Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
Sanathana Dharma, later labeled Hinduism, dates back to 2500-4000 years, depending on the source. Judaism is the only religion that has stood the test of time. This thread will not be about which religion is best. It will try to understand why Hinduism has lasted so long. I willncome back to provide my opinion later. Inputs welcome from all.
I personally believe that Hinduism is about 8000 years old if you include the Vedic period (so it is a bit older than Judaism). But it has not remained static, many of the Vedic Gods are no longer worshiped. Since the time of Adi Shankaracharya, the number of main Gods to be worshiped (he defined five main Gods) has remained the same. The reason it has lasted so long is that it assimilated new teachings from new teachers/prophets/avatars into older traditions without destroying the older ones. The coming of Krishna did not mean Rama had to destroyed or his worship eliminated.
The future of Hinduism as well as of other religions like Islam and Christianity will be very interesting to witness for all of us in the next decade.
I expect the Imam Mahdi (pbuh) to emerge soon (possibly in the next couple of years). If he starts to teach something new to humanity, Hinduism will accept the new teachings and go on as before. Will Islam or Christianity be able to withstand the effect of new teachings different from those that are already in the holy Koran or the Bible? That is the big question that will be answered in the next few years.
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
Thanks for the nice post, Mr. Roshan. I have read your posts in the past and have learnt from them.
Ss for the last para, not my place.
PS. I don't know which Iman you are referring to.
I think the other people on the forum can explain better who the Imam Mahdi (pbuh) is. He is the next prophet (?) or as I personally see him, a Spiritual Teacher sent by God who will come to the world soon.
It may surprise Muslims, but Hinduism is probably the one religion which will be able to withstand his coming without disintegrating. Hindus will initially be upset that he is a Muslim and may even reject him in the beginning, but eventually they will recognize him (as they did Shirdi SaiBaba - who dressed as a Muslim and prayed in a mosque) and accept his teachings whatever they are.
Christians will be very upset that he is a Muslim. They will be even more upset that he is senior to Jesus. There will be a major schism between those Christians who accept him and those who do not - many churches will not survive this schism.
There will be a schism in Islam too - Muslims expect a warrior type person who will destroy all the unbelievers and idolators etc, convert everyone to Islam and give preference Muslims (and Arabs in particular). They will be surprised to find a kind, gentle person who accepts all who listen to him and come to him regardless of their religious background. And if he teaches new ideas that are not in the holy Koran, I really wonder how Muslims will react.
It will all be very interesting but also dangerous - there may be a blood bath between those who accept and those who reject his teachings.
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
Peace all,
If the principles are inherent to the cosmos, than these cosmos, I guess have ability or power to teach the same principles to other then Hindus too. I wonder why these cosmos just sticked to the ‘hindus’?
mdroshan, I believe being an oldest book/scripture doesn’t means it is the correct book which should be followed. However, to gain better knowledge of right and wrong, one must fully read and understand his/her (oldest) book/scripture that what it is actually talking about, what that book/scripture tells us. Nevertheless similarities between different books/scriptures must be highlighted rather then differences, but unfortunately, we prefer to discuss differences rather then similarities and I guess this is the reason we are far far behind from being called/seen as humanity.
Please note that Imam Mahdi is not a Prophet but he is an Imam. There is a huge difference between a Prophet & Imam. Furthermore, He will not going to teach something new but will re-teach the same ‘Islam’, which will completely forgotten by the Muslim Ummah.
I recommend you to read a book ‘Muhammad in the VEDAS and the PURANAS’, written by Dr. Ved Prakash Upaddhayaya who is a Research scholar in Sanskrit at Prayag University. If you need a soft copy then feel free to pm me your email, will send it to you definitely
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
I am no scholar kamikaze-san. As I stated earlier we are all Hindus. It is a location thing.
One can interpret everything literally. Or not. My interpretation of Sanatana Dharma is:
A set of principles that form the bedrock of life as we know it. As to why not all of us have been e posed to ot - I see several practising Muslims here who follow Sanstana Dharma as I know it : be tolerant of all faith, be against discrimination, be for peace etc etc.
Sanatana Dharma - a way of life. For Hindus, Muslims, Christains, Atheist ...
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
Peace Southie,
The book (Quran) is made easy understanding for them (them could be any person) who really ponder. I wonder if the books/scriptures of Sanathana Dharma is also made easy understanding for others.
Beside the above interpretation, would you mind to tell us what Sanatana Dharma tells us about 'God'?
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
Sanatana Dharma preceded the Vedas and the Upanishads. If you arr looking for books, the Vedas and the Upanishads are available in Sanskrit. The Gita and its translation are also available. One can learn lessons from Mahabharata and Ramayana also. So I am not sure one book represents Sanstana Dharma. For me, that is its beauty.
I had referenced the English translation of the Upanishads earlier.
I personally don't take the interpretation literally that one has to be born a million times to reach the state where we can realize the Self. I would rather interpret that as being the person one can be.
Sometimes being too much of a scholar in one religion closed the door on what else may make sense. So I am a bit wary of religious scholars.
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
I am not saying Hinduism has the correct answer to everything (or even most things). What I am saying is that if the Imam Mahdi (pbuh) were to appear and Hindus begin to follow him, they will accept whatever he preaches no matter if he contradicts some Hindu text - meaning Hindus are flexible enough to adjust to new teachings from new Spiritual Teachers.
However, if the Imam contradicts something in the Bible, many Christians will refuse to follow him. If he contradicts something in the Koran - many Muslims (most Muslims?) will not believe in him anymore.
As for whether he will teach anything new, I think we should leave it up to him. He is not bound by any book as to what he should do. I am sure he will do whatever is best for humanity.
However, it is my personal belief that he will come as a teacher with new teachings. Hindus believe (or at least I do) that Avatars such as him come periodically to the world with new teachings to expand upon existing one. It is like Quantum mechanics expanding upon Newtonian mechanics - it does not contradict old religion doctrines, just gives more detailed information.
For example, if the Imam Mahdi says reincarnation is a fact, how many Muslims or Christians will follow him? (I am not saying he will, maybe he will say reincarnation is totally false, who knows?).
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
Peace all,
I recommend you to read a book 'Muhammad in the VEDAS and the PURANAS', written by Dr. Ved Prakash Upaddhayaya who is a Research scholar in Sanskrit at Prayag University. If you need a soft copy then feel free to pm me your email, will send it to you definitely :)
Hello Kamikaze, thank you for pointing out this book to me. I found it available on the web. It is very interesting. I had vaguely heard about claims that Muhammad(pbuh) was mentioned in the Vedas but had ignored them till now.
I went through parts of the book, but still need to read it properly.
But while going through it briefly and thinking, I suddenly realized the Dr Upaddhaya is quite correct in his research , but he has made a big mistake in recognizing the correct Muhammad. Perhaps he does not know that the Imam Mahdi, the one we are expecting is also predicted to be named Muhammad. I think in his entire research we just need to substitute Imam Mahdi for Muhammad the Prophet.
What the Vedas and Puranas are predicting is the coming of the next Avatar - the Imam Mahdi whose name will also be Muhammad.
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
Peace All,
Pardon me but I disagree with you that being a scholar in one religion its closed the doors of others. Well, if one pick authentic source (scripture/books) of any religion and try to understand it then I guess all books leads towards one deity who is worth for worship and that is what Islam teach us that worship only one and non others.
Peace mdroshan,
Imam Mehdi a.s., will restore the very same religion known as ‘Islam’, and NOT establish anything new. It will happen when ‘Ad Dajjal’ arrives. As per context of a hadith that Ad Dajjal will kill a man, then bring him back to life. Peoples will believe him and consider him the true Imam. He will be followed by many, along with some insincere or hypocrites muslims or who are weaker in their beliefs. He will leads them in sense that after him, there will come an Avatar, and that world (in present of that time) will be the last world and the day of judgement will occurs after it, which in fact is a delusion. Whereas the Last Prophet Muhammad PBUH already arrived and this world is the last world and after there will be only judgement day occur. But many of us living in this delusion of world, that another avatar will arrive, which was already arrived and there will be no more avatar. Alas, these things are not just simple ans straight forward to understand but made very very complicated.
Peace mdroshan,
May God be pleased with you. here you are missing one that His (Prophet Muhammad ) parents names and if i’m not wrong then birth place is also predicted. Plz don’t observe the followers of a religion but refer to the authentic source of any religion.
There is no way or by coincident that the Imam Mahdi is the next Avatar as predicted in Vedas and Puranas.
For us (Muslims) this world is delusion and the next world is ‘real’ but for some others the next world is ‘delusion’.
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
Hello Kamikaze, thank you for pointing out this book to me. I found it available on the web. It is very interesting. I had vaguely heard about claims that Muhammad(pbuh) was mentioned in the Vedas but had ignored them till now.
I went through parts of the book, but still need to read it properly.
But while going through it briefly and thinking, I suddenly realized the Dr Upaddhaya is quite correct in his research , but he has made a big mistake in recognizing the correct Muhammad. Perhaps he does not know that the Imam Mahdi, the one we are expecting is also predicted to be named Muhammad. I think in his entire research we just need to substitute Imam Mahdi for Muhammad the Prophet.
What the Vedas and Puranas are predicting is the coming of the next Avatar - the Imam Mahdi whose name will also be Muhammad.
But this is only my opinion.
I beg to differ. Whoever Imam Mahdi is, he will at most be accepted as a saint by hindus. But worship him as Avatar? A big fat No! Maybe only by people like yourselves with feet in each religion. The scriptures are clear that the Avatar will be God come in human form to lead and teach humans. This is way above and beyond concepts like Acharyas, rishis, Imams and any Prophet. Please stop misleading yourselves and others as for verses on Mohammed in scriptures while you read up on supposed translation do go and look up the original on the web and learn the truth for yourself. The Abrahamic and Dharmic religions are like east and west. They will never meet in most ideologies. It is good to know something that may benefit humanity irrespective of the religion it originates from. But to learn one religions through the tinted glasses of another is a foolish thing. Those who do so, fall victim to conspiracies like "Mohammed in the vedas" and "Kaaba was a hindu temple" etc.
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
From the era of the Indus valley to the present day, it has stood strong and flourished So,Yes Sanatana Dharma will continue because of its capacity to learn and evolve (hopefully for the better) and universal acceptance.
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
Dunno about Hinduisim enough, but I think part of the issue has been that any population that came into that area just abused the inhabitants, and so even though many converted to Islam, many did not, and still did not convert to Christianity under British rule. If you get treated like crap, WHY would you convert and abandon your identity?
The people of the area were invaded by the muslims and before them non muslims. People who converted mostly were due to the sufis and not through sword thats the reason why hindus were in majority even during their rule.
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
The people of the area were invaded by the muslims and before them non muslims. People who converted mostly were due to the sufis and not through sword thats the reason why hindus were in majority even during their rule.
Sufis played a part mostly in parts of Sindh, Kashmir and present day Bangladesh which turned majority muslim before partition. In the south especially Kerala , it was trade . The rest of the region, it was sword against sword in a fight for ideological superiority. People say that if muslim rulers had forced, then the entire area would have been converted. That is not a likely scenario because of Rajputs, Marathas and others who fought back. Even Harihara and Bukka who were forcefully converted came down south, reconverted and established one of the strongest hindu empires of medieval India.
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
Sufis played a part mostly in parts of Sindh, Kashmir and present day Bangladesh which turned majority muslim before partition. In the south especially Kerala , it was trade . The rest of the region, it was sword against sword in a fight for ideological superiority. People say that if muslim rulers had forced, then the entire area would have been converted. That is not a likely scenario because of Rajputs, Marathas and others who fought back. Even Harihara and Bukka who were forcefully converted came down south, reconverted and established one of the strongest hindu empires of medieval India.
Even in Punjab and KPK it were the sufis. All the areas where sufis had their presence became muslims. UP also had a considerable muslim population. Going down south where there was no impact of sufis the non muslims remained in majority (sword or no sword). Those who were using swords were doing it to capture land and not to spread any religious ideology.
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
Southie yaar respects to you but I agree with Kaka yeh thread ki kya zaroorat thi. It’s interesting but im not sure how related to the forum it is. Here are some Interesting videos.
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
Peace calypsodc,
Thank you for the links will read it and then will pass comments, if required. Btw one of these links says that Dr. Zakir twisted with translation. Well I referred to the *Dr. Ved Prakash Upaddhayaya who is a Research scholar in Sanskrit at Prayag University. *Here is the quick search who was he
( https://sites.google.com/site/amininbox/drvedprakashupadhyaya ).
Please tell me if all works of the Dr. Ved Prakash Upaddhayaya is incorrect/wrong.
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
Delhi Lahore Karachi
Thanks for the input. I personally have learnt a lot in this thread. The exchange of ideas are being done in a tlrespectful manner. To answer your question as to why this thread in this forum, I did want to dig into why Sanatana Dharma has lasted so long.
So far, everyone has stuck to one request of mine - that is not to turn this into a bashing match.
As you see, there is a spectrum of Sanatana Dharma followers. With Calypso being really into the scriptures. Its all about learning. Join us for the ride Delhi Lahore Karachi.
Re: Sanathana Dharma - will this continue its record of longivity?
Few years back there was video that I saw in which a Indian intellectual was asked why India was concurred over and over in the known history of the region from people from all sides, Central Asia to Persia to Greeks to Afghans and many others. And he answered articulately that Indian (people living in the region not current day Indian) are very welcoming and flexible people :D I don't know exactly what it means. But it sounded funny to me, the way he defended the long history of defeats and living under foreign rulers.
For Hinduism, I find the same logic for its long survival. People, characters and stories, came, added up and it moved on. There are not structural boundaries in the belief system (and it was not meant to be in Sanathana Dharma). So this very flexibility had gone into the general population's mentality as well. There are some complexities that are emerging in modern days where people (like always had in last 2500 years) getting inspired by the foreign cultures and values, heavily under inferior complex (check Nandita Daas's movement over Dark skin and the shocking stats she has brought attention to), men are getting out of control with the new wave of cultural influences (see the burning issue of rapes). Since there is no certain boundaries in the religion, all the restrictions are mainly cultural. If its not the political atmosphere of the region (neighboring Muslim countries), more people would convert to religion of the people they admire or find fascinating (Christianity is on top in this case) or go athiest. Time will tell how Hinduism survives (and it will, to strive in the regional pressure) in the centuries ahead. May be we will see some reform movement to keep it relevant and protect the national interests (denouncing some practices as it happened with Satti in 19th century) and some people clinging to the established practices. As it happened over the thousand years with Jewish, whose majority were orthodox for religious purposes and had no political agenda for centuries, but there were always a very small faction that had deep political agenda. The later group were known as Zionists, and today majority of Jewish support that ideology.
One thing is for sure from my above opinion, India as a country is emerging economically and go head to head with China and even US in next 3 decades as a super power with strong say on international level. This will further nourish Hinduism for centuries, with an added pride (had been a rare phenomenon for its followers in its history) and some reformed form will also surfaced (again its totally acceptable due to flexibility, but could be difficult due to extremism that is increasing). Both Christianity and Hinduism (religion wise) have somewhat more adaptability while Judaism and Islam are having hard time naturally to counter the modernism that is sweeping the globe.
) parents names and if i’m not wrong then birth place is also predicted. Plz don’t observe the followers of a religion but refer to the authentic source of any religion.