Open-Source Faith (Hinduism oriented)

[GabrielWithoutWings]

There's an article on the Huffington Post that discusses how Vedic religion is open-source, rather than closed like a lot of Western traditions. It talks about how all viewpoints contribute to the whole.

Atheists and goddess worshipers, heretics who've sought god through booze, sex, and meat, ash covered hermits, dualists and non-dualists, nihilists and hedonists, poets and singers, students and saints, children and outcasts ... all have contributed their lines of code to the Hindu string.

The Wild Hunt made a post stating that this can be applied to Paganism and this idea will be explored further at PantheaCon.

Just thought you guys might like this.

[ConnollyCelt]

Re: Open-Source Faith (Hinduism oriented)

I certainly believe Hinduism is an interesting religion, although I have not yet gotten around to studying it in depth.

One thing I do not understand about Hinduism though is the caste system. If someone could explain that to me I would be very grateful.

[Yazichestvo]

Re: Open-Source Faith (Hinduism oriented)

I"ve read that there is a lot of variety in Hindu practices as well. Some are hedonists, others seem ascetic. In Vedic times or earlier, some Indians were undoubtedly polytheistic just as their close cousins, the Kalash were. Yet most today are monistic, and some Hindu"s are basically monotheistic. I think you really could find all of the diversity of modern Neopaganism in Hinduism.

The caste system, to my understanding, has changed over time. It started with the four Varna"s, which really just separated people into different trades or professions. There"s even evidence that there was initially some caste mobility. When the British came, they encouraged their own version of the caste system. During this time, it was also taught that there was a racial basis to the caste system, which added racial tension to the whole issue. So the idea really has mutated since ancient times. It"s a complicated history, worth reading an entire book about if you really want to understand how it came about.