I was raised Hindu. not violent - very peaceful! (peaceful brainwashing too) but if you wish to be in a trance for most of your life, just doing rituals and mantras (and believing in every deity there is) and not face reality - then go hinduism is all i can say. Everyday is new thing - whatever ever suits them. Look at India, their religion is keeping them back from prospering!!!!!! keeping them back from going forward no matter how intelligent they are. It's an illness and a curse!!!!

Hinduism, like all religions, is bullshit too.

It is not true that Hinduism is not harmful. I am intimately familiar with it. I was born into a Brahmin family and by birth we are intimate with the religious learning, manuscripts, Sanskrit chores etc. That Brahmin class has the duty to take care of deities, temples, chores and customs. I did all that as a child but my mother made sure I was separated from it quickly.

It is true that Hinduism has not done religious crusades or attacked people to convert. It is not because they were nice but for these two reasons:

1. The tribes living around the Indus valley (hence Indus or Hindus) were farmers, peaceful people. That valley is not even in India today where 1 billion Hindu believers live. Even one of the most successful kings - Ashoka was so remorseful after a war he won by seeing the massacre of dead bodies of both sides, he converted to Buddhism and is responsible for spreading Buddhism n Asia. He did not find peace in Hinduism.
2. India was a popular target of foreign invasions by all around the world. India was invaded by the Greeks, Persians, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Afghans, Mongols, Mughals, Portuguese, Spanish, French and British. An invasion after invasion for 3,400 years rendered the Hindu community meek and toothless. Bending over and being enslaved became out habits. We do not have a single hero who fended off any invasion successfully. None. We have magnified our own heroes who fought the invasions in some corners but none defeated an invasion. Those heroes are made larger than life today to give Indians pride.

What Hinduism is in practice today on the ground, what has become of it, what customs, superstitions they practice and how they treat own and other people - all is horrific. It is full of primitive and inhumane beliefs, customs, chores and traditions.

The problem is that we always find things overseas in ancient cultures sexy. The grass is green on the other side. The Beatles did it, Steve Jobs did it, Eat, Pray, Love sold copies. Bhagwan Rajneesh aka Osha developed a huge commune in Oregon and received 14 luxury Mercedes cars from disciples. Indian religious "gurus" often come here and go to Europe to spread their following. A woman in Texas told me once she is a seeker. I immediately knew what she had fallen for. Another told me she loves AOL (the Art of Living). I realize that these gurus find a lot of suckers who are frustrated at home and are looking for something far away and mystical.

Trust me. Hinduism is very destructive from inside. It will take you back thousands of years.

India today is the most dangerous country for women in the world, yes, the most... above Somalia, Afghanistan and Congo. A woman from a lower (untouchable class) who was raped by a politician a few years ago was going to a court for a testimony and was burned alive "today" right in the main street in front hundreds of people. The Indian news is covering in small print, BBC has the news here [bbc.com]

Being raised around and amongst them, here's my little contribution. The mythology bears a close resemblance to Greek, Egyptian mythologies where there is no apex entity as such and Gods are known by their tasks / powers. Hinduism by itself portrays many instances of divine polygamy (just one for polyandrea) however most Hindus that I know of practice monogamy. There is a huge emphasis to rituals as a method of appeasing the respective dirty with rituals being vastly different according to diety. Unlike popular understanding, the religion is not based around a single book but draws quite a few of its ideals from multiple books.

Like most other religions, Hinduism also reinforces patriarchy, with distinct demarcation of tasks that a female shall / can not perform. It also attempts to weigh a person's actions in terms of 'punya' or good deeds versus 'paap' or sins to encourage certain behavior amongst followers which reinforces the religion. Like any other religion it promotes blind faith by expecting one to trust in the divine if they have been an abiding follower.

All in all, another variant of oppressive and whimsical ideals.

Google "sati" or the act of burning your wife with your husband. Although this "practice" is outdated, it still happens in rural areas, as do child bride marriages. A woman in Hinduism is less than her husband who is according to scripture a symbol of God therefore she must obey him. Another great thing about Hinduism is the caste system....now a lot of Hindus will say their government is secular and banned the caste system but that doesn't stop it from happening in India/ UK or the US, I met a number of people who were born and raised in Cali but still weren't allowed to marry their BF/GF cause they weren't from the same caste. If you're not Brahman "the god head" you're truly a waste of time. Of course this is more so the scripture that majority of Hindus don't practice but it doesn't mean the Hindu nationalists don't! Hindus kill Muslims in India, Muslims kill Hindus...no religion is peaceful. Regardless of it being reformed....to know that a religion has to be reformed since it lies in such barbaric practices (as do all fundamentals of all religion) makes you wonder...if a religion has to be reformed...is it worth following? No. But then again pick any religion and a woman's place in it will always be 2nd...also the Kamasutra was a book written for Kings on how to treat their wives and concubines, the sex portion is truly just one chapter of the actual book...its written predominately to pleasure the male...as usual.

As long as religious people are human, religion will be an excuse for violence, but some are better than others. There have been a lot of bloody conflicts between Hindus and Muslims and Sikhs.

Hinduism is used to justify the caste system in India. You tell me if it is "not as bad" or not.

I spent 26 years living in Santa Fe, NM, and grew up just outside of Boulder, CO. Both are big centers of Hinduism and Buddhism. No so much by Native Hindus or Buddhists, but by anglos who have adopted these beliefs for various and assundry reasons.

When I got married, my wife-to'be asked me to write our vows. I was an anthropologist and a teacher in the Native American community. We had friends in the Christian community, wife to be was Jewish, had friends in the hindu community, the moslem community, the South American shamanistic community, and of course the Native American community. It goes without saying, I included all of them. Lol

We had a Christian prayer, a moslem prayer, a jewish prayer, the giving of Native tobacco, a hindu song, a quan lin buddhist statue, and a shaman minister. All done by friends of both of us. My wife-to-be loved it. my family was aghast. Lol.

No religion is harmful when taken figuratively, and no religion is harmless when taken literally. Ultimately, they're all offering the same thing.

Hinduism has a really beautifully rich pantheon of mythology, I love the art and the myths in the same way I love Norse, Egyptian, and Greek myths. They can all be read like fables, enjoyed as morality tales or stories about humanity. The religions with large pantheons of gods have lots of human flaws that are recognized and celebrated unlike the Monotheistic attempt to paint god as perfect, despite his obvious shared flaws. The main value of Hinduism is that it was reformed into a secular philosophy by Siddartha/Buddha in a similar way to what Jesus did for reforming Judaism (or presumably attempted to if there’s any chance at all he existed, it didn’t work out too well and now Christians are even worse off as for superstitious deification nonsense). Buddhism, yoga, martial arts, the Kama sutra, and ayervedic medicine all originate from India’s Hindu tradition, and anything that produced that many pearls of ancient wisdom that are still so effective in modern times can’t be all bad. You’ve really gotta take the shit about their gods figuratively though or you’re just gonna be another theistic jackass.

I really didn’t think anyone in this day and age literally believed in the Hindu pantheon, aside from a handful of really old school “fundamentalists” in India who were raised in it. This is certainly the first case I’ve heard of a westerner converting to it and interpreting it literally. Like most religions, it was never meant to be interpreted literally, it’s easily perverted if you do, but has some valuable lessons if you study it with that realization in mind. I would avoid the topic/person altogether if they’re being super annoying about their newfound enthusiasm, but if you’re interested in/otherwise compelled to discuss the religion philosophically with them, Id focus on the philosophical nuances. listen to some Alan Watts talks on it, read some of the bagavad Gita, and talk to them about how drastically different the eastern cosmologies are from western. There’s some good stuff in there, but this person is getting caught up on the superstitious aspects it sounds like.

I don't know anything about it and don't care to.

It's just another hokey religion. I know it's Asian in origin and grew wildly until it overtook Buddhism. They believe in reincarnation and their gods include Vishnu and Shiva among lots more.That's about all I know and it's still enough for me to reject it.

Not much, they throw good parties and have some great god legends.

Hinduism and Buddism are two different things. She likely is practicing Buddism.

Buddism follows the idea of reincarnation. Reincarnation is shown not to be true by the population graph.

Just like any religion, Buddism has it's good points. If followed, Buddists will follow the 8 fold path. For the most part this path is a good thing to follow. For example, if you follow these 8 guidelines you will not murder and you will select employment which does not conflict with your conscience. Which, in a way, means if everyone was to follow it there wouldn't be any attorneys or soldiers.

The only real bad one of the 8 steps to enlightenment, is the first one. It is considered to be the most important. It is referred to as true vision. Basically it says to avoid the Sins of attachment. This means to let go of the things which hold you to this world. Because, if you are attached to this world you can not be fully enlightened. This not reaching Nirvana and suffering through the pain of rebirth. Sins of attachment includes things like wealth, but also can include the fear of losing the ones you love.

Likely, if she is looking into Buddism, it is the lessor of evils. The good thing is she has questioned and is questioning the idea of sky farries. She is also likely afraid of her mortality and the ones she loves.

I don't know much, and I have no interest.
It's just another religion.
I detest them all fairly equally.

There are several good international news sources if youd like to read about all the ways various religions slauggter eachother, oppress those around them, and generally suck. BBC and Al-Jazeera both have good international coverage, and don't have a paywall.

I think I might find other things to talk about at family gatherings, or in fact anywhere.

They can be as blood thirsty as any religion. The worst period was when the British split India into Pakistan and India after WWII.

I don’t really know a lot about Hinduism, apart from knowing that it has a multiplicity of deities, but others have spoken in detail about it below. What I did want to say was, whatever your family member “is now into”, and that indicates to me that she may have flirted with other religious belief systems, you should listen and ask questions to understand why she is being drawn to it, just as you seem already to be doing. It sounds like she may just be trying to find something to believe in because she hasn’t got the answers she’s looking for in other faiths. I think all you can do is emphasise that what she needs to do is look for evidence that any of these deities and rituals associated with Hinduism have any real basis in reality. If she continues to be drawn to this religion, I suppose you just have to respect that it’s her choice and understand that it is fulfilling some need in her.

Multiple gods - it gives you lots of choice! The question remains: why are their gods more valid/credible than other belief gods? One will never win with a person of faith b/c faith is a belief in the absence of evidence.

This is why I strongly believe in freedom of religion, in that one should be able to freely switch between religions and take their own path to the truth. This also means eventually choosing no religion and maturing to the point when one can accept reality as it is.

Your friend is not at that point, so irs probably best to cautiously support her in her choice and not antagonize her to the point where she will stick with a religion just to spite you.

The best thing to do is what you are already doing: just ask questions. Ask her what she's learned, how it has helped her, satisfied her mental needs. To me I'm very curious how religion satisfies a person because it has never satisfied me. It's like people who like beer or wine, those are totally disgusting to my tastebuds but I'm fascinated by how there are a lot of people who absolutely love it...and I engage in conversation to understand what exactly they get out of it. In this context, you can certainly express how religion disatisfies you, and maybe she will identify better if she is really satisfied with the religion.

More often than not the novelty wears off and the same problems and thoughts come back. Time to find something new to believe in.

The important thing is to let her know if someone is exploiting the religion to harm her, like joining a monastary or long distance travel to isolated place, giving the clergy her bank account number, or forbidding commuication.

This is today's fresh news. A dancer hired in a wedding party just paused her dance and she was shot for taking the pause. It will shock you but won't most in India = [bbc.com]

Here is how people are celebrating the judicial killing of the four suspects of the rape and murder of a young women vet under a lonely bridge in South India. People who have been so sickened and angry about the government inaction, backdoor escape from justice to the rich, powerful and the connected that justice is hardly done for the atrocities on the common people. People are very happy about the judicial killing and are dancing with the police and distributing sweets. The corrupt central ruling party is watching in awe [twitter.com]

Inviting dancing girls is very common in birthday, wedding, other parties and hugely popular in political rallies. Voters won't even attend unless there is a dance. Here is an example of a rally of the ruling party BJP. All dances are the same, girls making erotic, obscene to some hip, crotch break moves. All dances are the same. The dancer must do an erotic dance village style. For men, it is an aphrodisiac before going home... lol... . Notice the women on the stage, one of them is a candidate for the parliament.

Now who wants to visit the new Hindu India?

I agree. I like Buddhism and Stoicism as much as any as guides to live by. Neither are religions purce. If one truly believes in evolution then I don’t see how you can believe in any religion. That’s where it starts with me. And I can see how all things evolve. Including our beliefs and political systems. Etc.

It is not the Hinduism that is the problem but the fanatics who practice it. The ones who make up their own rules.