Insight into Hinduism: A Conversation with a Hindu Girl

08 October 2018

Recently, I came across a girl at a coffee shop who belonged to India, and I asked her
if she would join me for a small conversation based on our religious differences. During the
conversation with her, I came to know that she was a Hindu and followed Hinduism. The
following report gives an insight into my conversation with her about the various aspects of
her religion that I got to know. In addition, it compares and contrasts the information gained
with that of my religious beliefs.
One of the most amazing fact that I got to know from our conversation was that in
Hinduism, an individual is named as per their horoscope. The person I had met, her name
meant "new" in the Sanskrit language. The very first thought that comes to one’s mind while
conversing with a Hindu is that "why there are so many numbers of Gods in their religion."
The same question popped into my mind and I put it forward to her, to which she replied that
Hindus also worship only one supreme God. The only difference is that the prayers are done
in different forms and individuals belonging to the different cultures follow different deities,
who are more or less reflection of the one Supreme Being only. Hindus believe in
worshipping of one's God, without denying the other Gods. Some of the Gods that are
followed by Hindus were Lord Shiva, Lord Krishna, Lord Mahavira, Goddess Shakti and
many more. These deities are further worshipped in various forms across the different
cultures. For instance, Lord Krishna is worshipped both as a childhood version and an older
version (Narayanan, 2018). Thus, the above depicts the varied kinds of devotion of
individuals towards their religion and culture.
My next question was centered on the fact as to what do Hindus read in terms of
religious scripture; as Catholics read the Bible as learnings of the God. I learned that Hindus
have "Vedas" that includes the knowledge of the universe and the same have been written
ages ago. Ancient Hindus were well versed in the Sanskrit language and the Vedas are
written in the same (Renou, 2016). The Vedas are not only a description of the sacred
readings but also possess the knowledge with respect to various facets of life. There are four
main Vedas that are further subdivided into a number of other religious readings. Thus,
Hindus too read religious books, as we read the Bible.
Another striking concept that I came across, during the conversation was that the
Hindus are a strong believer of “Karma.” We often read and hear the word Karma. By karma,
it is meant that what goes around, comes around (Rodrigues, 2017). In simpler terms, what
one gives to the universe, in terms of energy, thoughts or actions, the universe returns it back.