Hinduism is a religion that is alive for thousands of years. It is a tradition that was born in the Indian subcontinent and has shaped the Indian culture. Hinduism is not only a religion but also an integral identity of the majority of Indians. But Hinduism is a word that many people, including those who call themselves ‘Hindu’, often don’t understand the meaning of the term. Some say it is a religion on the other hand some say it is a way of life. Then what is the true meaning of Hinduism?

Definition of Hinduism

The term Hindu is derived from word Sindhu and started off as a geographical term rather than a religious one. It referred to people living beyond the Sindhu River (Indus River). It is the Persians who cannibalized it and converted Sindhu to Hindu (ironic that it is the Islamic people who gave us our name). But over a period of time Most Hindu traditions have evolved to revere a body of religious or sacred literature, the Vedas. These texts are a reminder of the ancient cultural heritage and point of pride for Hindus. This is why Hinduism is also called “Sanatan Dharam”, the eternal Religion.

How Hinduism encompasses the concept of ‘unity in diversity?

Hinduism includes a diversity of ideas on spirituality and traditions, but has no ecclesiastical order, no unquestionable religious authorities, no governing body, no prophet(s) nor any binding holy book; Hindus can choose to be polytheistic (belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religious sects and rituals. Polytheism contrasts with monotheism, (the belief in a singular God who is, in most cases, transcendent), pantheistic (philosophical religious belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical to divinity and a supreme being or entity. The physical universe is thus understood as an eminent deity, still expanding and creating, which has existed since the beginning of time. The term ‘pantheist’ designates one who holds both that everything constitutes a unity and that this unity is divine, consisting of an all-encompassing, manifested god or goddess), panentheistic(the belief that the divine intersects every part of the universe and also extends beyond space and time), pandeistic(Unlike classical deism, which holds that God does not interfere with the universe after its creation, Pandeism holds that a creator deity became the universe and ceased to exist as a separate entity). Pandeism (as it relates to deism) purports to explain why God would create a universe and then appear to abandon it, and (as it relates to pantheism) seeks to explain the origin and purpose of the universe), henotheistic (worship of a primary god or gods that does not deny the existence or possible existence of other deities), monotheistic( the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God), monistic (a philosophy is monistic if it postulates unity of the origin of all things; all existing things return to a source that is distinct from them), agnostic (the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. It can be categorized as an indifference or absence of firm beliefs in theistic religions and atheism on that basis. Another definition provided is the view that “human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist), atheistic (human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist. It simply means that a man shall not say he knows or believes that which he has no scientific grounds for professing to know or believe), or humanist (the term generally denotes a focus on human well-being and advocates for human freedom, autonomy, and progress. It views humanity as responsible for the promotion and development of individuals, espouses the equal and inherent dignity of all human beings, and emphasizes a concern for humans in relation to the world).

Whew! If you were patient enough to read the above, I will try and simplify it using my own experience growing up as a Hindu. For Being a Hindu neither it is compulsory to worship God nor go to any temple, neither it is mandatory to study any ancient scripture. Hinduism considers everyone its own with the concept of equal birth of all human beings. If you consider yourself a Hindu then you are a Hindu, and it unites you with its 900 million+ followers.

It is important to understand the diverse nature of Hinduism. It is a religion that does not come from one text or one God or even one belief. It is a culmination of multiple abstract concepts and there exist multiple sources of these concepts. Despite the diversity, there is also a sense of unity. Hinduism thinks about well-being of everyone. This is clearly shown to us by an ancient hymn, ” Ajyesthaso akanishthaso ete sambhrataro vahduhu saubhagya”, meaning ‘ no one is superior, none are inferior. All are brothers marching forward to prosperity’. This is the reason that whether you worship Shiva or Krishna, whether you are a devotee of Shakti and whether you don’t worship anyone you still call yourselves a Hindu. Hindu religion has many Gods, scriptures, religious practices, etc. nevertheless, the Hindu followers show a certain unity because Hindu philosophy is so flexible that it accepts all views. It is a belief in Hinduism, that the ways may be different, but the destination is the same for all. That is why Hinduism also accepts other religions as true. In Hinduism, there is no concept that religions other than Hinduism cannot be a way to reach God. Hinduism respects religions and is tolerant of other paths, so there is no concept of forced conversion in Hinduism. There was no war in the history of Hinduism against other religions in the name of religion. Perhaps the only major religion which has done so.

The Changing nature of Hinduism

In the Atharva Veda, the explanation of the Sanatan word is also something like this – ”Sanatanam enam ahuh uta adyah syat punarnavah”, meaning ‘They proclaim him to be eternal. But he may become new again even today‘. Hindu religion has managed to survive so long because it has adapted and has never been static. The one true feature of Hinduism besides its diversity is its adaptability and its changing nature. It has always adapted itself to the times and has changed or reformed (might be a more accurate word), whenever it has become rigid or extremist, to protect itself. There are numerous examples of this be it the ‘Bhakti Movement’ originating from Southern and western India, and the numerous devotional sampradays and Sufi silsilas in India, across ancient and medieval times, with their own rituals, practices, teachers, martyrs and gods. This was the realm of popular spirituality that often emerged in either indifference to, or in defiance of the dominant order of things. Some communities eventually came to be absorbed within Brahminism or Wahabism in later times, some became powerful counter-communities like the Sikhs, Jains and some even became the locus of strong anti-caste movements, among Hindus and incidentally also Muslims. Many of these communities were about alternative social imaginaries, which innovated upon caste and gender norms, rules of living and eating together, and were often looked down upon by dominant social groups, be it Brahmins or Ashrafs. They also often fought for self-rule and could be armed communities (like the Sikhs, Nathpanthis and the Faraizis) or pacifist proponents of love and aesthetics (like the Bauls, and Jains). With time, Hinduism absorbed local cults and deities, whether it was the ‘Naga cult’, ‘Yaksha-Yakshini ’cult, or famous ‘Jagannath puri’ that is considered a tribal deity. Slowly everyone become part of the Hindu pantheon.

If there is a discussion on reforms in Hinduism and the name of ‘Adi Shankaracharya’ has to be there. In the 8th century Adi Shankaracharya started recognizing Hinduism and gave the ‘Advaita philosophy’. According to this only Brahman (Supreme being) is truth and other things are its creation. Shankaracharya popularized the Hindu philosophy across the country. He also established four monasteries at four corners – ‘Sharda Peeth’ at Sringeri, ‘Kalika Peeth’ at Dwarka, ‘Jyoti Peeth’ at Badrinath, and ‘Govardhan peeth’ at Jagannath Puri. These are called the four ‘Dham’ of Hinduism. In this way, he also connected the followers of Hinduism geographically. He also popularized the ‘Panchayatana’, meaning the worship of five deities. In which five deities, ‘Ganesha’, ‘Shiva’, ‘Vishnu’, ‘Surya,’ and ‘Shakti’ are worshipped together. It says that all these are different forms of Brahman (Supreme Being). In this way, Shankaracharya also united different sects. Other than uniting different sects of Hinduism, he also simplified the scripture. ‘Ramanuja’ and ‘Madhav Acharya’ were two other important reformers and facilitators of Hinduism, belonging to same period. Other than this, ‘Nirguna’ and ‘Saguna’ saints also played considerable roles in preserving Hinduism during challenging medieval times. During medieval times ‘Ramananda’, ‘Kabir’, ‘Nanak’, ‘Mirabai’, and ‘Tulsidas’ were the famous saint whose roles were important, in not only preserving but also transforming the religion.

If we talk about the modern period, then ‘Raja Ram Mohan Roy’, ‘Swami Dayanand Saraswati’, and ‘Swami Vivekananda’ again glorified Hinduism, in the 19th century. Swami Vivekananda popularized the Hindu religion by giving an electrifying speech at the world religious conference at Chicago in 1893. Commenting on Swami Ji’s speech an American newspaper wrote, ‘What is the need to send Christian missionaries to such a rich religious traditional country?’. Due to these social-religious reformers, Cristian missionaries were not so successful to convert Hindus as they were in Africa or other colonies. The timely reformation of religion has also been backed by the Hindu religious texts itself. Translation of the religious text particularly ‘Ramayana’, and ‘Mahabharat’ in vernacular language is a good example of this. It is also said in Hindu philosophy that whenever religion comes into trouble, then God himself incarnates to protect it. Even Gautam Buddha was later converted into an Avtar of Lord Vishnu. So, these reforms movements can also be justified by Hindu philosophy.

The point I am making is that Hinduism by its very nature keeps changing and nothing and I mean Nothing was left unchallenged, either in religious or political terms, or accepted without sever debate and discourse. Sources of authority and eternal truths in the Hindu texts play an important role, but there is also a strong Hindu tradition of questioning authority in order to deepen the understanding of these truths and to further develop the tradition. Ideas about all the major issues of faith and lifestyle – vegetarianism, nonviolence, belief in rebirth, even caste – are subjects of debate, and questioned not just to defy but to also understand better. That is why ‘Pravachan’ or discourse is an integral part of Hinduism.

The Hindus Today

The present regime has been successful in its campaign in delinking religious ideas and moral principles from what it means to be a Hindu. As an electoral strategy, this campaign has been successful. Its success, however, means that religious polarization has engulfed India. The ideological middle has shrunk. It seems that in the current religious conception Hinduism has no principles of justice, no philosophy, no compassion associated with the word Hindu. Just ‘us’ versus ‘them’. How has this happened? I will try and start from the beginning. I will start from 10 years ago.

Bear with me if I go off on a tangent. I would like to give a reference here of a book I had read ‘Foundations’ by Issac Asimov. It was a trilogy, but the story is not important it was the concept that the future can be predicted, not for individuals but for the society as a whole. Human nature is such that we can predict how we will behave and evolve. From the same concept I have come up with my own theory of how we will choose our government. It is a cyclical process alternating between efficiency and freedom. Too much freedom, where every decision is labored over and analyzed needlessly leads to paralysis by analysis. This leads to people hankering for efficiency when they look for quick and decisive decisions even if few of them are wrong. But efficiency will by its very nature be intolerant, it will always be ‘my way or the highway’. As a society we will always go through these style of governance in a cycle and for obvious reasons the efficiency cycle will always be longer than that of freedom cycle.

Ten years ago, we were at the end of freedom cycle and were ready for a new kind of revolution. It was going to be a strictly Hindu revolution, but a new kind of Hinduism, based exclusively upon hatred of its enemies, and never mentioning love, if it felt any. It was the product of social discontent, the blind revolt of the dispossessed in the presence of wealth in which they had no share or hope of sharing. Ignorance, eldest daughter of poverty, followed in her mother’s train, and this pair of harpies tormented their victims and left them a prey to any demagogue who came their way.

I am a great admirer of the current government and what they have achieved but I cannot bear with the fact that they have taken my right to ask questions. Even in private confines of our rooms we are not allowed to ask questions. there are a number of ‘Bhakts’ who will shout you down or give example of previous regimes. I like to give my own example. “Your Mother has cooked food for you for 50 years, but she still asks you ‘How is it?’ If one day she forgets to put salt in the food, should you inform her or let others shout you down for all the good food she has made for you for the last 50 years.” The right to ask and debate is the very fundamental feature of Hinduism and by depriving me of that, more damage is done to Hinduism than preventing my visit to temple or my daily pooja. There is no space within this Hinduism way of life, that is highly similar to the Hinduism, I know or was bought up on for the representation of a Muslim, Christian or Parsi. It is a space only created for a certain kind of Hindu life. This further contributes to the creation of a standard for Hindus that one has to reach in order to qualify and be recognized as a member of the religion. Unlike what we have been taught. What if I don’t meet these criteria’s or standards? Will I not be a hindu anymore?

And the best part of this entire exercise is what has happened to us the middle-class Hindus. we are happy with raising of top tax rates for the rich earning more than Rs 2 crore a year. The increase is steeper for the super-rich — above Rs 5 crore per year. The top tax rate now goes to 42.3 per cent. But look closely. This is not something one can hail as uplifting evidence that the present regime too has fully embraced the principles of socialism as mandated in the Constitution’s post-Emergency preamble. We are wrong because the government isn’t really soaking the rich, but the middle classes, who also happen to be its most loyal vote bank.

Over the past ten years, the government has carried out probably the most efficient transfer, or redistribution, of national wealth to the poor. It is tough to estimate it to the last decimal point, but between housing, toilets, cooking gas and Mudra loans, anything between Rs 19-21 lakh crore was distributed and is being distributed to the poor. That it was done with minimal leakage and with no discrimination of caste or religion is acknowledged (remember efficiency). It will probably help the government win a third term. But where did this money come from? Our immediate instinct would be to imagine it came from the rich. But not quite so. CBDT data shows that in the last financial year only 6,351 individuals returned incomes above Rs 5 crore, with an average income of Rs 13 crore. How much additional revenue has the new tax rate brought? Just about Rs 5,000 crore. Not much more than a year’s turnover of the Indian Premier League. The poor are easily fooled, purely for their cheap thrills and entertainment, but the real joke is on the predominantly Hindu middle class. To begin with, the finance minister gifted us additional taxes on petrol and diesel in the budget to ‘make up’, hold your breath, for the drop in crude prices. The government kept raising taxes on fuel as crude prices fell, and folding the bonanza into its pocket. Most of this came from the vehicle-owning middle classes.

This has followed a string of policies that can only be described as “soak the middle class” and not the rich. During this government years, Long Term Capital Gains tax (LTCG) on equities was introduced, dividend distribution tax (DDT) was increased, additional tax was levied on dividend income above Rs 10 lakh per year, surcharge on incomes between Rs 50 lakh and one crore was raised (unless you call them super-rich today), import duty on gold increased to 12.5 per cent from 10 per cent, and subsidies were reduced and taken away from the middle class, including on cooking gas.

Yet have we asked any questions about all the promises and expectations we had ten years back? Remember Piyush Goel had promised us Increase in standard deduction, TDS threshold, relaxation of tax slabs, which have been totally ignored by Sitharaman.

That The Government can continue to treat the rising and expanding, and largely Hindu middle class this way shows that they have understood our minds perfectly. Our loyalty to them is fired not so much by economic impulse as by something more visceral: The resurgent, muscular Hindu definition of Indian nationalism that we have bought into. Add to this the dislike of the Muslim. Many of us may still find lynchings abhorrent but are quite happy to see Muslims completely out of the power structure: Cabinet, top government positions, and greatly reduced in Parliament. It’s a pity we have not learnt from the German and Spanish history. Ostracizing one sixth of the population is the first step towards a less tolerant, less prosperous, and less innovative nation. Accommodating and celebrating diversity is the key to progress. As India stands at a historic crossroads today, I hope we do not repeat the mistakes of the past in a way that our future is doomed forever.

Today Who is a Hindu for the Government? A person who has a religious identity distinct from another religious identity (read largely Muslims and Christians) and whose forefathers were born in India. The complexity and diversity of Hindu religion are being flattened into a Hindu ethnic identity. Religious orthodoxy everywhere always seeks to center their politics on moral principles rooted in interpretations of texts. One may or may not agree with them, but their principles are rooted in a cultural or religious tradition. In current-day India, the word Hindu, especially as it is being deployed by current Government, has virtually no moral connotation. The word Hindu carries no higher principles, no utopian ideas, and no moral compass.

For decades, India’s Muslim minority was similarly treated by our ‘secular’ parties. They knew Muslims will vote for them out of their fear of the RSS/BJP. That’s the reason they saw no need to do anything for the Muslims. Their vote came as ransom for protection. The BJP has now realized the majority, read Hindu, middle class sees a similar fundamental compulsion to vote for it. The Government has taken from those in the middle to give to those at the bottom, and both are voting for him with equal enthusiasm. We the Hindu middle classes have emerged as their most rock-solid vote bank. And we are also happily paying for it. Isen it ironic that we have become the new “Muslims”.

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