HINDUISM

Introduction

Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life. Unlike other religions, Hindu dharma has many specialties. This is not known as a religion, it is known as the dharma;

Sanaathana Dharma.

Sanaathana means, according to Bhagavath Geetha, which cannot be destroyed by fire,weapons, water, air, and which is present in all living and non living being. Dharma means,the way of life which is the ‘total of all aachaaraas or customs and rituals’.Sanaathana Dharma has its foundation on scientific spirituality. In the entire ancient Hinduliterature we can see that science and spirituality are integrated. It is mentioned in the 40th
chapter of the Yajurveda known as Eesaavaasya Upanishad that use scientific knowledgefor solving problems in our life and use the spiritual knowledge for attaining immortalitythrough philosophical outlook.
Remember that in each and every aachaaraa there will be a component of spirituality in it.Without spirituality, nothing exists in Sanaathana dharma. Generally everyone bear a wrong
impression that this spirituality is religion. Spirituality is different in Hindu dharma. Here the question of religion does not exist at all, because Hindu dharma was not created by anindividual, prophet or an incarnation. Spirituality is a part of every Hindu custom in thenormal life of a Hindu.
Aachaaraas are to be followed based on their merits available from the self experience; youneed not blindly follow a teacher or someone who gives advice without reasoning. All these
aachaaraas are mentioned for the prosperity of the human beings and it should be the primefocus for practicing the Hindu aachaaraas.
Achaaryaath paadam aadatthe
paadam sishya swamedhayaa
paadam sa brahmachaaribhya
sesham kaala kramena cha
This is an important advice given in smruthies. It means a person can get only one quarterof knowledge from Achaarya - the teacher, another quarter by analyzing self, one quarter bydiscussing with others and the last quarter during the process of living by method addition,
deletion, correction, and modification of already known aachaaraas or neW aachaaraas.
Aachaaraath labhathe hi ayu:
aachaaraath dhanamakshayam
aachaaraath labhathe suprajaa:
aachaaro ahanthya lakshanam
Aachaaraas are followed for the psychological and physiological health and long life;Aachaaraas are followed for prosperity and wealth; Aachaaraas are followed for strong family and social bondage and following the Aachaaraas give a fine personality, dharmic outlook andvision, says our dharmasaastra.In India everyone followed Aachaaraas for the above mentioned psychological, physiological,family relation, social benefits and national integration based benefits. It is your right andduty to understand scientifically, rationally and logically the meaning of each and every
Aachaaraas and follow the same in your life systematically.