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nithesh_123's review against another edition
4.0
Tharoor manages to convey his ideas about Hinduism without attacking the RSS or the BJP. Though he spends a large amount of time on explaining his interpretation of his faith, he takes potshots against 'Hindutvawadis' in every alternate page. It is garnished with quotes from Gandhi, Vivekananda and other contemporary thinkers. He refers to C Rajagopalachari as a quintessential liberal Hindu. But the new idea he brings to the table in this book caught my. He calls Hinduism as the ideal religion for the 21st century.
"In one sense Hinduism is almost the ideal faith for the twenty first century: a faith without apostasy, where there are no heretics to cast out because there has never been any such thing as a Hindu heresy."
"In the twenty-first century, Hinduism has many of the attributes of a universal religion - a religion that is personal and individualistic, privileges the individual and does not subordinate one to a collectivity; a religion that grants and respects complete freedom to the believer to find his or her own answers to the true meaning of life; a religion that offers a wide range of choice in religious practice, even in regard to the nature and form of the formless god; a religion that places great emphasis on one's mind, and values one's capacity for reflection, intellectual enquiry and self-study; a religion that distances itself from dogma and holy writ, that is minimally prescriptive and yet offers an abundance of options, spiritual and philosophical texts and social and cultural practices to choose from."
I agree with him completely. He has helped me look at my own faith from a different vantage point. This earns him a 4 star rating.
"In one sense Hinduism is almost the ideal faith for the twenty first century: a faith without apostasy, where there are no heretics to cast out because there has never been any such thing as a Hindu heresy."
"In the twenty-first century, Hinduism has many of the attributes of a universal religion - a religion that is personal and individualistic, privileges the individual and does not subordinate one to a collectivity; a religion that grants and respects complete freedom to the believer to find his or her own answers to the true meaning of life; a religion that offers a wide range of choice in religious practice, even in regard to the nature and form of the formless god; a religion that places great emphasis on one's mind, and values one's capacity for reflection, intellectual enquiry and self-study; a religion that distances itself from dogma and holy writ, that is minimally prescriptive and yet offers an abundance of options, spiritual and philosophical texts and social and cultural practices to choose from."
I agree with him completely. He has helped me look at my own faith from a different vantage point. This earns him a 4 star rating.
gauravwyd's review
5.0
I think this book will concern all Indians regardless of their religion. What I want to illustrate with this statement is, we all know what these so-called "Hindutvavadis" are to trying to achieve in a polytheistic country like India. This book would basically give you an insight at what Hinduism truly is and how contradicting the actual Hinduism is from the one that these self-proclaimed Hindu-Sanskriti protectors believe in. Not only the book argues about the true meaning of Hinduism, but it also discusses why and how Hindusim changed and adapted new beliefs over the centuries, how Hindus and people of various religions lived with harmony (particularly Muslims) together. What I'm essentially trying to convey is that besides pursuing what Hindusim is the book will also try and help you understand how in 21st-century people are spreading petty bigotry and how they have distorted and skewed a pluralist religious philosophy in the process of instrumentalizing it as a political idealogy and this immensely mortifies me as an Indian and a born Hindu even though I'm non-religious.
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