Can you be hindu and atheist

Trees, animals, rocks and even sages, can be seen as gods, or Gods. Gods take mortal forms to enable the god-within-us to become God, move from the world of limitations to the world of limitlessness.

Limited forms entrap us in the world of ego, hunger, fear, death. Limitless liberates us, we merge with the cosmic, and are eternally tranquil. It is significant to note that Buddhism and Jainism, which also believe in rebirth, and have many overlapping concepts, have no concept of God, who created the world, who rewards or punishes humanity for their actions. Buddhism rejects the idea of atma. Jains reject the concept of param-atma, but not jiva-atma.

Both value teachers, sages who have attained infinite wisdom kaivalya , hence called bhagavan. In Hinduism, bhagavan and ishwar are terms used for limitless divine. The difference is that bhagavan engages with the material world more than ishwar who is distant and aloof. Vishnu is often called bhagavan and Shiva is often called ishwar. But like everything Hindu, these definitions and nomenclatures are relatively fluid. One can say that a Hindu theist is subscribing to the Hindu definition of God while a Hindu atheist is rejecting the Abrahamic definition of God.

Colour of the Skin Krishna Mid-Day. Can I be a Hindu and still an atheist? Applied Mythology. Home Articles Applied Mythology. By Devdutt Pattanaik. These are the core obsessions that drive our newsroom—defining topics of seismic importance to the global economy. Our emails are made to shine in your inbox, with something fresh every morning, afternoon, and weekend. A group of atheists and secularists recently gathered in Southern California to talk about social and political issues.

This was the first of three summits planned by the Secular Coalition for America , an advocacy group based in Washington DC. To many, atheism—the lack of belief in a personal god or gods—may appear an entirely modern concept. After all, it would seem that it is religious traditions that have dominated the world since the beginning of recorded history.

Atheistic traditions have played a significant part in Asian cultures for millennia. While Buddhism is a tradition focused on spiritual liberation, it is not a theistic religion. The Buddha himself rejected the idea of a creator god, and Buddhist philosophers have even argued that belief in an eternal god is nothing but a distraction for humans seeking enlightenment. A similar form of functional atheism can also be found in the ancient Asian religion of Jainism , a tradition that emphasises non-violence toward all living beings, non-attachment to worldly possessions, and ascetic practice.

While Jains believe in an eternal soul, or jiva , that can be reborn, they do not believe in a divine creator. According to Jainism, the universe is eternal, and while gods may exist, they too must be reborn, just like humans are.

The gods play no role in spiritual liberation and enlightenment; humans must find their own path to enlightenment with the help of wise human teachers. Around the same time when Buddhism and Jainism arose in the sixth century BC, there was also an explicitly atheist school of thought in India called the Carvaka school. Although none of their original texts have survived, Buddhist and Hindu authors describe the Carvakas as firm atheists who believed that nothing existed beyond the material world.

The mass of men… denying the existence of any object belonging to a future world, are found to follow only the doctrine of Carvaka. Hence another name for that school is Lokayata — a name well accordant with the thing signified. Such is the pleasant consummation. Non-religious questions are not only a matter for the past. In , the Dalit scholar and intellectual Katti Padma Rao published his study Charvaka Darshan: Ancient Indian Dalit Philosophy , describing how an atheist and materialist worldview has been a component of the struggles of underprivileged peoples.

In , the scholar Johannes Quack portrays the vital, modern non-religious movements in India in his prizewinning book Disenchanting India: Organized Rationalism and Criticism of Religion in India.

Bronkhorst, Doniger, etc , the people at large Madhavacarya, Chattopadhyaya , and the Dalits Rao, Quack — not to mention the influence the atheists had on the other philosophical schools and religions.

This complexity clearly calls for more inquiry. Thus, this earliest modern Dalit leader concludes that it is untenable to say that religious texts were God-created and proposes the reinstatement of a traditional and pre-Vedic egalitarian Indian society.

His closest companion was the Muslim-born female writer Piro Preman — , as Anshu Malhotra describes in her book Piro and the Gulabdasis. Preman came from the lower castes and challenged religious leaders, and Gulab Das saved her from captivity.

Preman and the Gulabdasis are included here to showcase how modern religious criticism can be understood within this larger Indian historical tradition of atheist skepticism. But there is more — for example when it comes to the connection between Indian atheism and the European intellectuals from the late 16 th century and beyond. Dear McCormick: Thank you for your interesting info and input.

Unfortunately, there are several claims on such web sites that are not supported by fact or backed up by evidence. I would also like to say that several of the dates from former times, esp. But there is surely a potential for more accurate and detailed information both in text books and in encyclopedias on the Internet.

Hi — thanks again for the article. I mention Wikipedia because it is likely to be the top hit in many searches, so if there is one site to update, this would be the one. I thought of updating the article myself but I am not the expert in this area. I would be happy to help you put it up there if you wanted to draft a single paragraph or so, with references for each major claim.

Regards, Devon. It is not right to equate Chavaka with Atheism. For example, according to Atheism of the west, all the schools of philosophies of India including the six vedic-philosophies are Atheistic in nature. Not one of them describe God as it was described in Abrahamic religions. Charvaka seems closer to materialism and a precursor of Communism.

I tried to cover parts of your point regarding the non-theist nature of most of the six main Vedic philosophies:. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Currently you have JavaScript disabled. In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page.

Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser. Sign in Join. Sign in. Forgot your password? Create an account. Sign up. Password recovery.

Recover your password. Blog of the APA Join the discussion.