What is Hinduism?

My misconceptions of Hinduism were 

(a) A religion where primary Gods are Brahma, Vishnu, Siva 

(b) There are other Gods like Rama, Krishna, Ganesha, etc protecting people when evil pervades in the world

(c) Vedas and other sacred texts only preach wisdom like tell the truth, respect elders, follow customs

(d) Believe in God to remove sorrow and go to heaven after death

However, all my misconceptions were blown away after reading and understanding some of the religious texts

Hinduism is a religion based on “Sanātana Dharma”. It means all of the following

- ‘Eternal Law’

- ‘Laws that existed in the past, existing in the present and that will exist in the future’

- ‘Laws without beginning or end in time’

The principle objective of Hinduism is to attain ‘True Happiness’. Note the word ‘True’ here. Happiness is a result of satisfaction of our sensual desires. Some day-to-day examples are

- Eating delicacies – an act of pleasing the desire of the mouth

- Watching films - an act of pleasing the desire of eyes and ears

- Use of perfumes - an act of pleasing the desire of nose (self and others)

- Spa treatments - an act of pleasing the desire of skin

To satisfy these desires of the sense organs, we need money and our whole life is spent in search for money to find the happiness that is not true. All happiness we are in search today and every day is untrue, unreal, illusion or termed as “māya” in the religious texts

‘True Happiness’, that which is everlasting, can only be achieved through unification of the self (soul) with the Supreme Being or Universal Self (God) - this is the essence of Hinduism or “Sanātana Dharma”. This is the most difficult point to understand and also to explain.

‘Self’ is nothing but the soul within each one of us or the “ātma”. ‘Universal Self’ is the “paramātma” or “Brahman”. This “Brahman” is the Supreme Being or the Transcendental God. I will have to caution the reader here as to not to confuse “Brahman” with “Brahmin”. The former is the term for God used in the sacred texts while the latter is the caste or “varna” a person belongs to.

Soul gives the very life to our mortal body and makes us ‘exist’. Soul is present not only in humans but also in every creation of God, be it animate (plants, animals, etc) or inanimate (rock, water, etc). Only the degree varies. In humans, the soul is highly personified but in inanimate objects, it is least personified. But the truth is that every object in this universe has a soul. And this soul is a ‘manifestation’ (not part of) of the Universal Soul. This implies that God is present in each of us. This is what “mahāvaakyas” or ‘Great Sayings’ in the Upanishads tell us

Chandogya Upanishad:                 “tat tvam asi”                - ‘You are it’

Mandukya Upanishad:                   “ayam ātma brahma”  - ‘The Self (Atman) is Brahman’

Aitareya Upanishad:                      “prajnanam brahma”  - ‘Consciousness is Brahman’

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad:         “aham brahmāsmi”     - ‘I am Brahman’

To achieve the ‘True Happiness’ we must reflect within ourselves by directing our consciousness towards this hidden soul. This is beautifully termed as “Satchitānanda” where “sat” means ‘Existence’, “chit” means ‘Consciousness’ and “ānanda” means ‘Pure Bliss’ or ‘True Happiness’.

One who has achieved this ‘True Happiness’ is said to be a liberated soul or is said to have achieved “moksha” or destiny

The great sages from time immemorial have performed “tapas” or severe penances to discover this message buried in the timeless expanse of this universe and passed it along for millennia through Guru-Shishya tradition and we have it today in the form of Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, etc. As this process of attaining “moksha” is not easy (grossly understated here), the great sages have given the sacred texts that explain to us as to what needs to be done to achieve one’s destiny. The most widely known breathing exercise, the Yoga, is one of the several techniques that helps to improve concentration and train the consciousness to seek the soul in the journey to find “paramānanda”

Thanks for reading this far. Happy to stand corrected if the information is not right. Leave your comments without fail in this case