Hindu Tropers, UNITE!

This coven is for any troper who is a Hindu, of any variety, whether (s)he was born or converted. Here, we can discuss our faith, talk about contemporary Hindu issues, or just talk about random stuff. Let the discussion commence!

Alright, so I'll get this thing started. I'm a convert. I used to be a generic, Protestant Christian, but I began feeling disillusioned with some of the teachings, particularly those that took the first chapters of Genesis strictly literally. So, I went around, for about a year, completely unsure of my religious stance. I knew that I believed in SOMETHING, but I was unsure of what it was. I kept researching various religions, but I always came back to the Eastern ones, since they made sense to me. In December, I officially realized that I'm Hindu. I'm still relatively new to all of it, but I'm happy.

Anyway, that's my story. What's yours? Namaste.

edited 25th Nov '13 11:32:29 PM by SpaceWolf

As this coven has yet to see a lot of traffic, I'd like to take the time to link this to some Hinduism pages.

• This old forum thread

• This "Useful Notes" page

edited 25th Nov '13 11:43:49 PM by SpaceWolf

I like Hinduism for the fact it's one of few religions that counted universe's age in billions for long time. Immune to YEC.

I agree! If you delve into the cosmology, it is very much in line with modern science. And it preceded it by thousands of years.

edited 16th Dec '13 10:14:59 AM by SpaceWolf

Though now it seems odds that universe is cyclical like in Hindu cosmology and will collapse are low. It's like as if universe had no brakes, it keeps on accelerating.

Well, there is a genuine scientific theory which states that there was a previous universe, before the Big Bang.

Genuine scientific hypothesis. Everything that describes what happened before Big Bang cannot be a theory, because we don't have yet technology to verify such claims. Type 3 civilizations on Kardashev's scale can likely verify such hypotheses, but we are now reaching slowly type 1.

That's a valid point. But the main point is that Hinduism offers a more scientifically accurate view of the universe than some other faiths. The exact veracity of the cyclic universe hypothesis is less important, as neither religion nor science can verify it.

To me, the days of Brahma, years of Brahma, yugas, kalpas, et cetera, are much more accurate time scales than those of some other beliefs. That's not to invalidate other beliefs, however, as I believe that every has pieces of the truth. But Hindus are very aware of the fact that many of our beliefs about the creation of the universe are steeped in deep metaphor. I think that the Christian stories, for example, actually describe a couple of the same things; I think that "six days" describes six of God's days, which would be dramatically different than the days of the earth. I've thought that for a long time, even before I became a Hindu.

edited 16th Dec '13 8:31:49 PM by SpaceWolf

Though, we may have a shot at verifying whether there are more universes if the dark flow is indeed caused by a sibling universe. That'll bring us significant step closer to determine what happened before the Big Bang.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_flow

And despite universe accelerating rather than slowing down there is still chance that Big Crush may happen. I watched in Morgan Freeman's show that inflation might have its limit and our universe might be only able to expand 20 % more than its current size. Either it will stop or start collapsing if that's true. We don't know.

—-

I keep offering six days as six ages metaphor to make Genesis account more compatible with scientific evidence we unearthed so far. Damn, I would study theology if that could earn for my living. XD

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I noticed Werewolf: Apocalypse RPG has some analogies to Hindu mythology with three godlike beings that oversee creation, maintaining reality, and destruction. But it's bit different since in that scenario expy of Vishnu went bonkers and trapped the expy of Śiva, skewing the cosmic balance.

edited 16th Dec '13 10:37:02 AM by CaptainKatsura

But, even if the Big Crush happens, it likely won't be in our lifetime.

Nothing to worry about. Sooner our Sun will heat enough to scorch the multicellular life from the face of Earth in 1 billion (yes, long before it becomes Red Giant). XD

We should be more worried of odd planetoid or comet threathening our species.

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Which view on Trimurti listed here you adhere to?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimurti

edited 16th Dec '13 10:46:32 AM by CaptainKatsura

I'm a Vaishnavite, so I worship Vishnu. But I recognize the importance of Shiva and Brahma, although I don't focus on them.

Wait, what? In Werewolf: Apocalypse, Vishnu's expy makes Shiva's exit a Sealed God in a Can? But why?

edited 16th Dec '13 11:07:35 AM by SpaceWolf

I'm curious if it is normal for an average Hindu to focus on a god outside of Trimurtu. My Indian e-friend from other site views Karna as his primary focus of worship.

edited 16th Dec '13 11:03:10 AM by CaptainKatsura

It depends on the sect and denomination. Some people don't even worship the Trimurti, as Hinduism has many different schools. But the worship of Karma is rare, since he's usually just one of the central characters of the Mahabharata, which is an Up To Eleven Door Stopper Epic Poem about a Succession Crisis. It's the main story that focuses on Krishna, Vishnu's #8 avatar.

edited 16th Dec '13 11:19:02 AM by SpaceWolf

I don't think that it's entirely unheard of, though.

edited 16th Dec '13 11:19:55 AM by SpaceWolf

So he belongs to a rather small minority when it comes to his beliefs?

More or less, but that's okay. In Hinduism, you can basically worship whomever you want, so long as it's sincere.

I know the concept of Hell in Buddhism, but do you have a similar concept in Hinduism, and if so what are significant differences?

In Hinduism, Hell is Naraka. I don't know very much about the Buddhist Hell (which is weird for me, since I know a lot about religion). So, I can't make much of a comparison. But Hinduism centrally generally had two views on Naraka. Firstly, it's interpreted as a physical Hell, ruled by Yama. It works like your standard, torturous, symbolic Hell, except with no fire or brimstone. The other interpretation is that it's merely a state of suffering, realizing that you have distanced yourself from God. The first view is much more common. But, either way, you're essentially there for about five minutes, before you reincarnate.

edited 16th Dec '13 11:47:47 AM by SpaceWolf

Buddhist is the same (also Naraka), except you are held there for billions of years until your sins are purged and you're off to reincarnate in a higher realm. But you can end up only there because of killing your parents, killing an enlightened being and causing a conflict within a Buddhist community.

I'm also pretty sure that Buddhism's Naraka has no ruling figure.

Wow, this thread is unusually active.

Isn't it great?

Bacon, do you have any questions for our friend or are you Hindu yourself?

No, I was just commenting on how this thread is active a lot more than usual.