is there an essense of Hinduism?

Question

I mean I gather their are alot of holy books and quite a long time of tradition; longer than any other widely held religion that comes to my mind.

(I dont count Wicca because of the discontinuity; i.e, the religion was killed and then revived. It does not have a provable unbrokenm tradtion. Its still a valid religion but ...)

with respect to the wiccan thing; i heard of forest coven thing but its conjecture.

The closest Euro-Pagan sect I'm aware of were the Druids in the isle of St. Kilde in Scotland. There were "encouraged" to leave by christian missionaries in the 1930s. That is too bad.

Answer 1

Yes there is an "Essence".It is called Vedhaantha.Vedham means Religious Text. Antham means "Essence".The "Essence" is given in Brahma Sutram in about 564 aphorisms like Algebric formulae(Sutram)-The first Sutram is "Athaatho Brahma Gigjnaasa".There are about 14 commentaries(Gloss=Bhaashyam) by the Inteluctual Giants of collosal,gargantuan dimentions.No other Religion is having such a scitillating intellectual religious text like Brahma Sutram.The most brilliant commentary(Gloss) is that of Aacharya{(=the great teacher(Guru)} Shankara,whom Pandit Jawharlal Nehru described in his book-Dicovery of India- as "one of the most brilliant intellectuals the world has ever produced.Achaarya Sankara lived only for 32 years.He has authored so many religious texts in that short period,which all the Hindu saints put together have NOT produced. .

Answer 2

You should study the holy books to get a feel of the essence of Hinduism.

And Sprout is essentially correct in what she said. I second what you said to Jaun R., however I disagree with her on one point: all Wicca is not considered an initiatory tradition. There are two main traditions within Wicca: the British Traditional Wicca, and then there's the American Wicca, in which it is possible to be a Wiccan without being initiated. Called by some Neo-Wicca, but I perfer to drop the Neo- part!

Answer 3

A small point;

Wicca was only founded within the 1950's (or at least brought to light at that time, perhaps founded a few decades earlier during Gardner's time within the New Forest Coven prior to the witchcraft laws being lifted in England) it has not died since then and has an unbroken line from the New Forest Coven to it's present day practitioners.
This is how Wicca is defined, as an initiate-only, oath-bound, lineage priesthood, and so without that line a person or persons are not defined as or accepted as Wicca within BTW. In fact if that tradition had been broken we would not have Wicca at all as its purpose is to protect the integrity of the mysteries it keeps by oath amongst those initiated into Wicca.

Not relevant, but thought I'd point that out anyway.

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Edit to reply to Juan R with some points;

Wicca is as valid a religion as any other religion, regardless of the founder. Wicca do not claim that they were the first religion of man given as their religion is not even a century old – you may also want to learn what the word 'religion' means.
The gods of Wicca are theirs, as you are not Wicca then you would not have any way to know what gods it is that Wicca follow or the stories surrounding them to argue otherwise as their god's identities are oath-bound, thus Wicca do not discuss them with those not initiated into BTW.

When I turn my TV on in the morning it goes on because of power, electricity, not a mythical deity – I don't see how claiming power is something from a divine being is any different from magic, this is of course ignoring the fact that the magic that Wicca work is based not just in belief but also a working knowledge of psychology, herb lore, and science, which is why it takes such a long time for Seekers to become Wicca and to work up the degree system, they do not work on fairy tale make believe.

Just because someone says they are Wicca does not make them Wicca, and mystic wicks is not Wicca in any way shape or form, at very best it is Neo-wicca, at worst this is what we in the Pagan world call 'Fluffy Bunny'. To clarify the term 'fluffy bunny' means a person who is naive and wilfully ignorant of Wicca, one whom claims to be Wicca without following the priesthood, or a person with an overemphasis on new age practices, thus Wicca are not "fluffy bunnies".

Educate yourself before mouthing off your ignorant prejudices please.

Sorry rostov but I really felt it had to be said.

Answer 4

I did get interested in Hinduism for a brief time as it is one of the most sane major religions of today but I dont want to get into that whole hindu culture and be alienated in it.

Wicca is garbage! It is NOT valid. just like that other poster said it was invented by Gardner.

They have a ludicrous claim that it was the first religion of man! the first religions were shamanic and very primitive.

They also claim that all other gods are theirs. They are femenist fluffy bunnies! They always make polytheists (I dont like "pagan") look like idiots! They make up stories about gods that never happened. I have great respect for Greek recons and such but only RECONS because they are educated, traditional, and rational. RECONS are not idiotic neo-pagans.

Wiccans believe they have all sorts of magical powers. Magic is not real, power is granted only by the grace of a god or other entity. I even heard of a wican girl claiming her boyfriend was possesed by her PET SNAKE's ghost.

Please, if you want to see how idiotic neo-pagans are go to www.mysticwicks.com and look at their stories.

Answer 5

If you are interested in Hinduism I strongly advise you to study the most elevated with the topmost essence part which is called Vaisnavism. Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita As It Is (there are many versions of Bhagavad-gita, just one of Bhagavad-gita As It Is).

Answer 6

sophisticated stuff. look using a search engine. just that could help!