Proposal: Hinduism
This meta is in commitment phase and needs followers to get launched into beta. We need followers desperately. I propose, we spam the invite link to all India related social networking sites, Quora, Facebook, G+, you name it.
Forward the invitation to your friends and relatives who might be interested in Hindu myths, traditions, customs and philosophy.
Help this site reach beta phase and let's get there as soon as possible.
I think that the description needs a little bit more detailing. Right now the group seems interesting only to those who have a previous experience/knowledge with regard to Hinduism. Hinduism is a very broad and deep subject.
There are aspects apart from the religious side of it. Aspects which might attract someone who never knew he would be interested in anything of this sort. Focus needs to be shifted to the the more universal, knowledge based and relevant issues of hinduism today. This I propose only to attract the initial users needed to commit.
Just let the religious zealots know about the new (good quality) opportunity to proselytize and quickly there will be thousands of commitments from all over the world and from very different religious groups, because so called "hinduism" is a very rich umbrella term.
I will personally petition to rename it "vedic", it is so much more clear. The term "dharmaic" religions is also used, still better than "hinduism" IMHO. Vedas are the centerpiece of the cultural tradition, whether in Russia or America, not the Indian flora or fauna or landscape.
In emperor Ashoka's time buddhism was the hinduism, but what is it now? American consumerism? Whatever is popular in the geographic region at the time?
I've lived in India, UK, the US and Germany among other places and speak all of the respective languages. I also read German and Sanskrit. In none of these places did I manage to get a clear, concise, coherent description of the key points of Hinduism, it's wisdom and how that can help ordinary people live better lives today.
I've seen and read plenty about rituals and traditions but no-one is able to communicate why those rituals are still relevant and how they can help us and our kids navigate this world a little better. That's why a site like this is such a great idea. Kudos!
I know nothing of Hinduism, but let me tell you what makes me curious about it. The vedas, and ancient vedic texts. Most read them as "myths", but if you look at them from a scientific perspective, it's very interesting. To me, some of the texts are science, but often get dismissed as myths/sorcery, simply because we do not have the technology/education to understand what it means....yet.
If I could find answers to my questions from a more objective/scientific perspective, I would gladly commit to this exchange site. Otherwise I won't commit to it.
It seems like many participants are interested and excited about the aspect of letting other cultures know how great and beautiful Hinduism is. It seems as if we want to prove Hinduism is the best religion. But this is wrong. Completely wrong. There should not be any biased and prejudiced discussion here to prove which religion is the best or to showoff which culture is better. Let us be frank, although we express our pride to be Hindus, how much do we actually know about this culture? Just ask the question to see how many actually know the name of the seven rishi that we see in the night sky as stars.
So our objective should be to learn, discuss and share about concepts and ideas about this culture without any intention of letting others know or prove anything to anyone. Religion is a sensitive topic; hence it should be dealt with an open and unbiased mind. When we do these things properly, others will know and admire automatically. You don't need to go and check if flowers have blossomed in the tree; when the flowers blossom the fragrance automatically spreads.
There are many people who are unaware of the rich culture of the hinduism, this is the nice platform to spread our views to the world and make them aware that hinduism is the best reigion.
