Interview for I&H

Yutarth, from India, explains Hindu beliefs. When someone dies, their soul keeps moving and can be reborn as a different organism. The goal of Hinduism is to lead a good life, benefiting others and being less sinful. The sacred texts, like the Bhagavad Gita, teach about good prevailing over evil and having a positive impact. Hindus are encouraged to treat the less fortunate with kindness and help them. Yutarth is currently Hindu because of his family, but he may choose a different religion in the future. Hello, I have Yutarth with me. Yutarth, where are you from? India. What religion are you? Hindu. Okay, so today I have a couple of questions for you on your religion. My first question is, what does your religion believe happens to you when you die? So, in Hinduism, the belief is that whenever a person dies, or any living thing dies, the body dies, but the soul or the spirit of that organism keeps on moving. So, there's no concept of heaven or hell, but that soul becomes into different organisms. For example, I'm a human right now. When I die, in Hinduism, what they believe is that I may, for example, be reborn as a bird or another animal or something like that. Okay, so basically, what you mean is, your soul is always kept in another person's, or in an animal's body. Yeah, you're reborn. Okay. So now my second question is, what is the goal of your religion? For example, nirvana in Buddhism. So, in our religion, it's to lead a good life where you benefit other people, and also that you try to be less sinful. But, you could, like, your sins could be washed away. So, there's this belief about this river called Ganga in India. If you, for example, bathe in it, your sins will wash away. So, yeah. So, in Hinduism, it's sort of like Buddhism to have a pure heart and intentions. So, be a good person, basically. And be a nice person to anybody, no matter who they are. Yeah. Okay. My third question is, what effect does your sacred text have on you, and what is your sacred text? What's the name? So, there are many sacred texts in Hinduism, actually. So, there's the Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata, Ramayana, some of these. So, yeah. Most of these, except Bhagavad, well, also kind of Bhagavad Gita, is that they talk about, like, how, like, good always prevails over evil, and basically good wins over evil. The Bhagavad Gita goes into more depth about, like, things such as, like, how, why a person lives and what their impact is on humanity. I haven't read it, so I don't know much about it. But, yeah, like, the Ramayana and Mahabharata teach me and, I guess, other also Hindu people that always try to be a person that positively impacts most people, and positive things might happen to you. Okay. Yeah. Sounds really good. Another question is, what are the teachings of your sacred text on how you are supposed to treat people who are less fortunate? So, what do you have to do for the poor people? So, in Hindu, well, in Indian culture, there's, like, wives, like, priests, like, teachers and priests used to go and collect food from different homes. But, yeah. So, that sort of answers that question, but there's also that, in general, like, the richer used to, like, depend on their personality, but some rich tried to help the needy and poor by donating things. For example, there's this really famous story that there was a god, Krishna, who basically had a friend that was not that rich. Well, Krishna, he became a king, so he basically, his friend, when they were, like, grown up, his friend came to his palace just to meet him and just to ask for some help, like, help, I'm pretty sure. But, in the end, like, Krishna actually gifted him a whole house and a chariot. So, yeah, that story implies that try to be nice to not just the needy, but everyone, really. Okay, yeah. And another question is, are you this religion by choice or because your family is this religion? So, right now, like, it's because of my family and what my family believes, and also what I'm believing, but some beliefs in Hinduism I actually find really interesting, and I agree with those beliefs, such as the fact that we get reborn as other forms of organisms. That sort of belief I believe, but if I were to choose a religion in the future, I may not stay with Hinduism, I may just, because I have some of my own beliefs, which are not in Hinduism, so I'll be following sort of my own religion. Not exactly atheist, so, yeah. Okay, yeah. Thank you for your time, and yeah.