Hindus unveil colossal statue

AlJazeera ^ | Jan 30, 2006 | staff

[RobbyS]

Hinduism is a synthesis of the polytheism of one group and the "monotheism" of people from southwest Asia. so I gather. That is one reason for the development of the caste system.

[willyboyishere]

I meant "worship" in the hyperbolic sense of honoring
one's opinions---I twisted my friend's line in the cartoon, which features a beanie-wearing alien zombie asking "Is it not a contradiction then that we worhip him?"
abouit some Alien Entity who is their planet's Grand Poobah. But frankly as far as "religion" goes, my money, or lack of it, has always been on Zen Buddhism, whose objective has always been one thing and one thing only,
MENTAL HEALTH.

[CarrotAndStick]

More than a synthesis, it is actually not a religion in a strict sense, rather a collection of philosophies and ideas. Hence its extremely large variety in form, and also its self-contradictory nature (this isn't a feature of Hinduism alone, but of most other faiths). And the brunt of these ideas pre-date the South-West Asian monotheism.

[MineralMan]

You're right. Hinduism is more of a conglomeration. I suspect that some of its roots go even further back that any of us can imagine.

Whenever someone asks about the creation story of Hinduism, the best answer is: Which one?

[Oniolover]

"Not some imitation of a golden calf wanabe."

I hope my future son in law doesn't read that. He thinks many Christians are closed minded and mock other religions. You're feeding his argument.

He's a non-practicing christian but his mother is Indian and a practicing Hindu and my daughter used to bring him to our church but on the first day of his attendance a person such as yourself once made a comment about how India wouldn't be starving is if they were all Christians and ate beef. The ***** pardon my language didn't realize most Hindu's are vegetarians, meaning they don't eat any meat. Any biologist can tell you that meat eaters take up more resources than vegetarians and there would be massive food shortages if India were a prodominatly "carnivorous" country.

IF that was the only instance where the poor boy was confronted, I wouldn't think much of it. But many people have made ignorant remarks about them being an interracial couple (he himself is half German)and he no longer comes with us to our church. My daughter and him are currently looking for a more "ethnically diverse" church.

I attend a fairly large church and most of them are amazing human beings. However, a few of them are don't think before they speak. Don't be one of those people.

[CarrotAndStick]

Read the poem on my home page. I hope you can stand Kipling's poetry.

[vikk]

Oh, how pleasant. It's sad how many people of all faiths use their religion to feel superior to others.

[RobbyS]

More like classical polytheism. The difference is, so far as I know anyway, is that there are no gods associated with city-states.

[brainstem223]

You're misusing the word equality.

Looking it up: the quality of being the same in quantity or measure or value or status.

The Constitution forbids laws from Congress to prohibit the free exercising of a religion. The word "equality" of religions is absent. Your assumption that because "no laws" prohibit a a specific religion is tantamount to the assertion that the Constitution declares all religions to be equal is not stated,,, and you are by inference attributing a meaning into the text that is not there nor dealt with in any manner. All it says that you can choose what church to attend. Not that all religions are the equivalent of every other religion.

[CarrotAndStick]

More like classical polytheism.

Actually, Hinduism has extensive written works, and one of the secrets of its survival for so long is the fact that those works are read and revered by many, and continues to inspire millions. This fact is not in sync with classical, Roman-esque, Greek or Arab polytheism.

[RobbyS]

Homer and Hesiod were the heart of a classical education, as you can gather by reading the Christian work, "The city of God," there was a comprehensive world view that Christianity had to contend against.

[CarrotAndStick]

Yes, but Homer and Hesiod, and others, were never as popular in Greek/Roman society as Hindu epics were, and still is, in India. Besides. the Hindu body of literature will easily dwarf the Greek body.

[CarrotAndStick]

And Indian philosophy spread far and wide, from India to East and SE Asia. And even to the Roman Empire itself, if you include Mithraism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism

[RobbyS]

It may owe more to Persia than to India.

[CarrotAndStick]

Persian and Indian peoples and cultures are linked by history, and ethnicity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Aryans

[CarrotAndStick]

Mitra
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Relief from Taq-i Bostan in Kermanshah, Iran, showing Ardashir II of Sassanid empire at the center receiving his crown from Ahura Mazda. The two stand on a prostrate enemy. Here at the left is Mithra as a priest, wearing a crown of sun-rays, holding a priest's barsam, and standing on a sacred lotus.Mitra or Mithra or Mithras is an important deity of Persian and Indic culture; he appears in the Vedas as one of the Adityas, a solar deity and the god of honesty, friendship, contracts and meetings. In Persian civilization, where his name was rendered as Mithra, he later came into increased prominence as a major deity of Zoroastrianism. He can be identified with a proto-Indo-Persian deity whose name can be reconstructed as *Mitra.

In both cultures, he is distinguished by his close relationship with the god who rules over the asuras (Persian ahuras) and protects rta (Persian asha): Varuna in India and Ahura Mazda in Persia.

Mithra was believed to have been the son of God (Ahura Mazda). According to Persian tradition, Ahura Mazda sent his son Mithra to defend humanity from evil and from the Adversary, Ahriman. Aside from that, the mythology and lore surrounding Mithra is very similar to that surrounding Jesus and other aspects of Christianity. For example Mithra was believed to have been born on the 25th of December, was conceived by Ahura Mazda and his virgin mother Anahita. (See Mithraism's Parallels to Christianity for a detailed comparison.)

Mithraism entered Europe after the conquests of Alexander the Great and spread rapidly throughout the Roman Empire in later years. The Hellenistic and Roman god Mithras, worshipped by male initiates from the 1st century BC to the 5th century AD, combined the Persian Mithra with other Persian and perhaps Anatolian deities in a syncretic cult.

Etymology and Origins
The Indo-Persian word *mitra- could have two meanings:

covenant, compact, oath, or treaty
friend
A general meaning of "alliance" might adequately explain both alternatives. The second sense tends to be emphasized in Indic sources, the first sense in Persian.

The earliest known occurrence of the name Mitra is in a treaty inscription, ca 1400 BCE, established between the Hittites and the Hurrian kingdom of the Mitanni in the area southeast of Lake Van. The treaty is guaranteed by five Indo-Persian gods: Indra, Mitra, Varuna and the twin horsemen, the Ashvins or Nasatya. The Hurrians, it appears, were being led by an aristocratic warrior caste worshipping these gods.

[edit]
Mitra in the Vedas
In the Vedic hymns, Mitra is always invoked together with Varuna, so that the two are combined as 'Mitravaruna': Varuna is lord of the cosmic rhythm of the celestial spheres, while Mitra brings forth the light at dawn, which was covered by Varuna.

In the Shatapatha Brahmana, the Paired One is analyzed as "the Counsel and the Power" — Mitra being the priesthood, Varuna the royal power. As Joseph Campbell remarked, "Both are said to have a thousand eyes. Both are active foreground aspects of the light or solar force at play in time. Both renew the world by their deed."

[killjoy]

Not really. Christian monks and pilgrims used to whip themselves to "mortify the flesh." And that was just a few hundred years ago. No contradiction.

They still do in places like the Philippines.

[bluefish]

Fer criminy sakes. MineralMan said that under our constitution, all religions are equal. This can be interpreted as to mean that under our Constitution, all religions have "eqal" rights - the "same" rights to practice their religion. You are reading way too much into his comment and taking extreme liberties with your own interpretation of his comments, merely to win an argument. You look silly in the process and given your "argument," hypocritical to boot.

[CarrotAndStick]

They still do in places like the Philippines.

Not just in the Philippines.

[Straight Vermonter]

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---

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