Hinduism

March 25, 2009 at 8:11 am (Religion)

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Hinduism

Hinduism was originated in the Indus Valley. The religion Hinduism is also known as the Vedic religion. The word Hinduism was first used by the Persian and Greek travelers. They took the word hinduism from the Indus Valey word.

Hinduism is not only a religion, but also a way of life, or as they call it, a Dharma which is the moral order hindu follow. This is because is has its own traditions, ethics, rituals, philosophy, and theology. Hinduism is also unique because there is no founder of this religion. Right now, Hinduism is known as the third world’s largest religion in the world, falling behind with Christianity and Islam.

It is said that hinduism beliefs and traditions were never recorded at the beginning, but later on seers started writting them into books and these books became known as the Vedic texts.

The Vedas are the sacred texts of Hinduism. These are one of the oldest texts in the whole word and are used everyday by the hindu. The Vedas contain incantations, himns, and rituals.

Other scared writtings contain epics that give messages at the end such as how to be a good husband or wife, how not to be greedy, etc. Some of these writtings are the Mahabharata and Amayana.

Hindu people believe in four goals: Dharma or virtue, Arthat or success, Kama or pleassure, and Moksha or release. These stages are to find oneself and his place in the cosmos. Dharma is the way someone should behave depending on their class or caste. Arthat is like the result of a hard work. It is believed that when someone follows Dharma, this person will be successful. Kama is all the enjoyable things a person can do. One must always find time to enjoy themselves and make joy such as art, literature, etc.

These first three stages are known as the “life is good” stages because they occur during times in life. The last stage, Moksha, is know as the “life is bad” stage. This is because to achieve this goal a person must die or betray life, this includes rejecting all three previous goals, which is bad because life is believed to be sacred.

            Hiduism is believed to be a regilion with many gods a goddesses. This has caused alot of confusion in non-hindu people and has gained hinduism the title of being one of the most mixed and complex religions in the world. But the truth is that hindus believe in one supreme god: Braham. They also believe that one God manifests into different gods and goddesses that take different forms and aspects. Hindu worship the gods depending on their needs. Even though one might not worship one of the gods, he is aware that it exists and knows about it.

The three main gods of the hinduism religon are: Brahma the creator, Shiva the destroyer, and Vishnu the protector. All of these three gods can take form in anything they want and together they form the Hindu Trinity. Brahma is the god of gods, he is the almighty and represents perfection. He also has four heads and four arms, which three of them hold a symbolic artifact and the fourth gives blessing. Shiva is the lord of devotion, he represents the calmness of humanity and its power over evil spirits. As Brahma, Shiva also has four arms and has a third eye that can shoot fire to destroy thing because he is, after all, the destroyer. Vishnu is the remover, it is said that he was the one that separated heaven and earth to make the universe. He also has four hands just like Brahma and Shiva.

            With woshiping gods and goddesse, hindus also choose different rituals and ways of life. They follow four stages,or Ashramas, that happen in different times of their life. The firs one is brahmacharga in which a person is in childhood trying to gain as much knowledge as he can. The second one is grastha, in this one a person is mostly concerned in finding pleasure such a s getting married. The third one, vanaprastha, a person has reached adulthood. Finally, the last one, sanngasu, is when a person is about to die and is getting ready to enter a better life after death.

            Hindus believe in Karma and Reincarnation. Karma comes from the Sanskrit verb kri that means “to do”, it is also the result of the action. Hindus believe that your actions will determine the life that one will have after this one and also belive in the law of karma which is the cause and effect. This means that whatever things you do right now will pay you back someday whether it’s good or not. If a person if kind to others, shows respect, and is hard working, this person’s reincarnation will be a rich business man or even a prince. If a person is lazy, is rude, and does not show any gratitude or respect to anyone, its reincarnation will be a lonaly animal such a a bug or some rascal thing.

            The Om word, also spelled Aum, represents many trios, in which include: the three most important hindu gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva; the three worlds, earth, atmosphere, and heaven; and last but not least the three most important scared Vedic writtings, Rg, Yajur, and Sama. This word is used at the beginning and at the end of a prayer and is also used when you are about to begin reading a manuscript. It is said that the sound Om represents the sound of the universe.

            Hindu holidays are based on nature, they celebrate season like spring, harvest  and fertility of the land.  Another festivities are dedicated to their deities as Shiva and Ganesh  Rama and Krishna.

The most importants are:

Holi.- to the color and  Spring celebrated in February through March.In this festival they spray friends and families with color powder and water.

Mahashivaratri , the  night sacred to Shiva celebrated in February through March. They spend this day in meditation, singing himns and praying .

Rama Navami, birthday of Lord Rama celebrated in April.

Krishna Jayanti., birthday of lord Krishna celebrated in July through August.

Raksabandhana, renewing bonds from brothers and sisters celebrated in July through August. Kumbh Mela, Pilgrimage every 12 years to four cities or India celebrated in July through August. Ganesha Chaturthi or Ganesha Utsava, festival of Ganesh celebrated in August through September. Dassera,victory of Rama over demon King Ravana celebrated in September through October. Navaratri,festival of Shatki or Rama’s victory over Ravana celebrated in September through October.

Diwali,festival of lights and Laksmi celebrated in September through october. It is the las day of th vikram calendar of North India.

            Yoga is the prayer language of the hinduism that means espiritual union and these disciplines are detailed in the scriptures of the Hindu religion. It is practiced and taught in the temple or Ashram, where all devout hindus follow the four types of yoga that help them towards their goal. The types of yoga are: Janana Yoga, that means knowledge.  This path helps the practitioner to comprehend his identty at intelectual level with every fiber of a person being.The teacher pushes the person to use the words I and me. Bhakti Yoga is the path of devotion and love to god or goddess but love them like it were a lover, a parent or their own child. The person has many forms to adore, may be praying calling several times the names of the god during the day or bringing gifts to the temple. KarmaYoga , The Karma of the person is generated by all the actions that the person does during his life .  If the person had good actions coul be rebirth after death. Raja yoga, Raja means royal that is the path of meditation and has eight stages until the person can take control of his mind and focus in only one thing.

            

          Hatha Yoga are spiritual disciplines that are part of the religious path of the hinduism with dances,stretching,breathing exercises to relax body, mind and emotions.

The word Satha means sun moon and the assanas are the postures they make when dance.

 

          I can tell that I did not have any idea about Hinduism, but I always thought that all the religions were almost the same and all were guides of life. But there is something that made me think is that hinduism believe when somebody had a good Karma that person is going to rebirth and is going to have a new better life.

Hinduism has a similitud in that point with Catolicism, because Jesus promised a new life too, but the new life is not going to be on the earth , is going to be with him and God in the heaven.

But after all I think no matter what religion you practice, the most important is make good things and think that God exists, I don’t know where is, but really, I am sure that God exists.

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

 

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/hinduism/history.html

 

http://www.hinduwebsite.com/vedicsection/vedaindex.asp

 

http://asms.k12.ar.us/classes/humanities/worldstud/97-98/religion/hinduism/gods.htm

 

http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/religionet/er/hinduism/

 

http://www.vedanta.org/wiv/philosophy/karma.html

 

http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/index.htm

 

http://www.classicalyoga.org/Page14.html