How Hinduism Has Persisted for 4,000 Years With no compulsory dogmas, the religion can reinvent itself over and over. By Shashi Tharoor
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-hinduism-has-persisted-for-4-000-years-11547770953
The word “Hindu” denotes more than a set of theological beliefs. In many languages, French and Persian among them, the word for Indian is Hindu. Originally foreigners used it when referring to the people beyond the Indus River, which is now in Islamic Pakistan. In fact, the word Hindu did not exist in any Indian language until its use by outsiders gave Indians a term for self-definition. Many Hindus, in other words, call themselves by a label that they didn’t invent but adopted cheerfully.
“Hinduism,” then, is the name that foreigners first applied to what they saw as the indigenous religion of India. It embraces an eclectic range of doctrines and practices—from pantheism to agnosticism, from faith in reincarnation to belief in the caste system. Yet none of these constitutes an obligatory credo for a Hindu. We have no compulsory dogmas.
The religion is predicated on the idea that the eternal wisdom of the ages and of divinity cannot be confined to a single sacred book. While others might look to the heavens to find God, the Hindu looks within himself. There is no Hindu pope, no Hindu Vatican, no Hindu catechism, not even a Hindu Sunday. Hinduism does not oblige the adherent to demonstrate his faith by any visible sign. Instead Hinduism offers a smorgasbord of options to the worshiper: of divinities to adore and to pray to, of rituals to observe, of customs and practices to honor, of fasts to keep. Hinduism allows believers to stretch their imaginations to personal notions of the creative Godhead.
The Hindu texts operate from a platform of skepticism, not a springboard of certitude. The 3,500-year-old Rig Veda—in its creation hymn, “Nasadiya Sukta”—wonders about the mysteries of creation. It concludes, “In the highest heaven, only He knows—or perhaps He does not know.” Not even what one might think of as the most basic tenet of any religion, a belief in the existence of God, is a prerequisite: Agnosticism is a key principle of at least one major school of Hindu philosophy.
Hinduism, in other words, incorporates almost all forms of belief and worship within it. There is no need to choose some or reject others. While most faiths believe the body has a soul, most Hindus believe the soul has a body. The Eternal Atman resides in, then discards, the temporary body it occupies.
Hindu thought is like a vast library in which no book ever goes out of print. Even if the religious ideas a specific volume contains have not been read, enunciated or followed in centuries, the book remains available to be dipped into, to be revised and reprinted with new annotations or a new commentary whenever a reader feels the need for it.
As a set of spiritual ideas, then, Hinduism is unusually liberal and flexible. The great 19th-century preacher Swami Vivekananda memorably declared that Hinduism teaches not only tolerance but acceptance of difference. Hinduism is perhaps the one major religion that does not claim to be the only true religion.
Hinduism has responded to challenges from other faiths through repeated reinvention. The early idea of a formless God, nirguna Brahman, gave way to the recognition that people needed something less abstract to worship. So Hinduism permitted millions of manifestations of the divine. Since no one knows what God looks like, the Hindu is free to imagine God as a woman with eight arms riding a tiger; as a potbellied man with an elephant’s head; or as a muscular figure with a monkey’s head and tail. All reflect different aspects of the Godhead and are replete with wonderful stories about themselves.
Hinduism today has many of the attributes of a universal religion: It is personal, privileges the individual, and does not subordinate one to a collectivity. Believers have complete freedom to find their own answers to the true meaning of life. The religion places great emphasis on the mind, valuing reflection, intellectual inquiry and self-study. While minimally prescriptive, it offers an abundance of options, spiritual and philosophical texts, and social and cultural practices to choose from. Each Hindu must seek and find his own truth.
In a world where resistance to authority is growing, Hinduism imposes no authorities. In a world of networked individuals, Hinduism proposes no institutional hierarchies. In a world of open-source information-sharing, Hinduism accepts all paths as equally valid. In a world of rapid transformations and accelerating change, Hinduism is adaptable and flexible—which is why it has survived for nearly 4,000 years.
Mr. Tharoor, a member of India’s Parliament, is author of “Why I Am a Hindu” (Scribe, 2018).
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