Hinduism Hinduism is a name given by the westerners to the oldest religion in the world. It was originally known as Sanatana Dharma or Eternal Righteousness. Dharma is the cosmic law of righteousness by which the whole universe revolves and evolves and this is why the ideas and beliefs of Hinduism have existed from time immemorial.  It has an ability to evolve with the changing times and this is the reason for its continued existence. Anything which is static and stagnant will eventually decay and die. Just as water has to flow in order to keep itself free of impurities so also every religion must have the ability to grow. Many of the ancient religions of countries like Egypt and Mesapotamia which were really highly evolved, have been wiped off the face of he earth with the passage of time,whereas Hinduism has continued to exist. To understand this better I will give you an illustration. Western religions can be compared to a monolithic iron pillar which is incapable of bending or giving way or changing, Hinduism can be compared to a banyan tree which has spreading branches which reach out with ever more new shoots and more ideas. That is why we find more religions within the Hindu faith than there are in the rest of the world put together. All new ideas are always welcomed into the Hindu fold. Because of this there was no antagonism between science and religion in India as there was in the west. Some of the western scientists like Copernicus were executed for having dared to say something which went against the teachings of the bible. In India however our rishis themselves were the greatest scientists. When we look into the Vedas we will be astonished to find how much they knew about astronomy, astrology, economics, mathematics, botany. It has taken the west many centuries to catch up with the discoveries found in the Vedas. In fact it is only in the 20th century that the west has found out that many of the facts of this material world which has been claimed in our Vedas are actually the truth. Let us take the word Maya for instance which is the word which Vedanta uses to describe this world. What exactly did they mean? Maya means illusion - something which gives the appearance of reality but is actually unreal - an illusion. Till the beginning of the 20th century everyone scoffed at this idea as some strange notion of those bearded, stupid rishis of ancient times. But with the advent of quantum physics we realize that what the rishis said is actually the truth. First of all Einstein proved that matter is nothing but energy in motion and the quantum physicist proved that in the quantum field, which is the ultimate state of matter, the physical world as we know it through the five senses does not exist.  Matter is composed of energy particles which act in a random manner. Sometimes they act like particles and sometimes like waves and they do not follow any of the fixed rules of physical matter. They themselves used the Sanskrit word and called this the maya world of physics. Just imagine how long the western scientist took to discover something which the ancient rishis had declared thousands of years ago. Now let us take the idea of time and space. These had been declared by the western physicists as eternal verities. But Einstein's theory of relativity showed that time and space are mental creations and have no actual reality in themselves. Einstein said, “Everything is relative. There is nothing called the Absolute.” Our rishis declared, “Only the Absolute is real. Everything else is relative.” So actually the rishis have gone one step further than the physicist. They have still to realize that there is something called the Absolute . Many Puranic stories show that the rishis were well aware of the unreality of time. They knew that time in other planets is quite different from time in this planet.  King Revathan, the father of Revathi who married Krishna's brother, Balarama, took his daughter and went to Brahma's world and stayed only for the duration of a dance but when he returned to this world he found that one eon of time had passed and though he had gone in Treta Yuga, he returned only in Dwapara Yuga! So they were well aware of the relativity of Time. As I said these rishis were great scientists and it has taken the west many centuries to catch up with them. All our scriptures say that “desha, kaala and nimitta” or Space Time and Causation are the three upadhis or bonds which prevent our minds from seeing the truth. Now let us take up some practical points about Hinduism. Children living abroad are usually battered by questions about their religion by other children and parents should have certain points clear in their minds so that they can answer their questions. One of the common accusations is that we have so many gods when they have only one. How do we explain that. The fact is that actually we also have only one god but it is an impersonal, all-inclusive god which is available to all creatures and people at all times and in all places that is to say- our god is beyond space and time. However the one god of the Semitic religions is an absolutely personal and exclusive god available only to the followers of that particular religion or creed. Anyone who does not believe in him is condemned to eternal hell. Our one God is a formless, universal principle available to all people whether they believe in Him or not. This formless, eternal, unlimited Being is known as Brahman. HE has ever existed and will continue to exist whether people believe in Him or not. Nothing else can exist if He were not to exist. He will not condemn anyone to eternal hell just because they do not believe in Him. How is it possible to believe in a compassionate god who will condemn his own children to eternal damnation? Even a human father will not do this. Now to revert to this question of the many gods of the Hindu pantheon. God has created each one of us in a different fashion both physically and mentally. We like to dress differently, choose different partners and eat different types of food. How is it possible that god has restricted us so cruelly in this important choice of what to worship. How can He demand that we can worship Him only in one form? It is the human being who has limited this unlimited being to one form and one way. There are as many ways to approach him as there are human beings and as for forms countless are his forms. That which is formless can take on any form. To limit the limitless is real blasphemy. Each one of the five children of a human father may have different dispositions. Can he insist that they should all become doctors just because he is a doctor? God allows us to worship him according to the form of our choice. This is what Hinduism declares. Hence the great tolerance you see in Hinduism. Whereas the Semitic religions insist that you have to worship him as Allah or Christ or Jehovah, Hinduism says you can worship him as Krishna or Christ or Rama or Allah. The name means nothing if you have the understanding that every form is His form, every name is His name. He is ananta nama and ananta rupa -with thousands of names and forms. This is the esoteric principle underlying idol worship. The great hymn of the Vedas known as the Purusha sukta says, “sahasra sheersha Purusha sahasraksha sahasrapath etc”.The supreme Person has many heads, many arms, many eyes, he exists everywhere at all times and all places. This fact must be made clear to our children so that they can give proper replies to the children of other faiths. The Gita says, “Ye yada mam prapadyante, tam stataiva bhajamyaham” “In whatsoever a way a person approaches me, I will go to him in that very form and strengthen his faith in that form.” What could be more tolerant than this? This is the reason that India gave asylum to many people of different faiths who were being persecuted for their beliefs. There used to be a full fledged Jewish community in Kerala. The king gave them land just next to his own palace and there is a history of peaceful co-existence between them. When St.Thomas arrived, he was given a warm welcome by he king but unfortunately the 'xtians fully believe that it is only their religion which can save people and thus he betrayed the king's trust ad started converting people to 'Xtianity. Conversion is a very strange idea to the Hindu. We believe in one Supreme power which can be worshipped according to our own bent of mind and according to us conversion is an insult to god's justice since it concludes that He does not know how to rule his own subjects. Thus you find that there is no such thing as conversion in Hinduism. If you follow and believe in the tenets of Hinduism, you are a Hindu, whatever you may call yourself. Thus Hinduism is built on jnana -knowledge - knowledge of the true nature of the Supreme Person. If you worship any form without this knowledge it will lead you to trouble. That is what we are finding in the world today. All Semitic religions are religions filled with bhakti or devotion. However they have no true knowledge. They have only a limited view of that Supreme Being and so they have confined him to one form. Thus bhakti without jnana leads to fundamentalism. This is the basic problem with the world today. Another of the great pillar stones of the Hindu faith are the theory of Karma and reincarnation. When we look at the world around us we see many discrepancies. There are many people around us who are lame and blind and dumb - there are lepers and aids patients and so on. How can an all compassionate God have condemned his children to such a fate? It is only Hinduism that can give a proper scientific answer to this most important question. The theory of Karma is an impersonal and scientific theory which corresponds to the 3rd law of thermodynamics which says that every action has its equal and opposite reaction. Hinduism says that every time we do an act we expect certain results from this act and those results have to come back to us in some form or other. If I steal something, or kill someone, I might manage to escape human laws but I can never hope to escape divine law. In the usual style of our Puranas it is said that every act of ours, both physical and mental is recorded by someone called Chitragupta. Nothing escapes him. Every single thought every single intention is recorded. It is only recently that we have heard of hidden cameras which are kept in the houses of ministers and business men in order to find out what scams are going on. Our puranas have thought of this, thousands of years ago. Chitra gupta means “hidden pictures”. So though we can escape the eyes of earthly law we can never escape the camera of this divine photographer. The law of karma is an impersonal, law of nature but whenever we act with some intention, we come under its sway. So it is our intention which creates our future for us. Every second, every minute we are creating our own future. Many of the acts which we do now give us benefits or punishments in this very life itself.  But many of our acts do not fructify in this life but the law of karma decrees that every effect must have a cause. So what happens is that we ourselves create another life for us in which we can either enjoy the benefits of our good and kind acts or be punished for our evil deeds and intentions. This is why you find that some people are dying of poverty while others live in the lap of luxury, some are lame, blind, ugly while others are beautiful and healthy. Hinduism insists that we cannot blame god or our fate for all this. We have only ourselves to blame. Hinduism teaches us to take full responsibility for our actions. This means that we have to take full responsibility for our own lives. So we see that the law of karma is closely connected to Reincarnation. The jivatma or the embodied soul keeps taking birth after birth in order to experience the fruits of his actions. Does this mean that the jiva has to wander endlessly in this world life after life with no hope of reprieve? Here is where the Gita comes in with its consoling answer. Our liberation is in our own hands. What shapes our future is our intention and not the actual act. An act in itself is innocent. What gives it a colour is our intention. A surgeon may cut off a gangrenous hand in order to save the life of a patient and a robber may cut off the hand laden with gold bangles in order to steal the gold. The action is the same but the motivation is totally different so one liberates and the other binds. Hence the Gita warns us to be careful about our intentions. This is what binds us or liberates us. “Mana eva manushyanam kaaranam banda mokshayoho” In the human being the mind alone is the cause of both bondage and liberation. The Gita also gives us the yoga known as karma yoga or the yoga of action which gives very clear cut instructions how to avoid the effects of the law of karma. The only way is to hand over the results to God himself who is indeed the karma phala dhata or the giver of the fruits of karma. He knows what is best for us so if we give it over to him we will be safe. Hinduism gives us many paths of approach to God. These are known as yogas and they cater to different types of personalities. It does not insist that there is only one path and one way to approach Him. There are many paths and many ways and what we choose is decided by our temperament. Hinduism is accused of being pluralistic but pluralism means freedom - freedom of choice. It has no overall authority which dictates what every Hindu should or should not do. The first charter of human rights and liberties was give by Hinduism to every human being and hence it is imperative that we educate our children in all these facts so that they realize how fortunate they are to be born in the arms of such a loving and tolerant mother. The rishis have catered to every type of person. No one is cast out of the loving arms of the divine mother.  They have given us mantras which are sound capsules which will take us to the Divine even if we do not know the meaning. They have given us yantras which are esoteric figures which we can keep in the house and gain a lot of benefit. Even those who do not understand much of its esoteric philosophy can use these mantras and yantras and attain a high state of spirituality. It is also highly tolerant of all other religions. Everyone is given freedom to worship god in his or her own way as suited to his or her own personality. No one is cast out. We can take as many lives as we want but eventually every soul will be liberated. This is the beautifully consoling clarion call of Hinduism. Krishna tells Arjuna in the Gita, “Kaunteya pratijanihi, na me bhakta pranasyati.” “O Arjuna I give you my solemn promise that my bhakta can never perish.”