Hinduism And Hindu Rituals

Chapter 4: Hindu Traditions Each culture and religion has its own set of traditions and customs. Actually, sociologists claim that civilizations cannot be considered as such if they have no unique traditions. Since Hinduism is known as the oldest religion in the whole world, it is pretty obvious that it has a lot of traditions and customs. Some of these traditions are extremely important that believers are willing to sacrifice lives for them. This chapter will discuss some of the most common customs and traditions observed by Hindus.

The religion I decided to further my knowledge about was, Jainism. In my research, I learned that Jainism is a religion that values the individual as well as the impact each individual has on people and the world around them. Their belief system relies on no presence of gods or spirits to intervene with the souls withing plants, animals, and human alike stating that each being should be treated with level of compassion exceeding their own self value. Subsequently, their beliefs regarding death and the afterlife are reliant on how they treated others and living beings; the use of karma in this religion is used as a personal code of conduct in order to obtain liberation leading to the achievement of reincarnation. Interestingly, as stated within

Religion manifests itself everywhere around the world. Although all beings are different we come together as one transcendence being the host. Sacred rituals are performed, honoring beliefs in accordance to ones religion. Rituals are performed for a wide array of reasons, some being a sort of rite of passage, healing the sick and even birth or death rituals. Judaism, Santeria, and Christianity all have ceremonies and rituals, some carried out as different as night and day, and some for the same purposes. These religions in depth have more in common than the eye can see, devotion, transcendence and worship to a higher absolute power. All participating in Sacred Ritual.

Firstly, on the day a Hindu Indian dies, the dead Hindu is brought home or right outside the home by friends and family members, and the dead is laid on a floor covered in cow feces because cow feces are seen as a sacred purifying agent. Secondly, one designated family member will sprinkle the dead body with water and cover the body with new clothes. Thirdly, the dead body is placed on a rope bed and carried by loved ones to the burial site. Yet, only the men are allowed to go to the burial site, and the women stay home to mourn. Fourthly, crying is not allowed at the burial site because it believed that the dead will accidentally take in the tears and mucus from the mourners, and that can have corrupting effects on the dead. Fifthly, the body will usually then be cremated, and while the body burns, the lead mourner will smash the skull of the dead. Opening of the head will release the soul and allow it to go to its new residence (Bregman, 2009). These are the main events that happen in a traditional Hindu Indian

Out of all the religions in the world Christianity and Judaism in my opinion have the most similar rites and rituals. They also share many beliefs and flow many of the same rules. Even though some of the rituals might seem like they are completely different, when you look deeply and find the true meaning, you will see that most of the time they share the same message. But even with all of these similarities its the differences that make them unique and these differences are what splits them apart. The three main similarities in both Christianity and Judaism is the first step into adult hood, the last step into adult hood and the Shabbat and the Sabbath.

Two of the most central ideas in Hinduism that are very important to my cultural identity in terms of my outlook on life and other people are reincarnation and karma. I believe that there is a cycle of death and rebirth, and depending on your deeds in your current life, you will be rewarded or punished in your next life. Eventually, every Hindu’s goal is to attain “Moksha” and break the cycle of life and become one with God. My belief in karma and reincarnation affects my everyday life because when I think about my situation or other peoples’ situation, I trace everything back to actions in our previous lives. My religion is the most important part of my life, and the values that it has taught me have stuck with me through times of joy and times of distress. My relationship with God is the most important one in my life, and it is the biggest part of my cultural identity.

Death is our common denominator an inevitable destination we all share. Religion and cultural background have specific and meaningful tradition and custom pertaining to death. One culture/religion may believe you go before God on judgement day and another may believe the decease will be reincarnated. Cultural belief and rituals after death among a female heterosexual Laos Buddhist age 32-40 year of age with no disabilities .She is a middle class female that has some college and born in the United States in San Francisco. Her family continued their cultural beliefs when moving to the US, passing on tradition to the younger generation.

Hinduism’s samsaric view of life and Judaism’s contrasting belief in one life on Earth before resurrection of the body with the coming of the Messiah, leads to many differences in their funeral and mourning customs and practices. For example the dissimilarity in the way in which the corpse is to be treated and the funeral ceremony itself due to opposing ideas of mortality. However despite the vast difference between traditions, there are still parallels to be noted such as directions for the location and direction of the ceremony and the restrictive nature of the mourning

Judaism: Ritual of death Death is the cycle of life. Each cultural and religion has there own way of comprehending a loss of a loved one. Certain communities believe in reincarnation, while others believe in eternal heaven or hell. With each belief, each community has their own ritual and traditions.

Death, dying and grieving is an experience every culture, religion, or race will face. How each culture or person chooses to deal with it and what belief system they choose to embrace also depends on culture, religion, and spiritual beliefs. For the sake of this paper it we will take a look at death, dying and grieving of the Hindus of India.

Most Indians are Hindu. Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world and has a very complex explanation of Reincarnation. Reincarnation is the cycle of death and rebirth. The ultimate goal that Hindus strive for is ending Reincarnation and achieving Moksha. Moksha is when a soul unites with Brahman. It is very important to Indian culture because it gives Hindus a goal to strive for and a meaning to life. To achieve Moksha, a Hindu must follow Dharma. Dharma is a person’s personal duty based on their place in society or place in the Caste System. It is important to the Indian culture because they are guidelines that a Hindu must follow in order to go up the Caste System and achieve Moksha. To go up the Caste System in your next life, Karma must decide that you will become a human and not a wasp. Karma is the spirit that decides what you become in your

Hindus in Britain arguably have had more drastic changes to their ‘traditional death rituals’ and dealing with bereavement more so than any other groups.

Growing up, waking every sunday morning to go the sikh temple to go pray was not my intended sunday, but i was forced to. I used to hate going because i could never understand anything, until one summer I joined a religion camp that taught me about sikhism. To many people, Sikhism is similar to the religion islam, but they aren’t the same. Sikhism has different rituals than islam. We beleive in many gods where as islam belives in one. People get mistaken because they come from the same area of the world. Learning at a young age that many people think this was devestating to me, i wanted to make a change. Everyday i would feel guilty for not praying, i had in my head that god would hate me. As i grew up and learned more about islam and sikhism,

Death and dying is experienced by every person in every culture. No one escapes death, but the ways that the following cultures view death, mourning and the after-life are very different. This paper will explore the different death and dying cultures of Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. Each of these cultures shares a unique perspective on death that has withstood centuries of living.

There are hundreds of cultures all of the world who have different views, traditions, and beliefs. One of the major parts of a lot of cultures is the death aspect and certain things they believe about it. Although everybody dies eventually, people have different ideas about what should happen to the body left behind, what happens to the soul, and even different ways people the deceased left behind should mourn. A very big religion throughout the world is Buddhism. According to a website on buddhism, it “originated in North West India some 2,500 years ago, with the enlightenment of Siddhartha Gautama, who became known as the Buddha (the Awakened One)” (Buddhist Society). They have very different views on life and death from other major religions