amit19

I believe that hinduism is just another "ism" which is by definition man made. The best definition of hindu is exactly what you have stated, "people living on the east side of the sindu river". Such a definition is inherently geographical and "racial". I have given up the title of "hindu" because such titles are exactly what the vedic scripture teach us to abandon. I am not a hindu, i am not indian, i'm not white, i'm not mexican, i'm not catholic, i'm not muslim, i am a soul. This is the true teachings of the bhagavad gita. The fact that Prabhupada stated he is not a hindu only serves to show us how wise he was.

I somewhat stumbled onto this half believing that it was just another politically inspired forum but to my suprise people acutally seem to be quite educated on religion. My first question to you all is what is your definition of "Hinduism"? After studying this question, I have come to the conclusion that the word "hinduism" doesn not stand for any one belief and therefore it is dangerously ambiguous. There is no mention of the word "hindu" in any of the vedic scriptures and it has no link to sanskrit so what does it mean and what is this word's purpose?