Hinduism is often called "sanatan dharma," which roughly translates into "the eternal laws and ways of life." It is a 100 percent "how-to-live-life" survival kit. The Hindu Vedas, or revelations, tell you how to attain salvation, but also tell you how to solve mathematical equations, how to build a strong house, and the cure to your stomachache. Even for an atheist, it is nothing short of mind-boggling to read about the speed of light, the Pythagorean theorem and artificial rain-cloud precipitation neatly packed into religious hymns and abstract poetry. And we are talking, at the very least, 2,000 years back. Hinduism is often questioned for its polytheistic beliefs, social hierarchies and theories of reincarnation, but begin probing, and answers you will have. Even from whatever's still left of ancient Indian manuscripts, intricate concepts in cosmology, philosophy, evolution, medicine and mathematics are seen to be well-woven into one, big all-explaining theory of life, with almost no contradictions, internal or to current-day scientific truths. And this is what keeps the flame alive in millions of Hindus around the world, and the couple of hundreds in Virginia Tech. Not every Hindu is aware of his massive, enormous cultural and civilizational inheritance, but deep down, there is this conviction that what grandma passed on to his mama is probably right.
Religion, faith and human life seem to be inextricably knotted together; they probably came out of the womb together. Many believe that far from being a unifying force, religion seems to have only promoted strife and violence and continues to cause destruction in its various manifestations. I vehemently protest such half-truths. Show me one system of faith that does not preach love, affection and generosity. Show me one religion that asks you to bomb and butcher innocent men, women and children to promote your "holy" causes. On the contrary, religion is that last piece of straw we cling to when we are drowning in debt, sinking in depression or mourning in pain. For billions, it offers the last shreds of hope when all is lost; it gives the weak and the powerful alike the optimism that there is this invisible force that helps you recover. To believe or not to believe is your own choice, but it is only when you force your own dubious interpretation of a piece of human writing on dupable people that you create hatred and revenge where there should be love and compassion. Tolerance is key to co-existence, and now more than ever, to existence itself.
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"In fact, even the word Hindu is a comic British colonial holdover" The article is wrong. The word "Hindu" was first coined by Islamic invaders, not the British.
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