Ask a Hindu

[Ashoka]

Hey! I am a convert to Hinduism (technically: you can't really convert, you just start practicing) and I'm just starting a thread for people who might have questions about Hinduism. I will do my best to answer. I am certainly not an authority on it by any means, but I can share my insight Just be kind, is all I ask.

 

[ChristineM]

Why Hinduism? Anything specific that guided you

 

[Ashoka]

Why Hinduism? Anything specific that guided you

It's hard to put into words, other than...it's right for me. It's home. I've tried other faiths before, but nothing speaks to me the way a Hindu Mandir (temple) does, or the way the holy scriptures speak to me about God. I would say, I personally believe my ancestors and guardians guided me. I sometimes wonder if I was Hindu in a past life. It just feels like home to me. I know I keep saying that, but...it just is. I feel at home in the culture, the hymns, the festivals.

Another reason is that I love how inclusive Hinduism is. They say you can view God in many ways; as your mom, dad, brother, sister, child, friend, even enemy. God reaches out to us in so many ways, and it is so true in Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma, as it is called). To me, God is Shiva, the Supreme Being. Some say it is Vishnu or Krishna or Shakti, and they are right too. They are right because God is all of those things.

George Harrison once said, "It doesn't matter what you call Him, as long as you call Him" and I like to keep this as my motto. If you are looking for God, in my view, and you connect better with Him as a Her, that's fine. God will accept that and come to you.

 

[Vinayaka]

Hey! I am a convert to Hinduism (technically: you can't really convert, you just start practicing) and I'm just starting a thread for people who might have questions about Hinduism. I will do my best to answer. I am certainly not an authority on it by any means, but I can share my insight Just be kind, is all I ask.

I would never do an AMA, but I'm glad you're doing one.

 

[EtuMalku]

Hey! I am a convert to Hinduism (technically: you can't really convert, you just start practicing) and I'm just starting a thread for people who might have questions about Hinduism. I will do my best to answer. I am certainly not an authority on it by any means, but I can share my insight Just be kind, is all I ask.

What would you say is the End Goal of the form of Hinduism you practice?

 

[Ashoka]

What would you say is the End Goal of the form of Hinduism you practice?

Moksha, or liberation. For a monist, this is God-realization, because everything is God, and God is everything.

 

[sun rise]

Do you have or want to have a guru?

 

[Valjean]

The annihilation of individuality? No thanks . . .

The expansion of individuality.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Hey! I am a convert to Hinduism (technically: you can't really convert, you just start practicing) and I'm just starting a thread for people who might have questions about Hinduism. I will do my best to answer. I am certainly not an authority on it by any means, but I can share my insight Just be kind, is all I ask.

How long are your weeks and are they all the same length?

 

[Ashoka]

The annihilation of individuality? No thanks . . .

Eh, I don't believe in an individual otherness. We are all God, in my view. We are just deluded by maya (illusion).

 

[Ashoka]

Do you have or want to have a guru?

I'd love to have one, but sadly none are available to me at the moment.

 

[Ashoka]

How long are your weeks and are they all the same length?

To be honest, I am still learning the calendar and how it works, so I can't really help you there. Sorry!

 

[robocop (actually)]

Hey! I am a convert to Hinduism (technically: you can't really convert, you just start practicing) and I'm just starting a thread for people who might have questions about Hinduism. I will do my best to answer. I am certainly not an authority on it by any means, but I can share my insight Just be kind, is all I ask.

When I was reading the Mahabharata, there were some pages full of philosophy. Like saying there were 20 senses or things like that. Do Hindus understand those philosophies very well?

 

[sun rise]

The internet tells me there are different "sub-traditions" of Shaivism. What is yours and what about it attracted you more than other choices?

 

[SalixIncendium]

That's not what Moksha is.

Shiva would disagree with you

The title of the thread is "Ask a Hindu," not "Try to Impose What You Think You Know About Hinduism on a Hindu."

You would do well to remember this as you proceed in this thread.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I asked my question, it was answered, I then commented on his reply. You would do well to follow the conversation more closely.

And you would do well to recognize that disagreeing with an answer to your question incites and/or provokes debate and that Comparative Religion is in a non-debate area of the forum.

 

[firedragon]

Hey! I am a convert to Hinduism (technically: you can't really convert, you just start practicing) and I'm just starting a thread for people who might have questions about Hinduism. I will do my best to answer. I am certainly not an authority on it by any means, but I can share my insight Just be kind, is all I ask.

I assume you are a vedantist. Dvaitha. If I am wrong, you can correct me. In the Upanishads the idea of Agre and the creator exists right? According to Aithareya Upanishad, "In the beginning this world was the self (atman), one alone, and there was no other being at all that blinked an eye. He thought to himself: "Let me create the worlds." And elsewhere like the Kena Upanisad, the creator is called Brahman. The question is, is the creator outside the universe or inside the universe? The reason I am asking this is because if he existed prior to creation, he made it happen which means he cannot be creation itself, or is creation part of him which means he is inside and outside both? Or is it as traditionally said that he is creation itself which means the creator and creation is immersed in themselves.

Thanks.

 

[Brickjectivity]

To be honest, I am still learning the calendar and how it works, so I can't really help you there. Sorry!

So it might be different. It might even be secret. I will keep an ear to the wind.

 

[blü 2]

Hey! I am a convert to Hinduism (technically: you can't really convert, you just start practicing) and I'm just starting a thread for people who might have questions about Hinduism. I will do my best to answer. I am certainly not an authority on it by any means, but I can share my insight Just be kind, is all I ask.

I've long had the thought that if I had to choose a god, it would be the toss of a coin between Ganesha and Athena.

My understanding is that Ganesha is cheerful, positive, tolerant, intelligent, learned and pro-learning, and likes a good party.

Do I have that right?

 

[Metempsychosis]

I've long had the thought that if I had to choose a god, it would be the toss of a coin between Ganesha and Athena.

My understanding is that Ganesha is cheerful, positive, tolerant, intelligent, learned and pro-learning, and likes a good party.

Do I have that right?

Yes and he had first successful full facial transplant.