ABSTRACT
Religion as a culture form has two distinguishable aspects. The institutional aspect of the Hindu religious tradition in its social dimension is represented both by the caste system and by its elaborate ritual structure which has acquired an autonomous existence of its own, being built into the traditional Hindu conduct of life from birth to death. There is then no logical reason why there cannot take place a radical reconstruction of the social base of the Hindu way of life under modern pressures, which will eventually become a part of the Hindu tradition, and even an institutional expression of this religion itself. Assimilation of institutions that have originated outside the Hindu context may also be justified by the doctrine of non-dualism which preaches that all things that exist in the universe are expressions in different name and form of the same divine essence.
