What is Hindu? Who is Hindu? Is Hindu our Dharma?

Again, these are my thoughts, understanding and opinions. So yours may differ. But for me this is the truth what i am going to explain.

Like me, most of us from India calls themselves "Hindu", as the caste on birth certificate and school leaving certificate states it to be so.

But have you ever questioned your self, what is Hindu? or are you really Hindu? I asked myself and tried to dig deep to understand it.

What i found is that we didn't identify our Dharma as Hindu till early 1000 AD. I haven't read all the Vedas and Upanishads. I don't understand Sanskrit that much. But i am sure that there is no mention of word "Hindu" or identifying our race as "Hindu" anywhere. I read and referred Ramayan and Mahabharat (In Gujarati though) and there also i never once found a word Hindu spelled anywhere by anyone of the characters. 

In Ramayan, when Lord Ram decided to go to "Vanvas" for 14 years, he termed it as following "Putra-Dharma". When Lord Laxman decided to join him, he termed it as "Bhratru-Dharma".

In Mahabharat, when Arjun refused to fight the Kaurav Army of his own family members. Lord Krishna told Arjun to follow "Kshatra-Dharma".

Nobody called themselves Hindu or follow Hindu-Dharma.

The word Hindu comes into picture only after arrival of outsider (initially Arabs then other Muslim) So my conclusion is Hindu is not our Dharma. But rather it is a symbolic name given to us by outsiders.

When Invaders (Arabs then other Muslims) came from northwest they have to cross the river Sindhu to enter Indian subcontinent. So the word Hindu came from the name of the river Sindhu. They termed us as Hindu, the people living on the banks of and beyond river Sindhu.

So what is Hindu? I believe above explanation clears it out. And also who is Hindu?

Now the third question, Is our Dharma Hindu?

Certainly not. The word Hindu has nothing to do with Dharma. Whoever lives on the banks of and beyond river Sindhu are Hindu. So this literally includes All of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The point is Hindu is not our Dharma, its mere name given to identify us. Our Dharma is something else. Our Dharma is actually what you should do. Such as,

Brahmin has Brahman-Dharma to follow, Kshatriya has Kshatra-Dharma to follow.

We like to be called "Arya". Certainly it is not related to Dharma. "Arya" means the respected one, who has earned respect and who is noble. 

We do not have commandments to follow as other religions such as Christian, Islam or Jew has. We do not have to tie our-self to do particular things in particular way.We do not have to follow any rituals and rites.

But rather we should do things in such a way to earn respect from others and we should always perform noble causes. We have to perform whatever profession we are in with utmost sincerity. Thats our Dharma. Earn the title "Arya" - the noble one, the respected one.

My Theory: Birth of Modern India and Pakistan

Sare Jahan Se Acha Hindustan Humara
Hum Bulbulain Hain Iss Ki, Ye Gulistan Humara
The best land in the world is our India;
We are its nightingales; this is our garden.

Gharbat Mein Hon Agar Hum, Rehta Hai Dil Watan Mein
Samjho Waheen Humain Bhi, Dil Ho Jahan Humara
If we are in exile, our heart resides in our homeland.
Understand that we are also where our heart is.

Parbat Woh Sub Se Uncha, Humsaya Asman Ka
Woh Santri Humara, Woh Pasban Humara
That is the highest mountain, the neighbor of the sky;
It is our sentry; it is our watchman.

Godi Mein Khailti Hain Iss Ki Hazaron Nadiyan
Gulshan Hai Jin Ke Dam Se Rashak-e-Jinaan Humara
In its lap play thousands of streams,
And the gardens that flourish because of them are the envy of Paradise.

Ae Aab-e-Rood-e-Ganga! Woh Din Hain Yaad Tujh Ko?
Utra Tere Kinare Jab Karwan Humara
Oh, waters of the river Ganges! Do you remember those days?
Those days when our caravan halted on your bank?

Mazhab Nahin Sikhata Apas Mein Bair Rakhna
Hindi Hain Hum, Watan Hai Hindustan Humara
Religion does not teach us to be enemies with each other:
We are Indians, our homeland is our India.

Yunan-o-Misar-o-Roma Sab Mit Gye Jahan Se
Ab Tak Magar Hai Baqi Naam-o-Nishan Humara
Greece, Egypt and Byzantium have all been erased from the world.
But our fame and banner still remain.

Kuch Baat Hai Ke Hasti Mitti Nahin Humari
Sadiyon Raha Hai Dushman Dour-e-Zaman Humara
It is something to be proud of that our existence is never erased,
Though the passing of time for centuries has always been our enemy.

Iqbal! Koi Mehram Apna Nahin Jahan Mein
Maloom Kya Kisi Ko Dard-e-Nihan Humara
Iqbal! No‐one in this world has ever known your secret.
Does anyone know the pain I feel inside me? 
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This is a very famous poem written by Iqbal in 1904 and one of the key person who came up with an idea of two nation theory to create a separate state for Muslims carved out of India.
One can observe, this is a poem that glorifies India (Hindustan), there is no mention of Pakistan or Islam in it.

Emphasis more on 6th stanza of the poem,
Mazhab Nahin Sikhata Apas Mein Bair Rakhna
Hindi Hain Hum, Watan Hai Hindustan Humara
Religion does not teach us to be enemies with each other:
We are Indians, our homeland is our India.

Later on in his life around 1910 Iqbal has written another poem in which he has written,
Cin-o-Arab hamara, Hindustan hamara
Muslim hain hum, watan hai sara jahan hamara
Central Asia and Arabia are ours; Hindustan is ours;
We are Muslims; The whole world is our homeland.

Later on in his address to Muslim league annual conference in Allahabad in 1930, he proposed a separate nation state in Muslim majority areas of Indian subcontinent. This very idea created a separate nation called Pakistan out of India (Hindustan).

So these are well know facts, no theories here.
But what i like to talk about is what changed Iqbal from Secular moderate Indian Muslim to Orthodox Muslim? Which eventually led to creation of two separate nations India and Pakistan.

I have a theory or view or opinion to answer this question. How true my theory is, i don't know. As only Iqbal can answer it and he is no more. So if your views doesn't match with mine please bear with me and don't take it personally.

Now, to answer this we have to go back couple of hundred years back in history. Lets start from Muslim Invasion of India. At first Arab Muslims(Muhammad-Bin-Qasim) started invasion and then later on Muhammad of Ghazni, Ghori, Lodi, Khilji and lastly Mughal. Some looted and went back, some stayed here and ruled until they were overpowered by rising Maratha and Sikh army's and later on all were conquered by British.

So if we go by history, Muslims particularly Mughals rules most of the India for no less then 300-400 years. Now lets jump forward toward end of British era in India. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and others, all were fighting for India's freedom marching shoulder to shoulder together. By 1930 it became evident that India will get freedom sooner or later.
Now at this point of time, few elite Muslims became cautious. They started thinking what after India becomes free? There are states but no dynasties anymore so there will be no dynastical rule in India. World was changing rapidly. America was already successful democracy. Britain and most of the countries are going towards democracy. So obviously free India will be democracy for sure. And in democracy people decides who will rule. And as majority of India are Hindus, they will definitely elect Hindu representatives. Muslim vote share was insignificant at that time and they will not get representation at national level.

So elite Muslims feared. They feared that once the India becomes free, Indian Hindu majority will definitely vote for Hindu representative and they will form Hindu Government. And Muslims also thought about the atrocities their ancestors committed against the Hindus. So the elected Hindu government will not be in favor of Muslims. And there is possibility, like in France and Russia, that Hindus will take revenge against Muslims.

Elite Muslims knew that Muslims no longer has the military muscles with what they have conquered the India and this long freedom struggle has united India like never before that even with Military power they will not be able to overpower India this time. So elite Muslims like Iqbal and Jinnah came up with this idea of separate state in Muslim majority areas within India. So that they can protect minority Muslims from Hindu majority. And thus we have two separate nations carved out of united India, one as India and other as Pakistan.

Are we GOD fearing people?

The question is simple and most of you who believe in GOD will say "YES, we are GOD fearing people".
But still ask the question to yourself one more time. Try to leave all other thoughts for a while and think.
Are you really GOD fearing one?

I will say for most of us the answer should be "NO, we are not". You will ask why???
I know, its obvious to ask as most of us believe in GOD. Do things which pleases GOD.
And always wish that GOD remains pleased with our deeds.

All that is TRUE but think like this.
Are you so sure that you never sinned? or will not sin in future?
We all, whatever the religion/Sampraday we belong to have sinned, do sin and will sin in future?
Why do i say this for sure because my definition of sin is very precise.

I term SIN as whatever thing done ethically wrong and whatever you dont like to do to yourself.
For example, We lie thats a sin. We ignore thats a sin.
Then what do we do?
We confess our sins and feel good, ready to commit same sin another time.

Now, this is where it should end if we are GOD fearing. But because we are not, we commit same sins again and again. And everytime to feel good about it, we confess our sins to GOD. And we say that we are GOD fearing people.

This is pretty laughable if i am GOD and i see you all doing this.
As if we are GOD fearing, we must not commit the same sins again and again. If you have confessed for some lie, thats it. It must end there, but no we purposefully or without purpose lie again. And then go again to GOD to confess. We are so clever or i should say cunning.

I term this as "BRIBE". By confessing our sins to commit same sins again we are bribing GOD. We certainly are believer of GOD but certainly not the GOD fearing kind of people.

Rather we are GOD bribing people.

What is Religion?

I am no GOD's man. I am no priest. And i don't follow any religion so precisely.

So why am i writing this? I really don't know. And i really don't care much if you agree or not agree. I have my thoughts and reasons to believe and not believe. So if you are reading this please bear with me.

I like to give some background on myself. I was born in Gujarati, labeled "Hindu" (i will talk about this word later on) family in Gujarat, India. So my birth-certificate says my religion is "Hindu". I think this is enough introduction.

What is "Religion"?
Good question. But no precise answer. I have to go on different track to answer it.
English is not my primary language(and billions like me in Indian subcontinent) so the way it works is, we translate it to whatever our primary language is and then try to answer it.
If i ask you to translate "Religion" in Hindi/Gujarati or any other Indian language then most of you will say "Dharma". Total blunder. Please don't mix it with "Dharma", it is not correct translation. The correct translation would be "Sampraday". To most of you both are almost similar words, but they are not. They are very different. Let me walk you through the details on how different they can be and they are. This will automatically answer our main question.

Now what actually is "Sampraday" or "Religion"?
"Sampraday" or "Religion" is a group of people who shares same belief, same way of living, same language or some other such characteristics. Thats it, PERIOD!
This has nothing to do with "Dharma".
Thats what religion means. You can be of Hindu religion, Muslim religion, Christian religion, Jain religion, Budhdhist religion or you can be of Gujarati Sampraday, Marathi Sampraday, Bengali Sampraday, American Sampraday, Indian Sampraday, Pakistani Sampraday.
So Religion or "Sampraday" has context. It has some criteria, some limits, something that ties the group together.
I don't know if my way of thinking makes sense to you, but that is what religion means to most of us. If i talk about Hindu then my religion becomes Hindu. If i talk about Gujarat then my religion becomes Gujarati. And if i talk about India then my religion becomes Indian.
Simply religion is a bond that is used to tie a group of people together. I don't think anyone can explain it simpler than this.

Now, What is "Dharma"?
Unfortunately i couldnt find any word directly translating "Dharma" into English. So let me explain it a bit.
"Dharma" is what you should do and what actually you are doing.
If you are a teacher, then your "Dharma" is to teach and eduacate the students.
If you are a soldier of certain country then your "Dharma" is to protect(not fighting) your country at all time.
If you are a student then your "Dharma" is to learn.

See so simple. "Dharma" and "Sampraday" totally different from each other. And so far you are telling everyone that your "Dharma" is Hindu or Muslim or whatever. How wrong you are!!!
This is something we all should look into. We are misinterpreting "Sampraday" as "Dharma" from beginning.
If "Sampraday" is Dharma then there cannot be many different factions in one "Sampraday".
For example,
If being Indian is your Dharma then you cannot be Gujarati or Marathi or Bengali.
If being Hindu is your Dharma then you cannot be "Shaiva" or "Vaishnav" or "Jain" or "Budhdha".
If being Muslim is your Dharma then you cannot be Shia or Sunni or anything else.

Thats it, PERIOD!