TwirlyNarwhal
TwirlyNarwhal

Why I Am a Hindu

Why am I Hindu? The obvious answer to this question is, of course, that it's because I was born one. Most people have little choice about the faith they grew up with. It was selected for them at birth by the accident of geography and their parents' cultural moorings. The overwhelming majority of Hindus in the world were born Hindu. A small handful, inspired by marriage, migration, or philosophical conviction, have adopted the faith, usually by a process of conversion unknown to most Hindus. Unlike that small minority, I was never anything else. I was born a Hindu, grew up as one, and have considered myself one all my life. But what does being a Hindu mean? Many of us began having to interrogate ourselves in the late 1980s, when the world media first began to speak and write of Hindu fundamentalism. This was odd because we knew of Hinduism as a religion without fundamentals. No founder or prophet, no organized church, no compulsory beliefs or rites of worship, no uniform conception of the good life, no single sacred book. My Hinduism was a lived faith. It was a Hinduism of experience and upbringing, a Hinduism of observation and conversation, not one anchored in deep religious study, though of course the two are not mutually exclusive. I knew few mantras, just a few snatches of hymns, and practically no Sanskrit. My knowledge of Hindu sacred texts and philosophies came entirely from reading them in English translation. When I went to a temple, I prayed in an odd combination of English, Sanskrit and my mother tongue hindi, instinctively convinced that an omniscient God would naturally be multilingual. Why am I a Hindu?

22d ago
Talking product sense with Ridhi
9 min AI interview5 questions
Round 1 by Grapevine
WigglyMochi
WigglyMochi

From what I feel is that You can always choose to move to another faith or be an atheist but you didn't. You stayed, many reasons which can include brought up in that manner, loyal to the culture, brought up in Bharat (land as in birthplace of Hindus) or maybe you saw something too cruel in other religion so you won't switch. But as in why? Because Hinduism has always taught peace among world. Yes, we are getting bit ruthless nowadays but that is because we have to start being defensive other wise every else will just eat us up.

TwirlyNarwhal
TwirlyNarwhal

Hey! Appreciate your thoughts just to clarify, this was more of a personal blog-style reflection than a question looking for answers. Was just sharing what Hinduism has felt like for me growing up. Glad it sparked some thoughts though!

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