As I know extremely little about the religion I was wondering if it were possible for a Hindu member of Gupshup to provide some basic information on the religion. I would request that if you are not a Hindu please do not misrepresent the faith by providing incorrect information. Secondly I would additionally request that no derogatory remarks with regard to the religion are made. Lastly I would like any questions on the faith to be formed in a polite manner; there is no need to insult people.
My questions are as follows:
Do Hindu’s believe in Heaven and Hell? Could you provide a description of the ideas and notions behind it?
Is the caste system part of the faith or a social construct?
With regard to the idols of Gods, what are the exact beliefs with regard to them? I will request you provide a detailed answer with regard to this specific point as this could cause a great deal of confusion.
1) Yes there is a concept of heaven in Hinduism. But unlike the heaven and hell of the middle eastern religions, our stay there is not permanent. A soul enjoys the fruit of heaven until the merits of his good deeds die out. All the pantheon of gods (devas) in Hinduism, Indra, Agni, Vayu, Surya etc are positions in heaven which highly developed souls occupy because of their good deeds. (The devas of hinduism are equivalent to angels in the middle eastern religion). But eventually they too like all souls in heaven have to fall back on earth once the merits of their good deeds are over.
There is no concept of hell as a place in hinduism. All the fruits of our bad deeds come back to us and we have to suffer their consequences. (As you know Hinduism believes in rebirth, thus) Even if we die without suffering the full consequences of bad things we have done, we are reborn in a state where our surroundings and circumstances are such that we have to go through the hellish experience. This explains the phenomenon as to why God who loves all its people appears seemingly unjust when some people are given all the best of the world and some the worst of the world.
A soul thus continues to become refined in the process of birth and rebirth. The only way to escape the cycle of birth and rebirth, one has to realise God, just the way the Prophets of all religion and many more did. For that you have to rise above the worldly matters and have the utmost devotion in God. That is why you see some hindu sadhus or even Sufi saints, giving up everything and getting away from civilization so that they can try to focus their mind on God and not be caught in the intricacies of worldy life.
A2 and A3 tommorrow, otherwise it will one long answer.
MP, anyone who wants to eat meat in hinduism is free to except for beef. Some South Indian Brahmins dont eat meat, but there is no fixed rule. Indian society was a very agrarian based society. Their daily diet of milk, butter, curds came from cows. They used to till the land using oxen. Cows thus became like house pets and thus people out of respect stopped eating beef. There is no ban as such on beef in any hindu scripture and vedic hindus used to eat beef. But Indian society on the whole has many vegetarians due to high influence of Buddhism. (Buddha preached compassion to all living things which caused a major lifestyle change in India). Regarding the question of hygiene in case of pork, pigs used to eat grass but once humans started creating waste they started eating that too. But goats do the same thing, so it is not less unhygenic to eat goats than pigs. Hindu women don the bindi not men, men (and women) only do that (tilak - long line) after a religious ritual or ceremony. It is just a concept of a latent third eye by which we could see beyond the physical world. But other than that, women put all sort of bindis as a fashion statement.
Gentlemen this thread is about Hinduism and learning about the religion. If you wish to question its beliefs do so in another thread. If you wish to sling mud at each others religions please do so via pms. I did not open this thread as cannon fodder for hatred. If any of you can not answer my questions nor have questions of your own you can provide in a respectable manner there is no need for you to respond to this thread.
Surya thank you very much for your detailed answer. Once my current questions have been answered I would be obliged if you could answer more.
Caste system in Hinduism was a social construct designed to get the best out of society. It was a fluid and flexible system when it was created and not a rigid and dead system as we know it today. Basically, there are four divisions of the castes. 1) Brahmins - Scholars or Priests, 2) Kshatriyas- Kings and Warriors, 3) Vaishyas(Baniyas)- Businessman and traders, 4)Shudras - Labourers.
Now in olden times anyone could choose his caste based on his mental disposition. In the Gita, there are 18 different qualities and conditions mentioned so that a person can be recognised belonging to a particular caste. As you rose in the caste, you had to go through more and more restrictions and increase of responsibilities. Thus a shudra had the least restriction on his lifestyle but he also had the least responsibility. The caste system was created so that each people in their fields would be able to excel in their respective fields.
But any human system decays over time as there will be people who will exploit it for their personal needs. Some 2000 years ago the caste system started to decay as the priests in order to mantain power in their families stopped the interflow between the different castes. Thus it became heriditary instead of based on the character of the person. And with the priests restricting the study of vedas only to themselves, they were able to mantain power over the populace because the public had to take their word as truth. Thus many superstitions and vile traditions also set in these period and was a period of general decline in the civilization.
A good thing happening today is the vedas have been translated in different languages and everyone can go directly to the source instead on going through the middleman (priest). Also the caste system in India is gradually waning in power which is a good thing as India will be able to tap in the services of talented individuals irrespective of caste.
Regarding worshipping idols, it is only a tool for people to form some sort of image of God. No one knows God's form, some say he is light, some say he is in a form of ether. So humans have formed various ways to define God. Hindus use Idol, some others use various tools like a cross, or photos, give him a properties of a flawless human, use holy sayings or look towards the sky and pray. So idols are just a way to give some form to God while praying to Him.