Atheism comes from Upanishad 😀

 There are Six Schools of Hindu Philosophy:-

SANKHYA PHILOSOPHY :

Dualistic

Has two entities- Purush (spirit) and Prakriti (nature).

The necessity of God is not felt for epistemological clarity about the interrelationship between the higher self. individual self and surrounding universe.

YOGA PHILOSOPHY :

Does not require belief in God, although such a belief is accepted as help initial stage of control of mind, concentration and meditation.

NYAYA PHILOSOPHY :

States that nothing is acceptable unless it is in accordance with reason and experience (scientific reasons and experiments).

Says “the world is real” and it relies on pramanas (evidences).

VAISHESHIK PHILOSOPHY :

Realistic and objective philosophy of the universe.

MIMANSA (PURVA MIMANSA) :

Lays emphasis on the performance of Yagya (or yajna) for attaining spiritual and worldly benefits.

VEDANTA (UTTARA MIMANSA) :

Monistic

States that the world is unreal (maya).

So it can clearly be seen that Vedas include almost all kinds of belief systems people can have. Here Nyaya and Vaisheshik philosophies are nothing but atheism only (because the existence of God or a supernatural power cannot ever be established through reasons, logic and realistic experiments).

But since Vedas are the “oldest scriptures of Hinduism”, they established Hinduism as a philosophy (a way of life) in which people were allowed to have different kinds of beliefs and they were all accepted as a part of Hinduism. There was also nothing like punishing or hating atheists.

An important Hindu Atheist School of Thought: LOKAYATA SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

Lokayata School of thought believes in the reality of this world and the physical existence of man and other beings on earth and nothing else. Loka means world and Lokayata means the person who is centred upon this world only. Lokayats do not believe in God, heaven or hell. Thus although they are atheists, but a part of Hinduism.

In this sense, one can well be an atheist and a hindu at the same time. Hindu atheists accept Hinduism as a “way of life” than a religion.