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Dinesh Chandra served the Indian army for thirty five years as a professional soldier. He retired as a Major General. While in service, he had experienced a great sense of belonging, where all men seemed to have a bond that was based on mutual trust and mutual respect, camaraderie and spontaneous reaction to help someone in distress. Religion was truly a personal affair that never came to the surface, except when everyone joined to celebrate festivals of each other with equal fervour. Indian army draws its soldiers from all the known religions, most of which are actively practiced in India.
He undertook a serious study of various religions in order to find the basic truths that they all preached vis-à-vis what was being propagated by various religious leaders in the world. His work as a social reformer and counselor in Central Jail in Delhi furthered the need for studying these religions in depth; in order to acquire sufficient knowledge to discuss their real purport with inmates some of whom had landed there for actions they considered as acts of their faith. He is now leading a life of self realization and search for the Truth, that generally forms part of the last stage of one's life.
Hinduism, which, incidentally, is the oldest living religion of the world and is followed by almost one fifth of humanity, is the least known in the west. They do not have the foggiest idea about Hinduism and the progressive way of life led by its adherents. And those who seem to have heard of it have such a contrived and manipulated image that leaves one dumb founded. Even though all Hindus generally grow up in a spiritual environment at home, making them intrinsically humane and God fearing in a subtle way, they refrain from talking about their religious faith in public. This is a result of the age old teaching of their faith that each one is responsible for his or her karmas and one has to learn by one’s own self about what is ‘good’ and what is ‘not good’ for one’s spiritual uplift. I found this reluctance to talk about the tenets of Hinduism as a kind of weakness that many Hindus suffer from during my travels abroad. They are unable to explain the inherent philosophy that guides Hindus, whatever their sect or calling be within the overall umbrella of Hinduism. It is in this context that I was motivated to write this book about Hinduism.
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