GENERAL COMMENTS:

One of the basic problem in discussing Hindusism is that no body knows what it is.
It is different for each person.

It is not a unified system but a collection of systems which are so different that most of them contradict the other at one level or other.

All systems of Hindu philosophy are based on the experiences of sages of ancient India. Since each had different experiences, each developed a different system. Because of this it is difficult to di s cuss Hinduism coherently until we define what we mean by the term. Hence it is easy for the Hindu to slip away from the evil that is hidden within by saying that it is not part of Hinduism. Dissociating anything that is opposed by the critic one can distill the religion and isolate an idealistic part. At the same time it can permit and assist errors and evil when it profit the person. Everything can be explained away.

Hence we are going to look at Hinduism at varying levels.

At the intellectual level it is only a philosophy.
It is entirely based on intellectual enquiry and not based on God experience.

On the mystic level o n the other hand it is based only on subjective spiritual and mystical experience of people.

On the practical level Hinduism is totally different. It is not based on any historical verifiable revelation of God. Thus objective verification of claims are out of place. On the practical level it can be anything from black magic, witchcraft to erotic orgy on one side to bhakthi and submission and asceticism on the other.

All systems of Indian philosophy have for their ultimate goal, the spiritual freedom or Moksha, which terminates all sorrows and sufferings and endows a state of enduring bliss. But this is only on the ultimate level which is not always discussed at the mundane level. At this level Hinduism reduces to a means of attaining temperal ends. For this purpose temperal lower gods are created and worshipped. This temperal gains cover up and hide away the ultimate mukthi.

What is the ultimate bliss is defined differently by different system.
To some it is ceasing to exist to total annihilation. Then we do not have sorrow or sickness nor joy or happiness.

For others it is not really annihilation, but being one with God, never to fall into the trappings of life. It is a conscious inactivity. If you talk to a common Hindu, his visions are different. He is still thinking of lif e where there are no problems i.e a continuation of life with joy and happiness. There are six Darsanas viz,Nyaya, Vaiseshika, Sankhya, Yoga, Purva Mimamsa and Vedanta. We do not hear much about any other today than Vedanta. This is because this is currently the hot export item. The Hindu Maharishies extensively export this with various flavors. If one reads through their brands we will never recognise any similarity. This is not accidental because that is the very essence of Hinduism - whether it is good or bad.