Hinduism and Organized Religion

Hinduism is not an organized religion such as we ordinarily consider one to be. There is no Hindu church, no Hindu Pope, no Hindu Rome, Jerusalem or Mecca that all Hindus should go to, no Hindu messiah or prophet all Hindus must revere, no one Hindu Bible all Hindus must read.

Hinduism has no prescribed day of the week for worship, no one prescribed mass, ritual or call to prayer that everyone must do. The different sects within Hinduism have their different ashrams, temples, leaders, holy places, holy days and holy books, but there is no one set of these for all Hindus.

We could say therefore that Hinduism is the greatest disorganized religion in the world. It has never organized itself along monolithic lines, with a set dogma and specific canon of beliefs. It has remained decentralized and localized, which is perhaps why of all the ancient imagistic and mystical religions, it alone has survived through the millennia.

Therefore, Hinduism as an open tradition appeals to all those who are looking for a religious tradition with a great diversity of teachings that does not require any exclusive loyalty. Hinduism is the religion of the individual and allows each person to choose his or her own approach to Divinity based upon various teachings that encompass all human capacities.

However, Hinduism is organized in the sense that it contains systematic teachings for all manner of temperaments and all stages of life. As Sanatana Dharma it has teachings that encompass all of human life and culture from medicine and science, art and music, occultism, spirituality and Yoga.

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