About Hindu Eyes
Every so often in history, a religion emerges.
But as time goes on, that religion loses relevance, because people evolve, societies evolve, and the people in those societies want new things to believe in based on the dominant paradigm of their times. A religion only maintains relevance in modern times so long as it constantly updates itself. Today’s world is one in which the whole world changes with each generation. The time it used to take for ideas to evolve takes a fraction of the time now. If the religion refuses to evolve, it gets left behind. Luckily in the case of Hinduism, it has been revived time and time again by great saints like Vyāsa, Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, Madhva, Vivekananda, and many others, even in the last century. But what we need today is Hinduism for the modern era. Hinduism for the 21st Century.
This blog exists because often Hindus seek answers to their questions in a concise, easy-to-understand manner, with some scriptural backing. But most of the time, such answers are unavailable in an easily-accessible format. The vast array of Hindu sources are cumulatively so confusing that one wonders where to even start looking for answers. Different gurus give different answers to the same questions; different scriptures seem to say different things about the same topics, even though they may all be “Hindu” scriptures; and between friends, family, and many times even within oneself there may be conflict as to the correct answer to particular questions. On top of all this confusion, there are non-Hindu sources in academia that can confound the answers to sometimes relatively simple questions.
Along with commenting on the larger issues of the day, we will make an attempt to concisely (and sometimes not so concisely) address various philosophical questions about Hinduism from the Hindu perspective, using widely accepted scriptural sources, hence the name “Hindu Eyes”.
Does this mean that there are always straight answers? Certainly not. If a question arises for which no answer is readily available, then we will explore the depths of Hindu resources together to make available the means for an answer, if not a concrete answer itself. In time, with some churning of these resources within the mind of the interested reader, an answer may present itself.
We believe that the identity of the author is not important, so long as the content can withstand some academic scrutiny. Not necessarily academic in the modern sense of referencing countless papers and books, but academic in the traditional sense — the article’s logic should stand up on its own, supported by scripture where necessary.
If you have ever been told, “Just do it!” when you have asked what something means or why we do certain things, or if you have ever had to answer, “Well, that’s just how we do things” or “That’s just what I was told” to any question from another person, then this blog may be for you. If you are just curious about Hinduism, then this blog may serve as an entry point for your journey as well.
We do not claim to answer the question, “What is Hinduism?” Hinduism is so huge in scope that to answer that question would take as long as Hinduism has existed. But given that Hinduism exists, we will try in our own small way, one topic at a time, to provide a fresh perspective on various topics related to Hinduism here.
Questions are welcomed, encouraged on the Contact page; there is no shame in asking them. Shameful is that situation in which a Hindu cannot even ask about one’s own religion!
If you feel you can contribute, whether by writing a post or simply sharing some content, please feel free to contact us as well. All help is appreciated.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter too: