On Sunday 02 Mar 2008 11:05:46 am Sirtaj Singh Kang wrote: > > Merely because Hinduism is not about religion. It is about dharma. It is > > a dharma or code of conduct for a people. Their beliefs about God are > > peripheral to the issue. > > Really? So Hinduism begins and ends with Dharma, and other concepts like > Yog, Moksh and the Varnas are not really Hinduism but something else? In > fact, is Japna not a core practice in Hinduism?
No I don't think japna is a core practice. It is one of many practices that come under the heading of what Hindus do. But if you pick up every single Hindu in India and try to find anything that is common, the only commonality will be at least a nominal practice of dharma. Everything else, japna, knowledge of vedas, Yoga, attempts at realization of the absolute etc are restricted to only a few. I have some beliefs here. For example I believe that a lot of the things that "Hindus" are supposed to do have been told to people outside India by upper caste groups. Many of these things - such as vegetarianism are a misrepresentation of Hindus. There are surely more vegetarians in India than anywhere else but vegetarianism is not a Hindu characteristic. It is just another thing that is observed by many Hindus - not a core characteristic. To my knowledge, the only thing you will ever find common with most Hindus anywhere in India is that the structure of society coincides with the broad guidelines of dharma. That's all. In fact it is many modern Hindus who have grown out of dharma and are no longer dharmic. At this point in history - I believe modern Hindus who are out of touch with dharma are also out of touch with India and Indians. This may change over decades, due to TV, Bollywood, technology and the break up of joint families. But this fact of being out of touch is unlike most politicians who shrewdly appear to play by the rules of dharma. (although many would rally be summarily punished or beaten to death if their real self became known to the average Indian). shiv
