Thread by @GhorAngirasa on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App
Source: TW
Confusion
Hinduism is not a religion; it is a “lifestyle thingy”—
why do Hindus keep repeating such meaningless & mediocre platitudes?
One observes a tendency to see “religion” as a negative term while “way of life” is something very exalted & noble.
Ways of life
Of course, this is nonsense. All religions are ways of living. Sullam is very much a complete way of life, having prescriptions going from the bathroom & bedroom to politics & taxation.
So, we cannot base our discourse on nonsensical rhetoric & platitudes (“Oh ours is not religion but way of life”). You sound like a blithering idiot.
Differences
Some are focused on what we should call ourselves. But that’s not the topic here. The question is, despite the 1008 differences between Hindudharma & others, can we claim the status of a religion like bauddham, jainam, pretamata/Xtianity, Sullam, etc? The answer is, yes.
Can I believe in something that will lead to the termination of my allegiance in religion X (where X is not Hindudharma) & which will lead me to a state, where it becomes most apt to describe me as a Hindu? The answer is, yes.
The only difference is, for other religions, the no. of things one can believe in in order to leave another religion & gain entry into one of them are far more limited & streamlined. In our case, there are, practically, innumerable, routes.
Meaning from usage
Another issue:
Words are best understood from ordinary usage, not etymology. Religion simply applies where we have a system or assemblage of systems which teach of matters transcending this world-afterlife, spiritual entities of some sort, salvation, etc
What name can we give ourselves as a people? Hindu. What else? Others gave us? Let it be. If you want, you can apply sanAtani though I do not see the point of it.
‘Hindu’ is now a legitimate descriptor for any beliefs or practices based on texts, gods, any other spiritual beings & sacred sites, originally conceived in the land we call bhArata, or otherwise so predominantly associated with bhArata in terms of roots or actual practice.
Consequences
A point that people often fail to note:
By trying to distance Hinduism from ‘religion’ and pushing it into some nebulous “way of life”, you are helping the cause of people who want to make Hinduism into something “cultural”.
This artificial religion-“culture” distinction also serves to bolster the cause of alienating Hindu practices from the protection of the law that has always been extended to the ‘religious’. This special treatment for ‘religious’ activities is not a modern feature.++
We have special officials in ancient/medieval bhArata in charge of shaiva, vaiSNava, bauddha, etc affairs (dharmAdhyakSa, dharmarakSAdhikAraH). The shelving of Hindu practices into a profane category of “culture” makes it easy for enemies to deny them protection & status.
All collective identities have an ulterior motive, a survival agenda at their heart. Those who call it fraud want Hindus to be dead. That’s all there is to it. TW
Extensive flow
- The various systems of beliefs and practices, whether vedic, Agamika/tAntrika, paurANika, rural-folk (grAmya) or tribal (ATavika/kairata) have had interactions with each other.+
- There has been extensive borrowing of memes by the grAmya or ATavika from the other groups (vaidika, Agamika/tAntrika & paurANika). At the same time, the Agamika & paurANika groups embraced the rural & tribal folks. And this mutual interlinking is an on-going process.
Here is an example of how that happened:
Nobody can deny that there is an extremely complex & highly internally diverse assemblage of different systems of beliefs and practices, but which are all internally linked by 1000s upon 1000s of threads.
Conversion
An example (real-life anecdote):
Say, a Sulla by birth sings songs on shiva at temple functions & recognizes ayyappa as a great god of awesome power. By believing in these, his sullatvam is completely finished & it becomes apt to call him ‘hindu’.