A young friend was asking about the apparent contradictions and vascillations about the ideal, material and spiritual in Hinduism.. and was also asking whether there is anything really called Hinduism..
My answer.. ( I want to confess that this is all I know..)
Life is just a mixture of real and ideal..
We set our goals aiming at the ideal and usually we reach at a place where there is a mixture of ideal and real..
All we can attempt is to have a healthy mixture..
No religion is entirely materialistic, nor entirely spiritual..
And no religion is monolithic and unequivocal..
There will be shisms in ideologies and procedures and even in the concept of what is best.. and this phenomenon will not destroy a religion..
You have to develop a more balanced approach..
No one has ever said the everything is ideal.. and that only the ideal is spiritual.. You should evaluate anything for its merits or demerits, sitting outside the framework..
Good and bad are just concepts..
Good for you is just what is not bad for you..
For another person and for another philosophy what you think bad may be good..
And the concepts need not be good or bad just because others.. even if they are in the majority, say or believe that something is good or that something is bad.
Religion is a term which is used with a lot of flexibility..
In Hinduism there was a concept that there are six religions.. Shaivam, Shaktham, Kaumaram, Ganapathyam, Sauram and Vaishnavam.. That is okey.. Evan Charvakam can be a religion..
But they can all be under the cover of a bigger tenet or religion..
Just like many wells when joined together by canals or tunnels can become a big body of water.. a big tank or a big well
Such difference of opinions are there in Islam, Christianity, Judaism etc..
And if rituals can lead to stabilization of mind and body and social attitude towards more tolerance, more love and discipline, what is wrong with rituals?
What is spirituality if such spirituality does not lead to peace and happiness?
I think you have developed restricted ideas about religion, god and spirituality.. Read works of Vivekananda,
Read simpified versions of Puranas and epics,
read simple commentaries on upanishads, and try to read even some tantric, agamic, yoga, nyaya, and sankhya texts..
As you read on gradually you will come to understand what the Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism stands for..
Do not get carried away by the opinions of anyone..
The knowlledge comes from imbibing data and processing the same with your own mind..
It would be nice to recall the following subhashitam too..
It is a quote from Udyogaparvam of Mahabharatam..
आचार्यात् पादमादत्ते पादं शिष्यः स्वमेधया।
पादं सब्रह्मचारिभ्यः पादं कालक्रमेण च॥
ācāryāt pādamādatte pādaṁ śiṣyaḥ svamedhayā|
pādaṁ sabrahmacāribhyaḥ pādaṁ kālakrameṇa ca||
The student receives one fourth of his education from his preceptors..
one fourth from ones own perception, by application of mind and brain
one fourth from living in the company of fellow scholars and by comparison of mutual experience..
And the final quarter can be gained only through the efflux of time.. that is by living and experiencing..
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