great thread here, i had hesitated to click on this thread but after coming here, i couldnt stop reading all the replies, esp frm vedic_life.. Hindusim is a very moderm term, it was a term that was later introduced by greeks/persians/ arbains...for ppl living in northen india...Hindu philosophy is one of the highest philosophy that exists in this planet, and there is soo many things to learn in hindusim, because it has existed for so many years. And yes, there are many contradicting ideas in hindusim, this is because of its long long survival history, where ppl tried to fit hinudsim for their own purpose. ok let me also contribute a little to this thread..by describing maya and bramhan, :) Fristly, what is bramhan? Bramhan is sat-chit-ananda which means, the truth, consciousness and ananda.... and two very major points abt bramhan is bramhan is perfect than anything imaginable, because imagination is human attribute. bramhan cannot be imagined, bramhan is simply perfect. bramhan is not finite. because bramhan is perfect bramhan is also infinite. and so is the universe, because bramhan is the universe. Our mind exists, and with mind we reason, precieve the world, which is maya, so therefore maya is universal name for mind. So, maya exists with all of us.We precieve the world with maya.. There is one reality and that is Bramhan. Bramhan is everywhere, there is not a single place where bramhan is not aware of itself, so hence that concludes bramhan is present in our mind. and again how cud we even talk about bramhan, if he didnt exist in our mind. How can we get to the reality ? one has to be desireless, then slowly he will see the truth, and it is possible to witness the truth with by living in this world.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ symlyn, answer to ur question lies in Hindusim itself. A man should descover himself, he should not preceive anything blindly, guru's are the physical "god" who can only help u guide your mind, so gurus sud be limited as a guide of our disturbed/lost mind, but many ppl wrongly follow the gurus, which are only supposed to be "gods" who guide your mind.and ofcourse let not us not talk abt hoax gurus... like pashupati's pundits.. and again, if every human, follows the vedas and seeks the truth, than this world wudnt exist, wud it? SO, we need to realize this world is a maya, and all of us including u and me are just the preceivers. and again like hindusim says, if u do good, u will be done good. if u do bad, u will be done bad. u are ur own creation, we are all created equally, and we choose to lie and we choose to be honest. that was the long answer, the short answer to ur querry wud be, We Are Just Humans.. ok this is all the time i have :P if u all have questions regarding my post, post it, i will try my best to answer :)