05-05-2007, 09:13 PM
When I was 18 or so, in college and in the course of a serious conversation with friends, a classmate of mine (Venky) gave us a lecture on Hinduism. Venky was (and is) a great guy - he now runs a private hospital of his own in a small Tamil Nadu town.
Venky must either have had coaching from some Guru, or he was precocious. What he told us about being a Hindu on that day - at a time when we were boys out of school has stayed in my mind for more than three decades and over this time I have not found anything to dispute hat he told us that evening.
He told us that Hinduism is the greatest religion there is because of the choices it gives you. He said that as a Hindu, you can choose to live your life in three different ways or any mixture of these three routes.
One route he said was that of a karma yogi, accepting the duties and conduct that are expected of a man in his life and performing them faithfully. These include the four phases of a man's life to be lives as a brahmanchari -a student who respects his elders and teachers, a grihasta who works for a living marries and has children and does his duty to his wife and children, and the last two phases vanaprastha and sanyasa.
Another route is one of devotion to God and doing everything in life as an act of devotion to God.
A third route is to understand the nature of the absolute and to understand that God is within oneself and aim for self realization that gives you release from the bonds of here and now to become a supreme being who will be a positive force while on earth.
In all these years I have not found fault with a description that made a mark on my mind decades ago. I have tried to live my life using a mixture of these three paths.
The reason I write this is that based on this rough description and some other facts - I am going to build up a profile of who is a Hindu.
Venky must either have had coaching from some Guru, or he was precocious. What he told us about being a Hindu on that day - at a time when we were boys out of school has stayed in my mind for more than three decades and over this time I have not found anything to dispute hat he told us that evening.
He told us that Hinduism is the greatest religion there is because of the choices it gives you. He said that as a Hindu, you can choose to live your life in three different ways or any mixture of these three routes.
One route he said was that of a karma yogi, accepting the duties and conduct that are expected of a man in his life and performing them faithfully. These include the four phases of a man's life to be lives as a brahmanchari -a student who respects his elders and teachers, a grihasta who works for a living marries and has children and does his duty to his wife and children, and the last two phases vanaprastha and sanyasa.
Another route is one of devotion to God and doing everything in life as an act of devotion to God.
A third route is to understand the nature of the absolute and to understand that God is within oneself and aim for self realization that gives you release from the bonds of here and now to become a supreme being who will be a positive force while on earth.
In all these years I have not found fault with a description that made a mark on my mind decades ago. I have tried to live my life using a mixture of these three paths.
The reason I write this is that based on this rough description and some other facts - I am going to build up a profile of who is a Hindu.