Unity in Diversity
During my school days, I often wondered why we Hindus had different beliefs amongst each other. In some cases one teaching contradicts with the other. The question that came to my mind was, “How come our religion is pluralistic while others are not?”
A closer study into other religions revealed to me that this was not true. The other major religions of the world are not sect-less. They have more than one belief on the nature of worship and the path of enlightenment. Let’s look at each major religion briefly.
Christianity – 3 major sects: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestants and other sects which bring a total of 33,830 major and minor denominations in Christianity.
Islam – 2 major sects, Sunnis, followers of Prophet Mohamed’s political successors and Shiites, followers of his family successors.
Buddhism - 3 major sects: Hinayana, practiced mainly in
There are 4 major denominations in Hinduism; Saivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism and multiple sects. All these denominations have three beliefs in common which are the belief of karma and dharma, the belief in reincarnation and the belief of all-pervasiveness of God with the Vedas as the highest scriptural authority. Hindus all over the world are united in this.
Still, united as they are with the common beliefs, following multiple denominations in Hinduism can be confusing. I once asked a well known Guru about the diversity in our religion and how confusing it was, to which he replied, “It’s only confusing if you do not choose one denomination. A study of a little of Vaishnavism, a little of Saivism--that can be very confusing.”
Our point is that if someone is serious about studying Hinduism, there is a need to choose one of its denominations.
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