Not everybody likes scientific thinking hence Shankara frustration against the competing 'religion' of Buddhism. Also, do you know that people don't even consider Hinduism as a religion since it lacks one holy book like the Koran, the Bible or the Torah? In my opinion this is an advantage and not a drawback of Hinduism since we are leaving space open for debate rather than shutting debate down and hence allowing knowledge to stagnate. As a north Indian one never worships Muruga or Ayappan but does them make them non-Hindu Gods? The British coined the term Hinduism when they ran into the diverse cultural, spiritual and religious beliefs of the people staying in India that cannot be classified as either Islamic or Christian.
