Guest guest Posted April 5, 2004 Report Share Posted April 5, 2004 Hi i wonder if you could help me with this little problem and tell me were you found this information thank you 1)what are the beliefs of hinduisms? 2)What festivals are there? 3)Is there any book or scripts of hinduism? thanl you and if there is anything else you could tell me i will be very intrested because i am thinking to becoming a hindu and i wonder how you become a hindu and how you change from diffrent religons thank you Keith xXx Have a Spiritual and ever loving future for many years my good friends Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2004 Report Share Posted April 5, 2004 The most important thing of being a hindu is Freedom. Except for the basic principles on which it is built ( called Dharma ), it offers the utmost flexibility for its followers. The festivals are many, and mark the important events in the lives of gods and certain planetary positions. Also there are festivals that are a sign of gratitude to the gods for a good harvest. Vedas, Upanishads, brahma sutras, Bhagwat gita are the books of hinduism. Aurobindo has made excellent translation of all these important books in English. Dr. Radhakrishnan has made excellent transaltions. Go to any Ramakrishna Mutt Book store and you will get the english transaltions of these books in English by the Mutt Swamijis which are easy to understand. Conversion to Hinduism...... I really dont know if there is a formal procedure or something. Basically hinduism does not believe in conversion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maadhav Posted April 6, 2004 Report Share Posted April 6, 2004 i suggest, first read bhagavad gita. while reading, ask question for things you do not understand. hinduism is about freedom of thought, and truth, absolute truth, and it is about getting happy, permanelty. it is a complete science of spirituality. it is for all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 6, 2004 Report Share Posted April 6, 2004 There is no offical conversion ceremony to be a Hindu. Just study the scriptures, live a righteous, spiritual life and you're a Hindu. Though some Hindu sects such as Arya Samaj have a 'converstion' ritual called the "Shruddi" (purification) ceremony which was used in ancient times for any foreigners who settled and lived in India and adopted the religion, such as the Greeks that Alexander left. The "shruddi" ceremony was also used for those who had led a non-religious or immoral life and reformed their character and wished to be included back into the Vedic religion. The follwing links are taken from another thread on this site. I think you may find them helpful. http://dharma.hindujagran.com http://www.atributetohinduism.com http://www.hindunet.org http://www.vandemataram.com http://www.urday.com/sanatana.htm http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/3078/ http://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduindex.htm http://members.tripod.com/~hinduism/om.html http://www.hindu.org/ http://www.hinduism-today.com http://www.gita-society.com/welcome!.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 9, 2004 Report Share Posted April 9, 2004 "Aurobindo has made excellent translation of all these important books in English. Dr. Radhakrishnan has made excellent transaltions." Could you tell me where I can buy these translations on the internet ? Thank you. Any other book in English you would recommend to someone who knows a bit about Hinduism and would like to study it in depth ? Thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 9, 2004 Report Share Posted April 9, 2004 Dr Radhakrishnan's books are published by Harpercollins. Shri Aurobindo's books are published by Aurobindo Ashram in Pondichery India. But Aurobindo's translations require a very good teacher and may be difficult for a beginner. You can also try the websites of Landmark, Higginbothams ( both are located in madras India) to see if they ship outside India. YOu can also try www.firstandsecond.com , and they ship outside India. As far the other books are concerned, you can try Upanishads which are higly philosophical and speak about realisation of the self and unifiction with Brahman. You can also try vedantic texts like Panchadasi. Atma Bodha,Viveka Choodamani by Shankara are another master piece of advaita philosophy. And Braham Sutras. Then you can slowly start reading books like Titumandiram. You can also try the secular books like Subhashitas,etc. Books compiled by the devotees of Bhagvan Ramana Maharishi are suitable for all people. They are available from Amazon.com. You can also download free books from their website. However if you are looking for knowing the ritualistic parts, like temple worship, various gods, the hindu festivals etc, I strongly recommend you to locate a Ramakrishna Mutt near your area, and visit their book shops and talk to the monks there. You can also learn a lot about rituals by talking to any of the hindus. Arsha Vidhya Gurukulam in Coimbatore Tamilnadu India, conducts a home study course on Bhagvat gita ( which is very affordable). Hope this information is helpful. Please post back if you have any questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 9, 2004 Report Share Posted April 9, 2004 The site below sells books of Sri Aurobindo and his Ashram concerning the Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita. http://www.vedah.com/org/index.asp You can buy some of his books from amazon.com. Aurobindo's English is a little hard to follow as it is very high level and he went to Cambridge about 100 years back (you can imagine how English has changed since then). The books written by his followers in his Ashram may be easier to follow. The Ramakrishna Mission have an excellent edition of the Bhagavad Gita with commentary by Swami Chidbhavananda. You can buy it from their site at http://www.vedanta-newyork.org/books_a_l.htm http://www.bluedove.com/Hindu_Gitas.htm Also Swami Chinmayananda has a good Gita commentary but may be a little too difficult for some people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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