What is Hinduism?

This question has disturbed me a lot from past few years. Actually this is not just a question for me, this is a kind of force which pushed me in the depth of real thinking; a thinking which consists of a search; a search for enlightenment; an enlightenment, which can reveal the mystery; a mystery of being me. In order to search myself, I had put this question in a very popular community website and found responses which I would like to share here;

me: What is Hinduism?

reply: It's a way of life and the first way of life and that is why its Esha Dharmah Sanatanah?
me: "way of life" itself arises a hell lot of questions in my mind. Does it tell somebody to follow a particular way(shown by someone like mahatma, priests or ABC) or it says to choose whatever you wish but the way should be right?

Then someone tried to explain it through the essence of "Christianity"...

He said, Maybe it would be great if this topic could be opened for other religions. I speak about the Christianity. If you allow me ...

I believe just few people around here are able to define their religion or at least to say what's more important in it. Certainly, many of them would say to believe in God is the most important!; but I don't know a single case of martyr accused of saying or not I believe in God .
The Christianity is revolutionary, otherwise it's so hard to be a Christian that people in general is [still] very far from this proposal. Let's admit it's really hard to live without hypocrisy. Don't matter who you are, don't matter where you live and your position, we are the same towards the hypocrisy. See this good example from the Holy Bible: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." John 8:7.

Last week, an important leader of our congress was accused of many unethical procedures in favor or his family. He simply used the institute of secret acts to take personal advantages for hiring relatives and friends [high positions, of course].

Then, a TV reporter was interviewing ordinary people about this matter and all of them seemed very outraged, so the reporter ordered to cameraman to turn off cam and mic for a personal talk to the interviewers, so the reporter said to them we suppose to pay you $ 20 to make a nice comment about him, because we need popular testimonials for his Press Agent . [Of course, cam and mic were on]. Well, all we watched on TV 90% of people changed their comments for a nice one. Poor people? no just ordinary one.

me: Well tried..

Then I got explanation from my close friend Bheeshma.

he said: Hinduism is one of the oldest Religion. As All religion teaches a good way to live,the Hinduism also do without any exception. The very basic nature of a human being is same across the world. So All religion including Hinduism defines what it should be to make a happy,growing,and balance world.

The Humans are not yet matured enough to understand the religion as whole(I am no exception),Any religion in the Human age can not be said Completed.Because it is a process of refinement.As we grow our religion will grow and finally there will be no religion at all.I mean religion like Hindu , Muslim....etc. Actually There is no Antagonism and no separation even among Religions,Ways are different; They Teaches the same thing , exactly same thing..so there should be no violence no hatred because of religions.
They are being insulted because of such act of a human......................

me: "is a process of refinement; As we grow our religion will grow and finally there will be no religion at all". Philosophically, it is a quite well remarked. But in a context of my question, could not quench my thirst.

more explanation: Other major religions have had a founding member. the scriptures of Hinduism - ved, upanishad, and vedant are all debates among scholars. it is always interesting to note the different perspectives on a topic! hence, all sorts of paths to reach god, right from bhakti (devotion) to gnyaan (starting from a hypothesis that 'god does not exist', and then knowing the one thing that you can call god) exist here. which ever path/paths suit you best, take it. The scriptures are logical, and do not ask you to believe them on face value.
"whichever seems logical, even if it comes from a boy or a parrot, accept it,

whatever seems illogical, even if it comes from a wise old man, or from great sages, reject it" - one of the shlokas.

"I am the way"
"Its a way of life"

No one made this way for the first time except God, howsoever you define Him, whatever language you address Him in, whatever name or names you give Him. Since God made this way, it is the oldest. There have been different packaging, reissues, if you will, over time, to fit the needs of time, just as He said that He will be back whenever "Dharma" was in peril, and Evil arises, to save the righteous and destroy evil and those who would do evil, He will be back in each age. So I guess its all the same. God fulfills Himself in many ways lest one good custom should corrupt. Seen that way, Hinduism is still the way of life even in this, the third millennium!

me: In spite of being aware of all the facts what you generous people have mentioned above...Why do we always let some bunch of scoundrels to speak about Hinduism? Why do we always let them make a decision on "what is right?what is wrong?what says Hinduism?what is not allowed in Hinduism?".....when we had already heard "Ahem Brahmasmi", hundreds of years ago from Adi Shankaracharya and allowed it to get "Atmasaat" in our soul! If a person talks about some other religion or taking favor of a person who doesn't belong to majority..why we always give a negative response..in spite of being aware of "Ahem Brahmasmi"!!
It is said "Zarra-Zarra hai khuda ke nuur se roshan" in an Islamic Philosophy. It means "Each and every particle is full with the blessings of god, and are same"... well known by everybody, who follows Islam..but the same time, why a woman get abused and harassed when she talks about people from minority?

It shows only one thing that, we just had heard the word "Ahem Brahmasmi"..we didn't listen to it..we couldn't understand the meaning...forget about getting it "Atmasaat"!

some more: The various scriptures and teachings of Hinduism are the best and damn interesting moral stories that talk about every aspects of life. Also, there are many different interpretations to it as rightly pointed out. The key aspect of Hinduism must be to learn and adopt these doctrines in life. You dont need to worship or show extreme devotion in life. All you need to do is be honest, truthful, humble, etc., and you will attain moksha. Lord Basavanna preached that "work is worship". If you are hard working and honest, then it is as good as worshiping the lord and you will definitely attain moksha.

Then someone said in between- "Hinduism - NO SUCH WORD EXIST! so there is no question as What is Hinduism?"

reply: Here, always religion was used as an instrument of domination and it doesn't further the people's union [just in the group themselves]. There's a competition for audience among them. But why these things happen? Maybe because despite the word Christianity be found in any dictionary its original meaning is lost in time. Wars and domination made this job.
The religion is teleological, we don't need to drink that spoiled water above. But we have first to find the starting point and then to drink from the fountainhead to be able to realize its proposal. It'll be easy to see [for example] that the Kingdom of Heaven is just a great fraternity [a true brotherhood of men]. What more could we wish beyond this real Paradise? Why would we need an other one, so? There's something wrong! [You might think.]

Then,

The topic has traced us to another question: Absolutely, what is not my religion? Or rather, what could be against my religion?

reply: I was wondering if someone asked Christ what is Christianity, would He not have said, "There is no such thing as Christianity, but there is only one God, and I bring you a Message that He Loves you, and observe the laws, but temper the law with Love, because it is only Love that brings you Salvation?"

Then some one asked me: "Himanshu tell me please, do you believe that your question is now answered? Or it's a just a question itself? "

me: We are living in a country, where religion is nothing, but it is everything! Whenever a partition occurs, a monument gets destroyed, two families living together from many years but suddenly tries to quench their thirst for blood of each others without any reason, innocent people get killed in the name of religion/god...this question will always arise!!

reply: The sacrifice of the innocents is nothing new bro!!! Even the Old Testament, particularly the Masoretic text has instances where prophets have admonished in the name of God, that children devoted to YHWH should not be ransomed but killed, and when sacking cities in Canaan that were being attacked by Israelites (God's Chosen people) not even to spare women with child who were to be ripped open, if they had been "devoted" to YHWH. Later texts of the apocrypha, and the pseudoepigraphies clearly show that the slaughter of the innocents was trite in those days in the Levant and accompanied every large scale victory of one army over another defending a city. The Mahabharata is replete with stories of massacre of the innocent. What did Dhristyadumna, Aswathama and Kripacharya do after the Bharata battle, when the Kauravas had been defeated and the victorious Pandavas were occupying the Kaurava camp? They sneaked into a sleeping camp, and entered the tent where they thought the Pandava brothers were sleeping, but instead got into the tent where the sons of the Pandavas were sleeping, and despite recognizing the children/barely mature adults they still killed these innocents, not heeding the cries of the innocents to at least let them arm themselves before the blows fell. So what is new about the innocents dying?

In fact the greatest and most potent sacrifice has been held to be that of the innocent human, and the reason why Christianity did not need human sacrifices was because Jesus died for all our sins (as the Christian theology in its simplest form goes). We can discuss this at greater length if you want, the theory behind sacrifice and we would not have to limit ourselves only to the Agnus Dei.

Again a question arises- So, what is the need of sacrifice? I mean, why do we need it as a ritual?

reply: My dear brother, is it a somber perspective about God's creatures?
Not really a somber perspective but I'd rather say a sad commentary on Free Will. The human condition degenerates into sympathetic magic and superstition and we keep on trying to find mortal causes for natural phenomena. No rain? All right, sacrifice the most precious thing you have (your first born). No wind to sail to Troy? All right, sacrifice your Iphigenia! The walls may not last? All right, sacrifice your first born and bury him under the foundations of the city wall (Jericho). If YHWH was once a tribal God who like other deities of the Levant accepted blood sacrifices even of human beings, but ultimately was rationalized after the Babylonian exile into a more remote, non anthropomorphic deity (remember, in Genesis, God walked) Deuteronomy has God disapprove of human sacrifices. So a rationalized God is against sacrifice but His Creations always fall back on it.

RA: I'd refer you to an excellent book on this, Bruce Chilton, Abraham's Curse which would tell you the opposing views about human sacrifice, and why it was practiced. You can also read the slightly longer and a little more archaic "The Golden Bough", by Frazer. You can try to find them on Scribed or Google it.

Unfortunately, the men's god is in favor of Sacrifices. People have to suffer to get something better; after the death. That's our ideology. [At least Christians'].

Hinduism was a combination of religion , culture, History , commerce , science & vedic knowledge existed in the ancient India before the Muslim warriors & Britishers infiltrated the the Indus Valley.
I strongly see that today's Hinduism consists of the majority of ignorant Hindus of the society, who have bend the practice according to their own greed and I think every other religion is a very blurred version of the original practice, Its like the pirated copy of windows full of bugs.

what we see now:
Sharma's selling meat and eating beef.
Jain's burning the daughter in laws for dowry.
Pundits molesting their disciples.
Gupta ji adding the pooh of the horse in tea leaves to get extra money.
and so on.....

search continues.....