Introduction
Hinduism, one of the world’s oldest and most practiced religions, has adapted to modern times. It promotes morality and has influenced many beliefs and lifestyles. Hinduism guides hundreds of millions worldwide in many aspects of life (History.com Editors). This study examines Hinduism’s present significance. This article will examine Hinduism’s major virtues, such as nonviolence, tolerance, and worship, and its four noble pursuits to see how it is relevant to modern society. Katie Balkaran, a Hindu, will share her thoughts on how faith affects her daily life. Critiques and scholarly studies will analyze these subjects, particularly Gandhi’s teachings and their relevance today.
Hinduism is an ancient religion that has evolved into a beautiful and important modern religion. Its spiritual and intellectual teachings come from the Vedas, which include the Upanishads. Hindus believe in a Supreme Being, Karma, Dharma, or morality. Hindu morality and justice are based on Dharma, which promotes truth, life, and the preservation of all that is good. Hinduism values nonviolence, tolerance, worship, and the four noble pursuits (Dharma, artha, kama, and moksha) (History.com Editors). Hinduism emphasizes nonviolence as a lifelong practice. Tolerance, which promotes compassion and understanding for all faiths and beliefs, including Hinduism, is equally crucial. Hindus also worship to connect with the divine. Finally, life’s four noble pursuits—Dharma, artha, kama, and moksha—are to maintain one’s ethics and morality, pursue financial wealth and success, seek pleasure and satisfaction, and seek freedom from all worldly attachments.
These attributes bring Hindus spiritual knowledge, cultural awareness, and morality. Katie Balkaran, a Hindu convert, was interviewed to discuss these ideas and their significance to modern culture. The following section details this interview. In addition to personal experience, my study will examine Hinduism’s trustworthiness and relevance in the modern world using scholarly research and articles. This research will examine Gandhi’s teachings and their relevance. I’ll also examine religion studies and philosophy specialists’ views on Hinduism and modern society’s best practices. This paper analyses Hinduism’s relevance today through personal experience, interviews, and scholarly research. This thesis concludes by summarising the important topics and demonstrating how Hinduism’s ideas, morals, and teachings are relevant and necessary in current society.
Major Virtues of Hinduism
Nonviolence
Hinduism’s core value is nonviolence or ahimsa. Ahimsa goes beyond nonviolence to revere all life. Kindness, compassion and the belief that all living things ought to live harm-free are ahimsa (Kauai’s Hindu Monastery). Hindus emphasize nonviolence and harmlessness in all elements of their religion, from reverence for nature to vegetarianism. Nonviolence is part of the law of karma, which asserts that we all pay for our acts, good and bad. This shows that violence is pointless and can cause more misery. Hinduism’s ahimsa doctrine states that all violence or harm done to another will be returned to the perpetrator, even in the Upanishads. This emphasizes the need to respect all life, as violence will cause us grief.
Gandhi’s ideology emphasizes nonviolence and ahimsa. Gandhi peacefully protested for justice and campaigned for India’s freedom. He advocated civil disobedience to overthrow repressive governments peacefully. He preached that love and peace were the law of our species and should be taught from infancy. Hinduism promotes truth, life, and goodness via nonviolence. Its main virtues—nonviolence, tolerance, worship, and the four noble pursuits—are pertinent to modern culture (Kauai’s Hindu Monastery). The law of karma requires it, and Gandhi and others have practiced it. Ahimsa is still essential today and can be used to protest repressive governments and systems peacefully. Ahimsa, a Hindu principle, can give society hope, understanding, and insight.
Tolerance
Hinduism emphasizes tolerance. Hinduism does not need exclusive devotion or oppose other religions. Hinduism is subject to interpretation; thus, people can interpret it in multiple ways and still follow the faith (Pew Research Center). “All paths lead to the same goal, only they differ in the length of time,” says the Bhagavad Gita. Hinduism emphasizes respecting different faiths. Tolerance includes accepting persons with various viewpoints and religions. Hinduism promotes tolerance and compassion. Respect encompasses persons with various economic and social statuses. Hindus believe in equality regardless of race, faith, gender, or social status. Hinduism encourages acceptance and prevents discrimination through this.
Gandhi taught tolerance via peaceful protest and civil disobedience. He respected all religions and ethnicities and elevated everyone equally. Ahimsa—nonviolence and respect for all life—underpinned his ideology. Thus, Gandhi preached tolerance and motivated many to join him. Hindus believe tolerance protects the good in all living beings (Pew Research Center). Many religions and cultures appreciate it, and practicing it can promote understanding, respect, and acceptance. Hinduism’s tolerance of other religions has helped it adapt to modern culture. Like ahimsa, tolerance helps Hindus live peacefully with others. It can promote peace in modern society.
Worship
Hindus worship to connect with the almighty. Prayer, rituals, offerings, and thoughts are worship. These activities help people connect with God and reflect on their spirituality and morality (Srivastava and Kailash 1). Worship can offer calm, comfort, and understanding of the universe to a person’s life. Offerings and mantras accompany Hindu worship. Flowers, fruits, incense, cash, and coconuts can be offered. Offerings honor the sacred and cleanse negative energy. Hindu worshippers connect with spiritual energy and the divine through Vedic and Upanishad mantras. Gandhi advocated Hindu worship and believed people needed to connect with their spiritual selves. He believed Hindu worship required humility, supplication, meditation, and prayer to connect with the divine. He felt worshipping might foster love, understanding, and joy. Modern worship can promote peace and understanding. It helps people connect with the divine, ponder their spirituality, and love and comprehend. Hindu devotion can help people connect with their inner selves and the deeper truths of the cosmos, fostering the inner peace and tranquility needed in modern culture.
Life’s four noble pursuits
Hinduism’s four purusharthas—Dharma, artha, kama, and moksha—are life’s noble pursuits. Hinduism emphasizes Dharma or morality. It follows the gods’ path or divine law. Dharma-followers are rewarded with artha—material success (Gabriel). Kama’s pursuit of pleasure and fulfillment is important and should not be overlooked in favor of Dharma and Artha. The ultimate objective of existence is moksha—liberation from all worldly cravings and attachments. Hinduism’s four noble pursuits balance desire, action, and purpose. These four interests steer an individual’s life and define good, bad, and helpful. Dharma, artha, kama, and moksha explain how to achieve the highest good.
Gandhi followed the four noble pursuits Dharma and Ahimsa. He advocated nonviolence, peaceful protest, and civil disobedience and considered his quest for Indian independence as Dharma and righteousness. He stressed contentment and kama. Gandhi preached moksha and escaped from worldly attachments (Gabriel). He believed that release from cravings was the only way to obtain true freedom and permanent peace. Hindus believe the four noble pursuits lead to happiness and spiritual well-being. Dharma, artha, kama, and moksha provide life order and balance. These activities can encourage morals, success, and riches. They emphasize pleasure and contentment and guide people to ultimate freedom. Hinduism’s four noble pursuits remain relevant today.
Experiences of an Active Follower
Interview with Katie Balkaran
Katie Balkaran was born in the US and raised Hindu. Her family has practiced traditional Hinduism for five years in India. She frequently visits her South Indian parents. This has allowed her to experience Hinduism’s ancient ceremonies and learn more about its philosophy. Katie’s family practiced Hinduism. Her family prayed and offered incense and flowers to Hindu gods every morning. The family worshipped at the local Temple once a week. Finally, the family celebrated Diwali, one of the most important Hindu festivals. Katie also said she practices Hinduism even though she lives abroad. She complimented the religious tradition for promoting peace, nonviolence, and understanding and accepting individuals of different faiths. She thinks Hinduism is global because it promotes respect and excellence. She also feels Hinduism is open to all cultures and races.
Katie said Hinduism strongly affects her daily existence. She said she enjoys praying and meditating. Her spiritual background has also helped her take charge of her life and focus on the positive. Katie examined religion’s role in society. She suggested that it can assist people in navigating life by providing moral principles and ethical rules. She feels Hinduism gives a smart framework and many useful life lessons. She also feels that most individuals may learn valuable lessons from the Hindu faith, regardless of religion. Katie’s experiences show Hinduism’s relevance in current culture. Her interview shows that Hinduism’s core values—nonviolence, tolerance, worship, and the four noble pursuits—are still relevant. Hinduism also appears to provide solace, spiritual guidance, and a system of principles and ethics to follow. Finally, Katie’s experience can benefit everyone, regardless of religion.
Reflections on Personal Views
Katie’s Hinduism experiences are relevant. Hinduism is sometimes dismissed as a dead religion, yet this is untrue. Nonviolence, tolerance, worship, and noble pursuits are still important in Hinduism. Hinduism emphasizes nonviolence. Physical, energetic, psychological, and spiritual nonviolence can be practiced. FaithFaith also promotes tolerance and compassion for all individuals. Hindus worship to connect with the almighty. Usually, prayer, meditation, and chanting. Finally, the four noble pursuits of Dharma, artha, kama, and moksha have remained relevant for thousands of years and are essential for a meaningful and fulfilled existence. Katie’s experiences demonstrate that Hinduism is still practiced and significant to its adherents. Her insights on Hinduism’s spiritual practices and how they have helped her become more aware of her thoughts, intentions, and deeds are fascinating. Prayer and meditation emphasize the capacity of spiritual practice to improve physical and mental health.
Katie’s thoughts on religion’s importance in society are pertinent. She thinks religion can guide people of all religions. Hinduism is a flexible, welcoming faith. Hinduism emphasizes love, peace, and understanding. Thus, its teachings can benefit people of all faiths. Hinduism remains vital to society. Katie Balkaran’s experiences show that Hinduism’s core values and teachings are relevant today. Hinduism may benefit modern civilization by giving morality, justice, and spiritual guidance.
Impact of Hinduism on Daily Life
Hinduism profoundly affects its adherents. Hinduism affects daily life and behavior in Hindu cultures. Hinduism emphasizes peace, tolerance, and respect for all. The religion also advises its members on how to live a harmonious life and achieve enlightenment. Hinduism first emphasizes mercy, kindness, and nonviolence. One of the religion’s most important tenets is apparent in daily life. Hinduism promotes compassion and respect for all life in everything, from speech to action. Religious figures have employed nonviolence to promote justice and human rights in politics and law. Hinduism emphasizes tolerance and nonviolence. Hindus are taught to tolerate and understand everyone. Hindu groups regularly share meals and celebrate festivals, and strive to bridge cultures and schools of thought. Hindus are also expected to aid others in tough or perplexing situations and be tolerant.
Hindu scriptures advocate Dharma or righteousness. Dharma means following God’s will and living a moral existence. It involves artha, kama, moksha, and dharma. Artha is success and worldly wealth, kama is pleasure, moksha is emancipation, and Dharma is morality and ethics. Hindus are instructed to pursue these four goals as the ideal life. Hinduism supports worship, meditation, and study to develop spirituality. Meditation, mantras, and bhakti yoga helps develop the soul and spiritual life in Hinduism. Practitioners are advised to immerse themselves in their spiritual practice to better comprehend reality and the universe. Hinduism changes life; it teaches morality and how to live a worthwhile life. Hindus today practice peace, tolerance, worship, and the four noble pursuits.
Scholarship and Research
Overview of Gandhi’s Teachings
Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings underpin Hinduism’s relevance today. Gandhi championed nonviolence and understanding in Indian culture. He believed in nonviolent protest and famously called for a boycott of British goods, which became a popular movement and impacted power. His teachings and practices promoted empathy, kindness, and compassion despite variations. Gandhi also united India. He worked to unite communities despite religious divides. He advocated for marginalized minorities, which earned him recognition today (Gandhi, Religion, and Multiculturalism: An Appraisal | Religion | Articles on and by Mahatma Gandhi). Gandhi practiced ahimsa, nonviolence, because he believed in the power of truth and the truthfulness of acts. Hinduism emphasizes peace and the dignity of sentient creatures. Gandhi’s principles still apply to modern culture. Many social justice activists follow his belief that nonviolence resolves conflict. With large-scale Hindu-Muslim collaborations, Gandhi’s lessons on religious unity still apply in India. Gandhi keeps Hinduism relevant today. His nonviolence, compassion, and understanding principles are still central to Hinduism. His teachings enable the modern culture to understand how Hindus interact with the spiritual and natural realms, keeping Hinduism relevant.
Research on How His Ideas Are Relevant Today
Gandhi’s teachings are relevant today. His theories, however, steeped in Indian civilization and culture, have global applications. Gandhi preached nonviolence—ahimsa. This is extremely important in a society where political campaigns and dispute resolution increasingly involve physical and psychological force to overcome opposing viewpoints. Gandhi advises calmly resolving conflict. In social justice, nonviolent protest and activism are frequently considered more effective.
Gandhi’s teachings also shaped international relations. His nonviolence has helped nations coexist peacefully through disarmament and non-aggression principles. His lessons of togetherness and understanding have also united individuals of different cultures, faiths, and beliefs. He promoted Hindu-Muslim cooperation in India’s independence struggle (Dalton). “Gandhi saw the need to find common ground between the two great religious traditions, Hinduism and Islam,” Dalton writes in Mahatma Gandhi: Nonviolent Power in Action.
Human rights advocacy also shows Gandhi’s importance. “Gandhian nonviolence theory holds much significance to the functioning of human rights in the modern globalized culture,” Kumari writes in her dissertation, Relevance of Gandhian notion of nonviolence: the Indian Perspective (Kumari). His principles offer a route to peace and understanding in worldwide strife. Gandhi’s teachings are relevant today. His pacifism has helped resolve conflicts and promote international peace, and his oneness and knowledge of other cultures and religions contextualize our world. Finally, his views on human rights and social justice still inspire peaceful protest and activism. Gandhi shows how Hinduism is still relevant today.
Examination of Other Scholarly Articles
Scholars have investigated Hinduism’s relevance in modern times beyond Gandhi’s teachings. Contemporary philosophers have investigated Kant’s views on reason’s boundaries. Kant advocated moral autonomy, or the ability to make judgments without external pressure (Guyer). This concept is important to Hinduism since it ties to Dharma or morality. Dharma promotes moral decision-making without external incentives. Hinduism also applies Kant’s beliefs on knowledge’s limits. Kant’s idea that people can only understand so much of the world is repeated in Hindu ideas on life’s unknowns. The Upanishads, a collection of classic Hindu scriptures, emphasize that truth is fully concealed from us and that we must accept our limits in knowing it. Hinduism and Kant agree that humans cannot fully know the world. Kant’s thoughts on morality, knowledge boundaries, and autonomy show Hinduism’s relevance today. His philosophy illuminates Dharma, a core religious notion. His views on human knowledge and life’s complexities also help explain Hinduism. Kant’s philosophy illuminates Hinduism’s relevance in today’s society and its possibilities for spiritual guidance and morality.
Conclusion
To sum up, Hinduism is relevant and important today. A deeper knowledge of how its major values, such as nonviolence, tolerance, worship, and life’s four noble activities, might guide and serve society was achieved by examining them. The conversation with Katie Balkaran and her observations on how Hinduism affects her daily life showed how these ideas are applied. Many scholarly studies explored Gandhi’s teachings and applicability today, supporting their worth and necessity in modern times. Modern culture needs Hinduism. Its morality, spirituality, and philosophy are central to many followers’ beliefs. Its values have been implemented into daily life to promote peace, acceptance, and communal understanding, allowing for the awareness and respect of varied views and backgrounds on an individual and global basis. These ideals can also guide people through difficult times and remind them to pursue truth, life, and everything good. Hinduism’s virtues, teachings, and beliefs are relevant today.
Remembering that Hinduism applies to religious and nonreligious matters is crucial. Hinduism encourages nonviolence and tolerance, which can be used by society and the environment to build a more harmonious and equal world. Even in the midst of immense adversity, Mahatma Gandhi, the originator of the Indian Independence Movement, taught nonviolence. He focused on peace and understanding rather than fighting. In India, Hinduism is relevant to daily life. Through yoga, natural medicines and treatments, meditation, and the inclusion of numerous Hindu Gods, the religion has become a vital part of Indian culture and continues to impact the country. Puja, Vandana, Diwali, and Holi are still celebrated across the Indian subcontinent. Hindus commemorate the life, birth, and parenthood via baby-naming ceremonies and birthdays. These festivals demonstrate Hinduism’s significance in modern culture and how it influences its followers’ daily lives. Modern civilization still uses Hinduism. Its main values and lessons have helped us comprehend and shape human behavior by revealing life’s essential ideas and philosophies. For millennia, Indian culture has blended its practices and beliefs. Hinduism’s nonviolence, understanding, tolerance, and righteousness influence modern society.
Works Cited
Dalton, Dennis. Mahatma Gandhi: Nonviolent power in action. Columbia University Press, 2012.
Gabriel, Roger. “The Chopra Center.” The Chopra Center, 8 Jan. 2018, chopra.com/articles/purushartha-the-4-aims-of-human-life.
Gandhi, Religion, and Multiculturalism: An Appraisal | Religion | Articles on and by Mahatma Gandhi. “Gandhi, Religion and Multiculturalism: An Appraisal | Religion | Articles on and by Mahatma Gandhi.” Www.mkgandhi.org, 2023, www.mkgandhi.org/articles/gandhi_religion.html.
Guyer, Paul. “KANT on the THEORY and PRACTICE of AUTONOMY.” Social Philosophy and Policy, vol. 20, no. 2, July 2003, pp. 70–98, https://doi.org/10.1017/s026505250320203x.
History.com Editors. “Hinduism.” History, A&E Television Networks, 6 Oct. 2017, www.history.com/topics/religion/hinduism.
Kauai’s Hindu Monastery. “Basics of Hinduism.” Himalayanacademy.com, 2019, www.himalayanacademy.com/readlearn/basics/ahimsa-nonviolence.
Kumari, Rinki. Relevance of Gandhian concept of nonviolence: the Indian Perspective. Diss. University of North Bengal, 2015.
Pew Research Center. “Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation.” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, 29 June 2021, www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/06/29/religion-in-India-tolerance-and-segregation/.
Srivastava, S. K., and Kailash Chandra Barmola. “Rituals in Hinduism as related to spirituality.” Indian Journal of Positive Psychology 4.1 (2013): 87-95.
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