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Thread: Why are Hindus Tolerant?

  1. #1
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    Why are Hindus Tolerant?

    We keep saying we Hindus are Tolerant, but why? What makes us different? I always say if the Buddha had been born in Christian or Muslim lands he would have been branded a heretic, an apostate, and tortured to death! His writings burnt, his followers killed, there would be no Buddhism today! No Sikhism, Jainism either! Half of the world's top religions came from Hindu India - that is something that we Hindus should be proud of

    But again, the question remains - why didn't we do what Christians and Muslims have done? It has to do with our view of God - we view God as a Parent/Teacher - No parent would divide Her own Children, no Father would rape his own daughter in hell. NO Teacher would set apart his own students & hence also the reason why Hindus have traditionally not proselytized

    Christians and Muslims don't view God that way - for the He is a Master. God made in the image of the local King/Strong man. The king demanded absolute obedience and loyalty - his crown depended on that. A King could afford to tolerate a creepy but loyal General, maybe the General likes to rape young girls - the King could overlook that as long as the General is loyal and useful. But a good person who spoke out against the king? No king could afford to have such people in his kingdom. And that is their template for their Heavens - King-like God sits on his throne and rewards only those who join "his" religion, everyone else gets hell. It doesn't matter whether you are a good or bad person - your loyalty(belief) or non-belief means you get hell

    Take their Terminology - Commandments, submit, beg, mercy, judge, wrath, punish, forgive, Fear - All Slave/Servant words totally absent in Hinduism/Buddhism. We do use the word Lord - i ask Hindus not to use such a word - it is short for Lord & Master - a slave word

    We Hindus are not slaves/servants - our place is not down on the ground on our knees (that's a common picture of muslims, rows and rows of them down on their knees) - Our place is Higher, we belong in God's lap or sit by his side - that is our rightful place as God's Children, as Her Students

    It does not mean that Christians and Muslims are not God's children, but lured by the promise of an easy life in heaven, they have reduced themselves down to slaves/servants - that is their right

  2. #2
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    Re: Why are Hindus Tolerant?

    Namaste RamaRaksha

    All you write about Abrahamic religions is true, it is a strange religion where Bible states that God says: 'I am a wrathful and jealous God.' But

    All Slave/Servant words totally absent in Hinduism

    Krishna and Shiva Bhakti literature is full of slave/servant words - even more … the bhakta is not only the servant of the Lord but the servant of the servant of the servant.

    We Hindus are not slaves/servants - our place is not down on the ground on our knees.

    Hindus prostrate and bow down in front of the sanctum – obeisance is different from slave/servant attitude. It is to honor the higher power guiding us.

    Take their Terminology - Commandments, submit, beg, mercy, judge, wrath, punish, forgive, Fear

    Hindu religion has a very tight network of rites with a lot of regulations, instructions, do's and dont's. Reading some posts on this forum there seems to be great fear to violate against rites, fear to break religious rules.

    Pranam
    Dance with Shiva - live with Shiva - merge with Shiva

  3. #3

    Re: Why are Hindus Tolerant?

    I was learning about mathematics in Hindu philosophy and so intrigued about how well tied both the concept of shunya is in the sense of one's existence and the very 'zero' as a concept. It definitely blew my mind. I was working with some limits concepts and it reminded me about how the very concept of nothingness or shunya is more powerful than we can even imagine. Looking for more sources on this topic. Also from the link you can see how non-philosophical or dry the explanations can get in western traditions. Thank you for this page.

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    Re: Why are Hindus Tolerant?

    Om
    Namaste

    Hindus are tolerant for the main reason that Hinduism is not a religion but the ultimate science of Life and Creation. It is a collation of researches which were carried out by Munis and Rishis (in today's term there are scientists) which were validated again and again over the ages as Hinduism thrives on self realization or self discovery.

    In this process they identified the path of mental maturity or refinedness as "I and God" to "God in all" to "All in God".

    The other religions are mostly I and God. So they always have their God. And they propound that their God is superior. Their path is the right path. In this they consider all other ideologies as false. They consider all others apart from human as un Godly. So they have no respect for them. Thus the intolerance

    Hindus mostly have moved to next level of God in all. So they know that God is in all including animals, plants and even inert materials. Thus they respect and pray all. This has induced the tolerance and love for all.

    Mostly tolerance comes from acceptance of others, love of others and ofcourse the patience to understand out of box thoughts. In Hinduism it is "all paths lead to Him" or "Truth is one but is saind in different ways by different saints". These are embedded in hindus and thus they see world a s a family and guests as god.

    This is again not true with most other religions.

    Further more if one analyses, the intolerances are mostly related to life styles and not the core values or messages. One will find lots of similarities in core messages but lots of disparities in way of life. that is where the challenges lie.

    Now these disparities are for obvious reasons that these ideologies have been born and groomed in different regions. The lifestyle of Middle East or the lifestyle of Europe cannot be same as in Indian sub-continent and vice versa. It is the force fitting that creates more challenges. The Indianness or Bharatiyatva or Hindutva is the way of life in Indian sub continent. And that has roots in the Indian civilization.

    It's more like people climbing a mountain from different sides claiming that their path is the best path. The person at the top knows that all paths will ultimately lead to Him.
    Love and best wishes:hug:

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