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Hinduism For Dummies
Your hands-on guide to one of the world's major religions The dominant religion of India, "Hinduism" refers to a wide variety of religious traditions and philosophies that have developed over thousands of years. Today, the United States is home to approximately one million Hindus.
If you've heard of this ancient religion and are looking for a reference that explains the intricacies of the customs, practices, and teachings of this ancient spiritual system, Hinduism For Dummies is for you!
Provides a thorough introduction to this earliest and popular world belief system Information on the rites, rituals, deities, and teachings associated with the practice of Hinduism Explores the history and teachings of the Vedas, Brahmans, and Upanishads Offers insight into the modern daily practice of Hinduism around the world Continuing the Dummies tradition of making the world's religions engaging and accessible to everyone, Hinduism For Dummies is your hands-on, friendly guide to this fascinating religion.
If you've heard of this ancient religion and are looking for a reference that explains the intricacies of the customs, practices, and teachings of this ancient spiritual system, Hinduism For Dummies is for you!
Provides a thorough introduction to this earliest and popular world belief system Information on the rites, rituals, deities, and teachings associated with the practice of Hinduism Explores the history and teachings of the Vedas, Brahmans, and Upanishads Offers insight into the modern daily practice of Hinduism around the world Continuing the Dummies tradition of making the world's religions engaging and accessible to everyone, Hinduism For Dummies is your hands-on, friendly guide to this fascinating religion.
416 pages, Paperback
First published June 9, 2011
48 people are currently reading
446 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
June 5, 2025
A great place for anyone who knows nothing.
I used to think that the "for Dummies" books were dumbed down. Not so. All it means is that they are assuming you don't know anything and give you a pretty in-depth overview.
That's not to say Amrutur Srinvasan is claiming to explain Hinduism's spiritualism in-depth, but he does cover far more than I was expecting and in such an interesting way.
He does give the disclaimer that he is painting with broad strokes and that what he's telling us is not each individual human being's personal experience with Hinduism.
Now, there were parts of the book that were "lists" that would normally be for a reader's reference, and the narrator just read those out, and those parts were (of course) dull.
But overall, this was an excellent experience for me.
I'm not a seeker in the sense that I'm searching for something to enlighten my soul or some higher purpose. I'm just interested in religion in the general sense. And I've noticed there are a lot of misconceptions about all of the major religions by people who don't practice them.
Oddly enough, they all seem to be the same when you boil them down to the core. Be kind, have integrity, the family unit is sacrosanct, a bit of sexism thrown in because that was just how it was done back in the day. The only difference comes down to the care and feeding of whatever God or gods were worshipped. And even then? It's pretty much a straight respect the God/gods or bad things will happen mantra across the board.
One thing I thought was great was that Hindus don't care if you're a Hindu.
They do not come a knockin' on doors to save your soul. Me not having to soldier crawl in front of windows so the {insert religious people here} won't see I'm home and just ignoring their door-to-door sales pitch is a point in their favor.
I also learned that there are tons and tons of denominations of Hindu. Like every other major religion, Hindus have splintered off and formed different sects. Except! According to this, they don't exactly look at their version as being right and everyone else's as wrong. They're just...different, and that's ok. In fact, other religions are ok, too. He even said they were good with atheists. The point being, as long as you aren't an evil asshole, you're on our own path to enlightenment and that's just fine with them.
He talked about castes and how that's not "officially" a thing, but still a thing. The sexism thing came up, too. But since Hindus are supposed to ponder and think and rethink, there is the idea that they can change their beliefs over time and reinterpret how they do things without it going against a written-in-stone religious text.
Which bodes well for the coming generations of Hindus, since even those written-in-stone religions soften and change with the times.
He did a "common misconceptions" Q&A toward the end of the book that was very helpful and eye-opening. Things you maybe would feel either silly asking or wonder if it would be rude to ask a practicing Hindu. Although I've found the sort of people who actually do get offended by someone asking genuine questions are few and far between, and quite honestly, those people are going to be offended by something you've done while trying not to be offensive. It's a no-win situation either way. So, just don't worry about it and ask questions because you'll never learn anything if you don't.
This was an interesting, insightful, and incredibly broad overview of an ancient religion still practiced by millions of people today. I would 100% encourage you to check this out if you're interested in dipping your toes in the water.
Recommended.
I used to think that the "for Dummies" books were dumbed down. Not so. All it means is that they are assuming you don't know anything and give you a pretty in-depth overview.
That's not to say Amrutur Srinvasan is claiming to explain Hinduism's spiritualism in-depth, but he does cover far more than I was expecting and in such an interesting way.
He does give the disclaimer that he is painting with broad strokes and that what he's telling us is not each individual human being's personal experience with Hinduism.
Now, there were parts of the book that were "lists" that would normally be for a reader's reference, and the narrator just read those out, and those parts were (of course) dull.
But overall, this was an excellent experience for me.
I'm not a seeker in the sense that I'm searching for something to enlighten my soul or some higher purpose. I'm just interested in religion in the general sense. And I've noticed there are a lot of misconceptions about all of the major religions by people who don't practice them.
Oddly enough, they all seem to be the same when you boil them down to the core. Be kind, have integrity, the family unit is sacrosanct, a bit of sexism thrown in because that was just how it was done back in the day. The only difference comes down to the care and feeding of whatever God or gods were worshipped. And even then? It's pretty much a straight respect the God/gods or bad things will happen mantra across the board.
One thing I thought was great was that Hindus don't care if you're a Hindu.
They do not come a knockin' on doors to save your soul. Me not having to soldier crawl in front of windows so the {insert religious people here} won't see I'm home and just ignoring their door-to-door sales pitch is a point in their favor.
I also learned that there are tons and tons of denominations of Hindu. Like every other major religion, Hindus have splintered off and formed different sects. Except! According to this, they don't exactly look at their version as being right and everyone else's as wrong. They're just...different, and that's ok. In fact, other religions are ok, too. He even said they were good with atheists. The point being, as long as you aren't an evil asshole, you're on our own path to enlightenment and that's just fine with them.
He talked about castes and how that's not "officially" a thing, but still a thing. The sexism thing came up, too. But since Hindus are supposed to ponder and think and rethink, there is the idea that they can change their beliefs over time and reinterpret how they do things without it going against a written-in-stone religious text.
Which bodes well for the coming generations of Hindus, since even those written-in-stone religions soften and change with the times.
He did a "common misconceptions" Q&A toward the end of the book that was very helpful and eye-opening. Things you maybe would feel either silly asking or wonder if it would be rude to ask a practicing Hindu. Although I've found the sort of people who actually do get offended by someone asking genuine questions are few and far between, and quite honestly, those people are going to be offended by something you've done while trying not to be offensive. It's a no-win situation either way. So, just don't worry about it and ask questions because you'll never learn anything if you don't.
This was an interesting, insightful, and incredibly broad overview of an ancient religion still practiced by millions of people today. I would 100% encourage you to check this out if you're interested in dipping your toes in the water.
Recommended.
August 30, 2023
The book exceeded my admittedly low expectations. Provided helpful explanations of theologies, rituals, scriptures, ceremonies, pilgrimages, holy days, gods, castes, etc.
March 30, 2019
Well you don't really rate a book like this. Religion. I am interested in philosophy and religion so wanted to delve deeper into this one. A very ancient religion from the sub continent of India.
I was also inspired to learn more because of the musical group the Beatles, whose members, specifically George Harrison who integrated the sitar in many of the groups tunes, (Norwegian Wood etc) and John Lennon, (Across the Universe). Also the group made a pilgrimage in 1968 where they met with Hindu spiritual leaders and wrote many songs. Paul M wrote many songs there also. George Harrison was the first Beatle to have a #1 hit post Beatles with My Sweet Lord which was dedicated to his faith in this religion. I like the ideas of karma and how the soul lives forever and the body is just a vehicle, which I think many religions subscribe to. Peace!!
I was also inspired to learn more because of the musical group the Beatles, whose members, specifically George Harrison who integrated the sitar in many of the groups tunes, (Norwegian Wood etc) and John Lennon, (Across the Universe). Also the group made a pilgrimage in 1968 where they met with Hindu spiritual leaders and wrote many songs. Paul M wrote many songs there also. George Harrison was the first Beatle to have a #1 hit post Beatles with My Sweet Lord which was dedicated to his faith in this religion. I like the ideas of karma and how the soul lives forever and the body is just a vehicle, which I think many religions subscribe to. Peace!!
January 18, 2021
Decent book with some notable issues: i. no discussion of Hinduism in Mauritius, and Cambodia; ii. too much emphasis on Vivekananda, iii. some retarded claims about yoga, including an anecdote about a practitioner who allegedly could move objects without physical contact using yogic powers (p.327).
December 20, 2020
I'm a Hindu and I rate this book as five star. This is a commendable effort to simplify a very ancient religion with profound philosophic writings to the average Joe.
December 29, 2022
A very elementary read that I picked up after realising that most cosmopolitan Indians live with hinduism around them but not fully understanding the origins or the core values that it presents.
The first thing that strikes me is that the author accepts the shortcoming of hinduism which allows for flexibility beyond par but that's what makes it rather less known/studied by others compared to other major religions.
The book although can be read in one go is better served as a guide with chapters to be read as and when the interest or need to know arises about a topic.
Lastly the author does allow for a lot of generalisations and lots that is left unsaid, particularly in topics of gandhi's position on the untouchables that pitted him against Bhimrao Ambedkar, etc.
Topics that I found commendable were the ones on how bramhinism was never mean to be a superior class but all of the classes were created equal till the concept was poisoned by manusmriti.
Overall, it's a book I can see myself recommending to fellow naive hindus and strangers alike because of the fact that the author does a good job in being centrist in views about hinduism in the 21st century.
The first thing that strikes me is that the author accepts the shortcoming of hinduism which allows for flexibility beyond par but that's what makes it rather less known/studied by others compared to other major religions.
The book although can be read in one go is better served as a guide with chapters to be read as and when the interest or need to know arises about a topic.
Lastly the author does allow for a lot of generalisations and lots that is left unsaid, particularly in topics of gandhi's position on the untouchables that pitted him against Bhimrao Ambedkar, etc.
Topics that I found commendable were the ones on how bramhinism was never mean to be a superior class but all of the classes were created equal till the concept was poisoned by manusmriti.
Overall, it's a book I can see myself recommending to fellow naive hindus and strangers alike because of the fact that the author does a good job in being centrist in views about hinduism in the 21st century.
April 28, 2025
“Truth is one, however the wise may express it differently.”
March 9, 2021
Great help for a dummy like me that has no idea about Hinduism. Covered every single subject in substancial detail to the point that no stone was left unturned. To a westerner like me, some posted of the book for a little confusing because it's hard for me to pick up these indian names or terminologies and remember them to understand the context . This happened more towards the end of the book when it was the more philosophical side of the Hinduism. One of my big takeaways was that there is little uniformity in the religion as it has so many people that from the start have very little uniformity, or in other words, little organisation. It's very telling how Hinduism is very reflective of the country India itself as opposed to some countries that reflect their religion like christianity rejecting it's morals and philosophies on Brazil or Poland. This lack of uniformity has in the long run lead to far less aggression and oppression which is not a common theme in the study of a ancient religion. Hinduism is also the oldest major religion that's still practiced nowadays and predates all of monotheism. Thereby Hinduism is polytheistic. I got a fairly good sense in who are the major gods and deities like Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu which together are like the holy trinity. The word Avatar comes from Hinduism and is a representation of the gods in a physical form. Rama is one of these avatars that is very important in the religion and is the central character in the Ramayana, a Hindu epic. As a Unlike Monotheism, Hindus recognize that the Hindu epics were written by people as opposed to divide scripture but are still highly respected and worshipped. The other important Hindu epics were the Mahabharata and the bhagavad gita. The important divine scriptures are the 4 Vedas. Impossibly long texts written in poem like format in sanskrit. The most important part about the religion though was the concept of Darma. A short of duty that one needs to fulfill in order to live a religious or correct life. That's probably a rushed way of summarizing it but that's what I understood. Besides the religion itself, what I found very fascinating and useful about this book was relating the religion to the culture. Hindus commonly take pilgrimages to all sorts of destinations and have endless holidays to celebrate one thing or another. More fundamental to the culture was a entire chapter about the cast system in India which is a sort of outdated system that still somehow prevails in India and originates from the religion. It was apparently originally designed for more organisation purposes and give everyone their duty or position in society. Then over the centuries it melded together with family and then not missing with other classes. This eventually lead to the creation and also bigotry of the "lowest" class, the untouchables. Gandhi was famously very against this concept and named the class "God's people". This concept of defining people according to their class and treating them according has lead to enough bigotry within the country and religion itself. Both arranged marriages is then a bit product of this and so is in the modern day, popular online dating apps which use algorithms to filter through the people that are "appropriate" for you. All in all, I've learnt a ton from this book and would gladly read more from the Dummies guide books.
April 9, 2019
Fascinating. I enjoyed this book. It answers lots of those questions about things people take for granted and might not think to tell you. So I had already done a course on Hindu scriptures, but what do people actually DO for their puja, and why does the priest in the temple waft that flame in front of the deity’s face, and why are the deities arranged like that, and what is the difference between a priest, a guru, a swami and a sadhu, and what is the difference between the denominations in Hinduism? All this sort of thing and much more. Thank you. 😊
June 3, 2019
your body is a chariot. let the self ride with your intellect serving as the driver of chariot using the mind as reins to control the horses (which are your senses) on the road of desire. with steady mind and pure heart you will reach the goal of immortality
November 14, 2020
Mr. Srinivasan who manages to explain complex issues, concepts and philosophies in a clear and comprehensible manner gives us a well-written, well-structured, enlightening and entertaining introduction into the basic aspects of the Hindu religion.
Read
August 6, 2024Didn't get very far before the self-referencing 'you can read more about X in chapter Whatever' got so annoying I just couldn't anymore. Who knows what the material is like - the style didn't work for me at all.
July 24, 2020
A good introduction to Hinduism although it's slightly dry in audiobook format and could benefit from being more concise.
July 25, 2020
If you are an Indian don't need to read but if you are non Indian ।।
Best choice to understand diverse culture of Hinduism and it's philosophy.
Best choice to understand diverse culture of Hinduism and it's philosophy.
September 7, 2020
Amazing books, explains a lot of thing,
October 16, 2023
Muy útil
October 25, 2023
Good book for someone to learn about Hinduism
October 26, 2023
A great introduction to Hinduism.
December 17, 2023
Informative.
May 5, 2021
Hinduism for Dummies delves a bit further into the details of Hindu life than I was really interested in—and then, when it describes Hindu belief/philosophy (which I was much more interested in), it gets rather confusing. Nevertheless, I learned a fair amount.
March 8, 2013
This book was a fascinating read especially considering the integration of Hindu theology and philosophy. As someone who had a very limited knowledge of the Hindu faith, this book is a very good starting point to learn and understand the complex nature of this religion.
The only complaints I have is that the author does not provide very many pronunciation guides when introducing Hindu terms/words in the native language which can be a little bit frustrating. The author also refers the reader to other sections of the book quite frequently which becomes a little annoying as one gets further along in the book. Otherwise if one is wanting to learn more about Hinduism, this book is a great place to start.
The only complaints I have is that the author does not provide very many pronunciation guides when introducing Hindu terms/words in the native language which can be a little bit frustrating. The author also refers the reader to other sections of the book quite frequently which becomes a little annoying as one gets further along in the book. Otherwise if one is wanting to learn more about Hinduism, this book is a great place to start.
March 17, 2024
3.5 stars - rounded down
My parents often failed to tell me the reasons and the history of why we do the traditions we do in my Hindu household. This often made me question my religion and not fully understand it. After reading this book, I feel confident to explain and make connections to other religions, like Christianity and Buddhism. This being said, I felt that the book was heavily redundant and often didn’t have the correct facts. I certainly felt that there was a huge emphasis on Swami Vivekananda, leaving many other major denominations out. I would not recommend this book if you are new to Hinduism, as it can be consuming. I would recommend it to any individual who has a pretty decent knowledge on it as this book really helped me make connections.
My parents often failed to tell me the reasons and the history of why we do the traditions we do in my Hindu household. This often made me question my religion and not fully understand it. After reading this book, I feel confident to explain and make connections to other religions, like Christianity and Buddhism. This being said, I felt that the book was heavily redundant and often didn’t have the correct facts. I certainly felt that there was a huge emphasis on Swami Vivekananda, leaving many other major denominations out. I would not recommend this book if you are new to Hinduism, as it can be consuming. I would recommend it to any individual who has a pretty decent knowledge on it as this book really helped me make connections.
January 6, 2013
I read this book as a primer for a culture I find to be fascinating. It was informative, but the author peppers nearly every page of text with references to other chapters in the book. It's excessive. Overall, the book functions well as 101 course, giving the reader just enough information to know where he or she would like to study more deeply.
June 25, 2013
In general I love the Dummies books in that they give a very nice general introduction to the topic at hand. This worked out very well for Hinduism for Dummies. I thought what was covered was both well selected and just at an appropriate level for both complexity and completeness.
Recommended.
Recommended.
January 10, 2014
A little on the dry side (for "Dummies" books), but lots of good information.
September 16, 2013
Very good book when it comes to learning Sanatana Dharma, but no mention of Prabhupada? Come on now!
July 4, 2015
A wonderful companion to the Idiot's guide to Hinduism. This deals with festivals and rituals not dealt with enough in the other guide.
February 8, 2025
Even though I'm a dummy, I have enough sense to KNOW there are better beginner books about Hinduism than this one.
April 24, 2014
Highly informative.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews