Is hinduism on the path of extinction - Page 16

Originally posted by: mermaid_QT

😭 Sweety, I left both of us out since we stopped building towers 😆.. I was reading this thread for the longest time and was waiting for it to logically come back to the topic :) It beautifully did, just how I wished for it to, and the first opportunity I got, I quoted. Yes, I also thought of Soumya and wondered about what he would have contributed to the buildings. I miss him. Now in order not to just quote you to chat with you- let me say a few😛 words.

I reckon that deep-rooted caste-system is looked at as one of the potential cuprits, but I strongly believe that it is the underlying sadness, insecurity / lack of satisfaction that mainly compells many individuals to experiment with other religions. 👏 I 👏 👏 👏doubt they always attain what they seek. It makes me wonder if Hinduism is at any loss due to losing such individuals to other religions.

I would like to comment on a Marathi intellectual leader, a forward thinker- Gopal Gokhale- Husband of the first Indian Doctor- Dr. Anandi Gopal Gokhale, mocked at the practice of conversion and converted himself to Christianity and then converted himself back and recited the Holy Gayatri Mantra. 😆
In dark pre-independence times when conversions were actually diminishing numbers of Marathi Brahmins (even by fraud at times by contaminating wells by meat and such), it was a great message he provided to both- the British who forced conversions and to Brahmins who made themsleves dispensable and vulnerable due to their lack of progressive thinking.
Through his actions he suggested that one is only as converted as one allows oneself to be. One can always remain who one is. But one must be happy and content to feel that way :) Conversions don't affect such people.

About conversions take a map of *ancient* India .Mark the areas where buddhism was dominant ,and match it with the areas where the 100% of the population is muslim today. You said "caste system is the main reason of spreading Islam". The cradle of Hindu civilization was the northern part of India, the area around Delhi,Kashi,Mathura,Varanashi etc.
These are the areas which had been under the Islamic rule for the
longest time but still what is the percentage of muslims in those areas?
The caste system is still prevalent there.
Why all of the lower caste people did not convert to Islam?
Now consider Afghanistan,western parts of Pakistan ,Bangladesh
where the buddhism florished . Just because the caste system is bad and cannot hold it responsible for all the evils in india.
Same goes for christianity. Still what is the percentage of christians in india.
I bet you are not aware of the methods they use just in order to gain more converts.

Originally posted by: Believe

About conversions take a map of *ancient* India .Mark the areas where buddhism was dominant ,and match it with the areas where the 100% of the population is muslim today. You said "caste system is the main reason of spreading Islam". The cradle of Hindu civilization was the northern part of India, the area around Delhi,Kashi,Mathura,Varanashi etc.
These are the areas which had been under the Islamic rule for the
longest time but still what is the percentage of muslims in those areas?
The caste system is still prevalent there.
Why all of the lower caste people did not convert to Islam?
Now consider Afghanistan,western parts of Pakistan ,Bangladesh
where the buddhism florished . Just because the caste system is bad and cannot hold it responsible for all the evils in india.
Same goes for christianity. Still what is the percentage of christians in india.
I bet you are not aware of the methods they use just in order to gain more converts.

No Vinu, I did not say any of that. In fact, you highlighted what I said!
Remember?
However, caste system is speculated and quite rightly so in modern times, if you were to take your map 😉 and pin down Neo-Buddhists. Nice post, but based on wrongly alleging a poster to have said something she did not.. 😆😆

Originally posted by: mermaid_QT

No Vinu, I did not say any of that. In fact, you highlighted what I said!
Remember?
However, caste system is speculated and quite rightly so in modern times, if you were to take your map 😉 and pin down Neo-Buddhists. Nice post, but based on wrongly alleging a poster to have said something she did not.. 😆😆

Sorry.😊....Ya i highlited ,cos i like your points, but after I read somebodys post too..so mixup ...dil pe mat low...😉

i think the battle of numbers is being slowly won by the abrahamic religions. go to nigeria for example. it had something like 450 different languages and tribes, each with their own brand of religion. the fellas who came in converting them thought they were pagans. today it is predominantly christianity and islam. granted, nigeria never had a strong hindu presence. but other religions were able to spread there from a zero base. as for hindusim, we have ceded territory in a lot of the far east, slowly but surely.

there also seems to be a lot of reliance on "this is the oldest religion", so it will always thrive. sorry, iraq was also one of the oldest civilizations. survive it still does, but thriving it is not. this is also the new age. we are creating what was previously a thousand years of knowledge every three years or so. all that history and past glory means little any more.

also, india is not exactly the same society it was in the not so distant past. values seem to be going western. like japan which started to prosper economically but lose a lot of it's buddhist leanings, i wonder if we too will start losing out.

it's good to feel positive about the values we have, but we cant be too smug about it. i met someone who mentioned how his great ancestor was a hindu, and that he was converted during aurangzeb's time. that's what it is when religions try to expand through whatever means, including violence. it's happening in more subtle ways too even in the rest of africa where missionaries set up hospitals, but you cant get your kid treated there unless you convert. just somethig to consider i thought.

I respect all service done by christain missionaries but their hidden agenda is conversion or add more members to cristanity.

Originally posted by: Believe

I respect all service done by christain missionaries but their hidden agenda is conversion or add more members to cristanity.

..

thier agenda is to spread christainity its not hidden.. now if hiunduism cant feed those deprived.. and if the missionaries feed them in lieu of getting their faith in christ there shouldnt be an issue...😊

Originally posted by: qwertyesque

if there were just one or two factors working against hinduism, it would have been easier to dismiss. problem is that there are multiple factors imo

Originally posted by: lighthouse

islam is the fastest growing religion in india too!😊

if the missionaries are not as zealous in africa any more, perhaps that's because the mission has been largely accomplished? also, colorful displays of hindu signs and festivals in africa will ultimately not sound very different from other pagan practices when people dont have a deeper understanding of their religion. cannot compete against the quality of communication and packaging skills the westeners bring. if and when our practices become a threat to them, it's anyone's guess who will come out on top.

as for fascination in the west towards indianness, fashionable for indians to pat ourselves on the back. but it runs at two levels imo, neither of which is a positive for hinduism. the less-informed westerners are fascinated primarily by an exotic land of snake charmers, holy cows, elephants run amok. also they enjoy their tongue-in-cheek references to karma, reincarnation, multiple gods replete with different shapes. all that really trivializes hinduism and makes a mockery of it. hard to work against that mockery. we'd be better off with no perception, rather than perception that is implicitly negative

at the other extreme, the elite in univesities which is where we get opinion makers, are too busy expropropriating ideas wherever they find them. some of it is from hinduism. but it's never good career policy to attribute something to a source which is considered mystic. so we are losing out on that end too

Originally posted by: chatbuster

islam is the fastest growing religion in india too!😊

if the missionaries are not as zealous in africa any more, perhaps that's because the mission has been largely accomplished? also, colorful displays of hindu signs and festivals in africa will ultimately not sound very different from other pagan practices when people dont have a deeper understanding of their religion. cannot compete against the quality of communication and packaging skills the westeners bring. if and when our practices become a threat to them, it's anyone's guess who will come out on top.

as for fascination in the west towards indianness, fashionable for indians to pat ourselves on the back. but it runs at two levels imo, neither of which is a positive for hinduism. the less-informed westerners are fascinated primarily by an exotic land of snake charmers, holy cows, elephants run amok. also they enjoy their tongue-in-cheek references to karma, reincarnation, multiple gods replete with different shapes. all that really trivializes hinduism and makes a mockery of it. hard to work against that mockery. we'd be better off with no perception, rather than perception that is implicitly negative

at the other extreme, the elite in univesities which is where we get opinion makers, are too busy expropropriating ideas wherever they find them. some of it is from hinduism. but it's never good career policy to attribute something to a source which is considered mystic. so we are losing out on that end too

very well said CB. I agree with your above post explaining the highlighted thoughts. I also think that castesism and non conversion are not the only hampers in the growth of hinduism. One of the main problems, as I see it, is the laid back attitude of economically well off hindus towards our own faith, lack of charity to help poor hindus, and a superiority complex are pretty much doing most of the damage right now...on top of that this stupid urge to be PC all the time displayed by well educated hindus😊