There is no fixed way of worship in Hinduism. Hindus are free to worship God in any manner they like. The important thing is that they should worship with full faith in God and through total surrender to God. A Hindu can go to and worship in a temple. Another Hindu may not like to go to a temple but offer his prayers in his home itself before an idol or an image of God. Yet another Hindu is free not to do any such thing and may simply recite God's name while carrying out his daily duties.

A Hindu believes that the relationship between him and his God is purely personal, and there is no room for any other person or his views to enter in this relationship. Similarly a Hindu will not engage in making comments on other person's way of worship or cast comments on other person's relationship with God.

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Thank you, Betterlife. This is very informative and the Hindus set a good example. This is very accepting and nonjudgmental. With this attitude have Hindus ever had religious wars?

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Hindus have never had religious wars. However, the concept and their way of worship has been attacked by the people having fixed (not very flexible) way of worship. Hindu temples have been attacked. Hindus have been forced to change to other faiths.In mughal period Hindus were even forced to pay a tax for being born as a Hindu.

During British period and after the partition of India on communal lines, there have been many communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims. These clashes have been engineered by the people with ulterior motives, such as, politicians, self-appointed religious leaders to keep hold on people, and ofcourse anti-social elements who feed on disharmony in the society.

Hinduism as a concept teaches only tolerance and respect for other faiths. It does not put unnecessary restrictions on Hindus in their day-to-day work. A Hindu is required to practice Truth, Love, Care & concern for others, Universal brothehood, Treating the entire creation as a family, Tolerance (non-violance), Unshakable faith in God, and Total surrender in God. He can adopt any way to worship.

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I remember that Gandhi practiced (I can't remember the exact word)
nonviolence. Did this spring from Hinduism or did he enhance Hinduism with this practice. Was it nonresistance he practiced?

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Gandhi Ji practiced Ahimsa. The concept of Ahimsa can be described as Non-violance, but this term does not cover it completely. When we talk of Ahimsa, as enshrined in Hinduism, it covers all, " Mansa, Vaacha, Karmana", meaning "thoughts, speech and action". Ahimsa is not causing any harm to others by thoughts, speech and action.

Nonresistance is not Ahimsa. If one is facing a danger to his life and property, he has a duty to defend. A Hindu householder has his first duty to protect himself, his family members, his home, his values, his property. Any attack on them has to be repulsed by all means available with him. All these attempts should preferably be non-violant means. If no alternative is left then he should use violant means. In Mahabharata, Lord Krishna tried all means to avoid war between Pandavas and Kauravas, but when all attempts failed then He called upon Pandavas to go to war to remove the injustice and wrongs done by Kauravas. In Ramayana, Lord Rama tried every way to avoid war with Ravana, but when all attempts failed He went to war and killed Ravana to free His Wife Sita.

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I thought Ghandi practiced Satyagraha, which is based off of Ahimsa. Is this correct, or a misunderstanding?

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You are right that Gandhi Ji adopted the path of Satyagraha to register his protest against continuation of British rule in India. He gave this name of Stayagraha to his proest, which means Aagraha (Insistence) for Satya (Truth). The protest was designed to be non-violant, meaning that every activity in the protest will be based on the principles of Ahimsa.

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It sounds to me that the belief of Hinduism is a very peaceful way of belief, and I do like the concept of worship in your own way.
The point is that someone pointed out..no interferance with another subject to guide you, you do the worship yourself a personal thing.
It sounds like a great belief system.

REVPO

There is a lot of tolerance and acceptance within Hindu worship rituals, but there are some standard pre-requisites.

Firstly, one needs to abstain from eating meat and eggs for a minimum of 12 hours before puja
Secondly, one needs to have a bath or a shower before worship.
Thirdly, there is the ritual cleansing of the body before worship.
Offerings made to God can be as simple as water, a leaf, or a flower, or they can become very elaborate.


Incense is offered to purify the air, light/fire is offered as an acknowledgement that God is the source of all energy. (amongst other things)

worship can take different forms,

such as puja, which can be an elaborate celebration with God as the guest of Honour offering Him/Her to partake of all kinds of wonderful gifts, flowers, leaves and edibles. Puja is the most formal, and is accompanied by specific mantras.

it can take the form of jap, where you recite God's name or the many names of God.

it can take the form of dhyan, meditation, where instead of talking to God, as in prayer, you listen to God.

There are also mantras that describe the mental worship of God.

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Devi Sarada