Hinduism
There is really no such religion called Hinduism or Hindu. This is a misnomer. The Arab traders called the people living East of the Indus river as Indu. This word then became Hindu in Europe and European traders called these people Indus or Hindus. The people who lived South of the Himalayas and East of the Saraswati river, which flowed near the Indus, called themselves Bahratiya and they lived in a country called Bharat. The dharma they practiced was called Sanatan dharma.
Sanatan dharma means an eternal way of life. In essence neither is there anything called Hinduism nor do we practice any religion. Dharma is not religion. Dharma is a way of life and it is based on knowledge which can change over time.
The basic book of knowledge are the Vedas and then there were Upavedas, Upanishads, Purana, Mahabhrata, Ramayana, Vedanta, Sankhya, Shastra, Sutras and many more.
However dharma differs from religion in that dharma cannot be politicized. Dharma is not connected with one institution or temple or person or a country. Sanatan dharma was practiced from the present day Afghanistan (which was called Gandhar) to Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Bali, Sumatra. Now it is practiced thoruhgout the world.
The largest temple to Lord Vishnu is Angkor Wat which is in Cambodia. Lord Shiva was originally worshipped in Harappa, which is in Pakistan. Pashupatinath, a shakti Pitha of Parvati is in Nepal. The home of Lord Shiva, Kailash Parvat is also in Nepal. Ganga flows in India and Bangladesh. the original Saraswati river flowed in Pakistan. The Barhamaputra river flows in India and China. The Iyravati river (daughter of Iyravat) flows in Burma. It is now called Irrawadi. Iyravat is the elephant which was recovered during Samudra Manthan along with Goddess Lakchmi.
Dharma cannot be controlled by an individual including a priest. The priest can only play second base to the real priest which is Agni or fire. The first sloka of the Rig Veda says "Agneya mile Purohitam" which means the primary priest is Agni or fire.
Dharma cannot be politicized. In other words while politics is about controlling land and its resources including the people who live in it, dharma is not for controlling people or land. This is the central lesson of the great epic Mahabharata. The great war of Mahabharata was fought over a few pieces of land or villages between brothers. The war ended in the defeat of both Kauravas and Pandavas. Both lost their heritage. The reason is that dharma is not about land or wealth or resources. Dharma is about man's relationship to nature and the spiritual.
Finally, Sanatan dharma can be practiced by any one including animals and trees. You do not need to know a lot of Sanskrit slokas to practice Sanatan dharma. In fact even if you cannot speak such as the animals or hear such as the trees, you can still practice dharma.
Here is the sloka which explains that: Akhanda Mandalakaram Vyaptang Yena Characharam. This means the world is round, it has no pieces and the sprit lives in all creatures which walk or do not walk such as trees and corral reefs.
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