Greetings from this new member!

[Ashoka]

Hello, I am at present a non-practicing Catholic who is feeling drawn toward Hinduism for many reasons. I own Subramuniyaswami’s Dancing with Siva and also some books by Prabhupada. I am working to learn as much as I can about Hinduism and hope to be able to come to this forum in order to ask many questions, as I have enjoyed reading the discussions here. It seems to me that there are sincere and knowledgeable people here and that I may learn alot from all of you.
My questions will probably be basic, and I want to make sure that I do not offend anyone with my questions, as my intent is sincere – I just may not know how best to communicate some of my own questions. So if I sound silly or offensive, please forgive me and feel free to send me a private message to ask me to clarify or just to let me know what I have done wrong.

[Believer]

Welcome to the forum.


I .. hope to be able to come to this forum in order to ask many questions, as I have enjoyed reading the discussions here.
And we will do our best to mislead you. Just kidding!


My questions will probably be basic, and I want to make sure that I do not offend anyone with my questions.....
Don't worry, we offend each other on a daily basis, so you can't top that. :)

Enjoy your stay here and come as often as you can.
Best Wishes.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté and hello aśoka

I want to make sure that I do not offend anyone with my questions, as my intent is sincere

Just by your name your intentions will be well received:
aśoka अशोक is one that does not cause sorrow; (also the blossom of the aśoka plant; aśoka can also be the aśoka tree)

praṇām

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam Ashoka:

I remember getting or reading the following advice from a sage. "Just remember that we were once all where you are." Not only that, since truth and understanding is inner more than outer, you may well have more knowledge than the rest of us combined already. But ask away anyway. Just don't be surprised if you get a multitude of answers. We pretty well have the entire gamut of Hinduism here on these forums.

Aum Namasivaya

[Ashvati]

Welcome to the forums. Heh maybe you'll feel more brave than me about some basic questions, I've had questions I've wanted to ask but felt too afraid of asking such basic questions to ask them. I only fairly recently found out what arati is, and some sects do arati every day :)

[kallol]

Questions and answers are the basic tenants of Hinduism. Hinduism encourages enquiry and that to till you are comfortable.

We are all ears now.

Welcome to this forum.

Love and best wishes

[saidevo]

namaste Ashoka and others.

Welcome to HDF. Newcomers may ask whatever basic questions they want to know answers to, without worrying about being asking something trivial and obvious. Help is sure to come where the intention to learn is genuine.

A good Website to learn the values of Hindu Dharma is:
Hindu Janajagruti Samiti
http://www.hindujagruti.org/

A goob book to have a comprehensive view of Hindu Dharma is:
Hindu Dharma, the Universal Way of Life
by KAnchi ParamAchArya
http://www.scribd.com/doc/8591806/Hindu-Dharma-Kanchi

[Onkara]

Welcome to the forum! :)

[c.smith]

Namaste and welcome!

Please do post questions as they come. The forums are a rich supply of material which will surely answer many questions, and many of the members are a wealth of information and insight. Please avail.

As a new member, I posted what I considered to be "silly" questions and often didn't know how to phrase them or know exactly what or how to ask. Please don't feel the same. Members are generous and we all welcome you.

Om Namah Sivaya!

[Shanti]

Welcome!

~S

[Ashoka]

Hello and Namaste to everyone. Thank you all for the wonderful welcome!
I think there was a slight delay between when I composed my post and when it showed up on the forums, so I thought for some reason that I could not post here, so I've been away for a little while. Sorry about the misunderstanding.
The good news is that I've begun the Master Course as given through the Himalayan Academy of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami and am enjoying it quite alot.
I am greatly encouraged by the absence of Hell and the Devil from Hinduism. Also the absence of an angry and jealous God is wonderful. How can God be less kind and less understanding than the best of humans? Whatever the best traits of the best men and women in history, any God worth worship must be greater than that.
Again I thank you for making me feel welcome here!
Aum Namah Shivaya.