That was only quoted as a for instance and general use. While I suppose that RLDS might call themselves “Mormon” (I don’t know any), the LDS folk I know wouldn’t call them that, nor would anyone else when I was in Utah.
Hindu here. I’ve got no qualms with the HK, because I’ve not really had any run-ins or problems with them at all. So I view them as just another sect/variant of Hinduism, and I’m into a much more of a live and let live sort of philosophy. No negative feelings towards them, and whoever they are- if they need something in their life, and they feel that HK is that which helps them out, then more power to them. Though I am leery of people who may be sucked in/scammed by others, and I wonder if that may be the case sometimes- having hucksters or such out there scamming people or causing them to pay money or “give up their worldly goods” sorta deal. But for a devout actually follower of HK, who seems to be knowledgeable about the beliefs, and not really one with a cult-like mindset? I got no beef with him, and as long as he doesn’t embarrass or hurt anyone else, he’s fine in my book.
*Nitpicks for your quote- It’s “Hindus” as Hindi would be one of the languages. And though I agree with your friend’s sentiments, I’ve found that philosophy is an idealized one, but people are people, and there are always groups who will denigrate, and put down others’ religious views. So while I wish everyone was treated equally and fairly, I’m sure we can see that there will always be biases towards other people/cultures/religions sadly, and that’s something not unique to Hindus but to almost every religion. But yeah, I share a similar sentiment as your friend there.
That sounds like fun. I wish I knew a bunch of languages that native speakers wouldn’t expect a Californian/former whitebread midwesterner to know.
Well, NOLA Cajun, you have had three Hindus respond now, so I hope that helps. Can we have a cookie?
ETA: One cookie each, please, I’m not sharing.
Ramakrishna!
Cookies for everyone!! Is oatmeal raisin walnut fine? I make the best you’ve ever had! But if you really want something good my specialty is crawfish etouffee. It’s to die for!
Forgive my faux pas confusing hindi and hindu. I just thought hindi was plural.
And thanks for the answers. Very interesting subject. I enjoy studying different religions but admit I’ve not spent much time on this particular religion. But I certainly find it fascinating.
I travel a lot and stay at lots of motels. I’ve seen these people doing some things I didn’t understand but appeared to be daily rituals. In particular one place I stayed at in Nashville the 2 women (I’m assuming mother and daughter) would come outside every morning with a pitcher of water and do some sort of rituals and at the end pour the water on the ground. Seeing how this religion seems to have a great degree of variety in practice I always wondered what exactly they were doing. I’m guessing it had something to do with paying homage to water and life.
Also, do hindus tend towards one particular incarnation of their “god” (such as Krishna) or do they celebrate/worship/acknowledge (whatever the proper term is) of all of them? From what I understand there are millions. Do they see these “beings” as “god”? Or are these images just some sort of representation? My understanding is that we are all seeking to attain this “nirvana” which in essence makes us all “god”, or a part of “god”.
As I’ve said, you can’t really speak very definitively about “Hindus” as a whole because there is a wide variety of belief and practice, but in general terms:
Yes, most of the bakhti practicioners tend to become devotees of one or aa few gods, though they still respect the other gods. It’s kind of a personal choice. You pick the god or gods that work for you, though different gods have different requirements.
Some gods are avatars of other gods (Krishna is an avatar of Vishnu), but ultimately all gods are expressions of Brahman, who is the ultimate, final, unknowable ground of being and existence. Brahaman isn’t a personal “god” as such, but the reality beyond reality. Something beyond all words and comprehension. Not only are all gods ultimately part of Brahman, but so are all people, and so is the whole universe. There are such a multiplicity of gods because it provdes people with a multiplicity of paths to Brahman. Hindus understand all paths as valid, even seemingly contradictory paths to their traditinal ones (such as Christianity), because they believe it’s all Maya (illusion) anyway, and everybody is sort of in their own reality doing what works for them.
“Nirvana” is a Buddhist term, not a Hindu one, but it’s based on Indian concepts of enlightment and release from the cycle of birth and rebirth.
These are all very simplified answers. The deeper you actually get, the more complex things get. Various schools and traditions can split theological hairs with the best of them.
I’m not Hindu by any means, but I always sorta viewed the HK as the Jehovah’s Witnesses of Hinduism.
Most Hindus do both. They have their own favourite gods, they have their families’ favourite gods, but they are rarely exclusive.
Hindus make all kinds of claims regarding the numbers of gods, but most of this is theoretical. There are a lot of “national” gods and even more “local” gods, but the totals are probably better measured in the dozens rather than millions.
Both.
Yes.
Nearly everything is true in Hinduism. That’s one of the reasons that Krishna Consciousness, when you examine its theology in detail, is substantially different than what most Hindus believe, because Hare Krishnas have more definite ideas regarding what is “true.” Krishna is almost a Christ-like figure for them.
The morning libation of water is an offering to the sun (i.e. the sun-god Sūrya). Often the libation is accompanied by the chanting of the gāyatrī mantra - a verse from the ṛg-veda. Libation rituals are very common in Hinduism and is a very old practice. Libation rituals date back to at least Vedic times (probably before the 2nd century BC).
I think many Hindus accept the myriad of deities as different forms of the same godhood, whether that be Brahman, as ascenray mentions or something else (Brahman is most common, I think). The main Hindu concept of “Nirvana” is called Mukti or Mokṣa (both means “liberation”). In some sects it is the equivalent of Nirvana (some form of “extinction”), in others it means the total fusing of the indivual self with an “ultimate” concept such as Brahman or even a personified deity like Kṛṣṇa. The ways to liberation are many and varied and includes (amongst other things) rituals, yoga, and personal, intimate worship - bhakti.
Considering the fact that many cities, towns and villages have their own patron deity, I would say that the number probably approaches several hundreds of thousands. True: most of them are simply different forms of the same (relatively few) gods like Viṣṇu (+ avatars), śiva, and Durga, but each of them have a separate name, many have different “functions”, and most are connected to some sort of (more or less) distinct mythology. Incidentally, the number of deities in existence is often claimed to be 330.000.000 - I haven’t been able to figure out which of the many (many, many) Hindu scriptures actually mentions this number.
-Anytime, dude. I’m not an expert by any means but I’ll always like to stop and offer my perspective/2cents about my religion/culture anytime it’s nicely asked. Glad to help you out!
-Actually, DtC did a pretty nice job there of warning you and simplifying it down.
Both of those parts are really hitting the nail on the head.
My personal view in Hinduism is that I view it as Monotheistic, which tends to cause peoples’ heads to hurt, especially with all they’ve seen with all the deities and such that we have. But **DtC **did a nice job there, summing up how 1 can be many and many can be one, and ultimately we don’t even know if there is 1 or even 0 out there. So I just make things easy and say I’m a monotheistic Hindu, and possibly even Agnostic at times, because I can’t really prove or say that there truly is a definitive God out there. All I have are beliefs and faith, but for myself, I trust in science in the realms of that we understand and have discovered, while that which is waiting to be discovered will fall into the realm of “divine/higher power” which for some can be understood as “God”, but for others may be described simply as “Universal Laws/Principles” or other such phrasings- whatever floats your boat, because in the end, this world is still an illusion of sorts, all we are are but protons, neutrons, and free energy in the the vacuum of space!
So yeah. Monotheistic. My grandfather used to try to explain it with a metaphor- the Hindu Gods are like the face of a Jewel/Diamond. There are many faces and sides to a cut Diamond, and if you look through a particular face, you’ll see a distorted and interesting view of the world. But each of those faces all are still the same Diamond, and in the end, it’s just one thing with many sides and views. That’s how the Gods all work. You can choose to view life through certain aspects, and deities, and there’s nothing wrong with that- because in the end it’s all still the same abstract concept and structure. He also used to tell me that’s how you can explain the World’s view on Religion as well. We’re all viewing the world through our own lens/side of the Gem, and looking out at others from that viewpoint. But in the end, none of us “truly” know the 100% Truth (yet!- says the scientist in me), so put someone else’s viewpoint down, because it’s not the same as my own life perspective or viewpoint, well that’s just foolish/silly.
:shrug: It made sense to me as a kid, and it worked. So I stuck with that- and it’s why I get along quite well with Agnostics and atheists, and pretty much anyone else who lets me have my believes and leaves it alone, regardless of if they share it or not. We’re all human beings, and we should all have some small modicum of respect for each other for that- and in my viewpoint we’re all still parts of the greater structure- each of our lives a tiny speck in that vast but yet still pretty tiny speck which is the time line of humanity over the ages.
Okay, that was rambling and made no real sense. So yeah- **DtC **has my views summarized much more nicely. And if you’ve heard about Hinduism from one Hindu, then you’ve only learned about 1 person’s view of Hinduism so far. Always interesting to see what others believe.
~R
Hey look it’s Panurge! Funny running into you here…
I just had to derail this thread for a moment to get my nerd-on and mention that the theme music for the new Battlestar Galactica is gāyatrī mantra/Sāvitrī. Is this not awesome? I thought this was awesome.
When I was in high school I was into straightedge hardcore music, and a lot of the oldschool bands got into Krsna Consciousness and I was really into the whole krsnacore thing. Some kids rebelled by getting drunk and stoned and having sex. I rebelled by… going chanting in Harvard Square and reading the Bhagavad Gita. This thread is making me nostalgic.
So the bottom line, to answer the OP is that:
It depends on who you ask?
Seems to me that based on the true spirit of the religion that it doesn’t matter because all paths lead to god.
Is the term “god” even correct? Is there even a word equivilent to that in the language? Is there actual worship or is it more paying homage to the oneness that all share?
Looking back I think I may have hijacked this thread enough. I’m truly sorry for that so I’ll shut up. The OP seems to be silent. I wonder if she is happy with the responses y’all have given so far. I’ve certainly learned a lot and really appreciate the answers.
Chocolate chip cookies for everyone!!!
You pretty much answered your Question there. Good Job! 
To paraphrase Shashi Tharoor, for every true statement you make about Hinduism, the inverse is also true.
“True spirit”? Hinduism is what Hindus practice and believe. The majority of Hindus believe literally in the gods they worship and have little understanding of the more complicated theological ideas built up by other Hindus.
“The” language? Hindus don’t speak one language. But, yes, all languages spoken by Hindus have at least one word for “god.”
It depends on whom you ask. Most Hindus believe that they are actually praying to discrete divine beings.
And there’s also the strains of Hinduism that were atheist eg Samkhya or Mimamsa. I don’t think there are any of these groups still around today in pure form but they influenced modern Hinduism
The NOI has a completely different theology, prophetology, mythic history and eschatology. It’s a completely different religion which is not recognized as Islamic by any of the major Muslim sects, and NOI members are not allowed into Mecca because they are not considered Muslim.
I’m puzzled. Malcolm X went to Mecca. According to *The Autobiography of Malcolm X, it was a life-changing experience. Of course, he’d already parted ways with the Nation of Islam, but he wasn’t exactly a bona fide Muslim, either.
Yes he was. He converted to Sunni Islam before he went to Mecca. That is something he describes in detail in his autobiography.
I’ll add another confusing level to you, NOLA Cajun - I’m atheist and still consider myself a Hindu, culturally. I still believe in some of the old concepts, but really, I haven’t become anything else, and Hinduism is one of the religions you can follow without believing in a god.
Oh yeah, and it’s literally called “Suray Pranam” i.e., “Greetings to the Sun God.”
I’m like Anaamika, an atheist Hindu. In some ways it’s like people who describe themselves as secular Jews.