Guest guest Posted April 12, 2004 Report Share Posted April 12, 2004 Recently, I was conversing with one of my firends who is a muslim, and he wanted to know, who is the originator of hinduism. His arguement is, there should be a founder. SOmething cannot come of nothing. Hinduism may be very old, and it is highly possible that we may not know who found the religion. And he also wanted to know why hinduism is not practiced elsewhere in the world. He also wants to know something about rebirth. What happens to the soul after death, why hindus burn the body, does the soul have karma, if the soul has karma, why does it not have memory of previous births? His interest seemed to be genuine, but I was ashamed , as a Hindu I was not able to give him convincing reply. Can someone help me out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 13, 2004 Report Share Posted April 13, 2004 Recently, I was conversing with one of my firends who is a muslim, and he wanted to know, who is the originator of hinduism. --hinduism is a corruption of sanatana dharma, the eternal way to worship the supreme lord that, in kaly yuga, the age of quarrels and conflict, is divided in many religions with more or less resemblance of the origins His arguement is, there should be a founder --sanatana dharma's founder is god himself.. the term hinduism (that is not the original religion but a transformation) is muslim And he also wanted to know why hinduism is not practiced elsewhere in the world --it is not exact... hinduism and schools commonly connected to him, like hare krishna for example, are all over the world and ever expanding. In addition to this some typical hindu ideas like vegetarianism and reincarnation or karma are having a huge influence on other religions, like christianity. Let us not forget also that buddhism, all over the world, is a derivation from sanatana dharma What happens to the soul after death, --god fulfill our desires, we will have a body more fit to express the desires we have now... if we want to fly it is more simple to do it in a bird body than in a human. We have also to pay our debts, if i kill you you will kill me in a next life. If, following a religion, my desire is to serve god, i will go to god in the next life without coming back in this world of births and deaths why hindus burn the body, --to avoid as much as possible that the soul remain attached to his old body without going to the new one does the soul have karma --no, the soul is never affected by karma, it is only a fact of the covering, the body why does it not have memory of previous births? --let us speak of mind (that's different from soul)... mind does not remember the last body because of the trauma, the pain of birth.. and it is good otherwise we would have to cry for the billions of friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons lost in all previous lifes His interest seemed to be genuine, --if it is not genuine it is a good opportunity to learn something for your own consciousness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maadhav Posted April 13, 2004 Report Share Posted April 13, 2004 << does the soul have karma >> a soul bundled with its material desires for enjoyment is called jiva. this jiva takes birth according to its karma in human body and its desires. only the karma that is done only for krishna without attachment of any fruit do not bind. karnaNye va dhikAraste mA phaleshhU kadAchana - He says. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 13, 2004 Report Share Posted April 13, 2004 "Recently, I was conversing with one of my firends who is a muslim, and he wanted to know, who is the originator of hinduism." We do not know who the 'original' founder of Hinduism or more correctly Sanatan Dharma is, but we DO know that it is not based on a 'single' person but on spiritual laws discovered by MANY Rishis (Sages) from ancient times through to modern day. These Sages were spiritual masters with alot of divine power which was aquired through deep meditation, where they made contact with God, some even saw God manifested through 'forms' which are the images of hindu gods we see today. The Mantras are recorded in the Vedas and the spiritual teachings of the Sages is recorded in the Upanishads. Throughout the history of Sanatan Dharma, there have been sages, sants, swamis, acharyas and gurus who have taught the same spiritual laws in different ways to different people in society of different levels of spirituality and mental capacity. Also some Hindus believe in incarnations of God who come to re-establish Dharma such as Sri Krishna. "His arguement is, there should be a founder. SOmething cannot come of nothing." Like I said, the founder is more than one, there are many Sages. Some believe the founders are the seven original rishis of the Vedas. A well known sage is Vyasa, another is Yajnavalka, another Jaimini and another is Patanjali. There are even female sages like Gargi and Maitri. Modern day sages include Sri Aurobindo and Sri Ramakrishna. "And he also wanted to know why hinduism is not practiced elsewhere in the world." Because not many Sages went outside India - you have to remember at that time India was alot bigger and it included Afghanistan, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma, and Hinduism did spread to surrounding areas like Thailand, Indonesia and Bali. It was never a religion of conversion so it never agressivly persued conversion. Plus, India was seen as a Spiritual land and people came from the outside who were interested in learning about spirituality. Hinduism is practiced elsewhere in the world and in the west by westeners, through different movements, such as Hare Krishna (ISKCON), Saiva Siddhanta (of the Himalayan Academy), Swami Vivekananda's Vedanta centres that he established in the west, etc. "He also wants to know something about rebirth. What happens to the soul after death, why hindus burn the body, does the soul have karma, if the soul has karma, why does it not have memory of previous births?" The soul moves on and is reborn in another body according to it's karma. Hindus burn the body as it is no longer needed, it is of no use and it just rots and decays as the soul has left and there is no point in keeping it. The soul does have memory of previous births but you have to go into deep meditation and live a diciplined life to remember them, as many spiritual masters have. You can't remember the day you were born or when you were 1 or 2 years old, so how can you expect to remember all your births just like that? "His interest seemed to be genuine, but I was ashamed , as a Hindu I was not able to give him convincing reply." That's your own fault really, you should learn about Hinduism, read some books ask questions to Hindu organisations, get some answers etc. Then you wouldn't be in an embarassing situation where you can't answer questions about your own religion. The thread below contains some useful links. http://www.hindu-religion.net/showflat/cat/hinduism/65245/0/collapsed/5/o/1 Also check out www.atributetohinduism.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 13, 2004 Report Share Posted April 13, 2004 XZX, Madhav and guest, thanks for all the replies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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