As one religious scholar notes, “Hinduism is not strictly a religion. It is based on the practice of Dharma, the code of life”. Personally, Hinduism offers greater meaning to existence than conventional religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Hinduism represents a quest for knowledge and awareness that is non-separatist and universal. The worldview encompassed by Hindu Dharma is universal because it allows for different individuals at different levels of spiritual growth to approach the same goal, (Ultimate Reality or Brahman). Embracing the enormous diversity in the universe on all levels, Hindu Dharma is universal at every level of belief and spiritual development, as opposed to religions that are only universal in certain aspects of belief or spirituality. As Pandit argues, “A religion is universal if its appeal is not restricted to any particular segment of humanity, religious group, nation, race, class, country or age. All religions have universal aspects, but all aspects of Hindu Dharma are universal”.
Another reason Hindu Dharma appeals to my perspective of life is because of its interconnectivity. In Hinduism, the individual is viewed as spirit or soul (atman) contained in the physical body. Hindus view individual separation as an illusion and all life as one enormous entity. Every soul (atman) is connected to every other living thing. All things are living and interconnected so individual separation is impossible. As Will Durant explains, “An individual is not really an individual, he is a link in the chain of life, a page in the chronicle of a soul; a species is not really a separate species, for the souls in these flowers or fleas may yesterday have been, or tomorrow may be, the spirits of men; all life is one”.
The main reason for the difference between Hindu Dharma and traditional religions stems from its origins. Hindu Dharma does not use a lone individual or text from which...