While Hindus believe many diverse and exotic things, there are several bedrock concepts on which virtually all concur. All Hindus worship one Supreme Reality, though they call it by many names, and teach that all souls will ultimately realize the truth of the Vedas and Āgamas. Hindus believe that there is no eternal hell, no damnation. They concur that there is no intrinsic evil. All is good. All is God. In contrast, Western faiths postulate a living evil force, embodied in Satan, that directly opposes the will of God.§
Hindus believe that the universe was created out of God and is permeated by Him—a Supreme Being who both is form and pervades form, who creates, sustains and destroys the universe only to recreate it again in unending cycles. Hindus accept all genuine spiritual paths—from pure monism, which concludes that “God alone exists,” to theistic dualism, which asks, “When shall I know His Grace?” Each soul is free to find his own way, whether by devotion, austerity, meditation, yoga or selfless service (sevā). Hinduism’s three pillars are temple worship, scripture and the guru-disciple tradition. Hinduism strongly declares the validity of the three worlds of existence and the myriad Gods and devas residing within them. Festivals, pilgrimage, chanting of holy hymns and home worship are dynamic practices. Love, nonviolence, good conduct and the law of dharma define the Hindu path. Hinduism explains that the soul reincarnates until all karmas are resolved and God Realization is attained.§
Hindus wear the sectarian marks, called tilaka, on their foreheads as sacred symbols, distinctive insignia of their heritage. Hinduism is a mystical religion, leading devotees to personally experience its eternal truths within themselves, finally reaching the pinnacle of consciousness where man and God are forever one. They prefer cremation of the body upon death, rather than burial, believing that the soul lives on and will inhabit a new body on Earth.§
While Hinduism has many sacred scriptures, all sects ascribe the highest authority to the Vedas and Āgamas, though their Āgamas differ somewhat. Hinduism’s nearly one billion adherents have tens of thousands of sacred temples and shrines, mostly in India, but now located in every community of the global village where Hindus have settled. Its spiritual core is its holy men and women—millions of sādhus, yogīs, swāmīs, vairāgīs, saints and satgurus who have dedicated their lives to full-time service, devotion and God Realization, and to proclaiming the eternal truths of the Sanātana Dharma.§
What Do Most Hindus Believe?§
There are nine beliefs, or śraddhā, which though not exhaustive offer a simple summary of Hindu spirituality. §
- Hindus believe in a one, all-pervasive Supreme Being who is both immanent and transcendent, both Creator and Unmanifest Reality.
- Hindus believe in the divinity of the Vedas, the world’s most ancient scripture, and venerate the Āgamas as equally revealed. These primordial hymns are God’s word and the bedrock of Sanātana Dharma, the eternal religion which has neither beginning nor end.
- Hindus believe that the universe undergoes endless cycles of creation, preservation and dissolution.
- Hindus believe in karma, the law of cause and effect by which each individual creates his own destiny by his thoughts, words and deeds.
- Hindus believe that the soul reincarnates, evolving through many births until all karmas have been resolved, and moksha, spiritual knowledge and liberation from the cycle of rebirth, is attained. Not a single soul will be eternally deprived of this destiny.
- Hindus believe that divine beings exist in unseen worlds and that temple worship, rituals, sacraments as well as personal devotionals create a communion with these devas and Gods.
- Hindus believe that a spiritually awakened master, or satguru, is essential to know the Transcendent Absolute, as are personal discipline, good conduct, purification, pilgrimage, self-inquiry and meditation.
- Hindus believe that all life is sacred, to be loved and revered, and therefore practice ahiṁsā, “noninjury.”
- Hindus believe that no particular religion teaches the only way to salvation above all others, but that all genuine religious paths are facets of God’s Pure Love and Light, deserving tolerance and understanding.
World Religions at a Glance§
We list here how the number of Hindus compares with other religions and provide a map indicating where Hindus reside in the world. Main statistical sources: World Christian Encyclopedia and the Worldwatch Institute.§
About This Edition of Dancing with Śiva §
In this sixth edition, we have happily been able to present for you all of that beautiful artwork in full color, and in a larger, hardbound format. Much of the art was redone for this special legacy edition. S. Rajam created new art for the Children’s Primer, and artist A. Manivelu provided new versions of the Timeline illustrations, the comparative religions symbols in the Truth Is One resource, and of the Śaiva symbols that appear on the chapter title pages. §
For the fifth edition, I instructed my sannyāsins to completely redo the artwork. You will see that they have combined traditional images with computerized technology to produce a unique art form that is the best of the East and the best of the West. They also replaced each of the 165 reproductions of Rājput paintings, chosen for the earlier edition from a vast collection of art from many eras and many artists. Only a few of those paintings faithfully described our South Indian heritage. Now they all do, for we discovered in Mylapore, South India, a remarkable, never-before-seen collection of paintings composed over a 50-year period by a most wonderful man. Tiru S. Rajam, now 82, is both a musician and an artist, and throughout this edition and on the cover you will find his sensitive, detailed and unique depiction of South Indian culture and spirituality. His contribution is the most significant change to this newest edition. §
In the 1993 fourth edition of Dancing with Śiva, Hinduism’s Contemporary Catechism, Hindu Dharma Samakālīna Praśnottaram, the questions and answers were brought into the ancient form of terse ślokas. §
In olden days in India, before paper was invented, ślokas were written on palm leaves (olai) in the South, scribed into the tough surface, or written on specially-prepared birch bark (bhūrja pattra) in the North. The unbound pages were small, about two inches high and six or eight inches wide. Verses written on them were usually uniform in length, two, three or four lines. To carry forward the refined finesse of those Vedic times, the ślokas and bhāshyas of this modern catechism have been composed to precise lengths—each śloka exactly four lines long and each bhāshya exactly twenty-one lines, not a millimeter more or less.§
Then I brought in hundreds of verses from Hindu scripture, mostly from the Vedas. There is a scriptural quote for each bhāshya, and at the end of every chapter, or maṇḍala, there are two full pages of scripture elaborating the subject under discussion. We are hopeful that this anthology of hymns will inspire readers to dive deeper into the beauties of the Vedas and Āgamas on their own.§
We then expanded by several hundred the number of Sanskrit terms in the book, and incorporated the diacritical marks into the special Minion family of fonts. We typeset the main Lexicon entries in Devanāgarī, with the able editing assistance of several Sanskrit scholars. In the Lexicon, we worked ardently to more fully amplify the essential concepts so briefly presented in the terse ślokas and bhāshyas. Thus, over the months, what began as a simple glossary of terms steadily grew. The result is really an encyclopedic dictionary. Many terms can be defined in various ways, according to one’s philosophical perspective. By studying the terms as defined in this Lexicon, one can better understand their meaning in the body of the text.§
Next, we assembled a timeline, a 42-page chronology of ancient Bhārat and modern India, a record of Hindu events placed in the context of world historic landmarks, to which eminent scholars submitted key facts. I believe this chronology is the only one of its kind and encourage teachers to teach it and students to study it to understand the way Hindu history flows alongside the other great human civilizations. §
Last but not least, we added a new section called “Truth Is One, Paths Are Many,” drawn from our international magazine, HINDUISM TODAY. This 60-page resource offers a brief summary of the beliefs and paths of attainment of the world’s major religions, faiths and philosophies and several point-counterpoints, including a comparison of Eastern and Western thought. For the past ten years it has been widely used as an educational tool in universities and various interfaith gatherings, and I felt it should definitely be part of this book. The Timeline, Lexicon and Truth Is One are each complete studies unto themselves. §
One of the limitations we encountered was how to speak of the genderless God without implying that the Divine is either man or woman. Working through the constraints of the English language, we just didn’t know what to do with the words he, she, him, her, hers and his in reference to God and the Gods. To speak of God in the neuter form, It, seemed an inferior solution, for that indicates a cold and indifferent Deity. Another possibility was to speak of God as She and He alternately. But this would require also using God and Goddess alternately, since God itself is a masculine term. English seems to offer no reasonable way around the use of masculine pronouns, so, reluctantly, we have referred to God and Gods in mostly masculine terms. One consolation is that this problem also exists in the original Sanskrit, and in fact in all ancient and modern languages with grammatical gender categories, so we emerged from the dilemma by accepting the precedent set by the Vedas and Āgamas to describe God.§
In producing this modern catechism, or praśnottaram (literally, “questions and answers”), we kept in mind the need to provide resources so that Hindu institutions and communities around the globe could have, at their fingertips, authentic teachings from which they could locally develop classes and courses and various kinds of study. We encourage scholars, paṇḍitas, swāmīs and elders everywhere to work with us in translating Dancing with Śiva into many of the world’s more than 3,000 languages. As I wrote these words in late April of 1997, one of my āchāryas was in Moscow, invited there to celebrate the first printing of the Russian edition. That edition was sold out and a second Russian edition was printed in the year 2000, marking, perhaps, a new era for sincere seekers in one of the world’s largest nations.§
Ways to Study Dancing with Śiva§
It is our belief that a full study of this catechism will provide a basic understanding of the Hindu religion as it is lived today. We have taught this wisdom for over forty years in many countries, and we know that it is competent to change the lives of people, to bring them closer to their inner Divinity, to strengthen husband-and-wife relationships, cement family unity and establish strong, unbreakable connections with God and the Gods. The key is study, by which we do not mean mere recitation, but living the life described in our venerable traditions. There are seven ways this book can be routinely studied, individually or in groups.§
- There are 155 ślokas. An ideal way to study the Catechism is to take one śloka and its accompanying bhāshya each day. Study it, meditate on it. Apply it to your own life. Then move on to the next. This will give a daily study of over five months, which can be repeated approximately 2.3 times to make a year of study. It can be repeated year after year, beginning with śloka one on the first day of the year.
- The twelve parts, called upanishads, in this catechism, one for each month of the year, may be used as lecture notes or personal study for the month. Each of the twelve is a completely different subject. An upanishad is a collection of one, two or three maṇḍalas.
- The thirty-one chapters, called maṇḍalas, each containing five ślokas, may be studied one each day for a month and then repeated time and time again.
- Another way to study the book is the “subject study,” choosing concepts which interest you and following their threads throughout the book. For example, using the index, one could take the word soul and explore its various references—the soul’s creation, its evolution, old souls and young souls. This can be even more interesting if you explore the Lexicon references as well. Tracing the meaning of terms in this way through the Index and Lexicon is a wonderful tool for lectures, classes, teaching of children and your own personal enjoyment.
- The fifth way is to read and meditate on the profound Vedic verses, which are found, more than any other scripture, in this praśnottaram. They are as alive today as the day they were spoken thousands of years ago. Is it really what they say that stirs the higher consciousness, or is it what they do to the inner currents of the body as they stimulate spirituality?
- Another way is to simply read the book, cover to cover.
- A final way, since this book has been magically impressed into the ākāśa, is to hold it in your hands and absorb its knowledge or put it under your pillow at night.
How to Teach Dancing with Śiva§
For those serious about conducting regular lectures or classes on Dancing with Śiva, Hinduism’s Contemporary Catechism, we have created the following simple guide. This approach has various benefits: 1) it gives you a systematic way of presenting the material, without repeating yourself; 2) it relieves you from having to decide what you are going to talk about when lecture or class time comes around and 3) it creates a powerful harmony of minds around the globe among all who are teaching and learning the subject matter at the same time. §
As the basis of a short talk, the śloka of the day can be chosen. For a longer discourse, you might discuss an entire maṇḍala (containing five ślokas and bhāshyas, and two pages of scriptural verses). So, for example, if you are giving a lecture on the 12th day of the month, your subject matter would be one or more of the five ślokas of maṇḍala 12, “The Four Dharmas.” These five ślokas and their bhāshyas create a complete concept and are more than ample for a well-rounded lecture or seminar.§
In addition, the art and sacred symbols can be used when explaining concepts to children, adding a visual dimension to their young understanding. The entire book can be used as a coloring book as it is, or by making enlarged copies of the black-and-white photos on a photocopy machine. Children enjoy animation, and more adventuresome parents may wish to turn portions into an educational video series for their community or nation. Children love toys and games, and interesting charades and memorization games can be developed by inventive parents and teachers. After all, it is in giving our tradition to the children that we assure its perpetuation into the future. §
The 1992 Bali Conference of the World Hindu Federation of Nepal, which I attended, decreed that a simple presentation of the minimal duties for parents to pass on Sanātana Dharma to their children be outlined and spread worldwide. We volunteered to take on the challenge. With that in mind, in the 1993 edition of Dancing with Śiva we added a new resource section called “A Children’s Primer,” which includes Hinduism A to Z in an illustrated and fun way. For older youth, we offered a more mature summary, a traditional explanation of five main precepts and practices for parents to teach their young ones, and a simple, illustrated presentation of the essential saṁskāras, Hindu sacramental rites of passage.§
This textbook gives an organized approach as to what to say to the youth and the adults of our religion, and how to explain our complex heritage to those of other faiths. It also gives truth-seekers who have discovered the mystical realities a coherent and complete philosophical context through which they can understand and continue to pursue the often unbidden experiences they encounter. It validates their inner realizations and gives them the confidence to persevere.§
Awake! Arise! §
As you proceed through Dancing with Śiva, Hinduism’s Contemporary Catechism, Hindu Dharma Samakālīna Praśnottaram, you will come to see that it contains a new presentation of very ancient knowledge. You will soon realize that, somewhere within you, you already know these truths. You will find yourself traveling back in your memory, perhaps several lives, and remembering that you have studied them before in the same way that you are studying them now. §
A new breed of souls is even now coming up in the world. They are fearless because they are strong. They do not fear death, ill-health or lack of knowledge. Their only qualification is that they love and worship God and the Gods. They have no magic formula. They are selling nothing. They need nothing. They are who they are. You may be one of them. §
So, proceed with confidence. Success is assured. You cannot fail if bhakti is integrated with jñāna, Siddhānta with Vedānta, Āgamas with Vedas, and Hindu Dharma with everyday life. Yea, this is the secure path, the safe path, leading to knowledge, experience and recognition, then realization, of your true, divine, eternal Self. Awake, arise and stop not until the goal is reached! It is no accident that you have found this book and the treasures it contains.§
Love and blessings to you from this and inner worlds,§
Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
162nd Jagadāchārya of the Nandinātha
Sampradāya’s Kailāsa Paramparā
Guru Mahāsannidhānam
Kauai Aadheenam, Hawaii
Satguru Pūrṇimā, July 4, 2001
Hindu year of Vṛisha, 5103§