Hinduism
The religion of the majority of people in India and Nepal is Hinduism. Hinduism has over 900 million members world-wide. Elements of Hinduism stretch back many thousands of years, in many ways making it the oldest religion. It is also closely accosiated with Buddism, Sikhism & Jainism. Unlike most religions there is no single founder or scripture. Throughout the history of hinduism there have been many significant figures, key scriptures & Holy books. For this reason many writers decide to call the religion 'a way of life' or 'a Family of Religions'.
Hinduism is a young religion compared
to others (there is also no date given for when it was created, as it came
about gradually), although Hindu ideas are a lot older than the religion it’s
self. It was created by taking different ideas from different religions and
cultures. Beliefs of Hindus are constantly changing due to political
developments.
Hindus believe in a circle of time,
which is eternal rather than having a beginning and end. They also think that,
as a race, humans do not progress, and we are currently going through a dark
age, where people are cruel and do not think of other people.
The periods of time that Hindus use
are as follows:
Hinduism has a number of concepts
including, atman, purushartha, draman, karma, samsara, guru, god and braman.
Atman translates as eternal self,
meaning a person’s soul or spirit. Atman shows that a soul can pass through
many bodies but still be the same person (reincarnation). They believe that a
person is not a body but a soul, for that is what makes your personality.
Karma translates as action and shows
that every action has a reaction at some point in the future. If an action is
good, it will receive a good reaction back, however if an action is bad it will
have a bad reaction in return. A reaction does not have to happen in the body
that the action was done in, it could happen in another body with the same
soul.
Samsara shows the process of reincarnation.
After the death of one body, Hindus believe that, an immortal spirit carries
the soul to a new body. This can happen in both human and non-human animals.
Purushartha is the goals that a
person has. Everyone has four goals in life, virtuous living, worldly success,
pleasure and liberation.
Hindus believe in one all-powerful
god, who can create and destroy universes as many times as he wishes. God can
be in any form, but he is still the same god, and has the same power.
In the Hindu religion there are many
positions that you can be, they are as follows.
·
Brahmans or Brahmins
Kshatriya (nobles or warriors) - who traditionally had power
·
Vaishyas (commoners or merchants)
·
Shudras (workers)
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