Essay about Religious Paths

It is not unknown when Hinduism began, but Veda scriptures state that they were written in the 1500 to 900BCE, but it is most likely that stories have been passed down for hundreds of years. (Fisher 76) Hinduism is one of the

As the earliest form of Hinduism, Vedas are very influential to the foundation of this religion, because there is a “dual emphasis on seeing and hearing the sacred” which is a “characteristic of all Hindu traditions” (CIWR, 281). This tradition is characterized by the singing of hymns, which are sacred words meditated on to live out one’s tradition as a Vedic Aryan, which were revealed through visionaries called rishis. “The Vedic rishis ‘saw’ the mantras and transmitted them to their disciples, starting an oral tradition that has continued to the present” (CIWR, 285). Unlike religions who believe in a creator god, they believe it’s their obligation to make fire sacrifices in order to repay the debt. “The origins of the four classes (varnas) of Hindu society are traced to the initial cosmic sacrifice” (CIWR, 288). They could be thought of as the blueprints of the cosmos which were created because of their gods’ earliest sacrifices. Before these hymns were written down, they were

Hinduism is a major religion in India as well as Nepal and a few other Asian countries. It has more than 900 million followers throughout the world but interestingly, this religion has no single founder, no single scripture and no single set of teachings that are uniformly believed and followed by all Hindus. Hinduism is said to exist as a supreme being while both Buddhism and Confucianism are based on the teachings of a man while Taoism revolves around a concept.1 (Kokemuller, J.) All of them have similarities and differences to a great extent.

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.

Before I read Stephen Prothero’s God Is Not One, I did not know much about Hinduism. For me, Hinduism conjured the images of bright colors, richly adorned statues, and jovial worship and dance. When we visited the Ganesh Temple in Flushing, that is exactly what I saw. Yet, now I know the reason for all these things. Although Hinduism is a largely varying tradition, it is namely about love and celebration. Given the evidence from Prothero’s book and my observations at the Ganesh Temple, Hinduism is a tradition that aims to gives purpose to human’s wandering souls through devote worship to deities and rituals.

Pluralism is found in many ancient Indian traditions including Jainism, Buddhism, and the Advaitic interpretation of the Upaniṣads and the Bhagavad Gītā. Each tradition’s core values internally ground non-violence. In all of these traditions there is a multiplicity of world views and individual needs, overcome by a common goal of breaking free from bondage to reach enlightenment. At face value, these traditions appear to have opposing metaphysics. While the conceptions of what is achieved by freedom from bondage differ in form, these traditions all recognize a pluralism of paths to a common goal. This not only promotes tolerance, but transcends this to reach a fuller form of respect. It should be clarified that this respect does not, however, mean that these views are entirely tolerant or relativistic. These conceptions of pluralism simply require that each view must considered as one of the many sights which potentially have some truth to

Hinduism is an incredibly complex polytheistic religion, with its roots in the Indus River Valley Civilization over 8000 years ago and is still practiced today. Hinduism is typically practiced by the citizens of places such as India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. As indicated by its wide reaching influences, Hinduism does not have one single founder, but started a shift into its more modern form when Aryan invaders brought the Vedas into India around 1500 B.C.E. At its core Hinduism believes in entities called the Brahman, the source of everything in the universe, from these Brahman emerged over 330 million gods, all of which are different manifestations of the Brahman. The most important gods in Hinduism are Vishnu,

Religion also has the ability to change one’s life through various practical means such as one’s state of mind and the way they choose to interact with other beings. It is evident that religion creates as sense of ease and belonging and gives people the sense that they possess power and that they are never alone all. These various aspects do in fact change one's state of mind and the way they choose interact with others as it makes people more willing to forgo their egos and selfish desires and live a life veered towards serving others and therefore I affirming Smith’s notion that Hinduism (religion) does in fact possess the power the move a person from being imperfect to (semi)

The Golden Age of Hinduism was under the leadership of the Persian king Cyrus the Great. After the reigns of these great leaders, both religions struggled to maintain the success that was built, but managed to withstand in some aspects of religious characteristics. Judaism and Hinduism also share the belief of having a group of citizens who are ‘chosen people’ (Hutchinson, 2016a). The details of Polytheism and the selection of ‘chosen people’ are the beginning of the differences between these

(Bass, 2004) What little establishments of Hinduism can be found in the teachings of unknown antiquated sages or rishis were initially transmitted orally. We know almost nothing about Hinduism past what can be found out from the Vedas. (Bass, 2004) The Vedas are Hinduism sacred texts found in the Smriti works and were the earliest of sacred texts going back to the season of the Aryans. The Vedas are separated into 4 unmistakable accumulations: The Rig-Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama-Veda, and Atharva-Veda and contain more than 1000 psalms, the expressions of custom penance, and legendary stories about the divine beings. The Vedas likewise discuss with the strategies for blood and non-blood penance, points of interest of household custom, and a clarification of more profound importance behind penance. The Vedas tell stories and psalms that investigate comparative subjects with different religions like keeping up equalization and request in the universe. (The Rise of Hinduism,

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.

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,

There are many different beliefs found within Hinduism from one group to the next and the subjects discussed in this paper could be answered in any number of ways. I will try to approach Hinduism from the popular beliefs within the religion while keeping in mind the assimilation of other religions and philosophies blended in. Zacharias (2007) states “It is best to visualize Hinduism as a spectrum. This model will also help us to picture the complex and sometimes contradictory ingredients that make up this religion”

Hinduism and Buddhism are both eastern traditions with much to say about the human condition as well as the reason human beings exist at all. In some ways they are different while also being similar in other ways. In this essay, those differences will be discussed and the similarities examined for their message. In conclusion, we will examine what these two faiths offer to the human beings of the twenty-first century.