Hinduism: What Really Happenned in India (PDF) - Oration

Hinduism: What Really Happened in India – M. M. Ninan
subjected to serve the priesthood of man. Once subjugated they too will
become slaves to the person and can be exploited. But they need to be
kept constantly in chains. There is a whole realm of spirits in existence in
the created universe. Among them are fallen beings like man, each trying
to control other beings.
Defining Hinduism
Because of these difficulties, the Supreme Court has to define Hinduism
in its theistic terms. Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s definition was therefore
taken as a satisfactory definition of Hinduism. It defines Hinduism as
follows:
The Indian Supreme Court, in 1966, formalized a judicial definition of
Hindu beliefs to legally distinguish Hindu denominations from other
religions in India. The Court affirmed this list as recently as 1995 in
judging cases regarding religious identity.
1) Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence as the highest authority in
religious and philosophic matters and acceptance with reverence of
Vedas by Hindu thinkers and philosophers as the sole foundation of
Hindu philosophy.
2) Spirit of tolerance and willingness to understand and appreciate the
opponent's point of view based on the realization that truth is manysided.
3) Acceptance of great world rhythm-vast periods of creation,
maintenance and dissolution follow each other in endless succession-by
all six systems of Hindu philosophy.
4) Acceptance by all systems of Hindu philosophy of the belief in rebirth
and pre-existence.
10