What is Hinduism?
For western people, it looks like this : exotic looking saints, meditation, cows, "kaste"-society, burning corpses at the river Ganges, and guru's, known from the 70ties....
The word 'Hindu" has a geografical origine. It's named after the river Indus 2000 years ago, in Persian named 'Sindhu'.The Persians gave the land near to the Indus the name Hindustania. When the Muslims attacked India from the north-west around 1000 AD, a lot of Indians became Muslims and lived the Persian culture. Everybody, who wasn't a Muslim, was named 'Hindu'. The term 'Hinduism' was first used at the beginning in the 19th century in the English liturature by colonel Stewart. An other name for Hinduism is Varnashrama or Arja Dharma. Hinduism is not a founded religion, but a religion, who was developping itself by the centuries, by elementary traditions.
Varnashrama Dharma is a concept with a central content, three words (again) : Dharma, Varna and Ashrama.
Dharma means : carrying, holding or a generally 'order'. You can understand it as "being-or becomming laws", like the sunrises, sunsets, the 4 seasons, etc. The law of "being" coordinates the nature, the cosmos and society. The law of "becomming" means your moral, cultural, and society-developpement.
Varna means "position" and Ashrama your "life-phase"...
The Portugees came with the name "kaste", comming from the latin 'castus', wich means pure, unmixed. The Hindhus call it Varna, the place and position, you were born in this society. The Hinduistic society is devided in 4 Varna's.
more to come ....
