What Hindus Believe

Thakor Topiwala

I will begin with a little information about myself. I am originally from India and have been in the United Stated for 35 years. I am retired from a Chemical Company. I am married and have 2 children and 3 grandchildren.

In the Hindu tradition when we greet one another we say, “Namste” which means, “I bow down to the divinity in you.”

God is the supreme eternal and each individual is part of the eternal. Hinduism is known for our incarnations of God but most believe there is only one original God. We offer food to God to sanctify food – like many religions say a prayer before a meal.

Not too many know where the word, “Hindu” originated. Hindu is the Persian name for the IndusRiver, corresponding to Vedic Sanskrit, Sindhu, the IndusRiver. The term was used for those who lived in the Indian subcontinent on or beyond the “Sindhu.”

The roots of Hinduism go back to the historical Vedic tradition of Iron Age India and so Hinduism is often stated to be the “oldest religious tradition” or “philosophy.” Hinduism is formed of diverse traditions and has no single founder. The main divisions of Hinduism today are Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Smartism and Shaktism.

Five thousand years ago when Lord Krishna was on the planet he spoke the Bhagavad-Gita. This scripture prophesied about the Buddha. Among Hinduism’s vast body of scriptures, the Vedas and the Upanishads are the foremost in authority. The Bhagavad-Gita is sometimes called a summary of the spiritual teachings of the Vedas. Most sacred texts are in Sanskrit.

Hinduism includes a belief in reincarnation and karma (“moral law of cause and effect) as well as personal duty, or dharma (ethics/duties). Salvation (moksha) is seen as freedom from this cycle of repeated birth and death. The Bhagavad Gita states that: “As a person puts on new clothes and discards old and torn clothe, similarly an embodied soul enters new material bodies, leave the old bodies.” (B.G. 2:22)

On death, cremation is considered obligatory for most people except children under five. Hindus believe that the spirit or soul, called the atman, is eternal. It is thought that after several reincarnations, an atman eventually seeks unity with the cosmic spirit (Brahman).

The symbol, “Om” is important in worship. God invested energy in the word “Om” and by invoking “Om” you are invoking God. The symbol “Om” has three modes: the mode of goodness, the mode of passion and the mode of ignorance. We must progress from the mode of ignorance into the mode of passion and into the mode of goodness. All prophets of all religions fall into the mode of goodness.

Why are cows sacred? Since the time of creation the cow has provided nutritious milk to allow life in civilization. After a child is born and has lived on mother’s milk, then the child survives on cow’s milk. Cow manure is important as an organic fertilizer as well as fuel. Cow slaughter is legally banned in almost all states of India.

The red dot on women’s forehead denotes if a woman is married or not. If the red dot turns blue it means she is pregnant (laughs.) Actually, the red dot reminds us that we have to keep control of the self and remember who we are and where we come from. It is a reminder of the goal of life.

Yoga means “to join” with the One who is unchanging. Yoga Meditation is a means of uniting with God. Today many people of many faiths practice yoga as a physical exercise to be beautiful - and there is nothing wrong with that. However, the higher level is a meditation practice to unite with God.

Hindus advocate the practice of ahimsa (non-violence) and respect for all life because divinity is believed to permeate all beings, including plants and non-human animals. Therefore, many Hindus embrace vegetarianism to respect higher forms of life.

Questions and answers

Can someone be Christian by religion and Hindu by tradition…like St. Francis of Assisi who also saw divinity in all of creation? Thakor responded, “My son is Hindu and married to a Christian woman. They appreciate and learn from both traditions and understand the broader sense of the spirit.

How many temples are there in Charlotte? There are three at the present time.

Is the Bhagavad-Gita your only sacred book? No, it is the most well known but we do not have only one founder or one book but believe in many incarnations of God. There is a spectrum of understandings in Hinduism, similarly to the spectrum found in Christianity, Judaism and other faiths. We try to always have awareness of the divine. We see many manifestations of the same God but God is one. It is not the idol that we worship but what it represents.