Before I express my views about the question “Is Hinduism a religion or a practice? “, I would like to bring to notice specific facts that came across in my research, which will be the backbone of my answer to the question above. Here are the facts :
Vedas or Puranas don’t Mention the Word “Hindu”
The word Hindu or Hinduism is not mentioned in any sacred Vedas, Puranas or scriptures. These words are brought by foreigners who came to this country and started calling people residing in Bharat Varsha as Hindu.
The inscription on the tomb of Darius I, a Persian king, mentions ancient Hidūš (Multan and Sindh of today’s Pakistan) as part of the Achaemenid Empire.
So, the origin of the word or label “Hindu” was related by historians to Persia, who lived to the west of the Indus River. In Sanskrit, “Sindhu” refers to the Indus River in northwestern India. It is a hunch of historians that Persians pronounced the word Sindhu as “Hidūš” to refer to people living around the river Indus.
Therefore, neither Hindu nor Hinduism words are referred in Vedas, Puranas, or any other sacred book of Bharat Varsha.
No Person Created Hinduism
There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide [Refer African Studies Association; University of Michigan (2005). History in Africa. Vol. 32. p. 119.], but four religions—Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism—cover 77% of the world’s population. If you add a population that does not believe in any religion or faith, the cover reaches 92%, which leaves just 8% for the balance of 9996 religions!
Now let us analyze the creation or start of these major religions, covering almost 77% of the population on earth. You will be amazed to know that while all major religions were started or created by one sage, prophet or monk, Hinduism is not credited with any particular person, sage or prophet. This is quite extraordinary!
- Jesus started Christianity.
- Prophet Muhammad started the Mohammedan (Muslim) religion.
- Mahatma Buddha started Buddhism,
- Bhagwan Mahavir Jain started Jainism,
- Judaism was started by Abraham, who received the Torah through Moses.
- Zarathustra founded Zoroastrianism.
- Guru Nanak started Sikhism.
- Chinese traditional religion mainly consists of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. One great man started each of them.
Hinduism or Sanatan Dharma is not credited to any person, prophet or even a group of persons or organizations.
Hinduism Allows Most Freedom
To understand the freedom of a follower of “Sanatan Dharma ” or Hinduism, one should compare it with other major religions worldwide.
Duties of Christians
In Christianity, one of the primary responsibilities of the believer in Christ is to love Him deeply through prayer and Bible study.
”And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment”
Mark 12:30 (AMPC).
As a believer, you are duty-bound to share the Gospel with others and to make disciples.[Refer to Matthew 28:19-20 (AMPC).]
Duties of Muslims
One becomes a Muslim if one believes “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God” and prays facing Mecca five times a day: at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and after dark., donate a fixed portion of their income to community members in need and keep fasting during the day-light of Ramadan.
Similarly, you will find primary duties that believers of other religions that he/she must perform.
Duties of a Hindu
None! If you want to go to a Hindu temple, go, but if you do not go to a temple, it is okay! Because Hindu philosophy is “God is everywhere!”. Even a person who does not believe in the existence of God is still a Hindu because out of seven major Hindu philosophies – Vaishesika, Nyaya, Samkhya, Yoga, Purva Mimansa and Vedanta or Uttara Mimansa and Charvaka (Brihaspati).
Charvaka philosophy is a materialistic, sceptical and atheistic school of thought and propagates contrary to what six other philosophies try to establish. According to Charvaka :
- There is no other world.
- Death is the end of humans.
- Pleasure is the ultimate object in life.
The believer of any other school of thought of Hinduism does not condemn the existence of the Charvaka school of thought. The upholders of such views are not declared unfit to be recognized as members of the Hindu religious society.
Thus, only Hinduism provides you absolute freedom, even to discard the thought that there is no God and that pleasure and worldly achievement are the sole goals of life. Can you ever get such kind of freedom in any religion or faith?
Hinduism is Impossible to Define!
One common definition of Hinduism is impossible because of the vastness and incorporation of opposite philosophies within itself and the absolute freedom of a believer to decide what he wants to believe. I am not a student of Vedas or Puranas, and I do not know all of its philosophies, but my curiosity led me to read many commentaries on this issue.
These studies include views of the Supreme Court of India. So, relevant extracts of the judgment of the Supreme Court on this issue are reproduced below :
In 1966, the Chief Justice Gajendragadkar wrote for the Supreme Court of India in Yagnapurushdasji (AIR 1966 SC 1127), that “Hinduism is impossible to define”. The court adopted Radhakrishnan’s submission that Hinduism is complex and “the theist and atheist, the skeptic and agnostic, may all be Hindus if they accept the Hindu system of culture and life”. The Court judged that Hinduism historically has had an “inclusive nature” and it may “broadly be described as a way of life and nothing more”.
A five-judge constitution bench of Chief Justice P B Gajendragadkar, K N Wanchoo, M Hidayatullah, V Ramaswami and P Satyanarayanaraju in ‘Sastri Yagnapurushadji’ case [1966 SCR (3) 242] attempted to narrate historical and etymological genesis of the word ‘Hindu’.Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Gajendragadkar said,
“The historical and etymological genesis of the word ‘Hindu’ has given rise to a controversy amongst Indologists; but the view generally accepted by scholars appears to be that the word ‘Hindu’ is derived from the river Sindhu, otherwise known as Indus which flows from Punjab.
“When we think of the Hindu religion, we find it difficult, if not impossible, to define the Hindu religion or even adequately describe it. Unlike other religions in the world, the Hindu religion does not claim any one prophet, it does not worship anyone god, it does not subscribe to any one dogma, it does not believe in any one philosophic concept, it does not follow anyone set of religious rites or performances, in fact, it does not appear to satisfy the narrow traditional features of any religion or creed. It may broadly be described as a way of life and nothing more.”
The difficulty faced by the SC in 1966 to define ‘Hindu’ was reflected in its judgment in ‘Commissioner Wealth Tax, Madras vs Late R Sridharan’ [1976 (Sup) SCR 478], in which it said,
“It is a matter of common knowledge that Hinduism embraces within self so many diverse forms of beliefs, faiths, practices and worships that it is difficult to define term ‘Hindu’ with precision.”
A three-judge bench headed by Justice J S Verma in Ramesh Yeshwant Prabhoo case [1996 SCC (1) 130] said,
“The words ‘Hinduism’ or ‘Hindutva’ is not necessarily to be understood and construed narrowly, confined only to the strict Hindu religious practices unrelated to the culture and ethos of the people of India, depicting the way of life of the Indian people.“Considering the terms ‘Hinduism’ or ‘Hindutva’ per se as depicting hostility, enmity or intolerance towards other religious faiths or professing communalism, proceeds from an improper appreciation and perception of the true meaning of these expressions emerging from the detailed discussion in earlier judgments of this court.
“Misuse of these expressions to promote communalism cannot alter the true meaning of these terms. The mischief resulting from the misuse of the terms by anyone in his speech has to be checked and not its permissible use.”
The aforesaid views of the Supreme Court of India expressed at different times in different cases before it has one common but clear thought that Hinduism is impossible to define.
Why is the Question -“If Hinduism a Religion?”- Itself a Redundant Query?
The word “religion” was invented in modern times by Westerners. I want to quote Wikipedia in this regard, which mentioned the source of thoughts from other books :
The concept of religion originated in the modern era in the West.[33] Parallel concepts are not found in many current and past cultures; there is no equivalent term for religion in many languages.[3][23] Scholars have found it difficult to develop a consistent definition, with some giving up on the possibility of a definition.[62][63] Others argue that regardless of its definition, it is not appropriate to apply it to non-Western cultures.[32][33]
Source: wikipedia page on “religion”
On the origin of the word “religion”, the website provides the following answer:
The Englishword religionhas been in use since the thirteenth century, loaned from Anglo-French religiun(eleventh century), ultimately from the Latin religio,”reverence for God or the gods, careful pondering of divine things, piety, the res divinae.”[3]
The ultimate origins of Latin religio are obscure, though a historically popular derivation suggests that the term emerged from ligare “bind, connect”; likely from a prefixed re-ligare, i.e. re (again) + ligare or “to reconnect.” This interpretation is favored by modern scholars such as Tom Harpur and Joseph Campbell, though it owes its place of prominence to St. Augustine, who used it in his interpretation of Lactantius. Another possibility is derivation from a reduplicated *le-ligare. Another historical interpretation, this one offered by Cicero, connects lego “read,” i.e. re (again) + lego in the sense of “choose,” “go over again” or “consider carefully”
Source newworldencyclopedia
So, fitting a practice or belief as diverse as seven schools of philosophy that developed thousands of years back, in a Western concept developed in the eleventh century, is like putting an elephant in a bottle. For this reason, an exercise to define Hinduism in the four corners of the word “religion” is a futile exercise and a waste of time. As I have already brought to your attention, the thoughts of thinkers.
My understanding of Hinduism
In my opinion, Hinduism philosophy is much bigger than the god-centric definition of “religion”, so in a way, all the elements of a “religion ” following the varied definitions and interpretations are already encompassed within Hinduism, but essential it is some fundamental practice that can prove that you are a Sanatan Dharam follower. These minimum and fundamental practices are :
- Childbirth celebration-Chhathi, Namakaran, Mundan
- Cremation by burning the body of your father with rituals as stated in any of the Sanatan Dharam philosophy
- Marriage by taking Seven rounds (Phera) around the fire (Agni)
These are the minimum number of rituals or practices that anyone can claim to be Hindu (Sanatan Dharma follower). A Hindu is also one who is a son or daughter of a Hindu.
Thus, I believe Hinduism is a religion and a minimum set of practices.