Hinduism Lacks Marketting
True, Hinduism [ Hindu Culture ] is indeed the "Sanathana Dharma" the "Righteousness for ever" and it cannot be destroyed even if you burn every Hindu scripture and kill every Hindu on earth.
But time has come for us to wake up and smell the coffee.
But time has come for us to wake up and smell the coffee.
There is a lot of false information regarding Hinduism is all over the media and it is the duty of every Hindu to eradicate this false information.
All it will take for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.
When I was writing my book AM I A HINDU? in 1984, some of my friends told me "It is a waste of time, since there are thousands of books on Hinduism already catching dust on bookshelves."
In 1988, when the first edition came out, some critics wrote, "book is too liberal." If I can have a nickel for every naysayer's comment, I would be a multi millionaire now.
We have to market Hinduism.
The quote "An empty vessel makes the most noise" may be true but we cannot follow that quote any more. All of us have to talk and write about the various aspects of Hindu culture when ever we can. If we cannot, at least point people to the directions, where people can secure knowledge about Hinduism.
When a Christian tells you that Jesus is the only way, or a Moslem tell us without Allah, there is no salvation we should not get angry. They are saying those things to propagate their beliefs.
We have to tell them "Salvation is the realization that one is the immortal soul within and not the perishable body and salvation is open to all irrespective of one is an atheist or a Christian or a Moslem or a Sikh or a Buddhist or a Hindu.
Never avoid a discussion about our culture. Never disregard any put down of Hinduism. True we cannot defend some of the things that have crept into Hinduism like the ugly part of Caste System.
But we can and we should defend our beliefs and our way of living. Remember there is GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY aspects in every culture and every religion.
So, there is no need for us to excuse ourselves when ever people talk ill about our culture and religion. Defend the gems of wisdom taught by Rishis. We should not shy away from doing that.
Apathy on our part will only create doom for us.
Here are some of the false propaganda about Hinduism, I heard from people.
Some TRUE or FALSE questions:
FALSE: Hindus worships many gods.
TRUE: NO. Hindus believe in one and only God Brahman which express in trillions of forms. Lord Krishna said: “Call me by what ever name you like; Worship me any form you like; All that worship goes to one and only supreme reality called Brahman.”
Krishna said, you can call that God any name you want, such as Allah, Jesus, Buddha, Shakti, Siva or any name you want, but at the end the God you will end up with will be Brahman, which is beyond mind and intellect or "that which cannot be described by any language on earth."
FALSE: Hindus worship idols.
TRUE: Hindus do not worship idols. Like all other religions, Hindus use idols to concentrate on a God who has no name or form [nama-roopa]. Vedas very clearly state God has [nama-roopa] no form and no name. God is eternal and ever lasting.
FALSE: SATI the heinous act of widows jumping into the funeral pyre of fallen husbands is a Hindu ritual.
TRUE: Sati has nothing to do with Hinduism. There is no Hindu scriptural statement sanctioning Sati. Self immolation of Sati [Lord Siva’s wife; or suicide of Madri [ King Pandu’s wife] or self immolation of wives of Lord Krishna have nothing to do with Sati. Only Rajputs the warrior tribe of India supported the ritual of Sati which was abolished by British government in India. [Please read my article on Sati]
FALSE: Hindus believe one have to have many reincarnations to attain salvation or self –realization.
TRUE: Hindus believe the moment some one realizes that he/she is the immortal soul within and not the perishable body one will attain salvation or self-realization. One can achieve that in one life.
