Hinduism is the world’s oldest known religion and originally known as Sanatana Dharma. Hindu dharma has its roots going back to more than 10,000 years and Hindu scriptures dating back to more than 7000 BC.
Hinduism’ is not the real word for the religion. The real name of Hinduism is Sanatana Dharma.
Sanatana Dharma means the eternal duty. Not just Hindus, but all beings in creation, including animals, deities, gods, and rest of humanity, share this duty.
The word Hinduism is derived from the word ‘Sindhu River’
In ancient times, Persians called people living on the bank of Sindhu River as Hindu because they lacked ‘Sa’ syllable in their language and pronunciation, and mixed with ‘Ha’ syllable, thus called Hindu instead of Sindhu. After the influence of European, especially British, due to the colonization of Indus Valley civilization, Hindu religion came to be called Hinduism.
Atheism is a part of Hinduism
The Sanskrit word ‘nirisvaravada’ means disbelief in a creator god. It does not require disbelief in anything else that might be a “god,” but for many anything less than a creator isn’t a genuine god in the first place. Both the Samkhya and the Mimamsa schools of Hindu philosophy reject the existence of a creator god, making them explicitly atheistic from a Hindu perspective.
The order of Yugas
Treta comes before Dwapar, even when Dwapar means 2 and Treta mean 3. And there are many different explanations for this. But basically, it has to do with the timescale.
A Day of Brahma is 4.32 billion human years
One day of Brahma is divided into 10,000 parts called Charana and 1 Charana = 432,000 solar years. The charanas are divided as follows
- Satya Yuga – 4 charanas (1,728,000 solar years)
- Treta Yuga – 3 charanas(1,296,000 solar years)
- Dwapar Yuga – 2 charanas(864,000 solar years)
- Kali Yuga – 1 charanas(432,000 solar years)
The Dashavatara of Lord Vishnu is in accordance with the theory of evolution.
The concept of atoms was actually formulated by a Hindu Sage 2600 years ago
Acharya Kanada in around 6th to 2nd Century BCE presented his detailed atomic theory in Vaisheshika-Sutra. Vaisheshika is a pluralistic realism.
- J. Robert Oppenheimer (considered ‘Father of the Atomic Bomb’) learned Sanskrit in 1933 and used to frequently quote from the sacred Hindu book – the ‘Bhagwad Gita’. He used his Sanskrit knowledge to decode the Vedas and ancient Hindu scripts to form the basis of the Manhattan Project and probably much more under the rug.
Transmigration of the soul in Hindu Dharma
Hindu religion belief of our soul passes through 8.4 million species before becoming human was estimated in ancient times.
The Hindu religion is the only one of the world’s great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond, to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long. Longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang. And there are much longer time scales still – Carl Sagan
Hinduism has predicted some of the modern scientific concepts
Hindu religion is pro-science from early ages. Some of the advanced scientific concepts like Multiverse, Time dilation, Grandiose time scales, Big Bang, Big crunch hypothesis etc are discussed in various Hindu religious texts.
Hindu Temples
Hindu temples are not just architectural marvels, they are energy centers and hold great scientific significance which was proven. The usage of metals and construction patterns are proven to transmit positive energy.
Swastika stands for truth, compassion, tolerance, and happiness
The swastika is a Vedic symbol of Aryavarta (India) and is used even in present days to symbolize luck and joy. Even today, during the voting process in the South Asian country, Nepal, the swastika symbol is used. It stands for truth, compassion, tolerance, and happiness. The only fault was made by Hitler and his Nazi party as the prominent emblem as well as in their military outfits.
Acharya Sushruta is known as the father of surgery
Sushruta was also the first person in the world to perform a plastic surgery at sixth-century BCE. He wrote Suśruta Samhita, an important book in Ayurveda. Suśruta Samhita deals with every aspect of medical science, but with more focus on surgery. The Chapters include Fundamentals of Ayurveda, Plastic Surgery, Pharmaceutics, Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Diagnosis, and Treatment of all types of diseases like neurological, piles, fistula, tumours, and many more (Ophthalmic and Otorhinolaryngological diseases, Paediatric and Gynaecological disorders, Symptomatic management for surgeons, e.g. for fever, hiccough, retention of urine, alcoholism, psychiatric disorders).
Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha are the four goals of an ideal Hindu
The Vedas and many other teachings of Hinduism were preserved for thousands of years without paper. They were Chanted, memorized and passed on to the next generations.
Adi Shankara restored the Vedic Dharma and Advaita Vedanta to its pristine form in India
Hindu traditions were prominent even in Muslim countries like Iraq and Iran
During the Vedic age, Afghanistan and the neighboring countries were part of ancient India, the Bharatvarsha, and ancient Iran was also an integral part of Ancient India. Some parts of Vedic culture is also seen in the Western Asia. Zenob, a Syrian writer, says, “there was an Indian colony in the canton of Taron (in the region of modern day Turkey) on the upper Euphrates, to the west of Lake Van, as early as the second century BCE.” There were constructions of two huge temples with gigantic images of Vedic divinities, which stood as large as 18 feet and as high as 22 feet.
Mahabharata and Ramayana actually happened in ancient time
There are several stories from the past, the two great epics i.e. Mahabharata and Ramayana particularly lie in between myths and reality. These beliefs are not truly wrong as many places cited in the stories still exist and there are true pieces of evidence. The archaeological evidence has been unveiling in recent times, only though in a slow phase to provide some convincing evidence regarding the matter.
This is what Hindu Dharma Teaches us
‘ लोका समस्ता सुखिनो भवन्तु !!! ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः !!! ‘
‘Loka Samastha Sukino Bhavantu. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti,
‘May all the beings in all the worlds be happy. Let there be Peace, Peace, and Peace everywhere.