Can The World Survive Without Religion (Yes or No) A Hindu P (General)

by dhw, Saturday, November 27, 2010, 12:28 (5109 days ago) @ satyansh

Satyansh has kindly given us a guide to some of the basic elements of Hinduism. Like David, I find Hinduism very confusing, and so this is extremely useful. Obviously many branches do without the concept of a creator altogether, and in the light of the millions of gods and goddesses shared around, one really wonders if it isn't a collection of diffuse beliefs which should not be subsumed under a single name at all.-This seems to be borne out by your statement that Hinduism isn't institutionalized, "there isn't one set of thoughts that govern the whole religion", and "there are no widespread beliefs about its teachings". What a refreshing change that is from the fierce debates constantly going on over how to interpret the Bible and the Koran! As far as I know (please correct me if I'm wrong), all the traditions have been handed down orally ... the Vedas being just a written record of what had been preserved orally ... which suggests history/myth and ritual. But could you tell us where Hindu morality stems from, as this is clearly a crucial aspect of religion that you yourself have highlighted.*** You say "religion cannot go because of human needs and who is to say that the replaced set of ideas won't be corrupted?" In the three Abrahamic religions, there have been so many disagreements over the texts throughout the centuries, with such disastrous results, that in terms of corrupted ideas I suspect both Jesus Christ and Mohammed would have been appalled at the atrocities perpetrated in their name. Who prescribes what is right or wrong in Hinduism, and according to what criteria? And does morality change from one form of Hinduism to another? -On the subject of rationality, which again you link to morality, I don't think any of us would deny its importance. But for me it's equally important to get the balance between reason, emotion and intuition. This also applies to morality, because without natural empathy, ethical codes won't take us beyond sets of laws beginning "Thou shalt not..." Do-as-you-would-be done-by goes a lot further, and involves kindness and charity and self-sacrifice, none of which will be engaged in spontaneously without a good dose of irrational empathy. (One can, of course, find good rational reasons for kindness etc., but I think genuinely kind people are intuitively and not rationally kind.)-*** I see from the latest posts that David has asked you a similar question, and once again you have provided a wonderfully clear explanation of different forms of Hinduism. Two things stand out for me: -1) You say the Bhagavad Gita tells us that "personal devotion to deity is endorsed as a way of salvation for all classes of people." What form does this devotion take? Prayer, obeying instructions, renouncing the world? And what form does "salvation" take? Release from the cycle of death and rebirth, some kind of paradise, conscious/ unconscious merging with the oneness of things? -2) "There is more emphasis on being a good human being and not necessarily on being a believer in God." This appeals enormously to the humanist in me, but again the question arises: who decides what constitutes "good", and according to what criteria?-Once again, thank you very much for bringing this new dimension to our forum, and for giving us such detailed and clear explanations.