Hindus

I saw a few references to Hindus/Hinduism in the "mosque at ground zero" thread. Made me wonder what the world thinks about us Hindus.
So what is your opinion/impression of Hindus/Hinduism? I think for many people Hindu = Indian and vice-versa. That is OK, you can still post your views.

When I think of Hindus, I think of George Harrison. :-)

Just before I started high school, I had this obsession with him and listened to as much of his music as I could. But I didn't understand much of what he was saying - I was 14, so I didn't understand much of anything, but that's besides the point. So... I was fortunate enough to have a brand new set of encyclopedias in my room and I studied Hinduism and every related article, from every related article, there was until I was brought back to the main piece. And you know what? My first subject in Social Studies that September was India! I aced it and have George Harrison and Hinduism to thank. lol.

Other than that... my Hindu friends are friends first, Hindu second. I've never considered how much of their ways - clothing, cooking, family dynamic, etc. - is Indian vs. Hindu. It's just never come up.

I don't really think about Hinduism at all.  I think I think more about what I would see as the cultural touchstones of India.

I had a conversation a couple of years ago with an Indian man who at the behest of his company was sent to my comparatively small, comparatively remote and overwhelmingly white city from a very large, very multicultural metropolitan area. He was (and still is) the manager of an oil change shop.  I was getting an oil change, and just chatting with him about how he felt about the rather drastic change, and one of the things that came up was that there was no place of Hindu worship in my city, at all, anywhere.  I was really shocked by that...that he and his family and the other small smattering of Hindu families would have no place to worship.  Over the last couple of years, more and more of our gas service stations seem to have been taken over by Indian businessmen, so I hope that means the community is growing and that the social and religious supports are filling in.

Ha.  Just for fun I just googled Hindu Temple and the name of my city, and we have one now! Great.

I really don't see too many differences between Hinduïsm and the other major religions, except of course that it's a hell of a lot more relaxed towards other people's deities than the Abrahamic religions (Judaïsm, Christianity and Islam) are.

I personally don't like organized religion, but so long as it does not promote intolerance and incite hate/violence, I consider it all a matter for everyone's own conscience. So, in short, I hate Hindu-extremists as much as extremists of every other kind, and I don't pass judgement on anyone's personal religious beliefs as there is nothing sensible to be said about something that cannot be known but only believed or not believed.

i love their fish in breadcrumbs,oh wait,thats Findus..

Oh Indian food is no joke.  One of the bonuses of a growing Indian community here is an authentic restaurant , and every few months I get a wild craving for a chicken or beef curry  (what's up the beef anyway? Maybe that's an example of Hindu does not necessarily = India, or maybe they're just secular or maybe it's the reality of business in cow chomping North America) on saffron rice that simply must be satisfied.  They ask you how hot you want it between 1 and 10, and I say '4' and my mouth is still completely on fire.  It's so awesome. LOL.  And I don't technically have room for the vegetable samosas, but down they go too because they're just too awesome as well.  Yum. Sigh.

Now I have an urge to rush out to Santoor - our local Indian restaurant. OMG. Phenomenal. The best part? They have a lunch buffet for under $10.00 That one meal is enough for the day! And, GratefulFan, about those vegetable samosa... couldn't agree more. Add to them that date/plum chutney and it's like a celebration in your mouth... fireworks and all. lol.

Sorry ParisNair, I know we've strayed from Hindus to Indian food but... Indian food is just so GOOD!

How right you are MagicalFM.  In fact, with an eye to bringing this topic back to Hinduism and with the luxury of actually knowing very little about it beyond the fact that it is widely viewed as a very tolerant and broad and flexible faith, I'd like to suggest that Hindus include in their symbols of formal worship a giant vegetable samosa.  Because the vegetable samosa with date and plum chutney totally deserves that level of respect.

>>> GratefulFan wrote: I'd like to suggest that Hindus include in their symbols of formal worship a giant vegetable samosa.  Because the vegetable samosa with date and plum chutney totally deserves that level of respect. <<<
A delicious idea! LOL.

As crazy as any other religion.

Come on, cows aren't holy, they're good with barbecue sauce

:-P

But still, Hinduism hasn't got the whole history written in blood thing, unlike christianity and islam.

As far as I know, i'm not a big expert on Hinduism

And doesn't Hinduism celebrate the body and sexuality? I should probably research rather than post unsure, but doesn't Hinduism regard sexuality as a gift from god to be explored and enjoyed? As opposed to Christianity which suppresses it, calling it sinful unless it's under specific conditions, etc.

???

I don't know much - or anything - about it. I'd say that here we have been flooded with "images of India" or representations of the country which must sound quite stereotypical to an Hindu or an Indian in general. The major TV channel here has just aired a soap-opera partially shot in India. The whole story revolved around the country and its culture, and yet, all I've seen was the standard representation of India from so many movies and books.

All the women wore beautiful clothes and fine jewelry. They called those beautiful dresses "sari", and it was great to see how the women wrapped it around them. 

As omnipresent as the saris was the "chai". There was not a single episode where someone didn't ask for a woman to prepare a "chai", a kind of tea, from what I could tell. 

There were the brahmin,  who came across to me as a kind of priestly clan, with their very strict morals and deep piety. As opposed to the brahmin stood the dalits, who were the underdogs, so to speak, and mostly poor. 

I remember some great shots on the banks of the Ganges river, as well as of Varanasi, which seemed to be a place somewhat holy.

Women had to obey their husbands and very often do the work at home; the husbands had the duty of being caring, loving and affective. There was a whole lot of dance involved and both sexuality and sensuality were seen as very important among couples. 

Ah, the sacred cows, they were there too. One of the main characters was a brahmin who had a very beautiful cow - the cow had a name and sometimes he talked to it and carressed it.

The sreets were chaotic - there seemed to be no traffic signals, and there were noisy markets all over the streets.

The main thread of the story was the clash between the thousand-year old traditions and the changes brought about by modernity and globalization. 

In the end, a woman dalit ended up being elected governor of a province; a guy who was dalit had a successful carreer in the U.S as a CEO of a major company and married the daughter of a very important and traditional Hindu family. 

It seemed that Hindus would like to eat more flesh if only they could afford to buy it. It was not like they were altogether kept from eating flesh for religious reasons. Only the brahmin weren't allowed to eat any kind of flesh, I guess.

And so on...

: -)))) 

P.S: Now, Indian food...that's so good!!! But then again, I don't know "how Indian" is the food which is often dubbed as such either here in Brazil, or in the U.S and Israel, just to mention the countries I know better.

A couple of significant terrorism arrests in Canada today.  The codename? 'Project Samosa'.   That's just WRONG!  I still love you samosa. :(

You know... it's always a few who give the rest a bad name...