The Essentials of Hinduism

As part of my "cramming" for our upcoming trip to India and Nepal I was able to absorb The Essentials of Hinduism (by Swami Bhaskarananda, 2002), which proved to be exactly what I was looking for... a relatively quick overview of, well, the essentials of Hinduism.

In less than 200 pages Swami Bhaskarananda provides all of the basic tenets of the oldest practicing religion in the world. The very basics are relatively easy to understand, although even this quick overview did go over my head before all was said and done.

As I've often encountered when studying the various religions of the world, it's just incredible how many similarities there are between them. This one excerpt from page 84 of The Essentials is a case in point:

"God, in order to incarnate on earth in human form, creates an earthly body for Himself through His inscrutable magical power... He gives others the impression that He is born of human parents. Out of compassion for His creatures who take refuge in Him, He absorbs their sins or bad karma in His earthly body, and suffers on their behalf. He works out their bad (karma) to give them relief and salvation."

Sound familiar???

The book winds down with an overview of a 19th century Hindu saint named Shri Ramakrishna, who wrote and preached the idea that all world religions are basically one and the same, something that is starting to make a lot of sense to me. From his writings: "God has made different religions to suit different aspirants, times and countries. All doctrines are so many paths; but a path is by no means God Himself. Indeed, one can reach God if one follows any one of the paths with whole hearted devotion." Also, "A truly religious man should think that other religions are also so many paths leading to the Truth. One should always maintain an attitude of respect towards other religions." And lastly, "Every man should follow his own religion. A Christian should follow Christianity, a Muslim should follow Islam, and so on."

Known as the "prophet of the harmony of religions," Ramakrishna's words were never more relevant than today. And so I've added his works to my reading list for the future.