Textbook of Hindu Religion and Ethics: Basic Ideas, General Customs & Rites and Ethical Teachings

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The word religion may not be considered particularly apposite in a study of Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism. It is a term with Western and especially Christian connotations. The term most frequently used, dharma in this book, means conduct, virtue, custom, social responsibility and can also be applied to specifically religious practices. The laws of Manu is the principle manual of dharma, laying down the behaviour appropriate to each social group. It was compiled some three centuries ago before the Common Era and is believed to have been given by the Gods to men for their well-being. Hindu religion is the oldest of living religions, and no other religion has produced so many great man- great teachers, great writers, great sages, great saints, great kings, great warriors, great statesmen, great benefactors and great patriots.

The responsibilities of Hindu are defined in three areas, each having four divisions. Life has four aims. The first three are the fulfillment of dharma; the acquiring of material wealth and the enjoyment of pleasure. The final aim is that of detachment from worldly ambitions and the attainment of the spiritual goal of moksha.

Life has also four stages, the first is that of student of Vedic knowledge, when a young man should go to a Brahmin Guru for instructions in the Vedas and the dharma appropriate to his caste. The second is that of a married family man. The third is preparation for the spiritual life of detachment by gradual withdrawal from family and worldly responsibilities. Finally, a man becomes a sannyasi by renouncing old domestic and occupational attachments in order to devote himself to the search for spiritual self-realisation, moksha. The present book is an elementary text-book of Hindu religion and ethics. Late Prof. Ganga Ram Garg former Vice Chancellor of Gurukula Kangari Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar has provided new introduction to the present edition. He observed the following:

The Mittal Publications deserve full plaudits for bringing out the important and useful book: Textbook of Hindu Religion and Ethics at a time when the people are so much absorbed in the worldly affairs that they do not think of what their cherished religion is. They seem to forget that religion helps them in their struggle in this world as also in their next births. Life is a continuous process. When it was published for the first time, its more than a lakh copies were sold out within a short time. It was translated into many Indian languages.

THE Board of Trustees of the Central Hindu College has laid down the following principles on which religious and moral teaching is to be given in all institutions under its control.

The object of the Central Hindu College being to combine Hindu religious and ethical training with the western education suited to the needs of the time, it is necessary that this religious and ethical training shall be of a wide, liberal and unsectarian character, while at the same time it shall be definitely and distinctively Hindu. It must be inclusive enough to unite the most divergent forms of Hindu thought, but exclusive enough to leave outside it, forms of thought which are non-Hindu. It must avoid all doctrines which are the subject of contro versy between schools recognised as orthodox; it must not enter into any of the social and political questions of the day; but it must lay a solid foundation of religion and ethics on which the student may build, in his manhood, the more specialised principles suited to his intellectual and emotional temperament. It must be directed to the building up of a character pious, dutiful, strong, self-reliant, upright, righteous, gentle and well-balanced-a character which will be that of a good man and a good citizen; the fundamental principles of religion, governing the general view of life and of life's obligations, are alone sufficient to form such a character. That which unites Hindu-s in a common faith must be clearly and simply taught; all that divides them must be ignored. Lastly, care must be taken to cultivate a wide spirit of tolerance, which not only respects the differences of thought and practice among Hindu-s, but which also respects the differences of religion among non-Hindu-s, regarding all faiths with reverence, as roads whereby men approach the Supreme.

The number of paths to the One Infinite is necessarily infinite, according to the Sanatana Dharma. It is this recognition of many paths, each valid in itself, that gives to Sanatana Dharma its immense variety.

Sanatana Dharma is thus like a huge river with an innumerable tributaries. It contains within it the influence of many cultures. The culture of the Aryans, Dravidians and of the tribal people, the culture of the later invaders, the influence of Buddhism, Jainism, etc. (to which Hinduism gave birth) and of Islam and Christianity (which came from outside) can be traced at various stages of the evolution of Hindu thought. The Hindu scheme of life thus leave a man free to think for himself while providing him with a background in the form of a long tradition hailing from the Vedic times. Many people would prefer to be guided by a flexible scheme of life, which Hinduism presents, than by a set of rigid, unalterable dogmas which lose their importance with the passing of time. Moreover, Hinduism is a continuous process and is still in the making. It is this aspect that provides flexibility to the Sanatan Dharma and prevents it from going stale.

M/s Mittal Publications, New Delhi deserve full plaudits for bringing out the important and useful book: Sanatana Dharma at a time when the people are so much absorbed in the worldly affairs, that they do not think of what their cherished religion is. They seem to forget that religion helps them in their struggle in this world as also in their next births. Life is a continuous process.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages