Hindu Religion is the most ancient Religious faith, culture and traditional way of life of a civilization that has existed for over 10,000 years all over India and much of adjoining areas of Asia. Hindu Religion is not a true Religion in the real sense of the term but more a way of life or a "Dharma" -to live a life of purity with simplicity with a sense of Natural Justice. It does not have any one founder, and it does not have one source book like a Bible or a Koran to which controversies can be referred for resolution. Consequently, it does not require its adherents to accept any one idea like a dogma imposed on every one. It does not accept any dogmas or dictatorial religious guidance. It encourages every one to think, analyze, question and accept the faith with true knowledge and intuition. Since Hindu scriptures include not just books relating to spirituality but also secular pursuits like science, medicine, astronomy and engineering, it defies classification as a religion. In fact one can almost identify Hinduism with a civilization and a culture that is flourishing even now.

Evidence that Hindu Religion must have existed even circa 10000 B.C. is available: The importance attached to the river Saraswati and the numerous references to it in the Rigveda (interestingly, Ganga appears only twice) indicates that the R^igveda was being composed well before 6500 B.C. The first vernal equinox recorded in the Rigveda is that of the star Ashwini, which is now known to have occurred around 10,000 B.C. The technological sophistication required to even anticipate such concepts is unlikely to have been acquired by a nomadic people. The faith existed both on the East and the West of this Indus valley. The Aryan Invasion Theory having been completely discredited, it cannot be assumed that Hinduism was the nomadic faith of invaders belonging to a Central Asian race called Aryans. Rather it was the common metafaith, (if you will) of people of various races, including Harappans.

The Sanskrit word Aryan is a word of honorable address, not the racial reference as invented by European scholars and put to perverse use by the Nazis. Unless otherwise specified, Aryan will be used in this document as a word of honorable address. Within this culture, there were several variations in the groups, some following narration of recitations and rituals and others joining together in a common place for a congregational worship and for marker stones and symbols. Various groups of people like hunters, farmers and other nomadic groups followed it all over this area. It was seen with slight variations within each group. It is said that there were several forms of the faith existing at the early history, which was organized into one faith by King Vaivasvatha Manu [about 8600 BCE]. This evolved into the Sanatana Dharma or the modern day Hindu Religion of Vedas, Agamas, Sãstras and rituals as one great faith and practice.

Every Hindu understands the fact that the religion accepts varying forms of worship and every method the devotee offers the prayers. They believe that the prayers offered to every form of God, is for the same Almighty who will come to protect them. Many believe that multiplicity of deities makes Hinduism polytheistic. Such a belief is nothing short of mistaking the wood for the tree. The faith accepted the varying levels of understanding of the faith even at this early period as similar and the theory of One God with different names and varying forms or no form at all accepting all names and all forms of worship without a dogma was seen in Rig Veda. The bewildering diversity of Hindu belief - theistic, atheistic and agnostic - rests on a solid unity. Ekam sat, Viprãh bahudhã vadanti, says the Rigveda: The Truth (God, Brahman, etc) is one; scholars call it by various names. What the multiplicity of deities does indicate is Hinduism's spiritual hospitality as evidenced by two characteristically Hindu doctrines: The Doctrine of Spiritual Competence (Adhikaara) and The Doctrine of the Chosen Deity (Ishhta Devata).

The doctrine of spiritual competence requires that the spiritual practices prescribed to a person should correspond to his (or her) spiritual competence. Each person studies, learns and follows a level of Spiritual study that is proper for their needs and intelligence that they can understand and follow. An illiterate villager who worships a stone or clay image, decorated, in his fields and prays with simple songs, is no different from a village priest who offers the devotional prayers to a statue to the likeness of ones favorite Deity and to a well read scholar who meditates on the Supreme with all the knowledge of the qualities of Almighty the Formless or reads and recites the sacred scriptures. So, the different forms of the religious practice and images are to serve the mass according to each one's knowledge and understanding capacity. It is counter-productive to teach abstract philosophical concepts to a person whose heart hungers for faith in a higher power and vice versa. The doctrine of the Chosen Deity gives a person the freedom to choose (or invent) a form of Brahman that satisfies his spiritual cravings and to make it the object of his worship. In many instances the ancient history [Purana] dictates the family or a local community to choose such a Deity for themselves according to the needs.

Notice that both doctrines are consistent with Hinduism's assertion that the unchanging reality is present in everything, even the transient. This Immanent Reality Itself makes the various Transcendent Forms for our understanding the truth as It is. In spite of this diversity in the forms of worship and practice there is a subtle unity that is understood by all Hindu devotees, though few ignorant ones may find ways to "prove" the superiority of their own beliefs. The true knowledgeable ones always finish their prayers with the statement "Like all the rain waters that fall flows through the rivers to the same ocean, let all my prayers to various forms of the Divine ultimately flow to the same Almighty Kesava. There are five elements that contribute to the essential unity of Hinduism: common ideals, common scriptures, common deities, common beliefs, and common practices.