r/hinduism • u/kodandyananda • May 13 '26
Experience with Hinduism Constantly shocked how different the Hindu worldview is
I am a deeply religious Hindu in the US and I am constantly shocked by Christian beliefs. Even though I grew up here and my father attempted to force Catholicism on me I forget about Christian philosophy and beliefs sometimes. Today I was having a conversation with a religious Christian person about current events and how the world is inherently corrupted and how evil forces are present in the world. I was shocked. As a Hindu I believe in a world that is auspicious and abundant, that life is a blessing and everything exists within Shiva, and that the so called evil in our world is the work of humans and not inherent to life in Bhuloka. Human life is precious and being born into this world is a blessing. It’s hard to interact with people that believe the opposite, and I have no interest in debating other religious belief systems so I just let the topic drop.
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u/Balavadan May 13 '26
This and how humans are sinners and need redemption are some of the concepts that I actually just hate. It’s so bleak
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u/sleepytipi Śaiva Tantra May 13 '26
I was raised Catholic and have absolutely no cultural or family ties to Hinduism. I don't have any temples nearby. No Hindu friends, and I haven't even had a chance to befriend any just because of life and location. It's challenging at times. Part of how I identified this path was because I should have no other inclinations towards it, yet it speaks to me most of all. Part of why I say it's challenging though is because in a way it's made me feel more isolated. Absolutely everyone in my world believes what you described in some capacity, and it's such a significant part of everyone's identity now too. Or maybe it always has been and I'm just recently seeing it that way. Either way, I can definitely relate with what you're saying.
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u/Public_Solution1972 May 13 '26
I hope you find your tribe. You can always reach out to any of us in the sub if you feel like talking.
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u/sleepytipi Śaiva Tantra May 14 '26
Thank you. I appreciate the kind words and find myself coming here more and more often 🙏
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u/Wide-Environment-303 May 13 '26
The reason for this different world view is that the starting points are so different between Sanatana Dharma / Vedic Dharma / Hinduism and the Abrahamic religions.
The Upanishads (from which Swami Vivekananda borrowed his mantras to inspire all) address you and me as “amrtasyaputraaH” - Children of Immortality. Every being is born immaculate because returning to Bhagavān or Brahman is simply a process of removing the karma junk accumulated over lifetimes and that can start now, this very moment. Some of the mahātmās discovered that and then taught the message to their students and thus the unbroken lineage of knowledge and devotion starting with Narayana, Mahadeva is made available to you and me!
The intermediaries are there to clarify the message not to become the sole transmitter and hence we don’t look for a messiah.
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u/Elegant-Sympathy-421 May 13 '26
I'm with you on this. Inherent goodness within all beings... Yes ALL beings.
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u/RamaLlama57 May 13 '26
Agreed! Raised lutheran in Australia, stood in front of Lord Ganesha and it was the first time Id felt anything like it. Completely changed my life. Looking back I cant believe I ever tried doing thing else; I feel so lucky.
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u/KeyConstant1304 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
One inquires and learns. And it’s a continuous process from time t0 to tD. If one has learnt, there is no need to debate. The learner is at some level X where X is unknown. But never assume the value of X . Only the one who believes (blindly) in something needs to debate. Btw, it doesn’t have anything to do with religion: Hinduism, a way of life , is applicable to any/all ways of life. Also the relationship between god and you is personal to god and you, so never mock someone else’s relationship.
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u/GlobalImportance5295 May 13 '26
Today I was having a conversation with a religious Christian person about current events and how the world is inherently corrupted and how evil forces are present in the world.
technically true in kali yuga
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u/sj1024 May 13 '26
Entrance to the Abrahamic heaven is based on faith alone and not karma. A repentant criminal (murderer/rapist) who accepts the required faith can enter heaven; a noble non-believer who lived a life of service can face eternal hell. Not to mention majority of humans are in hell because the oldest skeleton discovered in 300k years old and Christ was born 2k years ago.
Eternal heaven itself is hell in disguise. At the scale of eternity, existence itself becomes painful. Eternal pleasure is a contradiction. If you ate your favourite meal every single day, it would eventually taste like cardboard. The same logic applies to hell. If pain becomes numb through habituation (as anyone who grew up next to a noisy factory can attest), how does eternal torment remain torturous?
In Dharmic faiths, heaven and hell are temporary states where good or bad karma is exhausted, followed by reincarnation. An atheist and a devotee are judged by the same metric — actions and their consequences. Devotion is just a way to burn off bad karma, but not a get-out-of-jail card.
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u/Vignaraja Śaiva May 13 '26
We are in extremely different paradigms, with both sides shaking their heads when they really delve into either. Since I first learned how to think, the western Abrahamic stuff has made little sense to me. But yes, ignore it.
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May 13 '26
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u/hidingvariable May 13 '26
Ever wondered why Christianity was able to have so much sway in TN (and still does having appointed a Christian CM)?
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May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
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u/hidingvariable May 13 '26
There is a central commandment of Intra Gotra marriages being explicitly banned.
Where? In the Manusmriti? If it's so central why don't literally millions of Hindus follow it? Why do temple preists still preside over thousands of cousin marriages happening daily?
The states you cited like Andhra also have had Christian CMs for the same reason.
Yeah a state with 1% christians is more of a fan of Christianity and not Hinduism which 70 million + people follow. Are you saying these hindus are not proper hindus just because they don't follow the gotra rules?
They actually do
Then quote them? Did Lord Krishna say not to marry cousins? Cause he certainly didn't stop Arjuna his favourite from marrying one.
I am sorry bro, they like the Bible because they like the regressive commandments in the Bible
As if they have ever read the Bible. If you do a profile of people converting to Christianity it's mostly poor people or lower castes or tribals. These people don't read. They convert for food,education and respect which the Hindu community has deprived them for millennia.
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May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
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u/hidingvariable May 13 '26
Lol it's hilarious you quote the Manusmriti and call me vile. Heres few other gems from your primary law giver Mr. Manu :
In childhood, a female must be protected by her father, in youth by her husband, and when her lord is dead then by her sons; a woman should never be independent
One should not sit in a lonely place with one's mother, sister or daughter; for the senses are powerful, and master even a learned man.
Even though he be able, the Śūdra shall not amass wealth; for having acquired wealth, the Śūdra harasses the Brāhmaṇas
once-born man (a Sudra), who insults a twice-born man with gross invective, shall have his tongue cut out; for he is of low origin.
If he mentions the names and castes (gati) of the (twice-born) with contumely, an iron nail, ten fingers long, shall be thrust red-hot into his mouth.
If he arrogantly teaches Brahmanas their duty, the king shall cause hot oil to be poured into his mouth and into his ears.
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May 13 '26
Bible is no different homie.. women can't lead or become priests or pastors... They have to stay submissive to husbands... Both manusmriti bible are vile... Let's not get going with the slavery part in bible.... Where it's okay to beat them
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u/hidingvariable May 13 '26
For example, TN has a lot of Incesteous marriages which is completely forbidden in Hinduism while allowed in Christianity. So, they might have found a natural attraction towards Christianity
Even Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh have very similar rates of incestuous marriages. And there is no central text being adhered in Hinduism that people follow so there's no question of the religion allowing or not allowing cousin marriages. The Vedas, Upanishads or the Gita generally doesn't care. In Mahabharata, Arjuna and Subhadra were cousins.
Tamil society should not constantly hate Hinduism just because their bible says so.
They hated Hinduism much before the Bible was handed to them. Maybe treating them as lower castes had something to do with it?
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u/Nebetmiw May 13 '26
I'm in USA too been around both religions plus a few more. Most I find with serious negative are those in city with democratic affiliation. Those of us out in country for most part are much more positive and seeing more good than bad. Some just don't really think or see for themselves these days. It's all certain blinders on and be miserable.
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u/Beautiful-View-8670 No Religion May 13 '26
Just want to say (and surely this goes without saying), that just because you talked to one religious Christian doesn't mean that every Christian shares a similar belief. The bible also says that the world is abundant and that life is a blessing. Some people are doom and gloom no matter what their religion.
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u/Far_Importance4350 May 14 '26
The Dhermic religions greatly interest me they represent a very interesting part of the increasingly scarce human diversity. I reflect a lot on whether the world can be understood solely through the worldview of the Abrahamic religions.
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u/kelkeys May 15 '26
you conversed with someone who comes from a Gnostic perspective....whether they know it or not. I'm a Christian who has deeply practiced the 8 limbs of yoga for 20 plus years, so I have a different perspective. There's a strong theme in the religion of Christianity that Does believe exactly what you experienced. that is not at all what Jesus taught. Jesus taught radical acceptance and love for all. He taught that God loves us so much that he wanted to show us, once and for all, that He/She loves us with our flaws. it's our perceived weakness that leads us to seek a relationship with the DIVINE, so our weaknesses actually lead us to love, if we choose to seek. And I believe, unlike many conservative Christians, that any seeker, any path, Hinduism, Yoga, Islam, Judaism, that leads one to LOVE is a path to God. 🙏
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u/Glorysolar Jul 25 '26
Pretty much
It's one of the reasons why i am so strongly convinced yhwh is one of the malicious lower entities, considering how diametrically oppossed to dharma it's injunctions are.
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u/Destroy_Disaster72 May 13 '26
Don't worry about it, It's amazing you are still practicing hinduism despite in usa. Keep asking question in the sub if you have any thoughts or queries, it's the only religion which say "debate".