since so many people think it's okay to mock hindu beliefs and call it humor, here's a positive thread for people who want to know (more) about sanatan dharma (hinduism) and why it is NOT OKAY to be insulting towards our faith.

we, hindus, start any good work by praying to ganesha. and since y'all think it's okay to make fun of him coz it's your 'freedom of expression'.

Ganesha—our cute elephant god.
he is one of children's favorite gods. he is also known as vigna-harta, the remover of obstacles

he has only one tusk. it is believed that he broke one of his tusk to help sage vyasa write the mahabharata, one of the sacred epics in hinduism.
he also has a big, round belly and he loves to eat modak. (they're delicious)

ganesha is very friendly, witty and intelligent.

Core Beliefs Of Hinduisml/Four Aims of Hindus—
1) Dharma

2) Artha

3) Kama

4) Moksha

(The concepts are very vast, so I can't really explain them here. So I'll just briefly throw light at what they mean.)

Before the core beliefs. Hinduism doesn't have a rulebook. You do whatever you please and karma will take care of the rest.
Y'all already know what karma is. But the literal meaning of the word is 'action'.
So yeah, everything you do, good or bad, will have its consequences.

1) Dharma, contrary to what a lot of people believe, does not mean religion. Hinduism is NOT a religion, but now with so many diverse faiths, it has been identified as one. Sanatan Dharm means eternal way. 'Dharma' doesn't have any proper translation, but it can be understood as+

ethics and duties. Thus, for different people Dharma is different. For a doctor, it is to save people. The police's Dharma is to protect people (DUH!), an actor's Dharma is to act, a warrior's dharma is to fight.
And regardless of profession, a human's dharma is kindness.

2) Artha—literally means 'meaning' and 'wealth'. The pursuit of materialistic advantage and wealth. In the second and third stage of life, a human enjoys the material world and earns to feed their families. It must always be regulated by the superior aim of dharma, which means

wealth earned by or for immoral and wrong intentions is 'adharma', that means against dharma. There's only so much a human should do with power, and misusing it to exploit others will end up in his devastation. Mahabharata is about how a human's greed and exploitation of

power can really end up in destruction of his entire clan.

3) Kama(not karma), the third goal, means desire. It includes emotional attachments, sensory enjoyments and sexual pleasures. Basically, something that gives one desire to live. Art, dance, music, painting, nature, sex

and other forms of enjoyments are the part of Kama. However kama should be controlled or it leads to imbalance in life. Being blinded by kama makes us lustful, greedy and ignorant. And these things make us selfish. Selfishness is adharma. So respect others' feelings.(HOLA!)

Last of the goals we aim to is Moksha.
Moksha means liberty. Liberty from the cycle of life. One of our major beliefs is Reincarnation. Soul is eternal. Our ultimate goal is oneness with the god. (quote me with "which god?". y'all predictable af lmao)

"yALl wOrSHiP sO mAnY gOdS, wEiRdOs aHaHaHa."
lmao yes, it's called "meri marzi", which translates to MiNd yOuR oWn fXcKin' bUsiNeSs aHaHaHa.

for the ones who genuinely don't understand it and aren't trying to be disrespectful—

So, do we really practice polytheism?
short answer, yes.

Do we not believe God is One?
short answer, no.

The whole concept of hinduism is that God is one. Let's just say, we believe he comes in all shapes, sizes, colors and sexuality/gender preferences. In fact, we believe in+

Omnipresence. God is everywhere and in everyone. They're in you and in me.
And tbh, the only reason we use the word 'God' to refer to our deities is because that is a universally accepted word for the supreme entity. There's no multiple gods, there's multiple 'devta(s)/devi(s)'.

Devtas/Devs/Devas are the 'gods' that identify as male and devis are the 'goddesses' that identify as female. It is to be remembered that 'D' is pronounced as 'Th'.
So, what we believe is in that God is formless, yet has a form. God is birthless yet take birth.

God has no beginning and no end, but is it? God cannot be understood but he can be. So basically what i mean with all this is that God is everything and within everyone.
We believe in Brahman. The formless God, the universe. The concept is a bit parallel to Christianity and Islam

But brahman's meaning is vast. Brahman is the eternal truth. Then there is the Holy Trinity [Trimurti]. Brahma(not Brahman) is the creator. Vishnu is the preserver and Shiva is the destroyer.

(this art is so awesome. whoever made it, PLEASE dm me, i don't wanna not give credit)

(blank tweet)

i'll quote it/reply under this tweet with the artist's name when i find out. I WILL FIND OUT. (that sounded very very creepy)

I really wanna explain it further, I love to talk about our gods. But we have so many ;), twitter will suspend me for spamming. Again, they aren't Gods, they are devi-devta. Very different, but still you can relate it to the abrahamic concept of angels.

a little more insight.
we have sun god, moon god, fire god, water god, river goddesses, earth goddess, god of architecture and engineering, god of health. you can even choose a god based on your profession. like i said, hindus are rich. RICH IN EVERYTHING.

Do we worship cows?
Yes. Yeah well, y'all can kill cows, we can't even respect them? Duh.
Like i told above, we believe God is in everyone. Humans, plants, animals. I mean we can worship you if we find you cool enough. But nah, you and me aren't great enough to be worshipped.

So, we believe cruelty to any being is cruelty to the God themselves. So next time you hurt somebody, remember you're hurting god. Hurting a sentient being physically, sexually, mentally or emotionally is 'mahapaap', so many scriptures. maha-paap= the greatest sin.

that is the reason hinduism preaches vegetarianism and now, because of the way we treat animals in dairy farms, veganism. But that, again, is not a 'rule'. It's all the matter of karma. Plants have life too, before you throw that on me, but it's the matter of survival.

We can't survive without plants. The thing is, we need to cause the earth and hurt others as less as possible.
"Do not eat anything with emotions"(quote by Sadhguru) is what it means.

But again, no lectures on veganism right now. We're dealing with racists.+

So yeah. We worship a lot of animals. Elephants, monkeys, snakes, cows.

Cows, though, holds special significance for us. They've been respected in the religion a lot. One reason is that they give milk. So they are like a mother. That's why it's 'Gau-mata' (The Cow Mother)

Remember you don't trap your mother in confined little space, artificially inseminate her or steal her baby away from her. The very very important thing about being a hindu is you respect a cow like your own mother. (i mean we can have messed up relation with their mom but ykwim)

like Ariana said, God is a woman.

Shakti. The word literally means energy and power. So Goddess Shakti represents power and is one of the most powerful deities. She is known by different names.
As Parvati, she's the wife of Shiva and the mother of Ganesha and Kartikey.
+

As Durga, she is the mother of the entire world. The protector of her children, all of us. All the animals and plants.

And as Mahakali, (idk, i guess someone insulted Goddess kali in some song too right?) she's the destroyer of evil. Again, the protector of the world. Goddess Kali is the most powerful of all. When she takes this form, not even shiva himself can face her.

Homosexuality and other LGBTQ+ rights in Hinduism.

A lot of hindus today are not accepting of the queer community now because of the colonialism and mughal rule that prevailed in India for literally centuries. But Hinduism as a religion doesn't discriminate between anyone.

And one thing I am very very proud of is that Sanatan Dharma is one of the only few faiths that does not claim to be the only way. According to our scriptures, non-hindus will NOT burn in hellfire just because they're not hindus. God doesn't not love anyone for not being hindu.

Why shouldn't you insult my faith?

It's sad that anyone needs a reason to not insult someone's faith. For many it's the only reason to live. Even if you're an atheist, remember that there are people out there having (any) religion as their only hope. Don't disrespect it.

Also, Science in Hinduism.
You may or may not know but a lot of things you've learned over time and are learning now have already been written in the religion. From atomic theory to plastic surgeries. https://twitter.com/RagLakRadha/status/1276587379910983680?s=19

this is better than what I've written. So y'all can read this too.

Cr: ancienthinduism | tumblr