| How I Became A Hindu - My Discovery of Vedic Dharma |
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| Books By David Frawley |
| INTRODUCTION | |
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prejudice against the Hindu religion reflects a built in prejudice against non-Biblical
beliefs. The western pattern of religion as one true faith, along with a missionary
effort, is used as the standard for all proper religion. Missionary aggression is
associated with universality in belief, while tolerant religions that see no need to
convert the world are condemned as merely ethnic or tribal beliefs. Buddhism is more
respected than Hinduism in the West because it at least has the one historical Buddha to
relate to and a more homogenous and missionary type tradition. Buddhism can be placed in
the western model of religion, but without a Creator. Hinduism, on the other hand, calls up all our misconceptions about religion. For that reason it is a good place to enlarge our views and gain a greater understanding of our global religious heritage, most of which does not lie in western monotheism. In my case I came to Hindu dharma after an earlier exploration of western intellectual thought and world mystical traditions, a long practice of Yoga and Vedanta and a deep examination of the Vedas. In the process I came into contact with diverse aspects of Hindu society and with Hindu teachers that few westerners have access to, taking me far beyond the range of the usual perceptions and misconceptions about the subject. Such direct experience, which was often quite different than what I had expected or was told would be the case, changed my views and brought me to my current position. Hopefully my story can help others change from taking Hinduism as something primitive to understanding the beauty of this great spiritual tradition that may best represent our spiritual heritage as a species. |
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