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Hinduism_ A Christian Heresy

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<strong>Hinduism</strong>: What Really Happened in India – M. M. Ninan 10<br />

subjected to serve the priesthood of man. Once subjugated they too will<br />

become slaves to the person and can be exploited. But they need to be<br />

kept constantly in chains. There is a whole realm of spirits in existence in<br />

the created universe. Among them are fallen beings like man, each trying<br />

to control other beings.<br />

Defining <strong>Hinduism</strong><br />

Because of these difficulties, the Supreme Court has to define <strong>Hinduism</strong><br />

in its theistic terms. Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s definition was therefore<br />

taken as a satisfactory definition of <strong>Hinduism</strong>. It defines <strong>Hinduism</strong> as<br />

follows:<br />

The Indian Supreme Court, in 1966, formalized a judicial definition of<br />

Hindu beliefs to legally distinguish Hindu denominations from other<br />

religions in India. The Court affirmed this list as recently as 1995 in<br />

judging cases regarding religious identity.<br />

1) Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence as the highest authority in<br />

religious and philosophic matters and acceptance with reverence of<br />

Vedas by Hindu thinkers and philosophers as the sole foundation of<br />

Hindu philosophy.<br />

2) Spirit of tolerance and willingness to understand and appreciate the<br />

opponent's point of view based on the realization that truth is manysided.<br />

3) Acceptance of great world rhythm-vast periods of creation,<br />

maintenance and dissolution follow each other in endless succession-by<br />

all six systems of Hindu philosophy.<br />

4) Acceptance by all systems of Hindu philosophy of the belief in rebirth<br />

and pre-existence.

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