Sparks Commentary: A review of “Hinduism” (audiobook)

There are over one billion Hindus in the world. This is more than triple the number of Buddhists. Surprisingly to many Americans, this makes Hinduism the most popular of the world’s Eastern religions. It is surpassed by Christianity and Islam, and even by those who identify (in one way or another) as “non-religious.” But, even when these “non-religious” folks are included, Hinduism would still be the fourth largest religion in the world. That’s part of why I wanted to listen to this audiobook – to hear about this major world religion.

But I was reminded of something that one of my professors said in my comparative religions class in college. Incidentally, this professor was of the Jewish faith herself. She said that Hinduism is probably the hardest of all religions for Westerners to wrap their minds around. It is considered one of the oldest of all living religions. Thus, this professor initially started out her comparative religions classes by teaching Hinduism. But her students found it so difficult to understand … that many of them were dropping the class. Thus, she instead switched to starting out that class with Confucianism and Taoism, which both hail from China. Her students actually found these Chinese religions to be far more accessible than Hinduism. This might surprise us, because the English language is much closer to Indian languages like Sanskrit than it is to Chinese. Nonetheless, Hinduism remains quite hard for Westerners to understand.

Sculpture of goddess Durga at Durga temple – Burdwan, India

This seems to have been my reaction as well, when I took her class. I strongly admire my Hindu friends, for their willingness to coexist peacefully with other religions. But there are so many different gods in the Hindu pantheon that it’s hard even to keep track of their names. That’s part of why I sometimes struggled with this fairly advanced audiobook. The Hindu holy language of Sanskrit is an Indo-European language. This may explain some of the similarities between Hinduism and the early pagan religions of Europe. For example, it may help to explain some similarities to the Greek and Roman mythology, or of Norse or Germanic mythology. All of these, like Hinduism, were polytheistic. But, in terms of the sheer number of gods, Hinduism is a bit like European paganism on steroids. Their Muslim neighbors have long found the Hindu love of religious images to be something like idolatry. Nonetheless, India has tended to be very tolerant of the Muslims within its borders. This audiobook notes a few exceptions, like the Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse. This is the man who murdered Mahatma Gandhi. But, like Gandhi himself, most modern Hindus have tended to be supportive of freedom of religion. Thus, it is now guaranteed by the Constitution of India. (More about that here.)

Srirangam Ranganathaswamy Temple, dedicated to the Hindu deity Vishnu

This audiobook also argues that early Hinduism was somewhat influenced by its daughter religions of Jainism and Buddhism. In particular, the Jainist pacifist doctrine called “ahimsa” has been influential on some forms of Hinduism. This audiobook also argues that, in later times, Hinduism was likewise influenced by Islam, and by the Hindu daughter religion of Sikhism. Some areas of India, such as the Punjab, actually have Sikh majorities today. This audiobook goes over many of the great writings of Hinduism, such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. It discusses philosophical texts, such as the Upanishads. They also discuss Hindu concepts like maya, karma, and yoga. Surprisingly, though, the word “Hindu” itself is actually of comparatively recent origin. It comes from the Indus River. This is also the origin of the name “India” itself. Because of this, India was once known as “Hindustan.” This is why many Indians of other faiths have sometimes identified as “Hindustanis.” Incidentally, the Hindi and Urdu languages are sometimes considered to be dialects of a larger “Hindustani” language. Regardless, the British rulers of India are the ones who began referring to the local religion simply as “Hinduism.” Gradually, the term started to catch on, even in India itself. Like other religions, Hinduism has enormous diversity. It started in the north of India, and then gradually spread to the south. The south was often able to adapt Hindu beliefs to the local religious beliefs as they saw fit. This may be part of why Hinduism eventually caught on there.

Kedar Ghat, a bathing place for pilgrims on the Ganges at Varanasi

For me, the most interesting part of the audiobook was actually its closing segment, which detailed the politics surrounding religion in India. This sometimes involved political unrest between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs there. I freely confess that, for various reasons, I still don’t have as much understanding of Hinduism as I would like to have. But it was good to hear a refresher about the basic tenets of Hinduism. Thus, I would definitely recommend this audiobook. I would also recommend another audiobook called “The Philosophies of India,” which helps to cover it from a more philosophical angle. (More about that in a future post.)

Footnote to this blog post:

This audiobook is narrated by the actor Ben Kingsley. Mr. Kingsley won an Academy Award for playing the title role in the 1982 movie “Gandhi.”

Audiobook at AudiobooksNow.com

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A review of “Gandhi” (1982 movie with Ben Kingsley)

A review of Michael Wood’s “The Story of China”

A review of “Confucius, Lao Tzu, and Chinese Philosophy” (audiobook)

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