana (invitation), sthaapan (installation) and puja (worship). (3). Use of 'puja dravya' such as ganga jal, akshata, kumkum, turmeric, panchamrita et., (6).Invocation through mantras or dhyanam i.e. silent meditation (7).'kirtans / bhajans' i.e. transcendental experience (7). Gifts to friends & relatives and Charity to the poor. Inter alia, the idol becomes an interface with the God - although He is formless the devotee can conjure the Lord of his definition in all his grandeur, power and divine attributes like karuna and kripa. That 'He' is formless is known to every Hindu but idol worship is one of the several ingredients of Bhakti to enable mortal beings of different backgrounds and limitations to approach and experience Him the one Supreme Being.
Christopher John Fuller, professor of anthropology at London School of Economics notes that an image cannot be equated with a deity and the object of worship is the deity whose power is inside the image, and the image is not the object of worship itself. It is that mind and soul are thrown into the idol in the same manner as a ventriloquist throws his voice into a nearby person.
In fact A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada translates the Bhakti Yoga the essence of which was delivered by Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita, "Be steadfast in yoga (yoga-sthaḥ), O Arjuna. Perform your duty (kuru karmani) and gain knowledge of the ultimate truth about me and abandon all attachment (sangam) to success or failure (siddhy-asiddhyoḥ). Such evenness of mind (samatvam) is called yoga." This higher level knowledge is since time immemorial. It is well known that Lord Sri Rama, the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu, worshipped Lord Shiva at Rameswaram - before the war making a 'Saikatha Lingam' to grant him victory and once again after the victory to absolve him any sins that he might have committed during his war against the demon king Ravana in Srilanka.
Criticism is levelled by those whose understanding of Sanskrit and the full theme of Hindu Ideology is poor and that's the reason many scholars have asserted that the notion carried by Abrahamic religions about Hindu Idol Worship is wrong and misleading..
Varna System
Untouchables used to live separately within a separate subcultural context of their own, outside the inhabited limits of villages and townships. No other castes would interfere with their social life since untouchables were lower in social ranking than even those of the shudra varna. As a result, Dalits were commonly banned from fully participating in Hindu religious life (they could not pray with the rest of the social classes or enter the religious establishments).
The inclusion of lower castes into the mainstream was argued for by Mahatma Gandhi who called them "Harijans" (people of God). The term Dalit is used now as the term Harijan is largely felt patronizing. As per Gandhi's wishes, reservation system with percentage quotas for admissions in universities and jobs has been in place for many lower castes since independence of India to bring them to the upper echelons of society. Dalit movements have been created to represent the views of Dalits and combat this traditional oppression. Caste-based discrimination is not unique to Hindus in India; converts to other religions and their descendants frequently preserve such social stratification.
Caste System
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When India gained independence due to the efforts of Hindus like Gandhi, perfect equality was thrust upon the masses of India, no matter to what caste one belonged to, thus reestablishing and continuing the ancient tradition of India.
Untouchability was outlawed after India gained independence in 1947. It will take some time for the deadweight of tradition of the rigid caste system to be removed from India. But as enlightened Hinduism and Buddhism, as preached by Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, and others are reaching the masses, slowly these shackles are being dissolved.
—from Conversations with Yogananda, Crystal Clarity Publishers, 2003.
Status of Women
Sati
Main article: Sati (practice)
Whether Sati is a practice or a religious law is open for debate. For instance, Brahmin scholars of the second millennium justified the practice, and gave reasonings as to how the scriptures could be said to justify them. Among them were Vijnanesvara, of the Chalukya court, and later Madhavacharya, theologian and minister of the court of the Vijayanagara empire, according to Shastri, who quotes their reasoning. It was lauded by them as required conduct in righteous women, and it was explained that this was considered not to be suicide (suicide was otherwise variously banned or discouraged in the scriptures).
It was deemed an act of peerless piety, and was said to purge the couple of all accumulated sin, guarantee their salvation and ensure their reunion in the afterlife. See main article on Sati in Misplaced Pages. In the later medieval ages, this practice came to be forced on the widows. However, this practice diminished in the society in the 20th century.
In the Sastras, Sati was present but not universal or compulsory.
In the epic Ramayana, King Dasharatha (Rama's father) left behind three widows who never committed Sati. In the same epic the wives of Ravana and of other fallen warriors did not commit Sati after the deaths of their husbands. On the other hand, Tara, in her grief at the death of husband Vali, wished to commit sati. Hanuman, Rama, and the dying Vali dissuade her and she finally does not immolate herself.
SICK SATI-SEX COMBINATION Instead of just joining her deceased husband's funeral pyre (sati), she enjoys necrophilia as well:
"A king died childless, and his wife wept bitterly and embraced his corpse until a bird told her that she would have seven sons if she mounted her husband's funeral pyre. She obeyed, and as she entered the fire the king arose and flew into the sky with her, by his power of yoga. When the queen entered her fertile period, the king felt it his duty not to neglect her. He made love to her in the air, and his seed fell down from the sky. Then he went with her to the world of Brahma to dwell eternally. But the wives of the Seven Sages saw the cloud-like seed falling from the sky into a flower, and they thought it was Soma. Wishing to be young forever, they bathed ritually, honoured their own husbands, and drank the king's seed. The moment that they drank it they lost their holy lustre, and all their husbands abandoned them immediately as sinners. They gave birth to the seven Maruts (Storm Gods)." -- Vamana Purana 46:4-22.
SATI ADVOCATED IN DHARMASASTRA
The Vaisnava Dharmasastra gives the widow two choices:
"(Now the duties of a woman are as follows): After the death of her husband, to preserve her chastity, or to ascend the pile (funeral pyre) after him." -- Visnusmrti 25:14.
Several Hindu Goddesses also performed sati.
ORIGINS OF SATI
It is believed that sati originated because the Hindu needed his companions in the next world/Hindu heaven. This concept is illustrated in the Valmiki Ramayana; after Lord Rama murdered the relatively innocent Vali from ambush, Vali's wife Tara requests if he can kill her as well so she can join her husband:
" '(Pray) actually kill me with that very arrow with which my darling has surely been killed (by you). When killed (by you) I shall reach his presence. Vali may not feel happy without me. Even on coming in contact with celestial nymphs and gazing on them with curiosity he would certainly not love those nymphs though adorned with a chaplet of red flowers of every description and clad in a many-coloured costume, unless he sees me (there), O prince…' " -- Ramayana 4:24.
Also, because there are many apsarases (celestial nymphs) in the Hindu heaven, sometimes the wife thought it would be best to get there quickly so that her place isn't taken entirely.
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Notes
- Axel Michaels, Hinduism: Past and Present 188-97 (Princeton 2004) ISBN 0-691-08953-1
- "Hindu Wisdom: The Caste System". Retrieved 2006-12-08.
- Nitin Mehta (2006-12-08). "Caste prejudice has nothing to do with the Hindu scriptures". The Guardian. Retrieved 2006-12-08.
- M V Nadkarni (2003-11-08). "Is Caste System Intrinsic to Hinduism? Demolishing a Myth". Economic and Political Weekly. Archived from the original on 2007-03-12. Retrieved 2006-12-08.
- "suttee." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2004 Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
- Euthanasia and Hinduism - ReligionFacts
- David Haslam (2006-11-18). "Face to faith". The Guardian. Retrieved 2006-12-08.
- Robert Graves (1977). New Larousse Encyclopedia Of Mythology. Indian mythology: Hamlyn.
- Nur Jahan, Empress of Mughal India, Ellison Banks Findly - 1993, Page 192 "His main criticism of Hinduism was its idolatry, and his main criticism of idolatry was not a theological abhorrence of giving the unknowable form, but a visual repulsion at the specific form this particular phenomenalization took"
- Orientalism and Religion: Postcolonial Theory, India and 'the Mystic East' - Page 123 by Richard King - 1999, "Thus, under fervent pressure and criticism from Christian missionaries and increasing interest from Orientalists, one finds an emphasis among the various Hindu 'reform' movements on the repudiation of idolatry (particularly in the cases.."
- Bhagavad Gita, Chapters VIII through XII
- Salmond, Noel Anthony (2004). "3. Dayananda Saraswati". Hindu iconoclasts: Rammohun Roy, Dayananda Sarasvati and nineteenth-century polemics against idolatry. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 65. ISBN 0-88920-419-5.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Biruni and the study of non-Islamic Religions by Professor W. Montgomery Watt at .
- Ganguly, Rajat; Phadnis, Urmila (2001). Ethnicity and nation-building in South Asia. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. p. 88. ISBN 0-7619-9439-4.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Burns, John. "Once Widowed in India, Twice Scorned" (PDF). NY Times articles. 1998 The New York Times Company. Retrieved 10/12/2012.
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References
- Apte, Vaman Shivram. The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Unknown parameter|unused_data=ignored (help) - Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43878-0.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Keay, John (2000). India: A History. Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3797-0.
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Burns, John. "Once Widowed in India, Twice Scorned" (PDF). NY Times articles. 1998 The New York Times Company. Retrieved 10/12/2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
External links
- Why Dr. Ambedkar renounced Hinduism? by Dr. Ramendra
- Why I Am Not a Hindu by Ramendra Nath