I was raised by a very religious, Hindu family in the Bible Belt, so growing up, I've always compared my religion to others, but mainly Christianity. When I was younger, I learned about Hinduism in Sunday School, and Christianity from my friends. From what I could see, we weren't that different because we all had a book of scriptures and stories telling us how to live, places of worship with priests, and fun holidays (I realize this is a major oversimplification).
After two days in this class, it's clear to me that there is a lot more to Hinduism than I originally thought. While reading the selections from Unifying Hinduism, it occurred to me that I did what the British scholars did when trying to make sense of my complicated religion. I tried to find a way to relate Hinduism to the Western religions that surrounded me (Nicholson 1). What strikes me now how unconventional it is compared to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Hinduism has no one founder/prophet. Nobody knows who wrote the Vedas*, or where they were written. Everyone has a different interpretation of the Vedas, so Hinduism can be practiced multiple ways. Many aspects of the foundation of Hinduism is shrouded in mystery and confusion, yet somehow it is the fourth most popular religion in the world.
*In this post, I'm making the Vedas into what the Bible is for Christianity and the Quran is for Islam. I felt a little weird about it, because I'd always thought the Bhagavad Gita is Hinduism's main holy scripture, but two days in this class somehow really messed up all my preconceived notions about Hinduism. Could someone give me some clarity?
After two days in this class, it's clear to me that there is a lot more to Hinduism than I originally thought. While reading the selections from Unifying Hinduism, it occurred to me that I did what the British scholars did when trying to make sense of my complicated religion. I tried to find a way to relate Hinduism to the Western religions that surrounded me (Nicholson 1). What strikes me now how unconventional it is compared to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Hinduism has no one founder/prophet. Nobody knows who wrote the Vedas*, or where they were written. Everyone has a different interpretation of the Vedas, so Hinduism can be practiced multiple ways. Many aspects of the foundation of Hinduism is shrouded in mystery and confusion, yet somehow it is the fourth most popular religion in the world.
*In this post, I'm making the Vedas into what the Bible is for Christianity and the Quran is for Islam. I felt a little weird about it, because I'd always thought the Bhagavad Gita is Hinduism's main holy scripture, but two days in this class somehow really messed up all my preconceived notions about Hinduism. Could someone give me some clarity?
The Bhagavad Gita carries forwards the ideas in the Upanishads. To be honest, though, I think the class has shown that Hinduism--your Hinduism--can be founded any of these texts!
ReplyDeleteThe Gita is a really interesting text and it definitely has become the touchstone for a lot of contemporary Hindus. It brings together a bunch of elements and became extremely influential, so it makes sense that both of you would be seeing parts of the Vedas, Upanishads, and contemporary practices in it, but not all of everything. We'll talk more about it in a few weeks, and then at the end of the class. There's a new book that just came out called The Bhagavad Gita: A Biography by Richard H. Davis that's supposed to be really good. I haven't had a chance to read it, but was planning on looking at it for possibly using some selections later on in class. There's a copy in the library; I encourage one of you to take a look if you're interested!
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