I am hindu

With a authentic history dating back to more than 5000 years "sanathana dharma" which in recent past is being called as "Hinduism" has come to a condition, where the simple mention of it gets you the label of being a Non secular human being.

It is the religion that has tolerance as base.

It's the religion that never talks about words like faith or belief and asks the seeker to question and seek the truth.

It's the religion that never was called as religion. 

It's the religion that neither had an official God nor a official messenger nor a self proclaimed prophet.

It's the laboratory of truth where each individual can choose his own path or can create his own path.

It's the need of the hour to understand what is Hinduism or Sanathana Dharma as per the Vedas which are the basis of this dharma. 

The Hinduism that we perceive today has nothing to do with the actual sanathana dharma as the fog of perceptions, ideas make it difficult to see what lies behind.

The Vedic system expects the individual to progress and not merely stay on the level of blind faith. The Vedic path does not rely on faith or beliefs alone, but offers the methodologies that a person can use to refine one’s consciousness. Then he or she can personally perceive the higher levels of reality and spiritual truths of which the Vedic instructions speak.

The Vedic process allows full freedom to investigate spiritual matters and for one to ask all the questions that may come to mind, without restrictions or the possibility of being called a doubting person or a blasphemer as you find in other religions. 

The Vedic approach knows that the Absolute can be perceived in different ways, thus the Vedic system accommodates this and allows for the individual to pursue the level of Truth that he or she wants to perceive. The Vedic path also makes no restrictions on our right to use whatever resources we can to help ourselves understand our spiritual nature. This is why Vedic followers can look at any religion and find truth in it. 

The Vedic system also acknowledges that we all have a unique relationship with God, and that this does not depend on the approval of a church, an institution, or a cleric or priest. It is eternal. The Vedic process merely provides the means or methodologies by which we can awaken that relationship and the awareness of our spiritual identity. 

By this approach, we stimulate our own perception of spiritual reality rather than merely being forced to accept a dogma presented by some religious institution. On the other hand, we see the conventional religions of the West. They are often monotheistic constructs that are based primarily on faith, beliefs, and fear. Their faith is often directed toward the idea that if you follow what your church authorities tell you, or what you read in your scripture, you will go to heaven and be “saved.” Belief usually amounts to accepting something that is still beyond your experience. 

And fear in most religions is based on the idea that if you do not follow the tenants of your faith or church, or if you question it, you may find yourself being excommunicated and outcaste from your religion, or even told that you will go to hell. 

Thus, you will have no relationship or connection with God. Fear in this regard is also displayed as a fanatical defense of one’s ideas or religion, that everyone else but you and your clan are going to hell and that you are the only ones who really know the truth. In this way, they allow for little freedom of thought or inquiry, or for the individual to seek out answers to questions that are not described in its scripture. 

Anything that is not included is labeled as either demonic or will lead one to hell. This is what I call being in “The Prison of Religion”.