Hinduism is the religion of the majority of population in India and Nepal. It is prevalent among other populations outside of this area and has over 900 million followers worldwide (BBC). Unlike other religions, Hinduism has no single founder, no single scripture, and no commonly agreed set of teachings. Hinduism is not easily defined because of its many different practices and different beliefs within it. It can be compared conceptually and historically with the other Indian religions such as Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism (BBC). Throughout its history, many of the key figures within the religion have taught different philosophies and wrote a numerous amount of holy books. Because of these reasons, writers often refer to Hinduism as 'a …show more content…
Moksha can be achieved when one is alive or after death. When Moksha is achieved when after death, the soul goes to live blissfully in the realm of the personal God, in a spiritual body. One attains divine powers such as omniscience but subservient to God. In this case, it is impossible to determine that one has fulfilled this objective because it happens after the death of the individual and outside the realm of mortals. Other members of this sect believe that Moksha can be achieved before death. This is signified by purity of mind and one is characterized by intense meditation capable of achieving knowledge of inner divine self but the body has to die before the spirit can be released. The meditations are accompanied by a sense of thinking about others and religion above personal interests and glory. Often, it takes several lifetimes to get a deeper understanding of the objective itself leave alone attaining it. It is believed that one may have to undergo several cycles of lives and deaths with every life cycle being an opportunity to advance towards Moksha. The adherents believe that during a short period after death, the spirit is rejuvenated before getting into a new body for another cycle of life. During this short period, the spirit adds to its purity with each successive death of the body
Around the world, people believe Hinduism isn’t a religion, but a way of life. Michael Molloy states, “Hinduism is not a single, unified religion; it is more like a family of beliefs (75).” It was constructed from the Aryans who brought it into India in 1500 BC. The religion is one of the dominant religion in India over centuries. “Hinduism is the religion followed by about 70 percent of the roughly seven hundred million people of India. Elsewhere, with the exception of the Indonesian island of Bali, Hindus represent only minority
Hinduism is a religion practiced all over the world and has gained a large following. Hinduism got its start in the Indus Valley civilization and since then has evolved into a open and tolerant religion upon which every and anybody from all walks of life are welcome. In Hinduism there is a divine reality which can best be described as all reality is ultimately one for monistic Hindus or that there is no distinction between the divine reality and the rest of reality for dualistic Hindus. Either way it is put Hindus try to understand divine reality through their different gods, images, nature, and avatars.
Hinduism is one of the main religions in South Asia that focuses on one’s soul and eternity of themselves. This religion has shaped into a patriarchal society in India with a caste system that affected gender. In addition, Hinduism has impacted some of the aspects in United States politics. As the Aryans brought this religion to India around 1500 BC, its system and practices spread and evolved around the world into a primary belief. Hinduism has impacted the world socially, politically and even economically.
Hinduism is a major religious and cultural tradition of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a diverse family of devotional and ascetic cults and philosophical schools, all sharing a belief in reincarnation and involving the worship of a large pantheon of deities.
Hinduism is a polytheistic religion that is very much a part of the people in India and Nepal. It has over 900 million followers worldwide and it is considered one of the oldest religions in the world, dating back many thousands of years. This religion is split into many different branches because of their belief in many gods and goddesses. Each branch worships a different god that they view as “supreme above all others.” Granted that they had a great leader, Mahatma Gandhi, they were able to change the world, and more specifically the United States. His philosophical ideas inspired our country to fight for equality. But in order to understand this better, it is important to have a deeper understanding of the Hinduism beliefs.
First, I would like to introduce the religion of Hinduism. The term Hinduism was derived a river of South Asia, the Indus. This term was used by the ancient Persians to classify the people of that region of the North-West territory of the subcontinent. Indian religion, Hinduism, was the term given by the British in the nineteenth century to the population of India that were neither Muslim or Christian.
Since the beginning of civilization many religions and cultures have come and gone. One of the few that has stood the test of time is Hinduism. Hinduisms base flourishes from the practical view of human life, belief in eternal truth and it’s ability to make small adaptations to it without compromising its core values. Hinduism is the oldest known religion in the world and also the third largest in the world. Most of its one billion followers live in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Even with its immense amount of followers and lengthy existence, many non followers are unaware of its history, beliefs, and practices.
Hinduism is a religion that is difficult to define. No one can say who the founder is, or connect it to a certain place or time. So in order to understand Hinduism, we follow a coherent set of assumptions upon which people base their lives; otherwise defined as the Indian Worldview.
Hinduism is the dominant religion, or way of life, in South Asia, most notably in India and Nepal. Although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is a family of linked religious cultures bound by shared concepts, recognizable rituals,
Hinduism has undergone many changes throughout its nearly four thousand years of history. Hinduism doesn’t have a founder or date of origin making it the world’s oldest surviving world religion and the third largest religion worldwide. Hinduism was introduced to the world in the nineteenth century and has 330 million deities in India according to tradition. Hinduism existed in the religions that were practiced by the early Dravidian people. The Brahmanic tradition existed during the Vedic age which is traced back to thousands of years ago. Philosophical systems such as Samkhya, Advaita, Vedanta and yoga were developed long ago in India.
One could not give a definite definition to Hinduism. Hinduism is not an organized religion but a set of belief systems and traditions that is in turn a way of life in Indian Society. Hinduism contains several sects, subsects, sub-subsects, various traditions and ascetic movements. I think this is important for defining Hinduism, but it also proves difficult to place an accurate pinpoint definition of Hinduism. Hinduism is different for each person and
Samsara is an endless life progression that incorporates life, death and reincarnation and has followers seeing for freedom from the cycle (Ryan, 1999). Within the Hindu faith, samsara is believed to be a theme that life is based on an illusion that individuals are autonomous beings instead of acknowledging that there is a connection between an individual and reality. Through this illusion, individuals act in a way that not only will generate karma, another theme of Hinduism, but that will maintain the cycle of actions leading to reincarnation based on those actions. When the follower grasps the unity between all, they will have the potential to end the cycle of samsara and obtain moksha, which is the liberation of the continuous reincarnation cycle (Dehejia & Dehejia, 1993). Within the Hindu belief, samsara is considered to be highly undesirable amongst followers because of its erratic nature and their unawareness of how their actions from this life or previous lives will affect their
What is Hinduism? Hinduism is a culture followed by many people from South Asia. It teaches us the meaning of human life and goals. One of the key aspects of Hinduism is to show a man or a woman in a society what responsibility he or she holds. Some people feel that Hinduism is a religion which is not accommodative to other religions; Therefore, Hinduism is a culture which allows the intervention of other cultures and India is an example for it. India is a country that allows the existence of several cultures. Hinduism also discusses religious or spiritual aspects like morality and identity. It discusses these aspects through metaphysical and existential terms. Hinduism is an in-group that allows a person to choose a certain god and pray to him or her, it has an open architecture of multiple gods that anyone can preach to. This architecture has its disadvantage as it could incite riots between groups that supports a god with another group that supports a different god.
Hinduism is the name given to a family of religions and cultures that began and still flourish in India. The word “Hindu,” comes from the name of the river Indus, which flows from Tibet through Kashmir and Pakistan to the sea. It originally referred to the people living in that particular region of the world, regardless of their faith. Hinduism has no original founder and is one of the world’s largest religions following Christianity and Islam, with approximately a billion adherents. Hinduism is henotheistic, which is the devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of other gods. Their god is present in everything, and they believe that their soul repeatedly goes through a cycle of being born into a body, dying, and then becoming reborn into another body, whether it is human, animal or spirit. Hindu’s also strongly believe in karma, which is a force that determines the quality of each life, depending on how well one behaved in a past life. Hindu’s do not separate religion from other aspects of their life. Hinduism in India dictates Hindu’s lives in that it involves a caste system which controls their position in society, assists them in earning a living, helps manage how they raise their a family and controls their diets. Hindu’s believe that freedom or liberation is the true goal in life. True freedom is the freedom from all external conditioning influences, whether of body or mind. This is the freedom of Self-realization,
Hinduism is one of the oldest religions and third largest religion behind Islam and Christianity. Hinduism has no singular teaching or religious view. It is a gathering of philosophical, religious and cultural beliefs and views from India that revolve around the ideas of reincarnation, righteousness, and of a single being that is a manifestation of numerous gods.