What are some of the reasons that Hinduism is misunderstood by many people?

Total compassion is the way of understanding a spiritual path.

Many people think Hinduism believes in many gods. However,this is not so.Hindus believe in many reincarnations of ONE God, who is the ultimate source of life.Then, from a layman's perspective they believe that God is in all things;which risks the notion that all things are God.

And it is difficult to practice total tolerance and non-violence and percieve the entire creation as ONE soul.

Hinduism has been coined from the philosophy of Sanathana Dharma, which is the essence of total humanity and cultivating the best characteristics in a human as a universal citizen.

The gist of Sanathana Dharma is that there exists only ONE soul manifesting itself differently in different creations, animate and inanimate; and it is possible to enlighten oneself as that ONE souland realize that you are the world and nothing is different from you. This attitude requires a great tolerance and harmony in thinking, which can be achieved by meticulous self observance and negation.

Very few have demonstrated this phenomenon in the recent times, for example, Jesus Christ, Sai Samartha of Shirdi (Sai Baba), Swamy Samartha of Akkalkot, Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi of Arunachala, and Bhagavan Venkaiah Swamy of Golagamudi.