(Greetings)
Another Sunday, another day at speaker's corner
and today we are here with
Parvati
Parvati and Parvati is a Hindu from India, yes?
Your religion.
So we're going to discuss a bit about Hinduism, it's not a topic that is often discussed at speaker's corner.
The reason is for that is because we have very few Hindus who come to speaker's corner to talk about
the religion the faith.
So we're hoping to that there will be more Hindus who would step forward
and talk about the faith. It's just that there is a lot of misunderstanding amongst the Hindus
about Muslims and amongst the Muslims about the Hindus.
So it's always good to have a conversation
to have a direct conversation with the person about their religion rather than assuming things about their religion.
So Parvati, tell us a bit about yourself, what do you do? and
what your interests are?
Your first time in speaker's corner, isn't it?
Yes, we've been here for a year
you need to speak up a bit because I want to make sure the microphone picks up the audio.
Yeah, sure
I've been here for a year.
Okay,
We're studying fluid mechanics.
fluid mechanics
yeah
Masha 'Allah, that's good
and yeah that's good, is it masters?
Yeah, it's masters.
Okay, that's good and
yeah so
about Hinduism, tell us a bit about the basics of Hinduism, like what is it that a Hindu
has to believe in, otherwise they are outside the fold of Hinduism, can you perhaps give us a bit?
Just a summarized version of the belief.
So I'm not like a certified speaker of Hinduism
but what I've learned from my family
is that....
it's more about having...
it's more about the same stuff you know, you spread love and you know...
Yeah, I think like there is no like
at least according to me we don't have very rigid rules in Hinduism
such that if you
so for example, even when it comes to prayer like
so I think that's the difference between at least according to me between Islam and Hinduism.
Prayers,
yeah, prayer times
we don't have like fixed prayer times
right
and
so we have a few things like before going to the temple
you take a bath
things like that, but these are things that you need to follow,
but
I'm not aware of anything that can put you out oust
that can oust you from the Hindu community.
So you know, as Muslims we believe in the five pillars, you must have heard about this, yeah?
No, I'm sorry.
Okay, so basically the fundamental belief of a Muslim is in the five pillars
which are basically to believe in one God, yes!
to pray five times a day, to give zakat or charity,
to fast in the month of Ramadan and if you can afford it and are capable of, to go to hajj once in your lifetime, at least.
So these are the five fundamental what is the pillars of Islam.
So anyone who
rejects any of these, they are outside the fall of Islam.
okay
So obviously, for a Hindu
you have to believe in God, right?
Yeah.
So what is the concept of God in Hinduism because
there are many people who say that Hindus believe in 313 million Gods or something like that
how true is that?
So it's not, you don't have Gods as a person.
So each God represents an idea
or
so you have Parvati,
she is the goddess of power of love
Sorry! which Goddess?
Parvati.
Parvati, okay.
Is the goddess of power.
Is that the wife of Shiva?
Yeah.
Okay.
So they all represent values.
They're not like entities, they're not like
so we
that's what I've been taught like
they'll see, you have a God in yourself like everybody has the capability of becoming a God and
Hinduism the definition of God, the definition of divinity is to be a better person than what you were yesterday.
So
okay.
The whole idea, it's like you have
when we actually go to the temple you pray for
two different Gods, right!
so it's mostly like to lord Ganapathi you always say you start with God
Is that Ganesh?
Yeah, Ganesh,
Ganesh, the elephant God?
Yeah, so things like that, so every God represents a value.
So it's not like
so you do have a lot of Gods, you have a lot of stories actually.
How many Gods?
I'm not sure
okay
a lot of Gods
lost count
because you have a lot of values, right.
You have a lot of morals, you can
you know there are Gods for
there's a cloud God,
there is a different kinds of Gods.
So nature worship and creature worship.
Yeah yeah, so every
God represents a different idea,
so it's almost like you kind of respect your nature, your fellow beings
it's kind of abstract I feel, I don't think that basically you know it means like you have
this particular God like you should.
It's not
God it's more like ideals and morals like, yeah.
Okay, so they're just like concepts of nature or creatures?
Yeah, that's what I
like hanuman is a monkey god
and Ganesh is elephant God, so this's a form of creature worship and
it's a mythology, right.
yeah,
you have Greek mythology, so you have Hindu mythologies also.
You have stories, from these stories
we derive morals like
so if you have a lord Ram and Seeta, theirs is about a husband wife union
and you know how the wife and the husband they make compromises
basically how they are individuals, but they also are there for each other.
You know, basically when you
so for me
at least for me, when my parents told me the story, it was so that I could inculcate a moral out of the story
because when you talk to children, they don't
it's easy to tell them a story and tell them
see this is what it means, that will stay for a long time.
Right.
So most the mythology is like story.
What makes, for example you give the example of Ram and Seeta, yeah!
so what makes Ram God?
Yeah, so Rama is a
he was actually a king it's not like
so what made Rama God like
his
really good nature.
Like people believe
I told you that God is something that Hindus
like in the Hinduism, they believe as inside
even you can become a God.
You can become a God?!
Yeah,
Okay.
The concept of God.
It's not like God does magic or anything.
So I think that's what we need to understand
the definition of God maybe is different in Hinduism to that in Islam, because in Islam
when you say God you're talking about the most powerful being, yeah?
Yeah,
he's the almighty,
he's the one who created everyone and everything.
Yes, so we have that.
Okay, so our concept is not just a a good moral human being, yes!
like for example we believe in prophet Muhammad (PBUH), yes!
and we believe he's one of the best role models and he's the one who is called the mercy to mankind yeah!
he's called
Rahmatul lil Alameen
He came as a mercy to man kind. However, regardless of how good the morals the prophet (PBUH) possessed
we do not still worship him.
He is still one of the servants of Allah and a creation of Allah.
So I think this is where the Hindus and the Muslims perhaps differ
in the definition of what God is.
Yeah.
Yes, but do you believe in the
you know, the Tri Murthy or the Brahma
Vishnu and Shi..
is it Brahma
Vishnu and Shiv
isn't it?
Yeah.
So you have the
Brahma is a creator.
The creator
Vishnu, the sustainer.
Yeah.
And Shiv's the destroyer.
Yeah
So these are the
I know a bit of Hinduism, so
that's the reason I know this Tri Murthy is quite important.
So, is someone who doesn't believe in this Tri Murthy, are they considered Hindu or
would they be?
I think so at least
I mean
yeah
I feel Hinduism is all about you know
you could be a better person, you see God in yourself
I don't mean it in an egoistic way
I'm here and I'm...
No no, I understand, yeah.
You see, you try to be a better person than what you were yesterday.
So that is
So it sounds like Hinduism is more of a philosophy rather than a religion.
Yeah yeah.
Because obviously everyone also has a different viewpoint on the beliefs and whatever is written
and the interpretations in the Bhagavad-Gita in the Upanishads the Vedas and so on, yeah?
So these are the books, the different books of Hindus, the scriptures.
How much importance do you give to the scriptures, as a Hindu?
So very honestly, I haven't read the scriptures.
None of them?
No, I just know the mythology and the stories.
Okay
and because
so we have in Hinduism, we have prayers and we have scriptures where you have morals and stories,
but they are also told in the form of stories of Gods and so
I haven't read the scriptures.
Right, so it's more like stories like you keep saying which teaches you morals
yeah,
yes and
like what about going to the temple or something for prayers, is that necessary or is that also optional?
So it is good to go to the temple,
right
but it's not like if you don't go to the temple
you'll be ousted from the Hindu community.
you can pray at home?
Yeah yeah, definitely
you don't have to go to the temple.
Okay, and with regards to prayer another question that pops into my head is
do you have to pray to these pictures of like Rama or Shiva or Krishna or whatever Gods you have
an affiliation to?
Because I think
because you're from south India, I think they have different
what do you say, God that they revere compared to the ones in north India
compared to the ones in Bengal, in east India and maybe in Gujarat in west India, you know.
Like, I think every region has their own, what do you say special deities that
they pray to or they idolize.
Is that right? or
yeah, it's right. It's also very personal actually like for example
my mom, she does not really look at the picture anyway, she closes her eyes and prays
but she still has the image in front of her?
No, she just closes her eyes.
Okay, she closes her eyes and prays
because
so she has arthritis she can't sit down, so she sits on a chair and she just prays.
Okay
what about yourself?
I pray looking at the God
so I look at the God and I think I close my eyes
it's very
Yeah, personal
personal and it just happens
wait a minute brother just
we are just discussing about the basics. Yeah, just bear with us please here.
So the reason I asked about the idol worship is because in Islam that is something which is prohibited
completely like utterly, to have images of god is something prohibited not only in Islam also in
Christianity I believe and obviously in Judaism as well so the what we consider the Abrahamic faith
you know because all three religions they consider Abraham to be a prophet of God and they have a common
what do you say, a common understanding and there is a lot of commonality between these three faiths.
So in all of these three faiths, I mean creating images of God is something that is completely prohibited,
but I think in Hinduism it's a big part, it plays a big part from what I've seen.
so the reason why this is
what I think and I'm pretty sure the reason why we have pictures is so that
you feel more connected in the sense you have a picture in your head
it's always like that, right! so if I think of a tree pops up in my hand ,right!
yes
if I think of a well
or something like Goddess Lakshmi
you try to associate which is more easy for you to think of what you
what are, you know!
what you want to pray about
you know, I think these are shortcuts.
But these pictures are man-made, aren't they? No one has seen any of these Gods or Goddesses.
They have just
because I've also seen different pictures.
Yeah.
Yes, so it's kind of
symbolic
yeah
so Parvati will have a trident you know, so it's all symbolic
whatever they hold
yeah
it's not like the facial features are going to be the same for everybody.
This is that the things that they hold, the kind of
the color of the dress they wear, it's all symbolic.
Symbolic!
Yeah.
Okay.
But it's not compulsory for you to pray in front of a picture or an idol,
it's not compulsory. It's just for something for you to focus on.
Yeah, you see we believe in meditation, right! so we think even closing your eyes is prayer like
as long as you are praying you can do it in any form.
Okay, interesting I mean what about
the different, I don't know. Do you still have caste system in Hinduism
Yes, we do have
you still do
but
that is started from really long time back
right
we still do have costs.
What does it mean?
I mean for the viewers who don't know.
So it started with the occupation you were doing like long long long back.
so there
the kind of work that they were involved in, okay.
all four kinds of people I think so the ones were kings, like the you know kings and so they were called
brahmanas and there were...
no actually the kings were not the brahmans
the kings were Shatria Aasan
Yeah, Shatrias
yeah, so the Brahmans are educated, scholarly.
Yeah, scholar and there were workers.
Yeah, that comes later. So you got the Brahmans then you have the shatrias are the warriors.
The warrior clan and obviously the kings as well.
Yeah.
And then you had the Shudras.
Yeah
because the Shudras are the lowest, isn't it?
Which is like the untouchables even, I think.
The thing is, it started with the occupation.
They were all
yeah, they were all restricted earlier, but I think it got translated in a really bad way
with the coming generations and it just started leading you know you say this person is not good enough
and the other person, his status is bigger. So it got translated in a very wrong way.
Okay
so with regards to for example, is it true that the brahmins do not even touch the Shudras?
the lowest class.
So sensible people don't believe such things.
What do you mean sensible people?
Because as far as I know the Brahmins are the most educated amongst these
not anymore.
When you go to college
you will be educated I'm not a Brahman
you can go to the college, I am educated.
My friend could be a Brahman,
but she's not as educated as me
so it's not
I think what I meant by educated is in terms of
the religious books.
Not really,
No.
So they know the language, they know Sanskrit, they are the ones who
who maintain these different books and rules and so on.
Not so much.
No not anymore?!
Okay.
Maybe things have changed because if I remember correctly
everybody has access to the same stuff these days
because of the internet, so anybody can be good at anything.
Okay, but why would they
why would they have this rule or is it written in the way does that they cannot touch
the Shudras? The lower cost? or is this something that they made up?
It wasn't like that.
It was an occupation, so every occupation was respected. Nobody, it was never meant for
the Shudras to be disrespected in such a way, but I think as humans we also have a bad side to us
we tend to think we are more important than the other or something like that, but it got translated in a really bad way.
You know, whatever it was
but it's still there, isn't it?
Exactly,
it's still there?
Yes, so that is something that we need to
so the Brahmans wouldn't marry anyone other than in their own?
That's what I said
yeah
there will always be a community, that is pretty much here
and you know, they don't really follow logic or reasoning.
There will be communities like that, but it is changing for the good.
Well, I don't know if it's changed I think
I think it's changing.
The Brahmans still wouldn't marry someone outside the caste, right?
No, not at all.
No, not anymore?
No.
Okay, because I remember seeing ads in the paper where
they said they would only marry from the caste.
Yeah, there are people like that, but
the majority of the people are not like that for sure.
Okay, no that's good if it's changing
and I think the British had a huge part to play in that, isn't it?
Really, they wanted to split India, right! and it was divide and ruled
No no, that's different, yeah. Obviously, on a political...
Yeah, but even when it
came to people personally, they definitely, I think they have did that approach.
Because their point was to have a monopoly of you know, basically a rule over people
and how could you do that by making them fight.
So I'm not sure about that history.
Because it caused a lot of
unwanted what do you say, problems in the society in that.
Maybe it's for their own what he say,
for the ease of their own administration and so on.
Yeah, I'm not sure about it,
it could have happened.
Okay, sorry you wanted to say something
I got a small,
I'm sorry for interruption
Yeah.
I mean two questions, you answered the first one
about the system.
My question is about, what is the concept of aathma, I think you know aathma
Aathma!
Yeah yeah.
the soul.
The soul is the concept, what is the concept aathma? And what is the concept of death in Hinduism?
I think he's pointing towards reincarnation.
I mean reincarnation for women...
That is one of the questions I had for you, yeah! because
Aathma, where's aathma?
As far as I know
it's like, they say
I'm not sure where this comes from
but they say you keep on
re taking, rebirth until your life's purpose is fulfilled
until Mukta.
Yeah, until you gain
Yeah, so mukta is basically free from,
free from this cycle.
Free from the cycle of birth and rebirth.
Yeah.
So birth and death is
so it's birth, death and rebirth. This is the reincarnation cycle that the Hindus believe in.
And they believe that one of the main
correct me if I'm wrong, one of the main objectives of
every human being, at least in the Hindu faith is to free themselves from this cycle of birth and rebirth
and the only way they can achieve this is by being a good human being, a good person and
I don't know, I mean this is what I heard maybe you can elaborate on that.