Hinduism

How does one get into Hinduism?

Do they have a central text?

Is God described as Being in Hinduism?

Also, general Hinduism thread.

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islam is the only religion with one central text

>Do they have a central text?
the Mahabharata is arguably

its akin to the Iliad/Odyssey

the Bhagavad Gita is the core philosophical part of this as the entire work is a mix of historical and other shit.

the Ramayana is important as well
Islam is dull as hell philosophically

Hinduism isnt a single religion.

The Upanishads are also an influential Hindu work, to the point that even Arthur Schopenhauer was inspired by it.

Pooeth not unto the loo shall be the whole of the law.

Should have said poo where thou willt dammit. Oh well...

READ THE FUCKING STICKY

>Vedas
>Upanishads
>Ramayana
>Mahabharata (Especially the Gita)
>Puranas as you please

keep in mind that most western scholarship doesn't always give the most accurate picture of the scriptural and theological tradition(s), for example, the upanishads are commentaries on the four vedas, but you probably wouldn't know that from the way its normally presented and described by western scholarship, at least to laymen. The upanishads are often described as concerning only topics that are new and being introduced for the first time, or even as denouncing the four vedas, when in fact the upanishads cover a lot of content thats in the four vedas, and the four vedas do contain many of the main principles of the upanishads.

no, they have the Qur'an AND the Hadith

I suggest you start with reading the Bhagavad-Gita , the song of the Lord.

The Vedas and Upanishads are more difficult holy texts.

The Mahabharata and Ramayana are both stories which teach a lesson of Dharma. They are a interesting read.

Hinduism is a fascinating religion that is so much deeper and complex than most Westerners view it

Why are the texts considered holy? What's so special about them?

The Vedas are the literal word of Vishnu, transmitted to the sages

The Upanishads are commentaries by the sages

The Gita and wider Mahabharata is literally a big speech from God almighty written down by the god Ganesha from the words of the sage Vyasa

The Ramayana was witnessed by the sage Valmiki himself and has the blessing of Brahma

It's lord Hanuman's favorite story, and they say whenever you tell it he will be close by listening

Fucking hell, not Vishnu

Brahma

I'm interested in Hinduism as a philosophy - I obviously do not believe in existence of gods, soul, magic - none of them can be even argued on rational grounds.

People can't even imagine an experiment that would even suggest their existence in a form or other.

>The Vedas are the literal word of Vishnu, transmitted to the sages

So this Vishnu is a god - I personally do not believe gods exist, so it's the work of sages.

>The Gita and wider Mahabharata is literally a big speech from God almighty written down by the god Ganesha from the words of the sage Vyasa

You would have to define Hinduistic God, because on dictionary - God is usually understood as the Abrahamic one - which clearly doesn't exist.

I personally enjoyed what followers of Buddha preached - which they claimed they got from him. The non attachment - and no involvement of spirituality, gods, energies and so on - it's very clean and beautiful - and I've read a little on the subject, but it lacks any pragmatism yet could support it if reformed.

>So this Vishnu is a god - I personally do not believe gods exist, so it's the work of sages.
Perfectly acceptable in hinduism

>You would have to define Hinduistic God
The supreme soul

The One

Ultimate reality

The binding truth behind all things

The source, material, and cause of all things

The eternal mother of what has been, and what has yet to be

Unchanging, yet the cause of all change

As an elementary particle is to the universe, the soul is to God

Infinity

Knowledge

Freedom

Brahman

youtube.com/watch?v=bW_awN9uV6w

Do you interpret this literally?

It's scientifically inaccurate, just like most religions creation stories.

I'm a philosophical skeptic, but for the sake of convenience I go with the mainstream scientific view

Most hindu legends are allegories for higher truths anyway

Even the mouse Mooshika is an allegory

The whole religion is an allegory in that sense, something which you could follow just because you wanted to and no other reason.

I'm still willing to give it a try in the sense - I want to see what elements of it have applicability and importance in our modern lives, what we could use from Hinduism to make our lives better?

This.

It's very very very very very broad.

Try this OP

Hindu World: An Encyclopedic Survey of Hinduism, (Two Volumes), Allen & Unwin, London, 1968; Praeger, New York, 1968; Munshiram Manohar Lal, New Delhi, 1983; Harper Collins, New Delhi, 1985; Rupa, New Delhi, 2005, ISBN 81-291-0670-1.

>The whole religion is an allegory in that sense, something which you could follow just because you wanted to and no other reason.
Yep

Opinions can range from hillbillies who treat it like traditional polytheism, to monotheists, atheists, and henotheists

>what we could use from Hinduism to make our lives better?
Meditations, definitely

And the adherence to dharma

that is NOT the hindu creation story

Seconding

"Hinduism" is like calling everything west of the Indus river "Abrahamism"

It sounded a little fake and neutered

But there's loads of origin myths

My dad was taught that the universe is just the cosmic dream of lord Vishnu

Sure the Hindu creation is an unchanged cycle - humans always existed, so did gods - evolution and other scientific observations are fake in that sense - they're 100% incompatible.

Give us your tl;dr of creation then - let's see how much better your version is.

Well that was the creation of Ganga

I should have put that is not THE hindu creation story. There's loads of em. See

>humans always existed,
False
>so did gods
False

They're manifestations of Brahman

>Brahman
No they're manifestations of Krishna

How convent, because Hinduism is not a single religion - your belief in supernatural is legitimate, because you don't have to justify it now...

No they're manifestations of sage imagination.

>How convent, because Hinduism is not a single religion - your belief in supernatural is legitimate, because you don't have to justify it now...

What? I'm not even a Hindu.