This questions and answers document is prepared by a group of Hindu Speakers as a source of information for them or for any one seeking information on Hinduism. There are multiple ways of answering a single question and this group is not claiming to provide all potential answers here.
On Hinduism
The target audience is 9th grader Abrahamic students in American Schools but it will be useful to anyone interested in learning about Hinduism. All answers are designed to answer in about a 3 minute time frame. We have also provided links to other reading materials and video links relating to each question.
Considering Hindu speakers are invariably asked some sensitive geopolitical questions, we have included some potentially sensitive topics here to help speakers answer them from Hindu perspective. However we wish to clarify that this group is composed of Hindus but the group does not have any political affiliation.
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Science is “the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment”. This definition applies to Hinduism as well since it has a deep history of experimentation, proof and logical argumentation. To the extent that Science is the opposite of dogma (“a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true”), Hinduism is completely compatible with science.
However, scientists are not always above dogma, but in some cases kneeling towards authority figures or clinging to tired theories and retired data. In those cases, dogmatic scientists might find Hinduism’s open-mindedness baffling and contrary to their own unscientific temper.
The two words that seldom go together are “Hindu” and “Belief”. Hindu philosophy, texts, and schools of spirituality follow a deeply investigative and systematic progression of building knowledge – shravana (listening), manana (reflecting), pariprashna (questioning), and nididhyasana (meditating). It is this underpinning of enquiry that led to the establishment of a scientific approach in Hindu scholarship. Ayurveda, Vastu, Nakshatra, Yoga are some examples of areas of Hindu thought that are scientific in nature. Even traditions such as chanting mantras are deeply rooted in the science of sound.
Other reading material: Is Hinduism compatible with science?
Relevant videos: Khurshed Batliwala Debunked
Contributor: Rajeev Singh
Category:
27. Science