Things developed differently in the East. The typical Eastern man (the man of China, India, Southeast Asia) looks at the universe much differently. His religions teach him that all things that exist in the universe, including himself, are of no importance because they are temporary. He believes that the only important thing is the realm that exists out and beyond this world. He wants to reach this realm, and he thinks he can reach it only by completeky denying the world around him. Can you see how difficult it is for any real science to come from such attitudes like these? It's true of course that countries like Japan and China have recently been making scientific progress , but's that's only because in the field of science they have adopted the Western way of looking at things.
Something else follows because of the completely opposite views that the man of the West and the man of the East hold about life: it is difficult for one to understand, or want to understand, the other. It is almost impossible for one to explain his views to the other.
However, let's see what we can discover and understand about the religions of the East, beginning with Hinduism. We will try to follow the mainstream of Hinduism and avoid the many branches that flow out of it. We will trace the growth of Hinduism from its beginnings in the Indus valley to its arrival in Hollywood in the form of Vedanta - a modern version of Hinduism popular with many people from intellectuals to 'hippies'.