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Or do
you just take pride ( ...) in being aHindu (or Muslim, or Christian, or Sikh, or Parsi) knowing fully well
that it was a mere statistical accident that you got born in this family of yours. Now don't confuse rituals with
philosophy. For example, reciting shlokas and worshipping ( ) in the prescribed
manner does not make you a better Hindu. Have you ever tried to find out what makes your religion,
philosophically different from others?
Let us make a beginning. Let's identify the main principles of Hinduismand I would request my friends from
other religions to inform us "bullet points" of what their religion's philosophy is!
1. Rebirth: ( ): A person is reborn, depending on his deeds of the previous birth. The highest
form of birth is as a human being but as a mark of punishment for your bad deeds, you could get
reborn as a cocroach or a dog or whatever...
2. Salvation: (): Everyone should aspire to behave so well in a particular birth that he / she gets
out of this cycle of rebirth. You would have then achieved the final salvation. Rebirth is thus a
"reward - punishment" mechanism.
3. Principle of non - duality ( ): Hindu philosophy postulates that everything in this world is a
part of the same entity; it even extends this logic by stating that the "creator" ( ) and the
"creations" ( ) are one & the same thing. According to this tenet, there is thus no point in
hating others - they are really a part of yourself - does the right hand ever hate the left hand??
4. Destiny (): Our destinies are pre-written by the creator and we are mere pawns on a
chessboard playing out our life as decreed by HIM (GOD is always a male). Is this why we Hindus
are a laid back lot, convinced that we can't change what is pre-ordained for us?
5. Extreme Tolerance: Hinduism should really be a delight to all modernists who value their
independence above everything else -[a] it admits that their could be other paths leading to
GOD; [b] it gives complete liberty to its followers to choose any GOD of his/her choice & their are
many to choose from; [c] it does not have strict dress or appearance codes; [d] it allows you to use
your own methods of worship; [e] it does not want to 'market' itself and spread amongst those who
do not belong to its fold; [f] it is so liberal that it even sanctions atheism as a legitimate pursuit.
6. Living life "fully": It decrees that the four life stages viz (before marriage)
,