The Uniqueness of this Way of Life

Hinduism does not have any one founder, and any one core doctrine to which controversies can be referred to for resolution. There is also no point in time when it could be said to have begun. It does not require its adherents to accept any one idea, and thus is cultural, not creedal, with a history contemporaneous with the peoples with which it is associated. It is also marked by an attitude which seems to accommodate religious and cultural perspectives other than one's own, and so is characterized by a rich variety of ideas and practices resulting in what appears as a multiplicity of religions under one term 'Hinduism'.

Hinduism is perhaps the only religious tradition that is so diverse in its theoretical premises and practical expressions that it is like a compilation of religions. According to philosopher Jeaneane Fowler, Hinduism can never be neatly slotted into any particular belief system — monism, theism, monotheism, polytheism, pantheism, panentheism — for all these systems are reflected in its many facets.

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