How do I into Hinduism?

How do I into Hinduism?
Is it better to read a lot about it before starting with the canonic texts? Is there a Hindu equivalent of Edith Hamilton's Mythology?

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>Is there a Hindu equivalent of Edith Hamilton's Mythology?
Probably this.

>Religion is the opium of the people, said Karl Marx many centuries ago. For more than a billion people living in India and abroad, Hinduism is the religion and a way of life. In this multi-award winning book, Swami Achuthananda cracks open the opium poppy pods, analyzes the causes for euphoria, and comes away with a deeper understanding of the people and their religion.

sounds very biased

Well the author is a hindu, so it's biased towards hinduism lol

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Introduction to the Hindu Doctrines by Rene Guenon

I got interested in this topic through Bhagavad Gita As It Is. It's basically the first text for Hare Krishna's. It has some great information, but it strictly follows Gaudiya Vaishnavism, and it is therefore biased in that sense. You won't learn much about other God's than Krishna.

However, the translation is good, so you could just skip the purports.

I do recommend starting with the Bhagavad Gita though, using a translation of your choice. The Gita is the crown jewel of Hindu belief.

The Paramahansa Yogananda or Maharishi Mahesh Yogi translations are a good Counterpoint to the Hare Krishna version.

I would also recommend that at some point you get around to reading Yoga Vasistha, just because it's so amazing.

Is Self Realization Fellowship a cult or religion or what? I've read most of Autobiography of a Yogi, it just felt so made up so I stopped reading it.

This book looks pretty interesting though.

If I read the whole of the Mahabharata, will I suddenly become a Hindu?

Hindu is just a word that was used by Muslim's to describe the people who lived on the other side of the Sindu river.

You, my friend, will achieve enlightenment.

You find a clean empty street and you shit in it then pray to the Elephant man

This guy really knows his shit and comes with an acknowledgement of the mishmash of Hinduism as a concept covering thousands of different religions and deities. He really does the concept of Hinduism as a cultural and a metaphysical system a lot of justice.

Hinduism is basically when everyone's OC is canon. The deviant art of religions

Can someone describe the practice of Hinduism to me? Is it you worship X deity on the festival days? Do you pick one to have as your main deos? Does it simply vary by location?

What would be some deities to look up that might be similar to other indo european pantheonics, such as Dyoniusius, the Muses, Ishtar, etc.

Are deities treated as brand names like in the west (pic related) or is religion not treated like children's stories? It's actually hard for me to imagine a culture that gives proper respect to traditions, since I don't come from one.

Well that's a twist

Its all completely dependent on what region the person comes from, what caste they occupy, how much money they have, whether they live in the city or the country.
In general its a mixture of following after what your family did whatever the fuck everyone around you are doing.

You know its like in the US, why celebrate St Patrick's day? Maybe you have Irish heritage or maybe you just live in a city with a lot of Irish

True. But then there are common threads within the "universe" that all these OCs take place in.

See above and this post is right . Hinduism is a concept placed over an enormous diversity of religious beliefs and practices. There is not one Hinduism, it is an idea imposed from outside and then eventually adopted by those within. There are a pantheon of gods and deities involved in most hindu religions, and its usually up to each individial/family/town to decide which one they will use as a symbol of the supreme God for their devotional practices. Each individual/family/town also has their own preference for festivals and rituals to participate in.

SRF split into two organizations after Yogananda passed. One is the original with the same name, the other is called Ananda.

Western society would probably call any group of people that follow a guru a cult.

Any books written by conservative and orthodox Hindus? Looking for the Hindu equivalent to Church Militant.

So, no new age shit or some liberal Hindu relevatist.

>conservative and orthodox Hindus
What the fuck do you even mean by this? Hinduism is not a unified religion like Christianity.

Tfw not following Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism

Help yourself out

sacred-texts.com/hin/index.htm#vedas