Ganesha head was NOT chopped off when he was intoxicated on marijuana, the story goes a bit different. You need to realize that Hindutva is full of symbolism and mythology (per say).

 

The ganesha story is, that Parvati, wife of Shiva was bathing, she out of her dirt (again SYMBOLIC) created her son, ganesha. He was told to stand outside as her gaurd and not let anyone come in. Shiva came to visit and the boy would not let anyone come in, so Shiva got offended, and a battle ensued, between (i believe it was more than shiva, it was his ghosts and Vishnu as well), at the end, ganesha stood strong (he is the son of goddess of power, shakti), but was assasinated by SHiva (god of destruction).. ooh makes sense!...  however Parvati got upset and wanted the head to be replaced. there are many stores on how the head came back, but the one i know is, he found the first child that was sleeping faceing away from teh moth, an elephant, and broght that head for Ganesha...... That is the mythology ... the reason ganesha looks the way he does, you can look this up, I dont have the link for this, is because each thing means something. the trunk, the small eyes, the big ears, the belly, whatever he is holding.. bal bla.. same goes for all gods, so they dont LITERALLY HAVE 6 hands, its a representation.

 

2. Hindus can eat beef. Just like they can eat any meat. Hinduism has no doctrines of what you can or cannot do. THe puranas, and vedas are knowledge provided by rishis, you dont have to follow it. Hindutva allows you to search for the truth on you own. Hindus dont eat beef because as the buffalo is important to the native indians so is the cow, because it provides all the basic needs.

and the whole deal about Aryan invasion, that theory is proven false, a propoganda technique by the British, to break the very culture of India.

3. Sati, much like the caste system, was not a rule. It was wives giving themslevse up for the lvoe of their husband, they felt that they need not live, following the example of sati. HOWEVER, as time went on, the power of calling the shots came to the orthodox bhramins, who believed that all women should fall in sati, and that child marriages and castes should be heavily emphacized.... thats not hindiusm. that is not our beliefs.

4. Hindus believe that the story of RAMAYANA states that Hanuman picked up the mountain on his HAND, and flew it, yes. did all this truly happen? probably not. it is an exaggeration. But they have found remains of a fight scene, of swords and arrows at kurukshetra, where Mahabharat atook place. When the ramayan was supposed to have happened, according to hindu calendar, millions of years ago.. if you look at the evolution... ull find that there is an overlap in the homo sapien..(i dont know the exact terms).. but one of the race looked monkey like, while the other, looked like humans.. so possiblity maybe.. but to the degree written in Ramayana, no. Its an epic story, poem, with millions of symbols. 

The 10 avatars of Vishnu, follow the evolution, with the fish (aquatic) to turtle (amphibian) to boar (land) to narsimha (half animal, half man), to vamana (short man), to parusharam(the caveman, brhamin sort) to rama (theintelligent man) to Krishna(the karmic man) to buddha( represntation of all religious reformers) to kalki (the guy who brings and end to kalyug)

 

Hindus dont "worship" everything, they respect everything. The advaitya school of philosophy, claims no duality (ie. no god and human as differnet) rather god as creation. that means everything within this creation is the representation of god. I am part of god, as are you... as is the tiger, or the desk... not to say that i AM GOD, but i am part of that creation, part of that spark, the divine. (get it?)..

alternatively, the point of religion is to create a moral law. And in that context, of not stealing, not hurting, etc. etc. how do you get one to be the noblest of all... god resides in everyting.. and if you believe that youll think twice before cuttin a tree(thats why they used to prey to trees back in teh day before they cut it)

the gana flowing from shivas hair is also part of mythology.. stories that rishis have told to remember, and to maintain symbolism. I dont know the particula reason behind that.. i heard a story when i was a kid, but i dont remmeber. If its that big of an issue i can look it up.

Hindu women not wearing makeup, or wearing white, has to do with that orthodoxy tradition that was setup with sati. ie. the true woman.. everyone wants their wife to be liek Sita but no one can turn aroudn and be Ram first!... thus its one of those things, but htings are changing in the modern areas of India.

 

abou the.. 35 million number of gods.. Like i said with the Advaita philosophy, god is all, and all is part of god. It alone is the true reality, the supreme, the truth. You can call it bhraman , Allah, Khuda, Rab, whatever you choose to call it.. doesn change the fact that there still exists only one supreme in the form of a force. This supreme has three basic coscmic funcitons.... to create (Bhrama) to sustain (Vishnu) and to destroy/ restore (Shiva). As you can see this is the reason that a lot of people prey to vishnu and only he provides the avatars that sustain mankind.. he is the sustanier.. and many people worship shiva.. for the power.. he at the end is the restorere...

the rest, like god of animals, wealth, sun.. etc. are all representations of the cosmic functions .. manifestaion of god!. god of men, god of this .. that.. when they say god of this or that.. it just unifies that category in the mythological stories. Thus since these are all representations of god.. me and you are representations of god as well..

 

hope that answers your questions.

It would be kind if next time you  and the rest of the crowd here can answer questions respectfully.

 

Thanks