(July 30, 2014 at 4:59 pm)Crossless1 Wrote: I appreciate your explanation, PreethamJD. The idea that one can be agnostic and atheist and still be a practicing Hindu doesn't strike me as strange because I've long understood that the same can apply to Buddhists. I also did not think that Hinduism is really comparable to the Abrahamic faiths.
If Hinduism is really a kind of spiritual practice (or perhaps I should say, several kinds of spiritual practice) as opposed to an authoritative body of dogma that must be believed, would "yoga" serve as a good catch-all word to denote this? [Note: By yoga, I don't mean only the forms of yoga that have become popular in Western fitness clubs but -- more broadly -- the variety of yogic disciplines I vaguely remember reading about in Iyengar's Light on Yoga, including devotional -- Bhakti? -- yoga.] The goal, after all, is to yoke one's essential nature with Brahman, the unchanging unity-in-diversity, no?
If I've utterly misrepresented Hinduism, please correct me. We have at least one other Hindu at AF, and I'd be interested in her take, too.
I reckon you could accurately consider Yoga (including the exercises and the philosophies) as one of the many many sub-parts (for lack of a better term) of what is commonly considered Hinduism.
Really though, there is not definition of the term Hinduism even in any of the Indian languages nor is there a better word other than "religion" to describe it yet at the same time the word "religion" grossly under represents everything that is today considered Hinduism.
The Constitution of India, defines the word "Hindu" is attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion (i.e. Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism or Sikhism)
