The term Hinduism is misleading for it suggests a unified system of beliefs and ideas, which is certainly not the case. It was, in fact, an ' ism ' given by English people of nineteenth century to the multiplicity of beliefs which we today know as Hinduism. It is not a term ' Hindus ' themselves would , normally use, and the term ' Hindu ' itself originated as a geographical one for those who lived beyond the river Sindhu. It represents a whole spectrum of beliefs and practices which on the one hand contains veneration of trees and stones and the like, and on the other very profound, abstract, metaphysical speculations.
 
     Similarly, there are no criteria for establishing who is a Hindu because no two Hindus will necessarily think alike; there are no uniformly accepted beliefs, sacraments, rituals and practices to make this possible. Additionally; there is no religious founder in Hinduism : rather, Hinduism has evolved from a multiplicity of ideas which have largely never been discarded but have been retained
alongside each other. It would, therefore, be more correct to speak of Hinduisms than of Hinduism in the singular. 
 
     Before 5000 and more years of the history of Hinduism few aspects have been lost : new ideas have always been accommodated alongside the old ones. This is partly why, when visiting a Hindu temple, we are likely to see pictures of Jesus of Nazareth, Guru Nanak or the Buddha, alongside those of Hindu deities. At the philosophical level, it is impossible to categorize Hinduism into any particular belief system such as monotheistic, pantheistic, theistic, monistic and so on. Hinduism is all of these.
 
It is this kind of accommodation of a multiplicity of ideas which is at the heart of Hinduism and such a tolerance of ideas comes about because of a deep belief in the differences in the levels of consciousness of individuals. No two human beings are the same, and the Hindu would regard it as rather illogical, therefore, to expect two people to have the same views of God, the same level of understanding, the same beliefs, or the same needs and practices. Because each individual is an evolving, changing, entity his or her individual level of consciousness will necessitate an individual approach to God, different from the approach of another. The nature of the Hindu deity is absolute; that is to say it has all the possible qualities of the cosmos and can be perceived from any angle. And it depends on one's level of consciousness how one is able to perceive that divine entity. To say that everyone must have the same view is nonsensical to the Hindu.
 
     Hinduism has little interest in history, historical dates and a linear approach to its development. More important is tradition - the past .being manifest in the present. Countries and governments and, indeed, civilizations have come and gone, while India, the home of most Hindus, has remained very much the same. Many of the scenes witnessed today  in India are remarkably similar to those of 4000 years ago! It is tradition which has made this possible. Tradition for the Hindu is religious tradition since religion and culture are one and the same thing, with no division between the religious and the secular. Indeed, since religion is not an independer phenomenon in Hinduism there is, in fact, no term for it; instead, emotive terms like bhakti ' devotion ' or dharma ' what is right ' and yoga ' discipline ' depict essential aspects of religion, as well as practical aspects like varnasramadharma, which we shall examine below. A word like sadhana, which has no direct translation in English, depicts Hindu religion rather well. Its basic root sadhana has many meanings  ' to reach one's goal ' , ' to subdue ' , ' to gain power over ' , ' to fulfil ' , ' to accomplish an aim ' and involves the idea of an individual reaching the fullest spiritual potential and perfection. In reaching spiritual perfection, however, there is no claim that any one way or interpretation is correct.