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Re: ARTICLE : Who decided that all vaishnavs are not hindus
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To: soc-religion-hindu@uunet.uu.net
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Subject: Re: ARTICLE : Who decided that all vaishnavs are not hindus
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From: l23@hopi.dtcc.edu (GERALD J. LA CORTE)
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Date: 30 Jul 1996 11:19:54 GMT
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Followup-To: soc.religion.hindu,news.groups,soc.culture.indian
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Newsgroups: soc.religion.hindu, news.groups, soc.culture.indian
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Organization: Delaware Technical & Community College
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References: <4t1rf6$hba@babbage.ece.uc.edu> <4t4h9h$bu0@babbage.ece.uc.edu> <ghenDv34F8.GnJ@netcom.com> <ghenDv4vtp.JyM@netcom.com> <ghenDvCC1y.I3C@netcom.com>
: We have a situation here that some of the vaishnavs are not hindus.
: Can you tell me the difference between vaishnav hindus, and so-called
: non-vaishnav hindus. If there is no difference, then all vaishnavs must
: be either hindu or non-hindu. Frankly I don't see any difference.
Hi,
The World Almanac gives 70% of the Hindus worldwide as being part of the
Vaishnava "denomination". It does not specify Vaishnava as a separate
religion. I'm not saying the Almanac is right or wrong, I'm merely giving
the opinion of a third party.
To me it would appear that a Hindu is one who respected or worshipped
_all_ the gods, kept all (or most) of the holidays and festivals. And it
would appear that a non-Hindu Vaishnava would repect or worship all of the
facets of the Maha-Vishnu (including possibly Lakshmi and Hanuman), but
would not participate in festivals of other gods. While the Hindu
Vaishnava would respect and/or worship all deities, the Maha-Vishnu would
be the chief deity.
Would a member of the Vaishnava relgion attend a diwali festival or would
their attendance compromise their faith? A member of the Vaishnava
denomination would attend. While a member of the Vaishnava denomination
might / would attend a Shiva festival, a member of the Vaishnava relgion
wouldn't.
Because 70% of all Hindus are Vaishnava (include Vaishnava religion), they
have a supermajority of all Hinduism. They are able to hold themselves
separate from Hinduism and make their own rules to a large extent. (A
similar parallel would be Chatholics and Christianity. I've known some
non-Christian who thought that all Christians call their service mass and
all Christians have a priest, just like the Chatholics.)
Bests,
Jay
