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Is Hinduism a Cult?
Cults are temporary religious movements wherein some charismatic leader uses religion
for his or her own personal benefit. Cults are usually centered
around one person and isolate people from ordinary functioning in
society. They generally end, often in violence, after a short period
of time.
A religion like Hinduism
that has existed for thousands of years is not centered around any
particular personality, and has produced many great people in all
walks of life, is not a cult. There are Hindus who are successful in
all fields both in the East and the West as scientists, doctors,
lawyers, artists and so on. In fact Hindus in America have a much
higher standard of education and income than the average American.
Unfortunately according to
religious fundamentalists any different or foreign religious group
is a cult. Such people are caught in religious prejudice, which they
reflect in their condemnation of different religious approaches.
They do not recognize any universal Truth or have any tradition of
Yoga and meditation, which inner practices they also regard as
cults.
From the Hindu point of view
any religion which teaches that God is outside of ourselves, and
that we must be dependent upon some savior, holy book or church, is
a cult because it confuses the internal reality, which is
consciousness, with something external. Actually whatever religion
asserts a separate identity for itself apart from Universal Truth
becomes thereby a cult. Whatever limits Truth, which is Infinite and
Eternal, to a particular manifestation is a cult. Yet by this
standard most of organized religion is a cult. However, this
explains why organized religion has failed to bring us to any real
spiritual knowledge or experience.
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