Today I was reading an article from a Muslim clergy stating that yoga was not 'haram'. It was a really good article. However, there is one line just one line that got me thinking about so many different things -
Yoga, according to Ashraf F. Nizami's book "Namaz, the Yoga of Islam" (published by D.B. Taraporevala, Mumbai 1977), is not a religion.No I am not thinking about Islam and its teachings. I am thinking about 'Hinduism'. Somewhere along the line we have forgotten the fact that Hinduism is not a religion(link defining religion). What is even more worrying is we as Hindus do not realize this fact.
In this world today, when every is fighting for or against a religion I am scared the we have been type casted into one too. And for votes or power or money our leaders have accepted it too.
Hinduism is a way of life which allows you many paths (paths refer to technical definition of religion) to achieve your purpose in life. Being a Hindu - does equate to idle worship, nor to worship of many God's, not even to worship of one God.
You can be a Hindu and believe in One God.
You can be a Hindu and believe in Many God.
You can be a Hindu and believe in No God.
You can be a Hindu and believe in idle worship.
You can be a Hindu and believe in no idle worship.
Hinduism is a lot more that just a religion. It is respect for human life. It stands for equality of race, sex, religion, caste, status. It is far more complex then any one person can understand... And as it is with things that people do not understand instead of accepting that it is far beyond my understanding, we say well it this (however tiny, insignificant or even misinterpreted).
I always remember the story of the 5 blind people trying to feel the elephant to decide what it was. None on its own were correct but all put together was still a partial picture.
Instead of pretending to know it all let us make an effort to actually know atleast the partial picture.
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