Author: Maria Wirth
Someone asked me this question in the course of an interview. Here is what I replied: Oh, there is so much uniqueness that it is hard to put it briefly. Sanatana Dharma is the original, complete knowledge about what is true I consider Vedic knowledge or Sanatana Dharma as the original, most ancient and complete knowledge about what is true regarding us and the universe. It is called today inadequately ‘Hinduism’. An ‘ism’ usually means a fixed doctrine that must be believed, and Hinduism is the opposite of that. It allows the greatest freedom to connect with one’s essential Self,…
Things are finally changing for the better for Hindu Dharma. For too long, many educated Indians, including the first Prime Minister Jawahar Nehru, had accepted the biased view of the British that Hinduism is inferior to the Abrahamic religions, without realizing, that this was a clever strategy to hide the fact that Christianity and Islam are based on a ‘must-belief’ story and Hinduism in contrast, is based on verifiable insights of the Vedas and a genuine enquiry into the truth. For the first time in independent India, now a postgraduate course in Hindu Dharma is included at the Benares Hindu…
An article in the Indian Express from 8th January, 2022 caught my attention. It was titled “Your silence emboldens hate voices: Faculty, students of IIMs to PM”. 16 Professors and 167 students of IIM Ahmedabad and Bangalore had signed a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office. It urges PM Modi to steer the country away from “forces that seek to divide us”, and rued, “Your silence, Honourable Prime Minister, emboldens the hate-filled voices and threatens the unity and integrity of our country.” Almost two years ago, I also had written a letter to the Prime Minister and had attached a…
In 1999, the Pope declared in Mumbai that in the 21st century the cross will be planted in Asia. Strangely, there was not much objection in the media that the Pope expressed so openly his eagerness to convert Hindus. Not only the Pope but also the different evangelical sects want to convert Hindus in big numbers. And unfortunately, they are doing it successfully because they have lots of money. In the last 20 years, after the Pope made his statement, Christian missionaries have become increasingly visible, blatant and controversial. As I grew up as a Christian, I would like to…
It is becoming a fashion to declare Hindutva as bad and Hinduism as good, mostly by people who don’t know from own experience what it means to be a Hindu, like recently Rahul Gandhi or before him Salman Kurshid. Yet there are also people with Hindu names who endorse this view. A few days ago, there was an article in Garhwal Post by Dr. Satish C. Aikant, who felt that Salman Kurshid, “by denouncing Hindutva for its deviation from Sanatan Dharma, he was indeed making a case for Hinduism.” I wrote a reader’s letter to Garhwal Post. Here it is:…
Introduction: Something incredible happens since quite some time: Tigers claim with a lot of media and ‘academic’ support that deer are eating up tigers. And the deer only say, “No, it’s not true” but do not give proof that they are vegetarians while tigers killed and ate already millions of deer. The attacks on Hindus are unrelenting. Now even a British MP tweeted about a “Hindu terrorist” when there cannot be terrorism in the name of Hindu Dharma, because it is never dharmic to kill or injure at random innocent people. The narrative goes like this: only certain deer are…
This is a true story about a Hindu who had converted to Christianity, and who felt the need to convince his family also to convert. Once on a flight from Germany to India, one of those bright, young Indians sat across the aisle. We started talking. He was a science lecturer at an American university. When food came, he ordered non-veg and I ordered veg. I teasingly asked him “non-veg”? He replied, “Yes, I started to eat meat when I converted to Christianity eight years ago.” “You… converted… to… Christianity?” I asked in disbelief. “How could you do this? Are…
In my view the greatest thing about being a Hindu is that one can be an open-minded, ‘normal’ human being, who is given plenty of insights and tips from the Vedas and other ancient texts on how to refine one’s character, how to anchor one’s awareness in the present and how to ultimately realize one’s oneness with the Divine Presence that is inside us and in everything. A Hindu is not forced into a mental straitjacket. He does not need to think certain thoughts, which are against common sense and which are divisive, like for example “The great God is only…
Billions of people – all Christians and Muslims – are taught from childhood that only their religion is right. Yet is it true? Or are they wrong to claim this? Well, if a religion is based on reason, intuition and experience than surely it is not wrong to say it, and it’s also not wrong trying to convince others. Unfortunately, neither Christianity nor Islam are based on reason, intuition or experience but only on blind belief in unverifiable dogmas. One can never know for sure if Jesus is really the son of God who was sent to earth to save…
Dear Savio, I had the pleasure to meet you at a conference and you came across as likeable and intelligent. And I felt, we had in common that we both grew up as Christians but realized that Hindu or Sanatana Dharma is the better option. That’s why I was surprised by your tweet: “I am a Christian by my faith but Hindu by my roots. That’s me. You cannot accept this fact about me, then it is your problem, not mine.” Most Hindus don’t know the essence of the Christian faith, and you may have thought you get away with…