Hindu elan missionnaire

[Das Devaraj]

On Mon, 18 Jan 1999, N. Ganesan wrote:

>   Because of the basic nature of Hinduism
>   that it won't flourish without varNa system,
>   Hinduism gave way to the more secular Buddhism in
>   Southeast Asia later.
>
>   In other words, Hinduism is basically the varNa scheme.

Is the above sweeping generalization meant to apply to what
happened in the past or present?


>   For Hinduism to thrive in
>   the future, 1) priesthood must be open to all who have a degree
>   in the official language of the Indian state where
>   the priest works and in Sanskrit and  2) Sankaracharyaship
>   must be thrown open to anyone irrespective
>   of caste if s/he is well versed in Sanskrit.

There was an effort under way to have female priests in India -
can't remember where exactly (somewhere in Maharashtra???).
Also, in Kerala they have priests in all kinds of sects,
irrespective of the varna.

IMHO there is no "accepted" definition of who a Hindu is.  It
seems that anybody and everybody who have an agenda, seem to
push their own definition.  The legal definition, according to
http://www.hinduismtoday.kauai.hi.us/December96.html#gen319

"The Indian Supreme Court, in 1966, formalized a judicial
 definition of Hindu beliefs to legally distinguish Hindu
 denominations from other religions in India. This list was
 affirmed by the Court as recently as 1995 in judging cases
 regarding religious identity.
 1) Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence as the highest
    authority in religious and philosophic matters and
    acceptance with reverence of Vedas by Hindu thinkers and
    philosophers as the sole foundation of Hindu philosophy.
 2) Spirit of tolerance and willingness to understand and
    appreciate the opponent's point of view based on the
    realization that truth is many-sided.
 3) Acceptance of great world rhythm--vast periods of creation,
    maintenance and dissolution follow each other in endless
    succession--by all six systems of Hindu philosophy.
 4) Acceptance by all systems of Hindu philosophy of the belief
    in rebirth and pre-existence.
 5) Recognition of the fact that the means or ways to salvation
    are many.
 6) Realization of the truth that numbers of Gods to be worshiped
    may be large, yet there being Hindus who do not believe in the
    worshiping of idols.
 7) Unlike other religions, or religious creeds, Hindu religion's
    not being tied down to any definite set of philosophic concepts,
    as such."

Read the full article given at the above URL -- makes for interesting
reading.  They present other non-legal definitions also.

das