Hinduism
It always concerns me when people think of Hindus as followers of a “religion” called Hindu-ism. Hinduism (if at all that word is legitimate) is not a religion. It is a culture that is unparalleled in its plurality (in all walks of life, at all levels: diversity of traditions, faiths, arts, cultures, languages, etc).
Religion is more or less an artifact of the West. Hindus have countless faiths as diverse as human experience and as many spiritual traditions, and nobody bothered to make a religion out of any of them. People chose to express their love for God in whatever way they want. In fact, to Hindus that was just common sense. One could imagine the bewilderment of Hindus when they first encountered Christians and Muslims who believed there is only one way to express your love for God (with their “my way or the highway” attitude, resulting in centuries of violence and persecution just because someone chooses to worship God differently).
By an UNESCO estimate India is a home to approximately 20,000 sub-cultures, with over 1,652 languages (120 major, with over 18 distinct scripts), with as many dialects. It is also a culture where the questions of the soul, the universe, and of God belonged to the same institutions of higher learning as any other field of science and philosophy. This was possible as there was no “religion” in the first place to cause any split between the two. Thus all the arts and sciences in India had one common thread: spiritual development. It is the home to the worlds richest collection of spiritual literature reflecting some of the deepest philosophical inquiries and meditative insights into nature of man, the universe, his place in it, and God.
Also, while the rest of the world is just now waking up to the concept of plurality (let alone a long way to go to implement it), Hindu society has been the great grandmother of plurality (at many levels) for centuries. It is the most pluralistic country on the planet (which goes well beyond the failed concept of “secularism”; one of the great strengths of pluralism is multivalency). It is something we can all learn a lot from.
As a side note, the very nature of Hindu culture’s diversity (a direct outcome of her freedom of thought and expression), is what gave birth to the worlds largest and most vibrant democracy, without any revolution, as if simply by natural law.
To label all this richness and diversity (of thought and expression) as a religion and as an “-ism”, is akin to depicting all the ideals and values of what the USA represents as a religion called “Americanism”. That would indeed do very little justice to the important values that the USA takes pride in. The term “Hinduism” is one of the biggest hat tricks pulled off (by the West and Indians unto themselves) that keeps a brilliant and diverse culture hidden below the radar. Might have originated without any such intent, probably just the Westerners way of categorizing anything different from them (i.e. the normal), as an “ism” (i.e. something not normal; almost like a specimen for study). But in today’s politically correct world it should not only be wrong but arrogant and racist in fact (i.e. an assumption of superiority for one culture to label another as an “ism”). Or maybe it’s just part of “God’s plan”. When the time is right, maybe when more than half the world is doing yoga, the curtain will be lifted to reveal a culture that stretches so far back in time, with mind-boggling plurality (with countless number of extremely diverse faiths, cultures, languages, and arts).
Note
I’d like to add, that while my articles might seem to be focused around Hindu culture, it’s only to set the balance. While Hindu and American cultures are worlds apart in their way of life, they are two of the most diverse cultures, each rich in their own ways, with shared ideals like freedom of expression.
In particular there is no better litmus test to freedom of expression than the freedom of expression of speaking ones mind, and the freedom of expression of ones faith: the freedom to worship/approach/know God (the Source/Atman) or seek enlightenment in whatever form or means that makes sense to you the most (Shiva, Krishna, Kali, Murugan, Buddha, Jesus, Allah, 42, yoga, meditation, critical thinking, or any combination thereof).
It is likely that as time progresses, that Hinduism will have a new identity outside of India like in the USA (tapping into India’s rich resources in areas like yoga, classical Indian music, classical Indian dances, and Indian literature)… while Americanism (rampant consumerism, commoditization, materialism, mass market pop-culture, individualism, technology) will be imbibed in India.