Fortunately I had umpteen opportunities to discuss about Hinduism with many diverse people; people who were orthodox, who were moderate and liberal, who were atheists, and also people who were either orthodox or liberal followers of other religions.
Well, first the disclaimers. I am neither a Pundit, nor a orthodox follower (hence the title - two cents). My views given below are my own, and that I had realized or evolved over long periods of time.
To start with, Hinduism is a label attributed (probably by the Britishers) to the people who followed a certain culture and were living around the current Indian geographical regions. Over the years, it became branded as a religion, though it is not an organized religion unlike many others. Also, as mentioned in my earlier posts, a religion is only a path to spirituality, and many texts, like Ramayan or Gita, that are attributed to Hinduism, reinforce the same - in other words, an orthodox following of Hinduism (or any religion for that matter) may not necessarily make a person spiritual!
If I had to share one most important facet or fundamental trait of the religion of Hinduism, then this would be the one.
Every thing you do or believe will have an effect.
Though this may be sound too simplistic, this forms the basis for many other concepts or philosophies in this religion. The point to be noted is that even an intangible thing or even as abstract thought or belief will have a resultant effect. Also, even if you claim to do nothing, or even think of nothing (Meditation!), it will have its own result / effect. Belief (a strong thought with conviction, as I would like to put it) is emphasized very much in numerous ways through out Hinduism. If you have a strong and unshakable belief or faith, you will get the results of your belief.
The implications of this simple concept are phenomenal and in-numerous. Add to this, the resultant effects get carried forward to your next re-birth, and that's Karma in the most simplistic sense. In Hinduism, this concept of Karma, leads to the cycle of birth and death and therefore reincarnation of our soul. This leads to the concept of destiny or fate, which is determined by your actions not only in this current birth, but also from the actions of your previous births or incarnations!
The concepts of karma, destiny or fate has the potential to answer any question that one may encounter or realize for oneself, generally during the toughest times or during their peaks in life. To give an example, How two children born at same date and same time, and probably even the same place and the same environment get their lives shaped up differently ?
