Hinduism Research Paper

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 known as the world's oldest religion. According to ISKCON Educational Services (2004), it is hard to construct a timeline because Hinduism has no identifiable human founder or specific origin in history. It is so old that its past goes into pre-history. It is extremely diverse with the Hindu people being more interested in the meaning of events than in providing first hand records. There is also no clear-cut divide between history and myth.

Hinduism, the world’s oldest religion, is the third largest religion in the world after Islam and Christianity with close to one billion followers. The followers of the religion are called Hindus and are mainly located in India, and their place of worship is a temple. The religion doesn’t have any one specific founder, however,

In this essay, I intend to compare and contrast two major religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, that came out of India thousands of years ago. Though these two religions are old, they are still practiced today by millions of followers within the continent of Asia and the West.

The question of origin- In order for us to completely understand Hinduism, we must first understand that this a philosophical system of beliefs. To give a definite origin of Hinduism would be very hard to address because there are no known origins. There are no beginning points or a name of a founder. Hinduism can be traced all the way back to around 1500 B.C in what we now call India and has a lot of different beliefs, philosophies and views that contradict each other. All Hindus believe in one God, a supreme being known as Brahma. Brahma is an entity believed to live in every single facet of reality and existence throughout the whole universe. Brahma is both impersonal and unknowable and is often believed to exist in three separate forms: Brahma, the Creator, Vishnu, the Preserver, and Shiva, the Destroyer.

In Chapter ten the history of Hinduism is discussed in America and India. Instead of illustrating the religious doctrines of Hinduism. The author lists statistics about the livelihoods of Asian Indians. For example, there are eighteen different official languages in India. As the author emphasizes that doctrines have nothing to do with Hinduism, but the actions that individuals commit. The orthodoxy is a set of responsibilities that Hindus must carry out. If they wish to be reincarnated into a higher caste. In addition, the origin of Hinduism is mentioned within the chapter. That Hinduism is the only major religion that does not have a founder and has no beginning as there is not a specific known date of when it originated. Moreover, Hinduism is the oldest major religion and is the only polytheistic faith among the five popular creeds.

Hinduism is a very broad term that encompasses a multitude of different backgrounds, traditions, beliefs, and practices. Hinduism, as we know it today, has gone through many changes. To fully understand how Hinduism became as it is currently, knowledge of its development over the course of history is essential. This paper will demonstrate the primary shifts of its central beliefs, practices, and goals between periods of Early Vedic, Late Vedic, and Classical Hinduism.

Hinduism is a religion that follows concepts of the Upanishads, which includes the Brahman, Atman, Maya, Karma, Samsara, and Moksha. The concepts provide guidance throughout life and are key to a final death. The Brahman is something one believes in and is experience in the world that surround him. The Atman is who we are the identity of our soul, an understanding we are not just a body we are more. “The term Brahman refers to the experience of the sacred within nature and the external universe, while Atman refers to the experience of the sacred within oneself” (Molloy, 2013, p. 83). Along with understanding the spiritual aspect of nature and one’s soul is understanding how this effects every living thing. The Maya which can be referred to as magic or illusion is an important factor in life and death. “Hinduism, form

Hinduism - stands for the faith and the way of life most of the people who live

In some ways Hinduism is the oldest living religion since some elements of it date back thousands of years; Hinduism has no single founder, no single scripture, and no commonly agreed set of teachings despite many key figures and numerous holy books that might indicate otherwise. Hence why Hinduism is often referred to as a “way of life” and why it makes sense that the religion was informed by so many external conditions around its “birth” (BBC Religion Profile,

Also, as mentioned, Hindus believe in the caste system, moksha and Brahman. It is believed that one must work their way up in the caste system to reach the ultimate goal of Moksha, to be one with the energy of Brahman. Since Hindus believe in the caste system they believe that after death they will be incarnated and they will live another life as a different person and they will have a different Dharma to achieve. Everyone starts off at the bottom of the caste and depending on the Dharma, Karma and Yoga one has completed it will determine if the individual will move up in the caste system, if they will stay in the same caste or even if they will drop down to a lower caste. Since Hindus believe that they will have another life they do not care for their bodies, they only care about reaching the goal to be one with the Brahman after achieving Moksha. “For sure is the death of all that comes to birth, sure is the birth of all that dies. So, in a matter that no one can prevent thou hast no cause to grieve” (Bhagavad Gita 2:27) Also, families do not care to grieve and believe it is not necessary to grieve over the loss of a loved one since their death means that they are moving on to a better life, and one day will accomplish the goal of returning to Moksha. Once all the levels of the caste are completed the individual exits the castes also known as the process of samsara

Hinduism has neither a typical precept nor a solitary sacred text as the wellspring of its different teachings. It puts a greater number of accentuation on orthopraxy than universality, empowering relative opportunity of thought inside firmly characterized sets of accepted rules and ethical quality.

Throughout history religion has been used as means to justify actions and to control people. The two earliest examples are Zoroastrianism and Hinduism. The time frames that will be discussed will be the reign of Cyrus, 521 to 486 BCE, and India from 1500 to 500 BCE, before the Persians had a direct effect on India. The Persian religion is thought to be Zoroastrianism or a derivative of it, called Achaemenian. (For this paper the Persian’s religion will be referred to as Zoroastrianism.) However, Cyrus did not strive to spread his religion he introduced his self into other religions as a divine figure. Hinduism is a religion whose origins are unknown but are speculated to have been initiated by the Aryan people. The development of the

The Hindu religion and culture is a very complex subject. The Hindu religion combines rich ethnical and standard beliefs. We will take a closer look and try to understand the Hindu religion and culture. The Hindu religion is the oldest religion of the five major religions, which are Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism (Major World Religions, 2006). The Hindu religion began to develop about 4.000 years ago in India, but it there was no single founder or system of belief (Major World Religions, 2006). There are many diverse and various Gods in the Hindu religion. One of the most important beliefs is the theory of karma, which holds that all beings, human or animal have karma which determines which soul is for which body and

1-5 – Hinduism’s history, just like Buddhism’s roots of both myth and fact, is left to different accounts and possibilities,