All About Hinduism

Complex and nuanced discussions about gender roles, stereotypes and expectations, the varieties of sexual attraction and social expectations — and the alphabet soup of identity categories that has emerged in recent years — is something that in the Hindu Dharma Traditions and in the societies out of which these traditions have emerged has occurred for centuries and centuries.Missed the first series of episodes of All About Hinduism? Start here on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In some religious traditions, the person who overseas services and rituals, advises members of the community on spiritual or social matters, knows the history of the tradition, studies scripture, or dedicates their life to full-time religious pursuit is the same person — or at least some of those functions all overlap. In Hinduism is generally doesn’t work like that. Missed the first series of episodes of All About Hinduism? Start here on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All of the world’s religions have internal divisions, sometimes deep ones. Hinduism too has internal sub-divisions, though the differences between them are less contentious than in some other traditions, and are more a matter of preference in what forms of the Divine are the focus of veneration and contemplation.Missed the first series of episodes of All About Hinduism? Start here on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Worship is an old word, but one that doesn’t fully represent the ways in which Hindus honor the divine, whether in their homes or in temples.Missed the first series of episodes of All About Hinduism? Start here on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the underlying themes in the first series of episodes of All About Hinduism is that this spiritual tradition is often misunderstood by those people outside of it. Some of this misunderstanding is basic exposure to Hinduism and Hindus. But sometimes, we Hindus ourselves are unwittingly to blame. If we want non-Hindus to better understand Hinduism and we want to ourselves better understand Hinduism, the way in which we talk about Hinduism needs to change.Missed the first series of episodes of All About Hinduism? Start here on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you think of Nazis, white supremacists, the Holocaust, a rabble of Fred Perry-wearing white dudes marching in Charlottesville, Virginia chanting “Jews will not replace us”, we don’t blame you. If your primary source of knowledge about India is your average  high school textbook or mass market travel guideyou might also conjure up images of a group of light-skinned Aryans invading India in the hoary past and subjugating the darker skinned people already living there, the invaders imposing their beliefs and culture. In this episode we explain to you the connection between those two sets of imagery and how both are hugely off the mark. Related: That's So Hindu interview with Professor Lavanya Vemsani Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hinduism’s most basic ethical foundation — its guidelines, observances, and practices for living — are called yama and niyama. As most generally expressed, there are five of each. The yamas are often described as principles, while the niyamas are often called practices or observances.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite the fact that the word karma is arguably one of the most common Hindu concepts to have entered into casual usage in the Western world, it's a much understood topic, both overly complicated and sometimes overly simplified. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every culture marks moments in human life in some way. We honor and recognize those points where our experience of and place in society moves, through a doorway, passing from one room, as it were, to the next. In doing so, in making that passage, we become changed. In Hinduism these rites of passage, these sacraments, are called samskāra​. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hinduism does not one single book that all Hindu lineages turn to. Rather, Hinduism has a truly vast collection of ancient religious writings. Let’s sort it all out. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’d think that the origin of the word we use in English for the world’s third-largest religion would be pretty easy to sort out.  And certainly we’d be using the word for the world’s oldest religion that the billion people who ascribe to it themselves call it. Well, it’s not so simple when it comes to Hinduism. Though the word Hindu today refers to a self-identified follower of the religion Hinduism, as we go back in time it all becomes a bit more complicated.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to learn all about Hinduism, the world's oldest and third-largest religion? Like actually understand what karma is? Or what dharma means? Do you want to know what the sacred texts of Hinduism are? Or, maybe, you just want to know why Hindu women wear a dot on their forehead? Or, perhaps, if all Hindus vegetarian? If so, then All About Hinduism is just what you’ve been waiting for. We’ll give you an overview of Hinduism as a lived and contemporary spiritual path. We’ll explore the history of how Hinduism has come to be what it is today: the third-largest and oldest religious tradition in the world. We’ll also clear up some of the misconceptions out there about Hinduism, as well as unflinchingly address some of the more contentious issues in Hinduism’s past and present. Hosted by Mat McDermott and brought to you by the Hindu American Foundation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.