WHY I AM A HINDU

I am happy to describe myself as a believing Hindu, not just it is the faith into which i was born, but for a string of other reasons. One is cultural: as a Hindu I belong to a faith that expresses the ancient genius of my own people. Another is, for lack of a better phase, its intellectual "fit". I am more comfortable with the belief structures of Hinduism than with the other faiths I have known.As a Hindu , I claim adherence to a religion that has no established church or priestly papacy, a religion whose rituals and customs i am free to reject, a religion that does not oblige me to demonstrate my faith by any visible sign,by subsuming to any general collectivity , not even by a specific day or time of worship.

As a Hindu, I subscribe to a creed that is free of the restrictive dogmas of holy writ,that refuses to be shackled to the limitations of a single holy book. Above all, as a Hindu I belong to the only religion that does not claim to be the only true religion.This dogma lies at the core of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism - " I am the way, the Truth and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father , but by me", says Bible; " There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet" says the Kuran. Hinduism. however asserts that all ways of belief are equally valid, and Hindus readily venerate the saints and sacred objects of other faiths. This is why I think I am a Hindu.