The problem is these other people are Hindu, I am Hindu too and we are all saying opposing things about what our religion teaches. This is a problem, not a virtue. It creates division and confusion. Hence my attempt to unite Hinduism with the Shruti, and what I say Shuti I am course referring to the Uttra Mimassa of the Upanishads, because Samhitas, Brahmanas and Aranyakas are Purva Mimssa. I am not dismissing our early Vedic ancestors as savage people, rather I am admiring their great maturity and capacity to develop and produce such a beautiful philosophy like Vedanta.
The trouble is in some way or or another Hinduism today is still based on Purva Mimassa and ignore the new testimant of Vedanta. Christians, on the other hand, are far more united that the NT is the actual teachings of Christianity and the OT is the old teaching no longer relevant to humanity.
Vedanta does not support ritual worship, all the rituals of the early Vedic people, such as Ashwamedha have been reinterpreted in Vedanta as symbolic for inner spiritual processes. All the Devas in Vedanta have been reinterpreted as symbolic psychological entities, for example Indra becomes the lord of the senses(indriyas) Agni becomes the cosmic fire within, to which we make our offerings of meditation, breath and morality. The inner-sacrifice.
The Vedanta are very unanimous in how one practices Vedanta(Hinduism) Meditation(atmajnana or brahmaknana), contemplation on reality(tattvajnana), charity, compassion, good deeds(yamas and niyamas) or in other words Yoga. The teachings of Vedanta are then systematized by the darsanas to explain them clearly and rationally: Advaita explains the theory of Vedanta; Yoga explains the practice of Vedanta; Nyaya-Vaiseshika explain the epistemology and logic of Vedanta.
Simply put, Hinduism is basically a religion of pure philosophy and as our philosophy is based actually on rational epistemology like science, Hinduism is actually a religion of science(Vidya) Thus Hindus should not oppose science, and by doing so Hindus put them selves in bad stead with the scientists, who whether like it or not, are the actual custodians and gate keepers of modern knowledge. Science is never going to go away. If anybody wants to be taken seriously in the modern world they must be consistent with science. Religion realizes that too which is why religious people have attempted to reinterpret their scriptures to show that the scriptures are consistent with science.
As Hinduism is epistemologically consistent with modern science, Hindus should not like their Abrahamic peers insist that Hinduism is faith and is separate from science. The science vs religion divide is Abrahamic and comes from the philosopher Rene Descartes, it is not Hindu. Hindus consider both paravidya and aparavidya as vidya - science.
you also continue to use the term idol worship, which is an incorect understanding of hindu worship/
This matter has been settled in the thread "Idol worship vs Deity worship" in the general Abrahmic forum. Hindu murti-pooja is considered idol worship.
and to say that the buddha's intention was to stamp out hinduism is quite incorrect...
I did not say Buddha stamped out Hinduism, I said "idol worship"
simmilarly there are reasons of sircumstance behind the teachings of gru nanak, india was suffering a period of unrest due to the muslim invasion. my understanding of guru nanaks reform was not that of defeating hinduism but of uniting the muslim and hindu through the reflection upon god it is said that he received a vision in which god comanded him to teach others simply to rejoice in the name of god . allthough a sikh would be able to tell you this better than me .
I am born Sikh and I am very familiar with its position. It's position is exemplified in the famous Sikh Moola Mantra(There is only one Omkar, Its true name is Truth; It is the creator; It is without fear; it is without hate; it is timeless and formless; it is beyond birth and death; it is self-existent, it is realized by true gurus grace; meditate on its name, it was true in the beginning, it was true throughout the ages, it is true now, Nanak says it will always be true.)
This is no different to what Vedanta teaches. You will find Sikhism teaches exactly the same teachings as Vedanta. It is based on listening to the true wisdom which Sikhs do by listening to the Gurbani, it is based on meditating on the true name(Sat naam, sri wahaguru) It is based on thinking on that one reality. Hence Guru Nanak was attempting to reform Hinduism by returning it its pure Vedanta form. Guru Nanak was highly critical of idol worship, superstitious practices like giving water to the ancestors, and of the caste system and Puranic gods.
Unfortunately, Sikhism too today has become a corrupted religion and no longer follows the path laid out by Guru Nanak. Sikhism has become exactly what it reformed against.
simmilarly sri chaitanya mahaprabhu appeared in bengal simmilarly preaching love of god through the chanting of the holy name and thus formed the nama sankirtan movement, this he did not as a reaction against hinduism but as a reaction against muslim oppression of hindu worship .
The Bhakti movement was based on both really. Many of the bhakt proponents reformed against what they saw as bad practices in Hinduism like animal sacrifices, caste system, unequal rights between men and women. Guru Nanak is notesworthy and ended up starting a whole new different religion because he instituted the greatest social revolution by getting rid of the caste system, treating men and women as equal and getting rid of all forms of idol worship.
as you will see hinduism has gone through many periods of change, much of which due to external circumstances so one could say that these so called reformers were reacting to the circumstances of the day, and also it would be fair to say that due to the size of india these changes or reforms were regional , thus we see different traditions forming in different areas. it is for this reason that there should be tollerance between the different schools of hindu thought and that all hindus should as most hindus do, accept oneanothers traditions as equaly valid .
I cannot accept caste system, idol worship, unequal rights between men and women, superstition and Smriti as Hinduism. These are all bad practices and they need to be reformed against. We must get rid of these, we should not tolerate them even in the slightest. We should make no concession to them.
Not to mention he supported the institution of caste system and called women inferior and should be kept in line by men.
are Brahmins whose mother-tongue is the Kannada language. Nearly all of them hail from the south Indian state of Karnataka. Kannada Brahmins are known to have preserved the purest form of Vedic Hinduism. It is in this region that the rituals and Vedic Chanting are done with great accuracy."
