DOES HINDUSIM ALLOW ATHEISM ?

There are many religions in the world and they usually have a propounder i.e. a person who has started the religion like, Prophet (Islam), Christ (Christianity), Guru Nanak (Sikhism) and many more like Jain, Zarasusthra. But Hinduism does not come into this class as it has no propounder. It has come into existence through time suiting the lives of the people of the land.

And many of these religions have been founded on few steadfast rules. ONE who obeys them shall be a part of that relgion. You need to abide by few rules to be it's follower. IF you go against it you are thrown out. One of the steadfast rules in most of the above relgions says that you should definitely believe in a particular person, idol or an icon to be it's follower. It has few axioms. Hence are not debatable.

For exapmle: Islam doesn't allow any atheist nor does it allow any person who believes any person other than Allah. It goes on to say that others are kafirs (vermin), and hence should be eliminated.

Many Hindus though they are Hindus seldom understand the basic concept of Hinduism. It's because many misinterpretations have been surrounding them without any authenticity being regarded. It's also because Hinduism had to undergo little stress facing alien religions which tried to subdue it or completely eliminate it. For it's survival it did undergo few changes momentarily trying to face the chellenge. But it has at the same time allowed many architects to redesign it leading to many a misconception of it's true form.

Hinduism is not founded nor propunded by a single man or a group of people. It has been formulated nor designed in one day or over a lifetime. It grew slowly and gradually through time allowing all the changes and INCORPORATING ALL NEW IDEAS brought in from people pouring down from distant lands.

HINDUISM AS SUCH IS NOT A RELIGION which many do not understand.

Hinduism is just a way of life. It is characterized only by the way of life of it's people. It is open to criticism. NO talk is profane. NO debate is blasphemous. It accepts ideas at all times. It allows changes at all times. It does not dictate terms to people. Any person who lives in Indian sub-continent and thus lives accordingly to it's life style is a HINDU.

We seem to be fascinated by the extreme devotion people show in our country. But we are at the same time concentrating on few principles written by few people who only contributed to the 'religion' in facing the challenge from the alien religions (Alien religions are 'Islam' and 'Christianity'). They are no propounders of 'Hinduism' which has been exisiting for over thousand years.

One may start arguing taking 'Gita' as basic guide. But one doesn't ever notice that never does it mention that you should definitely believe in a god to be a Hindu. It only talks of a supernatural being who shall always be there to guide you, Karma, Moksha etc. It guides a man on how he should live, rather it expounds on an ideal life. But never does it talk of rules to be followed to be a Hindu. It is a big blunder if we start considering 'Gita' as a religious book. It is not similar to 'Bible' or 'Koran'. They are religious books but 'Gita' isn't. as such it is just a part of a big epic 'Mahabharatha'.

We may go on to say that Vedas are our religious books. But again we are wrong. Vedas again expound on life style of the people. Vedas never talk of an atheist nor does it consider an atheist to a heathen or a heretic nor does it outcast any atheist. Vedas only talk of a way of life by which you attain certain higher things in life. It does not at all talk of any God. They have been misinterpreted by so many people through ages that we have a completely different society altogether resulting in a deep-rooted class based society.

ATHEISM IS A SUBCLASS OF HINDUISM. Hinduism does not hold any person to a particular God. You can choose any god as your idol. Hence you can choose no god as your idol. It doesn't ever say that you heve to choose some god definitely. You may take anything as god or nothing as god. But in other religions you do not have any choice. You have to follow a particular idol to belong to that religion.

HINDUISM IS VERY FLEXIBLE. It doesn't set any rules in choosing your god. If you are well off without a god It does not bother you (But people shall). Our people usually correlate it with other religions that have come up - and hence seem to think that fanaticism is the identitiy of being a follower. (Remember - Hinduism never had any holy Wars) Hinduim doesn't expect any fanaticism from it's people, rather it discourages such dogmatism and fanaticism.

For example: Let's talk of the most misinterpreted term in our sub-continent. The concept of 'Brahmin' -- It is defined as ANY person who who performs certain rituals and leads his life in a particular fashion. But never does it mentin that a son of Brahmin is a Brahmin, nor does it say that education should be carried out only by Brahmins. It does not even say that any other person can never become a Brahmin.

But it has been changed, distorted so much so that the basic structure suffered a great deal resulting in a completely different picture of Hinduism.

And when do the scriptures talk of Untouchability and Sati.

I just wish to say that on comparing our 'religion' with others, we seem to get the notion that 'Hinduism DOESN'T allow Atheism'. But to get the proper answer one should start with the basic foundation of Hinduism and not get carried away by what people have preached in many ways at various periods to meet the needs of that time.

It sudenly appears ridiculous that our 'religion' doesn't bind one to a god, when so much devotion and so much religious activity is seen, but it is very much true that it is the only 'religion' which allows debate on 'existence of god'. It was the only cult which let people go into the realm of Creator and thus explore into the metaphysics. But of course following the footsteps of other religions even we seem to put a hold on ourselves.