“If there is no beginning and no ending to existence, what is the point of living? Examine this question in the light of the Hindu worldview” .
More or less, this was the question that me and my classmates had to deal recently for our quiz for Study of Religions class. Honestly, when I first saw this question, I was telling myself -Oh My God, you are dead meat !.As interesting as the question, the same thing applies to the religion itself. Oh Yes, I am a Muslim, but it does not mean that it is wrong for me to learn about other religion. In fact, as a Muslim living in a multicultural, multireligious country, that is how you ought to be. Again, it doesn’t make me less Muslim by learning other faith anyway. Rather, I appreciate more of my religion by doing so =D
For people of other faiths, Hinduism is a name that they identify when referring to the religion professed by the Hindus. On the other hand, for the Hindus themselves, they call their religion as Sanatana Dharma which means the Eternal Laws. It is so interesting to know how the Hindus look at the world that they lived in. Everything is in the state of moving and there is always a movement. In fact, stillness does not mean that there is nothing, rather it means that things are ‘moving’ !. Interesting isn’t it. Basically, that is how they look at things around them and even the way they look at themselves. That is why there is no such concept of creation in Hinduism. Creation for the Hindus is the ongoing process of coming and going.
Now, back to the things that I want to discuss here-Time and ‘Hereafter’ according to Hinduism.
1-Time
>>For the Hindus, time is reflected through the cycle of life i.e. the Samsara. Based on this idea, time according to the Hindus is differed individually. Yes, differed on individual basis. Now, it may be 2010 of your existence, but for others it might not be the case. For instance Rajoo and Bala are both Hindus. Though they are both sixteen, in reality they might not have the same age because it goes back to the process of Samsara-a process whereby they have been experiencing a cycle of birth. They live and come again in the process of transformation (Avatar) in order to achieve Moksha (liberation). That is why; time for them is different based on individual basis.
2-Hereafter
>>For the Hindus, here is their “hereafter”. To be exact , “Here” and the “Hereafter “are basically the same thing. Your “here” = your “hereafter”. It is because, in the past it was your “here”. Get my point?. The fact that life is an ongoing process of coming and going explain this concept at the first place. Simply so say, time is here and here is time.
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p/s: InsyaAllah, Correct me if I’m wrong.
Regarding the question, if you know any of your Hindu friends or maybe you yourself are Hindu, maybe you can ask them this question and share their answers here. It would be really great if you do that! =D
1 year ago
2 comments:
if im not mistaken, hindus believe that once they die and bringing with them bad deeds, they'll be reborn as a lower class animal eg. pig snakes etc.
hi a.j..yes, you are right. it all depends on their karma. That is why I touched something about Avatar(transformation) in my post.Not reborn in a literal sense, but its more like transforming. for e.g, if you live in a lower caste today, it means that your past karma was bad and that's why you have to live in that particular caste today.The same things happen otherwise. yeah..a bit complicated. you know what, this is not that complicated, but if you go into a much complex concept like Brahman, I cannot imagine how would you react =D.
comparative religion is my passion & i would be so happy to share what i know =)
anyway, thanks for ur response akh !!
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