The “Western” principles do not align well with the Indian “Gaze”. The western philosophy is mostly a derivative of Greek and European “gaze” which teaches the subject to “Acquire”, to “Win”, to “Kill”.
If you see European culture, it is always trying to acquire and “progress”. Be in Industrial revolution, World war, roman culture – Greeks and Europeans always want to progress and venture into unkown territories . They built ships and traveled to far flunged countries, colonized them, looted them, ruled them and made themselves “Rich”.
The Indian “Gaze” is different. Our philosophy doesn’t have a start and end and neither does it stress on “Acquiring”. Our heroes do not fight for Acquisition (like Greek heroes and gods e.g Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, Alexandar). Our heroes fight for righteousness, peace, Dharma (Arjuna, Ram).
This philosophy is not acceptable to the western world, which is just a young kid compared to Indian philosophies which dates back to 5000-7000 years old.
Hinduism is not a religion. It is a collective set of philosophies and principles (“Shruti” and “Smriti”) which has nothing to do with race, ethnicity, country, birth, death and human existence for that matter. The principles of Hinduism are not limited to man alone but apply to all living beings, a dog for example.
Just because you are born into an Indian family, doesn’t make you a Hindu. Just because I am born into a “Brahmin” family doesn’t make me a Brahmin.
That is your illusion. You are a Hindu by citizenship, this definition is given to you by your country and culture. In reality, you are not a Hindu if you do not have any knowledge of Hindu texts and you do not apply them in your real life. You are just a lost soul who thinks he is a “Hindu” but in reality, you are yet to reach there.
Then who is a Hindu?
Anyone who is searching for Truth is a Hindu. A jew, a muslim or a Christian who is in search of eternal truth is automatically a Hindu. Anyone whose mission in life is to understand the fundamental truth about himself is a student of Hinduism.