Indian Culture  Discussion Forum

Well, Tishna, I' m not a Hindu fanatic. In fact, I' m NOT even a Hindu by birth.

I have studied all ancient religions and customs, including the practices of pagans, voodoo, Mayans, Aztecs, Incas, etc.

Hinduism is not a religion in the true sense of the word, quoting the Supreme Court of India. It is A WAY OF LIFE. There are too many diverse sets of beliefs and customs within Hinduism to qualify as a religion.

Islam and Christianity are great religions in their own right, but they are NOT Indian religions or of Indian origin.

It' s strange that you call me ignorant and impertinent, when you yourself feel free to denigrate Indian customs such as pujas. I wonder if you have the guts to criticize beliefs and practices of other faiths. Oh! but you' re \" secular,\" which means you can call Hindu practices \" tribal\" and
\" useless\" and get away with it, but criticizing other faiths will make you a fanatic!

I' m NOT against you criticizing pujas. They are open to questioning. But as the great Swami Vivekananda said, you can only criticize a custom if you know enough about it. So remove the dust of your sociology textbooks, and learn them properly.

\" Who practices them nowadays\" \" Its a redundant practice
First, learn the art of criticism. If you want to criticize a faith or its practices, writing such statements will only make one sound like a fool. I would suggest you read about the practice of pujas, try it out, and THEN CRITICIZE IT. State valid points why you think the practice is redundant.

Tishna replied. I am Agnostic. I find certain aspects in all religions nice and others repugnant. You have any problem with that? Simply because the majority of Indians seem to be religious, it does not become the ' right' thing. I would definitely criticise other religions as well if people like you did not make it seem like I was committing a crime. As for the dust on my sociology textbooks, I respect them. And that is not my only source for information. I have been deepely interested in religious studies since a long time. I have tried hard to be a devout Hindu but in the end realised that it is important to be yourself. Haven' t encountered such a teaching in any religion so far. Thanks for the informaton on Hinduism though, that wss enlightening. I apologise if my first comment seemed to denigrate puja as a custom. Reasons why I do not agree with it -
generally only Brahmins perform it (I am one myself, legally speaking) and they ar enot always the truly pious people. why should you need an intermediary?
pujas consume lot of time and money. poor people cannot afford them. that does not make them any less devout.
pujas are noisy.
they are generally used for some or the other gain. if these are spiritual, i am fine with it. but nada with material goals.
rarely have pujas been performed in my house,e xcept perhaps during ganesh chaturthis. thats because my dad is religious. my mom like me is not. we believe in freedom of opinion. none of my Hindu friends perform pujas customarily. hence i called it redundant.
i believe that prayer should be private. i do not feel that one can go deep into oneself in a practice like puja.
any opinions that i state are obviously with regard to myself and my impressions. i will generalise because this is the way i see the world. all that i say is subject to an ' according to me' . Is that enough for you or should I provide any more justification? I wonder why I' m even saying all this considering that my idol Ayn Rand would never approve.
One last thing to add - why do you assume that if someone criticises Indian culture they must be ignorant about it? Is it so beyond your imagination that with full possession of the facts, people can come to new conclusions? There is no need to force onself to accept something as true just because it has been followed since centuries. And nothing is beyond quesitoning, not God, not religion. Amen.