The Hindu way of life: Science of salvation

Aug 20, 2009, 12.00am IST

Sadhguru.

There really is no such thing as Hindu-ism. This term and concept are of recent coinage.


The Hindu civilisation was born on the banks of the river Sindhu, known as the Indus today. When the Persians came, they introduced the term 'Hindu', derived from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, to denote the people who live beyond the river Sindhu. It was a geographical and cultural identity. It had never been a religious identity. Basically, the culture was oriented towards realising one's full potential.

It is only recently that attempts have been made to transform a geographical and cultural identity into a religious identity. Hindu was never an 'ism', and the attempt to organise it as a religion cannot succeed because the Hindu way of life, Sanatana Dharma or universal law, is inclusive by nature. It is not an organised belief system; it is a science of salvation.

The conflicts in the world have always been projected as good versus bad, but really, the conflict is always one man's belief versus another man's belief.

In the past, religion was far more important to people than it is now, but still there were no theocratic states in this culture; the ruler had his religion and the subjects had the freedom to follow theirs. There was no conflict.

There is no belief system to the Hindu way of life. You can believe in God or not. Individuals can work out their own way to salvation. If there are five people in your family, each one can worship a god of their choice, or not worship and still be a good Hindu. The Hindu culture is rooted in the spiritual ethos of each individual working towards ultimate liberation as the fundamental goal in life.

In the East, spirituality and religion were never an organised process. Organisation was only to the extent of making spirituality available to everybody - not for conquest. A farmer worshipped his plough, a fisherman worshipped his boat; people worshipped whatever aspect of life they related to most, and that was perfectly fine. Essentially, in the East, religion is about you, it is not about God. Religion is about your liberation. God is just one more stepping stone that you can use or skip towards your ultimate liberation.

The essential purpose of the God-belief is to create reverence in a person. What you worship is not important. It is not about liking something or disliking it. The object of reverence is irrelevant. If you make reverence the quality of your life, then you become far more receptive to life. Life will happen to you in bigger ways.

Hindu culture recognises human welfare and freedom as being of paramount importance as against the prominence of God. People understood that God is of our making and not the other way around. Hence the whole god-making technology evolved into the science of consecrating various types of forms, energy forms and spaces.

Hindu gods and goddesses are numerous, from the subtlest to the weirdest. Everything has been explored. The best compliment for this culture came from Mark Twain who had heard so much about Indian mysticism that he decided to travel to India and spend some time here. He said: "Anything that can ever be done either by man or by God has been done in this land." If you explore mysticism in India, it is incredible because it does not come from an organised belief system. It happens as a scientific means to explore dimensions beyond the physical.

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