Hinduism....a unique religion

“Hinduism is uniquely a religion without fundamentals. We have, after all, an extraordinary diversity of religious practices within Hinduism which have no single sacred book but many. Hinduism is, in many ways, predicated on the idea that the eternal wisdom of the ages and of divinity cannot be confined to a single sacred book and we have no compulsory injunctions or obligations. We don’t even have a Hindu Sunday, let alone an injunction to pray at specific times and frequencies.

Instead, what we have is a faith that allows each believer to reach out his or her hands to his or her notion of the creative Godhead of divinity. A faith which uniquely does not have any notion of heresy in it—you cannot be a Hindu heretic because there is no standard set of dogmas from which you can deviate that make you a heretic. Here is a faith so unusual, so unique, that it is the only major religion in the world that does not claim to be the only true religion. I find that incredibly congenial. For me, as a believing Hindu, it is wonderful to be able to meet people from other faiths without being burdened by the conviction that they are embarked upon a wrong path.

Hinduism believes that there are various ways of reaching the ultimate truth.

Unfortunately, there are those who take pride in Hinduism the way in which one might support a football team—as a badge of identity, rather than as a set of values, principles and beliefs, and so Hinduism becomes reduced in their retelling to nothing more than a label.”

-An excerpt from “Why I’m Proud To Be Hindu” by Shashi TharoorRead

http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Hinduism/2002/02/Why-Im-Proud-To-Be-A-Hindu.aspx#ixzz1ogZXJhgU

Om Shanti,

Nirvani