preview

The Pros And Cons Of Hinduism

Decent Essays

Hinduism is a unique religion. It has no founding figure, central text, or doctrines that are universally agreed upon. It is actually argued if it is even a religion. It has diverse practices and beliefs. Two of these are Vedic sacrifice and yoga. They both are classified as Hinduism, but one is concerned with preparing an estate in heaven through sacrifices and the chanting of hymns while the other is primarily concerned with liberation from reincarnation through different forms of yoga.

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

Get Access