Thank you Dan,

I think you got age-old Hinduism mixed up with the 20th-century populist New-Age movement. How different they are!

Hinduism is all about the spiritual realm and in fact is very close, if not even identical, to the teachings of Christ once you have a good translator to bridge the cultural differences in the terms in use.

Here for example is an excerpt from the sacred Hindu scripture of the Bhagavad-Gita, the last few verses (39-43) of Chapter 3:

[
39. The knowledge of even the most discerning gets covered by this perpetual enemy in the form of insatiable desire, which is never satisfied and burns like fire, O son of Kunti.
40. The senses, mind, and intellect are said to be breeding grounds of desire. Through them, it clouds one’s knowledge and deludes the embodied soul.
41. Therefore, O best of the Bharatas, in the very beginning bring the senses under control and slay this enemy called desire, which is the embodiment of sin and destroys knowledge and realization.
42. The senses are superior to the gross body, and superior to the senses is the mind. Beyond the mind is the intellect, and even beyond the intellect is the soul.
43. Thus knowing the soul to be superior to the material intellect, O mighty armed Arjun, subdue the self (senses, mind, and intellect) by the self (strength of the soul), and kill this formidable enemy called lust.
]

Hinduism agrees with Christianity that "good works" on their own cannot bring you to God. Yes, good works bring you to a better world, and although it is often translated as "heaven", it is not the heaven that Jesus speaks of, consisting of union with God. Once shedding one's body, those with very good deeds go to that better world (called "Swarga"), enjoy their time immensely there, perhaps a very long time, but then eventually their merit is exhausted and they need to return to earth to continue their spiritual struggle there.

Yuyutsu

Christian apologetics is an arm of literature. Is there a similar that takes a pragmatic view of Hinduism?
Man and his soul refuses to be separated from the spirit.
I’m perversely amused at the atheists attempts to achieve the impossible. Even the Chinese Communists gave up on that one.
It’s been a joy as usual Yuyutsu.

Dan.

Examining truth is always a good way to smooth over the bumps in life.
And the truth is; at first we didn't exist.
Then there came in to being a unique computer programme.
(our parents made that happen)
We are that computer programme.
It runs continuously throughout life, inside our brain.
When it started rolling and controlling, life began for us.
When it stops, we will cease to be.
The time between these two happenings is life.
There was no life before birth, and there will be no life after death.
For the computer programme is all we are or were.

A computer programme is an intangible thing.
We cannot see it or hear it directly.
But luckily, it interfaces with the world around it by means of our physical being.
Our body serves as both the support system for the brain, and the communication system for the programme running there.
The body is also a necessary vehicle for reproduction.
When our brain stops, we cease to be; totally.
All functions and memories that were us come to a full stop.
The body dies too, but is there until it is recycled by natural processes.

Afterwards, we might be remembered by those who are still alive?
And in a sense, some part of us lives on in our children.
Any changes we made to the world around us will remain for a time too.
But that is it. There is nothing else.
Life is short, and as sweet as we make it.