Third Eye Meditation Inc.

There are many books on Hinduism. Why another book? The reason is to present a simple short book for the common man, kids, Hindus and others. I am not a saint. I am a common Hindu who hopes to simplify the concepts of Hinduism for a common person irrespective of his faith. This is not meant to be an in depth review, but is meant to be a short summary of scriptures in a common man’s language. My knowledge comes from reading scriptures, listening to some experts in the field and listening to Yakshagana, a form of folk dance-drama popular in and around Udupi, a small holy city the southern part of India known for the famous Krishna Temple and for Jagadguru Madhwacharya.

In this era of flattening of the globe and easy dissemination of knowledge across the globe Hindus have spread all over the world.  When I grew up in India, Hinduism was all around me and I never questioned my identity. Now that I am in America, I am surrounded by people from all other religions. There are less people around me who know Hinduism, there are less people around our kids who know about Hinduism. The fact that good people like Bobby Jindal, Governor of New Orleans (a state in the US) chose to quit Hinduism to embrace Christianity means that we have failed to educate young Hindus about the richness and the uniqueness of their religion. I have tried to present a simplistic view of Hinduism so a common man can teach his/her kids about Hinduism and an ordinary Hindu kid can read about Hinduism in a short period of time and feel proud of his/her heritage. This in a way presents my journey of understanding Hinduism. I am aware of the shortcoming of this book in that it might be ultra-simple. But that was by design. I am painfully aware of my shortcomings in my knowledge on Hinduism. I hope to continue to be a student of the learned scholars as I share whatever I learn. I have not offered any new information. I have just tried to present a simplistic summary of what I felt everybody in the world should know about Hinduism. One can always go back to the original scriptures and the interpretations written by scholars in the field if one wants to know more. I also hope that this will be a simple reference for the non Hindus in the schools and the community who want to have a brief description on Hinduism.

The contribution of all the Gurus is immeasurable and I apologize for not being able to mention all their names and their contributions.

‘There is divinity in everything and everybody’. I feel this is probably the most important principle of being a Hindu. I have enjoyed repeating this time and again and I hope you will too. I think this is a solution to lot of problems in the world.

I hope I have created enough interest in the reader to read more and share this book with your family members, Hindu and non-Hindu friends and public library in your area.

Have a blissful reading,

Anupkumar Shetty

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