Promod Puri's Blog: Hinduism:beyond rituals,customs and traditions, page 120

Book Review

Hinduism beyond rituals, customs and traditions

By Promod Puri

Amazon.com/author/promodpuri

Reviewed by: Ashok Bhargava

The principal idea pursued by Promod Puri’s is to explore meaning of the term ‘Hinduism’ and thereby to understand the Hindu identity in a wide-open structure both traditionally and in the modern world.

I have often heard people saying that Hinduism is so vast and deep that many seers have spent their lifetime to ascertain its expanse and complexity without success. I think Mr. Puri has captured the spirit and core of Hinduism in merely 122 pages (14 chapters) very successfully and I congratulate him on his success.

Promod’s book provides significant knowledge and insight into a range of topics concerning the philosophies and the literature of Hinduism with an easy understanding of the beliefs and values of the Hindu traditions to encourage us to think about the meaning of these ideas in our own personal life and for the world as a whole.

Since manifestations of Hinduism have varied from age to age, from community to community, from person to person, we learn that to be a Hindu one does not have to practice any specific set of observations, follow any particular beliefs, and any prophet or believe in any particular god or gods.

Hinduism depends neither on any particular historic event, comparable to birth of Christ or the hegira i.e. journey of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina, nor on revealed truth, comparable to the Gospels or the Koran. It has neither a founder nor an established institution to prescribe a specific meaning to numerous sacred books like Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad-Gita and Ramayana.

In fact, Hinduism has always been a religion of such wide-ranging beliefs and practices that a belief or a practice that is followed by some Hindus may be shunned by others.

Since its Vedic origins, the religion has grown to encompass more and more philosophical and theological schools (yoga and Vedanta) and independent sects (Vaishnavas and Shivites). In addition to that it has branched out into the separate religions of Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism.

These schools, sects and religions propound, accept, reject and reinterpret a multiplicity of doctrines such as dharma, karma, avatar, samsara, bhakti, yoga, moksha, murti puja and maya etc. All gradation of beliefs, from the crudest to the refined have coexisted in Hinduism from the earliest times, making it the most syncretic religion in the world.

When the author says Hinduism is a democracy of conflicting, contradicting and controversial thoughts and theories, he appears to be proclaiming oneness of humanity in Hinduism despite outrageous violation of human dignity promoted by Manusmriti in management of society and that of self.

I think Mr. Puri’s book implies the following points:

– we can never come to reality by just considering shortcomings that have crept into Hinduism.

– The spirit of Hinduism can be summed up as professed in New Testament, “the kingdom of God is within us and we are all children of God.”

– Hinduism does not lack definition but defining.

Vancouver-based Ashok Bhargava is a poet, essayist and inspirational speaker. He has published four books of poetry. He is president of Writers International Network Canada.

Book Reviews

Hinduism beyond rituals, customs and traditions by Acharya S.P.Dwivedi Promod Puri is a distinguished Canada-based South Asian journalist and prolific essayist. In his book- “Hinduism…..̶…

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HINDU QUOTES BY PROMOD PURI

Hinduism Is A Democracy “Hinduism is a democracy of conflicting, contradicting and controversial thoughts and theories. It is a recognition of diverse, secular and mature philosophies. The re…

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AMBEDKAR & CASTEISM

“My study of the caste problem involves four main points: that is spite of the composite make-up of the Hindu population, there is a deep cultural unity; and there was one caste to start with…

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HINDU SOCIAL CUSTOMS & TRADITIONS

Review by Acharya S.P.Dwivedi Promod Puri is a distinguished South Asian journalist and prolific essayist. In his book- “Hinduism” he tried to cover the historical evolution of Hindu dharma and its…

Source: HINDU SOCIAL CUSTOMS & TRADITIONS

HINDUISM & AMBEDKAR

“My study of the caste problem involves four main points: that is spite of the composite make-up of the Hindu population, there is a deep cultural unity; and there was one caste to start with…

Source: AMBEDKAR & CASTEISM

AMBEDKAR & CASTEISM

“My study of the caste problem involves four main points: that is spite of the composite make-up of the Hindu population, there is a deep cultural unity; and there was one caste to start with…

Source: AMBEDKAR & CASTEISM

ASSEMBLY OF GOD IN HINDUISM

By Promod Puri

Besides His numinous and varied perceptions God also offers a meaningful perspective which can be created by the assembly of good thoughts. And the divine residency begins in that on…

Source: ASSEMBLY OF GOD

ASSEMBLY OF GOD

By Promod Puri

Besides His numinous and varied perceptions God also offers a meaningful perspective which can be created by the assembly of good thoughts. And the divine residency begins in that on…

Source: ASSEMBLY OF GOD

ASSEMBLY OF GOD IN HINDUISM

By Promod Puri

Besides His numinous and varied perceptions God also offers a meaningful perspective which can be created by the assembly of good thoughts. And the divine residency begins in that on-going construction.

Basically it is an eloquent temperament we are trying to build which gives rationality and practicality to the institution of God.

The ecumenical concept of God of being the supreme governor who creates, sustains and destroys the universe, and everything else including what influences our lives, does not reveal the reasons behind all the puzzles and mysteries of His or Her observable deeds.

In other words our perception of God as being a creator with His mystical powers which sustains the universe, can not comprehend many universal and natural phenomenons.

One reason is that man is just one of the millions of creatures who in actuality is microscopic in His infinite and colossal universe. Still our imaginations and metaphysical attempts know no boundaries to fathom His magnanimity.

For a moment let us compare a human being to a small ant who is trying to study God up there in the celestial world.

But we don’t. Because this has been ingrained in our cognitive senses that man is the favored work of God as being the most intelligent among all His living creations. And that we are the only ones capable of studying His multi-dimensional but conceptual-based existence.

Perhaps, that little ant may be thinking the same. It may be believing humans walking tall up on the ground are the unintelligent creatures. Or we are the gods for the ant. Who knows!

Philosophers, saints, scientists and even common man have all tried to study God and came up with varied perceptions and explanations. Imagination is very basic part of human psychology.

However, these discernments seldom explain what role God plays or His reasons of our happinesses, sorrows and everything else we come across in our day-to-day lives. We see, face or endure tragedies around us everyday in this world of turmoil. And then ask God ‘why’.

While respecting some or most of the known realizations and imageries about Him, we take another view of God which we assemble by intelligent and ethical thoughts to help us in explaining His involvements in the events we experience in our lives.

In this endeavor by mobilizing rational and moral thinking we are creating those karmas which can rationally explain the cause or causes of events personally experienced by us or happening around us where God may be involved or may be not.

We are the major players to generate events and thus know the reasons of their results. Nevertheless we can leave unexplained experiences as part of His mysterious ‘lila’ or play.

Instilling nobility or divinity in our thoughts is a continuous exercise of creating virtuous karmas. And that is where the grammar of God is involved both as a verb and as a noun merging into one entity.

It is a disciplined and conscientious undertaking to attain the practicality of God in our midst.

We are told to be honest, humble and sincere, be considerate and helpful to others, be merciful, forget and forgive, love fellow beings and care for the environments, including animals, plants and the nature. And everything else which is pious, pure and morally firm to bring us closer to God realization.

While retaining the truism of these universal teachings we can contextualize them through our intellective senses to guide our day-to-day personal lives. This is where the blueprint of our construction begins to apprehend His pragmatics.

We start our project by following the Gyatri Mantra, which besides being symbolic in spiritual invoking, stimulates the very basis of our thought processes towards righteous karmas or deeds which we are seeking.

ॐ भूर्भुवस्व: | तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम् | भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि | धियो यो न: प्रचोदयात्

Aum bhur bhuvah swah, tat savitur varenvam.

Bhargo devasya dhimahi, dhiyo yo nah prochodayay.

Attributed to goddess Gyatri, the hymn from the Rig Veda, is one of the most recited and highly revered mantras in the Hindu theology.

In its unique composition Gayatri mantra has three approaches to spiritual realization. First, it establishes the nature of God and praises His attributions. Second, it is a mantra for meditation and contemplation. Third, it expresses sentiments of divine prayer seeking an illuminated path of righteousness thru His energetic light.

The mantra is addressed to God (Om). And the translation goes like this:

Oh God, You are the giver of life, You can free us from all the pains, You are present all over, You give happiness, You are the creator of this universe and beyond. We humbly submit to You, and concentrate on your pious, sin-quelling and pervading Energy. This Energy produced and released by You illuminates our mental faculties. We seek from You that this Energy resides in all our thinking processes. Consequently our thoughts are always inspired to undertake only those actions which can lead us to be on the path of righteousness.

The key word in the mantra is Energy. And by recognizing the presence of the divine energy that our mental faculties are enlightened. We pray for the residency of this very Energy to keep guiding us in creating, adopting and following noble thoughts.

As we understand thinking is a mental activity of brain. And thought is a product of thinking. Creation of one’s own thought, import of thought, its acceptance or its rejection are all considered as thought. In other words the act involved in all these considerations is a thought in itself.

Thought has multiple executions like establishing a reason, imagination, understanding, judgement, remembering, opinion, belief or just being conscious of time and place, etc.

According to the biology of thought, the latter’s processing and transmission happen in the nerve cells of brain. These cells are called neurons. With a population of close to 100 billion, neurons while communicating with each other receive and deliver information. Neurons function along with trillions of connectors called synapses transmitting signals among neurons.

Neurons are “electrically excitable”, meaning they live by some energy.

How thinking is created or triggered in the first place, what goes on in the brain neurons to process a thinking, what stimulates that thinking, are the questions for which the answers are being sought by academic disciplines.

One explanation is that thinking is a subconscious brain activity for which the neurons and synapses are just the tools to handle that activity for transmitting a thought or thoughts. Other theories are that the creation of thought is an un-explained biological process, or it is the conversion of energy particles into an object called thought.

In whatever means a thought is created the role of the divine energy is to bestow the enlightenment in establishing common sense and logic in a thought. It is in this enlightenment that the nature of thought is underlined. Its acceptance or rejection can be exercised.

As thought begets more thoughts or ideas, the process arouses our intelligent and psychological senses of understanding, experiencing, interpretation and behavior. A cognitive arrangement is thus developed.

It is in this arrangement that we undertake our karmas.

A karma is an intelligent and conscious act leading toward path of more karmas which influence and determine the nature of destiny. Good karma leads to good future, bad karma leads to bad future. “As you sow, so you reap”, is true in the working of karma.

Newton’s law of motion: that every action leads to a reaction, is an application of the law of Karma.

Karma is not a deep philosophy. Rather it is a working assignment for the thinker of a thought or doer of a deed, and accepting the outcome of that executed assignment.

karma is a doer’s consciousness which initiates and directs an action, as well as registers its aftermath. It is an infallible fact that consciousness after inducing an action always acquires its reaction.

Virtuous karmas directed by enlightened consciousness produce the results we are seeking to realize that particular perspective of God which offers His involvement and guidance in every moment of our day-to-day lives.