PROUD TO BE A HINDU ATHEIST?

Why am I a Hindu Atheist ?

Atheist or Atheism is more of a western terminology , which stands for non-belief in existence of god. A god that is widely considered to be the creator of this universe and all mass and matter and being that is in it.

There have been widely known Atheist speakers and writers like Carl Sagan , Dawkins, Hitchens, Carlin and Sam Harris. What is found to be common among all of them is that they find the idea of Christianity and Islam as fraud and defunct, but none of them has ever spoken against Hinduism so ferociously. It baffles some people, particularly Indians, as Why ??

One myth that is widely accepted in circles is that all these people were born and brought up with in Christian hold and thus they only speak of what they know of ie Abrahamic Religions. This premise is quite false because an Atheist is not an Atheist until he knows all theism floating around and has thus found none to be true.

To be honest, western atheists are speaking well of Ancient Indian/Hindu legacy than Indians themselves.

To understand this concept better we need to acknowledge what is Ancient Indian/Hindu legacy. But before we move further let's understand what is called being Hindu or who is a Hindu ?

Intellectually Hindu is not just one who follows Hindu faith/s. Hindu term was given by Persian invaders to people living this side of river Indus. Historically Hindu is one living in Indian Subcontinent geographically and not just religiously. 

Even Supreme Court of India validates the same when it says:

"A Hindu does not cease to be a Hindu even if he adopts non-Hindu faith"

It doesn't get more clearer than that. Historically we all know that there have been more than one religious philosophy that has it's roots in ancient Indian/Hindu culture. Vaishvanism, Shaivaism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and even Atheism.

Atheism in Indian context is not to be confused with term Nastik. Nastik is simply the one who rejects authority of Vedas as supreme source of morality and word of god. Buddhism and Jainism are such Nastik philosophies who lay more emphasis on Karma theory and finding god in other human beings by relating to their sufferings. Atheism in Ancient India was propounded by Charvaka, most of whose literature has been lost.

But more than the moral philosophies, what is actually there to be proud of in Ancient Indian/Hindu legacy is the Scientific Temper of the people of that era.

It is known to all Western Atheists with a scientific bent of mind that Ancient Indian/Hindu culture is the root of all science today. Those people made a genuine attempt to understand science and beyond. They were the Original Free Thinkers.

It is this culture that first used proper methods of manual irrigation.

It is this culture that gave world the science of medicine.

It is this culture that gave world the science of mathematics and geometry.

It is this culture that first realized the five elements.

It is this culture that gave birth to astronomy.

It is this culture only that accurately identified how old Earth is.

It is this culture only which accurately identified the distance between earth and sun & between earth and moon.

It is this culture only that identified number of hours in a day and days on a year which gave us first clock, the rosary beads.

It is this culture which first studied the science of seasons

It is this culture only which gave birth to knowledge of Atomic Energy. Most western scientists acknowledge Atman as nothing but Atom, which got diluted by westerners understanding of it as soul, because they didn't understand it at all.

Such was the Scientific Temper of our own ancient people which gave world the power to be Skeptical with advent of tools.

When did this Scientific Temper , the quest for Truth, got lost in pages of History, no one knows. With innumerable invasions on this culture, no body knows what actually they plundered more, the Wealth or the Knowledge. And. then as wrecked morals of people found more solace in religions , it led to further slavery of thoughts which killed the Free Thinking Spirit of this culture and we started to recognize Ramayana and Mahabharta as our Original Itihaas (History).

This overwhelming and nostalgic legacy of Indian/Hindu Scientific Temper leads me to proudly reclaim myself as a Hindu Atheist, where science and philosophy meets. 

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