The Hindu Un-Manifesto

A manifesto typically puts out the the main points of belief of an organization or a movement.

What this un-manifesto aims to do is to call out the things that Hindus do NOT believe in. Why is this relevant? Hinduism is a vast tree that has evolved over the millennia and it is embedded into every aspect - from education, arts, crafts, medicine, and statecraft. It is difficult to have a single book encompass the vastness of this. So rather than saying what Hinduism IS might be easier to say what it is NOT.

Hindus do not believe that human beings are sinners

One of the fundamental tenets of Hinduism is the unity of existence and that the divinity that is immanent in all these sentient and non-sentient beings like a thread in a garland.

Swami Vivekananda, at the Parliament of Religions in September 1893 said: “Allow me to call you, brethren, by that sweet name — heirs of immortal bliss — yea, the Hindu refuses to call you sinners. Ye are the Children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. Ye divinities on earth — sinners! It is a sin to call a man so; it is a standing libel on human nature. Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free, blest and eternal; ye are not matter, ye are not bodies; matter is your servant, not you the servant of matter.”

In his later lecture on Practical Vedanta, he points out that “Vedanta recognizes no sin, it only recognizes error. And the greatest error is to say that you are weak, that you have no power and that you cannot do this and that……Fill yourself with the ideal; whatever you do, think well on it. All your actions will be magnified, transformed, deified by the very power of thought. Bring this thought to bear upon your life, fill yourself with the thought of your almightness, your majesty and your glory. Never tell  yourself or others that you are weak. It is not fitting that you think yourself weak. Say that to the world, say it to yourself, and see what a practical result comes, see how with an electric flash everything is manifested, how everything is changed……Every one of us will have to become a prophet, and you are that already. Only know it. Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin — to say that you are weak, or others are weak.”

Hindus do not believe that there is only way to the divine or to worship God

Swami Vivekananda says “The grandest idea in Vedanta is that we may reach the same goal by different paths...All religions and all methods of work and worship lead us to one and the same goal.”

Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita (4:11) says, “Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me.”

Hindus do not believe that there is only one messenger of God

Sri Krishna promises in the Bhagavad Gita(4:7) that “Whenever there is a decline in righteousness and an increase in unrighteousness, O Arjuna, at that time I manifest Myself on earth.”

Hindus do not believe that there is only one “Holy Book”
In fact, the Hindus even believe that the holy books are only a pointer to the ultimate goal - which is enlightenment and serve no purpose once that goal is attained. As the Bhagavad Gita says(2:46), “To an enlightened person who has known the Self, all the Vedas are of as much use as is a reservoir of water in a place where there is a flood."

Hindus do not believe that God can be confined within a book. To do so would be to limit Her.

Hindus do not believe YOLO

The Bhagavad Gita goes into this in some detail.
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor these rulers of men. Nor shall all of us cease to be hereafter. Just as a man gives up old garments and puts on new ones, so the embodied Self abandons decrepit bodies and assumes new ones. For the born, death is unavoidable, and for the dead birth is sure to take place. Therefore in a situation that is inevitable, there is no justification for you to grieve. At no time can the Self embodied in all beings be slain. Therefore there is no reason for you to grieve for any one. Both you and I have had many births, O Arjuna. You have forgotten them, while I remember them all, O scorcher of foes.

Hindus do not believe that any one will be damned for eternity
Hinduism does not condemn anyone to eternal damnation. The goal and end of every living being in the universe is Moksha -freedom. Some get it earlier, some have to go through multiple lifetimes to learn lessons and achieve freedom from the cycle of birth and death, but every one will achieve freedom.

It is one’s own deeds that lead to freedom and there are indeed some branches of Hinduism that do not believe that belief in a personal god or a savior is even necessary to attain freedom.

Hindus do not believe that God is outside the world
The Gita says: Everywhere are His hands and feet, eyes, heads, and faces. His ears too are in all places, for He pervades everything in the universe. O Arjuna, I am the Self, seated in the hearts of all creatures. I am the beginning, the middle, and the end of all beings. For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.

The Chhāndogya Upaniṣhad states, “Everywhere is Brahman.”

Hindus do not believe that you have to die to see God
Enlightenment and freedom can be achieved in this very life. The lives of Sri Ramakrishna and Ramana Maharshi show how a person spends a lifetime in the living presence of God.

Hindus do not believe that social laws prescribed centuries ago are applicable today

Hinduism has the concepts of Shruti and Smriti. The Shruti is the revealed Truth that exists in all times past, present and the future. This does not change as times change. On the other hand, the Smriti(scriptures that are remembered and written down later, such as the Puranas and Dharmashastras, which have human authorship and are therefore secondary in authority) changes as the social order changes. The social guidelines that existed in the 7th century are not applicable today and the society is not compelled to adhere to these. Swami Vivekananda says, “….wherever these Puranas and Smritis differ from any part of the Shruti, the Shruti must be followed and the Smriti rejected”

Hindus do not believe that non-violence is an absolute good
Mohandas Gandhi preached a creed of non-violence and made it appear that this was the ultimate rule for Hindus.  Sri Krishna, when Arjuna refuses to fight the war, goads him: O Arjuna! Whence, in this critical situation, has this mental dejection takes hold of you, shameful and Heaven-excluding?  O Arjuna! Do not yield to impotence. It does not befit you. Cast off this wretched weakness of heart. Arise, O scorcher of enemies! Therefore stand up and win glory; conquer your enemies and enjoy unrivalled dominion. By Me and none other have they already been slain; be an instrument only, Ο Arjuna.”

Hindus do not believe that you cannot question.
Asking questions is not just permitted but expected and foundational to the seeking of truth in Hinduism. The Kena Upanishad and the Prashna Upanishad are a series of questions from a student to the teacher. The Gita encourages the seeker to ask questions and find out the truth in a spirit of humility.

The French writer, and Nobel Laureate, Romain Rolland writes about Indian philosophical thought, " The true Vedantic spirit does not start out with a system of preconceived ideas. It possesses absolute liberty and unrivalled courage among religions with regard to the facts to be observed and the diverse hypotheses it has laid down for their coordination. Never having been hampered by a priestly order, each man has been entirely free to search wherever he pleased for the spiritual explanation of the spectacle of the universe."

The Buddha, following in the line of how Indic teachers taught, said: Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

Hindus do not believe that there is a conflict between Science and Religion.

The phala-shruti of the Vishnu Sahasranamam says, "The science of Yoga, Sankhya, all branches of knowledge, the arts such as sculpture, all Vedas, all scriptures and all sciences were all brought to light by the grace of Lord Janardana."

In the Mundaka Upanishad, the teacher tells the student, "Two are the vidyas, or sciences, to be acquired by man; so say the knowers of Brahman. One is called parā-vidyā, higher science or knowledge (by which the imperishable Reality is realized), the other is called aparā-vidyā, ordinary science or knowledge(all the sciences and arts)."

Swami Vivekananda, in his talk Reason and Religion, delivered in London in 1896, says " Is religion to justify itself by the discoveries of reason, through which every other science justifies itself? Are the same methods of investigation, which we apply to sciences and knowledge outside, to be applied to the science of Religion? In my opinion this must be so, and I am also of opinion that the sooner it is done the better. If a religion is destroyed by such investigations, it was then all the time useless, unworthy superstition; and the sooner it goes the better. I am thoroughly convinced that its destruction would be the best thing that could happen. All that is dross will be taken off, no doubt, but the essential parts of religion will emerge triumphant out of this investigation. Not only will it be made scientific — as scientific, at least, as any of the conclusions of physics or chemistry — but will have greater strength, because physics or chemistry has no internal mandate to vouch for its truth, which religion has."