Hinduism Values And Beliefs

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 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.

Another key concept of Hinduism is that every individual is responsible for his or her own solution. This idea is mainly connected with the terms Karma and Dharma. Karma is this principle where actions of an individual influence the future of that individual. Karma is what feeds samsara, or your rebirth. If you have karma, good or bad, that is unresolved when you die you will be reborn again. As said before, the main purpose of life on earth for Hindu’s is to break this cycle of time and receive moksha, so every individual is responsible for taking care of his or her own karma. Dharma works oppositely, as it only brings you closer moksha faster. Dharma is one’s duty or course of conduct. Following your dharma without any personal agenda will bring you closer to your purpose in life.

Different from other religions, Hinduism presses biology and the Divine are one (48, 51). This is expressed through the following and belief of Shiva and Shakti. Shiva, is an absolute cosmic being and the sheer life force. Shakti is the absolute power of the universe the whole of the cosmic their progeny (48). Hinduism has several variations that make this religion very complex to understand; to simplify this “way of life,” simply think Dharma; while it’s a broad term in Hinduism it is very important. Summed as the moral behavior of an individual and becomes known as, rita, when this behavior is in accordance with the cosmic order (49). By practicing dharma, one upholds the social order. In dharma, one is constantly reflecting and self-correcting in any areas of opportunity for improvement. So dharma can be viewed as the saying, you reap what you sow. This “leaping out” or “skimming to a different level,” leading us then to moksha, which is a final quest in the life path of Hinduism (49). According to the Laws of Manu, dharma and moksha, are just two of the four goals of life, listed here in order of

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

For example, he was seen as having the personality of Vishnu the creator, Shiva the protector, and Brahma the creator. Although, overtime Brahma faded into history while a great Mother Goddess grew in importance. Furthermore, Hindu’s are free from choosing who they worship and free from choosing how they accomplish Moksha. These are the path of right thinking, the path of right action, or the path of religious devotion. On the other hand, many hindus have four goals in human life. One of hindus goals is Dharma which is the duties or deeds that a person is expected to perform, which vary and depend upon the person's social standing / caste. Secondly, Artha the pursuit of material gain by lawful means. Thirdly, is a Moksha release from the cycle of rebirth (reincarnation/samsara). Last but not least, Karma the belief that the results of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence affect his or her fate in future existences. Vedas is the hinduism holy book which can’t be traced back to a single founder. Also, ahimsa; the principle of Hindus in which a person should do no harm to living things is one of their religious practices. Therefore, Hindus have set themselves as vegetarians to prevent harm or damage.

Considering that Hinduism lacks a uniting belief system, what makes up the Hindu religion is Sanarana Dharma, which is also known as Hinduism, an alternative label that is preferred today. Hinduism is the traditional religion of India. Sanatan Dharma is one of the oldest religions known to mankind and Hinduisms religion is still in practice today. The spiritual expressions of Sanatana Dharma range from extreme asceticism to the extreme sensuality, from the heights of personal devotion to a deity to the heights of abstract philosophy (Fisher, M.P., 2005). Hinduism have been able to hold itself together for several years; Hinduism is still one of the major religions in the world, so, the factor that it is more than a way of life,

The sculpture is a bronze object that is extremely detailed. It is a sculpture of a lady with a head dress that’s standing in top of another woman’s shoulders. The Dancing Shiva is an important object in the Hindus religion. It’s important because the sculpture represents the blessing of the world and symbolizes that you should fear the world. Hinduism is a major religion and religious tradition of South Asia, the oldest worldwide religion, characterized by a belief in reincarnation with a large amount of gods and goddesses.

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.

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 the religion based on individual devotion to identify basic spiritual personality through truthfulness, self-control and happiness. Hinduism is rich in scripture and historic religious writings, some of the Scriptures in Hindu’s practices are, “Creation of the Universe”, “Yama’s instruction to Nickiketas”, “Self-Effort and Libration”, “That is You” and “The Bhagavad Gita: Arjuna’s refusal fight”.

Dissimilar to Christianity, Hinduism is portrayed as a family of beliefs. “Hinduism unites the worship of many gods with a belief in a single divine reality” (Molloy, 75). Hinduism can be compared to that of the Ganga Ma, a significant river in the Indian culture. Comparing it with the river saying that it flows and gains momentum. The Hindus have four very important life goals; kama or pleasure, artha or economic security, dharma or social and religious duty, and moksha or complete freedom. While Hinduism consist of more than one god, individuals tend to focus on a particular god. Three gods are particularly central in the life of Hinduism. The three gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, represent creation, preservation, and destruction. (Molloy, 75).

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

The Bhagavad Gita is a sacred Hindu text that serves to illustrate many of the morals and ethics of Hindu culture, by way of the exchange between Arjuna and Krishna. One of the things Krishna tells Arjuna is that the war he is fighting in is righteous. Is this to say that all wars are righteous, that those of the warrior caste will know if a war is righteous, or that they have to guess and then suffer the consequences if they’re wrong? The first two seem naïve and oversimplified from the modern perspective, and the third seems unjust because regardless of caste, Hindus are said to be capable of fulfilling their dharma. Krishna also assumes that people know their purpose in life, which may have been the case at the time the text was written, but is no longer true. While in Arjuna’s day people were born into certain castes, today people are descended from a combination of what would have been considered castes, and often switch between castes within a lifetime. Regardless, Krishna’s argument for why Arjuna should fight seems relatively sound in that specific situation, but can be twisted to condone what many consider to be evil actions in others. Nonetheless, Krishna seems confident in the fact that it is a universal truth for everyone to know his or her dharma, and that he or she needs to follow it to achieve moksha. Although Krishna makes a strong argument for Arjuna’s specific case, it can be seen to condone evil, raising the questions that if all wars are righteous, and