Hey guys!
Take a look at the video below. This is what is happening to our fellow Hindus who have lost their Shraddha (faith) in our way of life and have reverted to Christianity (or Islam). God bless their souls! I have nothing against converting to other religions, but I have so MUCH against converting because of our own ignorance of our Sanatana Dharma! My commentary for the video below is only until 3:42 minutes, as I don't care about what he says on Christianity.
"importance of scriptures, work out our own salvation, so that we won't go back to the cycle of birth and re-birth (samsara)" - This was the advice given to him by his dad who was a priest. Let me dispel this World's Greatest Misconception in Hinduism:
Moksha (liberation, salvation or realisation of the true Self as God) is NOT THE ONLY GOAL for all Hindus!!!
Moksha is ultimately our goal. But it is not the only goal! Listen to me friends. If someone comes and tells you that you should do yoga or meditation or fasting to attain God, think about it! Is moksha what you really want? This person's dad has adviced him, when he was only 8, to go read these books so that he can escape samsara (bondage). Don't be an escapist! That 8 year old fella has not even lived his life fully yet, and his dad is asking him to do penances to attain moksha! My God! Please save these people!!
"fasting, meditation, mortification of the body, penance, rituals to attain salvation" - Imagine an 8-year-old kid doing all this in his quest for salvation?! Seriously, who told you that if you do all this, you will attain moksha?! I can prove to you that doing yoga WILL NOT give you moksha! You need KNOWLEDGE to attain moksha! There is a very BIG difference between doing these penances without knowledge and doing these penances with knowledge!
"how to get moksha: book to read, went to building top to meditate to escape samsara, to be with the creator" - Hahaha... I can only laugh! Seriously!
"I was indulged in the pleasures of the word", "guilt and pain to live a life of hypocrisy", "seeking for something that would release him from the power of guilt", "still in bondage, lust, anger, life of hypocrisy" - Great! This is what is happening to most of the ignorant beings in this world! Every Swami is preaching us to renounce happiness and do all the difficult things like yoga to attain moksha! These ignorant beings (I was also once like these people), never realise the BEAUTY OF SANATANA DHARMA!! We are all alpa janmas (limited beings) and as such ignorant of all such beautiful things... I'll explain to you in a while what the beauty of Hinduism is...
"what is life after death? chance of eternity?", "lost faith in attaining salvation in Hinduism" - You were ignorant! And now you are blaming Hinduism?! Sigh... I don't blame you as well. You are only misguided by all those who were misguided... The blind leading the blind...
THE BEAUTY OF HINDUISM:
Sanatana Dharma says that humans have 4 goals... Artha (basic securities and wealth), Kama (pleasures, entertainment), Dharma (ethics, code of conduct in life) and then Moksha (the magic word). I colour-coded Moksha differently because lets leave it for a while and look at the other three first, shall we?
Artha and Kama is the common goal of ALL human beings (including animals in some instances) regardless of race, religion, language, creed, nationality, etc. You agree with me? Because we all need shelter, water, food, money, and some pleasures in life. We need a bed to sleep on, but once we've fulfilled the first goal of Artha, we can then move on to getting a water bed for our pleasure ;P So where in Hinduism, tell me, does it say that you can't have pleasure?! When some alpa janma comes and tells you to "renounce happiness, be neutral, be even-minded, etc." it is NOT meant for YOU!! Don't listen to them. You are happy with your life right now, then just BE HAPPY! BE SATISFIED! Why are you making yourself feel guilty with all this talk about renouncing happiness, when Hinduism tells you to be happy?! This is the BEAUTY of Hinduism I've been talking about...
Why is Dharma one of our human goals? As I said before, artha and kama are common goals to BOTH humans and animals! What then, differentiates us from animals? The very fact that we can make a CHOICE! Dharma is our guiding principle that helps us to pursue artha and kama in the RIGHT way. So WE NEED DHARMA!
So now we come to the fourth goal: moksha. One thing you have to be very clear: Moksha is for those who SINCERELY SEEK for it! That is why I colour-coded it differently. If you do not seek it, you will not attain it! This is the BEAUTY of Hinduism. If you are happy settling for a normal life and want to enjoy this life, GO AHEAD and DO IT! Why look at Moksha, when now itself you are happy with your life AS IT IS?! Please don't make this mistake... I'm writing this post to those who have this very big misconception embedded in their minds!
Let me tell you something! Just by following Dharma and assimilating it in your life, just by doing your duty, you would come to realise (in this birth or the next coming births) the limitations in living a life with artha and kama as your pursuits! That is when you will realise that your True and Ultimate goal is Moksha! Until you realise this, be calm and just do your duty. Bhagavad Gita's main point is also this: Do you duty!
The Four Goals...
under:
Dharma
hey, i was just reading your post on Hinduism, i was wondering whether you could tell me more about your religion? I'm a person who's seeking true salvation, i was born into a family of christians but i want to find out other points of view regarding to salvation, i want to know the truth. could u tell me all about hinduism?