Understanding religions: Hinduism

The Campus Christian Center had an event on understanding Hinduism on Tuesday evening.

The event was hosted by the campus organization PROWL, People Reaching Out With Love, and was the last of three meetings on understanding different religions. These events included Judaism, Muslim and Hinduism faiths.

Numerically, Hinduism is the world's third largest religion, said Jeff Ruff, religious studies professor.

"When we talk about Hinduism it just doesn't work in certain kinds of ways the same way that we might think of Judaism or Christianity working because actually Hinduism is an umbrella term for a bunch of different religions," Ruff said.

Hinduism is more like a family of religions than just a single religion, Ruff said. Hinduism also has no founder. 

"Hinduism has no first person," Ruff said. "Hinduism existed as an ethnic tradition back before recorded history. So really it is a designation of a place, it means the collection of the religions that come from the Indian subcontinent."

He said that if a Hindu is going to practice their religion, part of the practice is to go to sacred places.  Those sacred places in India are often natural such as rivers, hot springs or sacred grows of trees.

"Worship activity by a Hindu has an individual component," Ruff said.

He said that while Christians would often say, "I'm going to church," a Hindu would very often say "I'm going for Darshan."  Darshan means to see and be seen by God.

During a visit to the temple or house of worship, one brings a gift and washes their hands, feet and face outside then take off their shoes before entering, Ruff said.

"If it's anything before the modern period, it will just be a small room.  It's an intimate, homey environment and you ring the bell before you go inside."

There would be a priest inside when visiting the house of worship, he said.

Ruff said if the house of worship is a more traditional place, it will probably bring food, flowers or candy.

"The priest is standing there with a tray and will put something in your mouth," Ruff said. "It will often be an herb like basil. In central India it's almost always sugar and basil together.  Then he'll dip his finger in a little bowl that has dye or ash in it, and he marks the forehead."

Ruff said the mark shows that you have been to worship that day.

"In the modern world that turned into cosmetics and as an identity marker," he said. "There is also the sort of notion that would be similar to Christianity that the grace sort of comes freely from the power of the god.

"I always like to use the example of the radio station, which is just broadcasting all the time in all directions, but you have to tune into it," Ruff said. "For Hindus you tune into that by doing religious actions."

He said there is one holiday in the fall, usually around October, that is probably as big for Hindus as Christmas is for Christians.  There are a couple holidays in the winter and spring that are comparable in ways to Easter.

Chandler Gearhart, senior business management major from Roanoke, Va., has attended all three of the meetings about understanding different religions.

Gearhart said he couldn't choose a favorite meeting because he enjoyed them all.

Although he enjoyed the meetings and thought they were a good idea to get people more familiar with religions aside from their own, they did not make him consider converting to one of the religions, he said.

Kate McCloy can be contacted at mccloy@marshall.edu.