Hinduism: The oldest living religion In The world

Hinduism as we all know is said to be one of the oldest living religions of the world. So I wonder, as to what makes this religion survive for so long and so well??

Well first of all hinduism is not a religion but a way of living, a culture of the land and its inhabitants. Did you know that the term 'Hinduism' was coined by the Persians after the 'Indus - Sindhu' river?? For them all the people living on the other side of the Indus - Sindhu river were Hindus and hence their religion Hinduism.

There are many similarities between Hinduism & other Pagan religions. You travel from one place to other & Hinduism changes there. Some people worship 'The Goddess Kali' where as some worship 'The Goddess Saraswati'. Some worship 'Lord Ram' & some worship 'Lord Shiva'. Its all a personal choice, you see, no compulsion, we have so many Gods and Goddesses. Each have their own personality, character, powers & weaknesses. Now isn't that like the normal world, each of us different, so naturally our divine protectors should be different to. This diversity helps us choose and believe better. There isn't one just one form of the supreme almighty but He/She exists in so many different forms, and you can pray to any of them any time you like.

This whole concept of so many Gods I feel makes the whole religion closer to our day to day lives. We get stuck on any moral situation, go look up in your 'Grantha' and you will definitely find a similar story to guide you.

You don't need to pray or perform rituals just because a priest tells you to do so. You can do it any time any way, in fact the greatest form of devotion towards your lord is doing your daily errands with total dedication and honesty.

Coming to the festivals, one can clearly see that they are harvest based, Holi, Diwali, Pongal etc, all are celebrated during the harvesting season, everyone is full of joy and happiness, can there be any better time to celebrate with our near & dear ones??

I believe the wide number of choices provided by hinduism, gives us all the option to personalise our faith in our own way, and that I believe is the secret to Hinduism's survival.  

In India you are either an engineer or a doctor or you are nothing

Let's admit it guys, as part of our great Indian culture, our parents directly or indirectly brain wash us into believing this, that you are either a doctor or an engineer or you are nothing.

Let's say we give into that pressure and go through the ordeals of preparing for IIT-JEE, AIEEE, AIPMT and all those state exams and what not, some of us lucky ones clear the exams & qualify for the top institutes.

Some get into the private institutes and some are backed up by their parents support (you know what I mean)

We all slog through our curriculum, which I must admit is the worst thing one can do. Me for example, I loved to code but after finishing my B.E (Computer Science) used to hate even the idea of coding, ya that's what our great education did to me! I still remember this one incident, I was coding a program I had written and the teacher came near me and saw it, the reaction to which was "You do the program which mam gave you, else I'll kick you out of the lab!!" That's the kind of teachers we have in the country, no wonder ppl just stop doing what they actually want. Ok that's the college part.

After my college days, I tried hard to find the job of a programmer when every one else was happy settling being a tester or being in the support team, yes that's the favourite thing you can do after finishing ur B.E in India. I got the job of a programmer but fate had a nice surprise for me. I was blessed with the best Boss & team one can hope for in the whole world, and as life progressed my career took a turn towards marketing which I liked so much better then coding. So I was always excited and energetic and oh being in a startup was exhilarating and I must add the perks of being at Microsoft Accelerator just added more sweetness to my whole experience, so yes I loved marketing and the world of startups. My family had its little doubts about me being in a startup and not pursuing a corporate infy/tcs types job as every other Tom, Dick & Harry was doing.

My company grew well and it was really good to be the part of the team and we made a $2million exit. Which all worked out very well.

So by now I had come to accept my life as an Online Marketeer and not a Programmer. To hone my skills, I chose to work at another startup. I chose E-commerce this time as I knew, all the things I lacked in my skill set, I will be able to learn and develop them here. Yes the hours are long and hard but even when I come home at the end of the day, I am not tired or brain dead, in fact I am still buzzing with lots of thoughts and ideas as to what I would do next, so in short one can say I am happy.

But my family is again pressurising me to look for a corporate job. Can't they see I am happy here. I have a good job, a good boss, a decent salary and most important of all, I AM HAPPY!

Then why are my parents again trying to push me towards this corporate job thingy???

When will this sad endless saga of "you are either an engineer or a doctor or you are nothing" end??

Are we forever doomed to sing
"Saari umar hum
Mar mar ke jee liye
Ek pal to ab humein jeene do
Jeene do"

When will our families realise that the type of life their child wants to live is his/her choice & if he/she is happy, then just let them be... 

Introduction

This is my blog where I will be posting my musings and experiences as a Young Indian Girl facing the challenges of being in this world and sharing my opinions of the things which touch my heart and mind. All the opinions are mine and are not meant to offend any one's sentiments or beliefs.