Hinduism: The Indian Worldview Essay

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 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.

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,

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

Christian's view is " that everything that exists, including humans, is a result of God, the Creator God" (Weider & Gutierrez, 2011) . Hindu's believe that “everything has always been in existence and is a part of god” (Weider & Gutierrez, 2011). Basically, its God created everything versus everything has just been.

Hinduism is a religious practice devoted to the three paths and four human goals. The three paths include action, knowledge (the primary path of renouncers), and devotion (the primary path of renouncers). Dharma, artha, kama and moksha are the four human goals of Hinduism. Kama is associated with physical desire, such as sexual desire and other emotional attachments. Artha is the political and financial value associated with you and your family. Moksha or spiritual liberation is the goal of the sannyasi’s; this goal is to attain knowledge, similar to the path of knowledge aforementioned. The primary human goal of this particular discussion is dharma, the religion, and mortality of a person. There are significant tensions between householders and renouncers as to what is the proper way to practice Hinduism and the most appropriate way to go about doing so. With a world revolutionized by technology and an ever-changing society, it is hard to find an absolute way to preach theology; reality makes it difficult to isolate the perfect way to practice and meet the goals desired by families and individuals themselves.

It is because of this that everyone is stuck in the circle of life and death and it is the core belief of reincarnation, which is that you will keep being born, from your soul switching from bodies to bodies, until you have passed the path of dharma. The idea of moksha is very important because it shows us why we are here and what our goal is in life. Hinduism, in general, is more a way of life rather than a religion because its goal primarily shows us how we should live our life nobly by committing no sins and be free of any attachments and our ego. To achieve moksha, there is four principles you can follow or the paths of yoga. Jnana Yoga which is the path of knowledge and wisdom. It mainly involves exploring the nature of our being by exploring and setting aside false identities. Bhakti Yoga teaches us to surrender ourselves to God. It teaches us to surrender all actions and fruits of those actions to God and surrender everything from the enjoyment of eating to feeling grief of someone you lost. It teaches us to surrender all feelings and everything to God and focus on being devoted and remembering the divine. Karma Yoga teaches us to do good without the intention of the fruit of the action. It teaches us to help others and provide service to other beings without being greedy of receiving something in return. Finally, Raja Yoga teaches us

Defined, it means liberation from bondage (the cycle of rebirth) that is faced on earth. Some believe performing religious deeds or performing rituals can earn attainment of moksha, however Krishna states to Arjuna that, “the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress, and is steady in both, is certainly eligible for liberation” (Gita, n.d, para. 2.15). Moksha is the personal relationship with ones inner god acted out in the world. The process of “heaven” goes through moksha on earth, and ends in nirvana in the afterlife. The way to moksha is knowledge, devotion, and desire-less action (Moksha, 2013). Almost every action on earth is contributing to moksha, regardless of knowledge of contribution.

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,

How can moksha be undertaken? Outside of the emerging concepts as discussed in the previous paragraph, there are certain disciplines that enable individuals to come in contact with their atman. This particular discipline is known as yoga. Like many practices in religions, there are different types of yoga that individuals do in order to maintain development. The first is the

Imagine a religion so old that it is said to be timeless and has always been there, even before humans set foot on the Earth. It’s mindboggling to think that the knowledge of everything is floating in the space of the universe and the mind is just a way of reaching it. Hinduism is a very complex religion, yet it still sets one ultimate goal for the soul. To deeper understand Hinduism we must reveal its origin, doctrines, customs, and culture.

Without the concept of dharma there is no Hinduism. Following ones dharma is to maintain the well being of oneself and others, and to depart from it leads to misdirection and ruin. Dharma in Hinduism is thought of as being an individual’s duty to themselves and their society in both a faith and societal obligation context. Three of Ninian Smart’s dimensions where dharma is most relevant are the ethical, social and mythological dimensions. Dharma details how a follower of Hinduism should go about their life and so relates to the ethical dimension, it describes the interconnection of Hindu society which pertains to the social dimension, and lastly is a central theme to nearly all epics present in Hindu thus representing the mythological dimension. Where dharma is expressed within these dimensions individually it also serves as a pillar to which the three facets are connected.

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

Although their belief in a supreme god aligns in both Islam and Hinduism, the traditions differ on the texts used centrally in each practice. The Veda, written between 1750 BCE and 600 BCE are ancient scriptures, which are the sacred texts of Hinduism. One of the forms the Veda is the Shruti, which is “that which was heard” and the other form is the Vedir seers or Rishis which means “saw”. The Veda is split into four

1.Hinduism is an ancient religion which derives its teachings from scrolls, known as the Vedas. These are held as Eternal truth. In Hindu beliefs, a person progresses through many lives until they reach a state called Moksha, which constitutes a release from the cycle of life, death, and birth. Karma determines whether a person is reborn in a lower station, or a higher station. A prevalent part of hindu beliefs is a caste system, which teaches that those who are born into a particular caste are born with such privileges or disadvantages because of their merits in the previous life.