Hinduism Influence on the Formation of New Religions and Spirituality in the West

Key WordsHinduism is one of the most influential Eastern religions on the formation of new religious and spiritual movements in the West. Innumerable books, articles, and speeches by Hindu ascetics and yogis in the West, with injecting some kind of religious pluralism, prepared the ground for the opposition of Western younger generation to dogmatic Jewish-Christian traditions and led to the emergence of hundreds of new religions and spirituality over time.Hindu movements in the West have sometimes been loyal to the Hindu original traditions and have sometimes offered the originality of pleasure and transgression with totally eclectic, secular and unfounded ideas. In present article, while introducing some of the key figures of Hinduism in the West, the role of Hinduism, meditation, and yoga in the dissident process in the West and some causes of tendency of the West to this Hinduism are studied.