Ishwa helper Reged: 03/03/02 Posts: 553

Re: Meaning and significance of Siva [Re: VJR] #16424 - 05/18/02 02:26 PM Edit Reply Quote

Hmm VJR, first of all, no one should give up his religion because of resemblance or superiority or anything else. The word religion, secondly does include social traditions, ritual traditions, philosophies, etc. Most people belong to a group without being strictly religious. It has more to do with social traditions (within a family or society) then with real knowledge about the philosophy, let alone the deeper historical meanings. People today are more in name a Hindu, Christian or Muslim than in practice. The conflicts within every religion is between the traditional social rules and the so-called modern society. The real philosophical truths are beyond any social rule. So let the individuals choose for themselves what they want to believe in. It is better for a Christian or Muslim to be an enlightened Christian or Muslim than to be a converted pseudo-Hindu. And with enlightened I mean someone who is on the path of self-realization in his own form with respect for others. About being critical towards other systems without proper knowledge is a very ignorant undertaking. There's also a huge difference between being critical and criticizing. The person was criticizing Hinduism without proper knowledge. That's his ignorance. Bringing that in the limelight is enough, without being trapped in reactionary comments. Edited by Ishwa on 05/18/02 12:02 PM (server time).