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Introduction
There are many religions in the world today. Each has a name of its own. These names are
personal and indicate the founders of the respective faiths. Buddhism, Jainism,
Mahomedanism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism are examples. They are all founded
religions. They were founded each at a certain time in the history of the
world.
The founders of these religions were personages of great holiness. They had
the power to attract many men to their way of thinking. They acquired a large
following.
If an
English-educated youth belonging to our religion is asked what his
religion is, he would re ply that he professes the 'Hindu' religion.
Go to a village and ask a peasant what his religion is. He will
not be able to give a name to his religion. The name 'Hinduism',
which is used now to denote our religion was unknown to our ancestors
and is also unknown to the common man among us.
What then is the name
that is given to our religion? The fact is that our religion has
no name. This may appear to be strange. But there is no thing
strange about it. Just consider. When and why is a name
given to a thing? We give a name to a thing when there are more
than one of the same kind and to distinguish one from the other or
others. If there is one only of a thing, there is no need
to give it a name.
Author - Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati
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