Religion X or Y- Does it matter?

As a child, religion, beliefs, the concept of dualities; life and death, heaven and hell, made little to no sense to me. To a certain extent these concepts are still lost to me though at least now i make feeble attempts at trying to understand them.
So sitting at my computer desk on a Saturday afternoon, i question and more importantly answer the question that has always been playing in my mind. Why am i a Hindu? am i a Hindu just because I'm born into a Hindu family? Why is anyone the religion they are?

My thesis on religiosity and pro-social behavior exposed to me to a whole breed of youngsters who do not claim to profess any religion. Though taken aback at first, I guess it's quite a honest thing to do rather than hide under the facade of a religion while doing exactly the opposite of what the religion preaches; or disagreeing explicitly but going along with what parents and the larger society forces upon us.

So coming back to me, why am i a Hindu? Recently i came across an e-mail between a Hindu guy and his friend, which pretty much summed up my thoughts for me. The bold and italics are his words and the remaining- mine.

I'm a Hindu because:

'You can believe in one god and he can be a
Hindu. You may believe in multiple deities and still you can be a
Hindu. What's more - you may not believe in god at all, still you can
be a Hindu. An atheist can also be a Hindu.'

Am i religious?

I enjoy going to temples, i enjoy doing rituals but i can't say that I devote all my time in temple and service to God but i do feel a relationship with a higher being.

'God is a friend. No- I am not afraid of God. Nobody has made any
compulsions on me to perform these rituals regularly.'

So in my definition of religiousness (though people might beg to differ), yes i guess i am religious.

Have i thought of conversion?

Honestly, I have but that was because I wanted to go to Sunday with my close friends who were mostly Christians. Now that I'm older and hopefully wiser,

'Why should I? Even if I challenge some of the rituals and faith in
Hinduism, nobody can convert me from Hinduism. Because, I like being able to
think independently and objectively, without
conditioning. I remain as a Hindu never by force, but choice.'

'Hinduism is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and
practices. It is not a religion like Christianity or Islam because it
is not founded by any one person or does not have an organized
controlling body like the Church or the Order, I added. There is no
institution or authority'

I do not discard the divine reality. Our
scripture, or Sruthis or Smrithis - Vedas and Upanishads or the Gita -
say God might be there or he might not be there. But we pray to that
supreme abstract authority (Para Brahma) that is the creator of this
universe. We have a concept - abstract - not a personal god.'

'The entry level Hinduism has over-whelming superstitions too. The philosophical side of Hinduism negates all superstitions.'

'Nobody can convert you to Hinduism, because it is not a religion, but a set of beliefs and practices.'

'Hinduism is referred to as Sanathana Dharma, the eternal faith. It is based on the practice of Dharma, the code of life. The most important aspect of Hinduism is being truthful to oneself. Hinduism has no monopoly on ideas.- It is open to all. Hindus believe in one God (not a personal one) expressed in different forms. For them, God is timeless and formless entity.'

'I don't think that God is as silly as an autocratic emperor who wants others
to respect him or fear him.'


To me, not having an organized controlling body allows me to be in control of my own direction in the spiritual world. I've been to the Hindu equivalent of Sunday classes, while i respect them for their devotion in teaching the "right" way of practicing/ interpreting Hinduism, the cynical side of me refuses to completely believe in the "transcendental wisdom" of the preacher. With all due respect, human beings will be just that- human beings. And the one-to-fit-all mental framework where we have to put aside our inherent differences to reach God does not appeal to me now and i doubt it will in the future.

My Personal Favorite:

'if you look for meaning in life, don't look for it in religions; don't go from one cult to another or from one guru to the next. For a real seeker, I told her, the Bible itself gives guidelines when it says ' Kingdom of God is within you.' I reminded her of Christ's teaching about the love that we have for each other. That is where you can find the meaning of life.

Loving each and every creation of the God is absolute and real.

'Isavasyam idam sar vam' Isam (the God) is present (inhabits) here
everywhere - nothing exists separate from the God, because God is
present everywhere. Respect every living being and non-living things
as God.

I found this particularly funny :p:

'Ancestors of today's Hindus believe in eternal truths and cosmic laws and these truths are opened to anyone who seeks them.'But there is a section of Hindus who are either superstitious or turned fanatic to make this an organized religion like others. The British coin the word 'Hindu' and considered it as a religion.'Religions have become an MLM (multi-level- marketing)industry that has been trying to expand the market share by conversion. The biggest business in today's world is Spirituality.

Hinduism is no exception'

Above all, the reason I'm at ease with the religion I was born with and have grown to know and love is

'The fact is Hinduism is a religion of the individual, for the
individual and by the individual with its roots in the Vedas and the
Bhagavad-Gita. It is all about an individual approaching a personal
God in an individual way according to his temperament and inner
evolution - it is as simple as that.'