Value of Prayer

[Venkataramani K.]

<<Don't we have Shankaraachaaryaas or the Sri Vaishnava Jeers or the
Madhvaachaaryaas? Are they not central figures and preceptors for the
various sects within "Hinduism"?

Don't we have the mathaas of the various sects - don't they represent
organization?

Sure none of them by themselves might represent "all Hindus" - but still
each represents a particular section of Hindus even as  Catholic or
Protestant churches represents only a particular section of the Christian
population in the West.>>

We do mutts and their heads, but most Hindus need not be affiliated to
them. Also a Hindu may owe his allegience to multiple of these mutts, with
conflicting philosophies. This is very different from Christianity or
Islam, where the affiliation of the individual to a particular church or
mosque is defined. Even if we have mutts, their heads don't have any
control over the Hindus, the way the church or the mosque heads have over
the followers of those religions.