| Hinduism:
Hinduism
does not have a founder nor does it have a particular church
or institutional structure or a creed.
The religion
has been growing for the past 5,000 years. Hinduism is the
main religious and social system of India. It includes a belief
in reincarnation, the worship of several gods and a complicated
social structure. There are 650 million Hindus worldwide of
which 400,000 live in the UK.
The
diversity of Hinduism:
Hinduism
embraces a wide diversity of religious beliefs and practices.
The majority of Hindus believe in God in some way however
there are some that do not. They worship Shiva, Vishnu or
his incarnation avatars, most notably Krishna or Rama and
those including goddesses.
The
Hindu Gods:
Hindu
theology conceives God as both as a formless as well as being
one with many forms. Hindus also believe that God becomes
incarnated on earth to restore goodness whenever there is
an increase of evil. For example: the god Vishnu had ten incarnations,
which are called avataras (one who descends),Rama, Krishna
and Buddha are examples of avataras.
Most of
the early Hindu deities are less known today and have been
replaced by a triad of gods named Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
Brahma is the first god of the triad and is known as the creator.
He is represented as four – faced and his vehicle is
a swan.
Vishnu:
He is praised
in the Rgveda as Indra’s younger brother, and is described
in the epics and Puranas as the Supreme Being. He resides
in heaven and rules over the earth as preserver, champions
of all good causes and at times assumes human form. Vishnu
has taken many human forms including Rama and Krishna.
He is represented pictorially
as having a dark blue body with four arms holding cakra (a
discus), a sign of world power, called sudarshana, gada (a
mace), called Kaumodaki, padma (a lotus) and shankha (a conch),
called panchajanya.
Shiva:
Has many
roles and has been characterized as a creator, a destroyer
of evil and a fertility god. Shiva signifies the eternal life
– death rhythm of the universe. Nandi the bull is associated
with Shiva worship. A popular image of Shiva depicts him with
four arms dancing as a life force.
Lord
Krishna:
It is one
of the most popular deity in Hinduism. Stories of him are
found in the Mahabharata and Bhagavad the most popular sacred
writing of India.Krishna was the
eighth incarnation of Vishnu. Though of noble birth, he was
brought up as a cow herder. He helped rulers to vanquish bad
people and restore justice and peace on earth.
Reincarnation:
All Hindus
believe that individual souls survive death and are reborn
to live again in a different body, thus passing through a
series of lives. Stream of existence (Samsara) by rebirth
linked closely with Karma. Every action has inevitable consequences,
which mould the future.Hindus paramount
hope is to be released from the cycle of birth, death and
rebirth through moksha, which is achieved, when virtue, knowledge
and love of God cancel out the weight of Karma. The Karma
residue causes next birth.
These paths
of liberation are traditionally called jnana yoga (spiritual
knowledge), karma yoga (good works or right action) and bhakti
yoga (devotion and love directed towards a chosen deity).
Karma:
The law
of Karma governs the universe and all beings residing with
in it. Hindus believe that Karma helps them to understand
the cause of suffering and good fortune resulting in a person’s
life.
There
are three aspects of Karma
1. Acts performed in your previous life will result
in the choice of parents and physical conditions in the next
life.
2. Characteristics and aptitudes are also the results
of previous Karma.
3. Whatever deeds are performed in the present life,
the future existence is determined accordingly.
Caste
system:
Caste is
traditionally seen as the creation of Brahma, each caste emerging
symbolically from different parts of Brahma’s body.
There are four chief groups Brahmins, priest who comes from
his mouth; Kshatriyas, warriors from his arms, Vaishyas, peasants
from his thighs; Shudras, unskilled laborers from his feet.
Groups of no definite caste were regarded as untouchables
and were banished from society. They perform jobs such as
washing clothes, making shoes and cremating the dead. They
have no access to the religious rituals of the other castes.
Hindus believe
that they are not in their social position by chance and there
is no injustice in being in any caste one gets what they merit.
Hindus are expected to carry out occupations of their caste
and must not intermarry with other caste or socialise outside
their own caste. Since 1950 any form of discrimination based
on caste has been illegal in India. In the UK caste rules
are often more relaxed than India.
Food:
Hindus do
not eat beef however apart from this there is quiet a lot
of variation in their diet. Some are strict vegetarians.
The
Sacred Cow:
Hindus hold
the cow sacred as the seat of many gods. Killing a cow is
a most heinous crime. Many Indian States have a complete ban
on cow slaughter. Many ancient Hindu rituals involve worship
of cows and the five products of the cow (milk, curds, butter,
urine and dung). Cow dung makes an enormous contribution to
the energy system in India by serving as cooking fuel and
fertilizer.
The
laws of Manu:
A metrical
work of 2,685 verses dealing with religion, law, customs of
ancient India and politics. It is also the most quoted source
book of Hindu ethics. It is believed that it dates from either
the first century BC or first century AD and its author was
well versed in the Vedic. It outlines the four stages of life
(asramas) through which a Hindu must pass to accomplish the
way of knowledge and liberation of one’s soul.
The
way of knowledge:
It is the
stage of the student when you study the Veda scriptures, including
the Upanishad tradition. As a householder, it is the duty
of the man to wed a woman and raise a family. The third stage
is that of forest dweller which is not a duty but a choice
if he wishes to continue the way of knowledge. He leaves the
care of his wife, property and family to his son so he can
find a Guru to be spiritually guided by and become a disciple
in order to take up the ascetic lifestyle away from the worldly
disturbance.
The final
stage is the ascetic form or monk when after learning from
Guru meditative techniques he is able to practice the art
of Yoga on his own. Yoga provides the Hindu with the method
to reach freedom. In order to achieve the final meditative
stage one should cultivate virtues such as honesty, fidelity,
sacrifice, service to others, truthfulness and love. Displaying
these virtues underpins the fulfillment of the other three
aims, which are the achievement of material property, fulfillment
of ambitions and desires so that the final achievement of
liberation from the cycle of birth and death can be achieved.
Brahman:
Hindus believe
that the basis for all reality and existence is an entity
called Brahman, an all-embracing infinite, uncreated principle.
It is unborn and uncreated and the source and ultimate destiny
of everything. Brahman is one and it is all things. It is
the true self – atman within all beings.
This
is illustrated by a story in the Chandogya Upanisad which
is one of the oldest and largest Upanisad (fourth and last
part of the Vedas containing mystical teachings).“
A boy at the age of 12 years left his family to learn from
a school. On returning at the age of 24, the young man’s
father realised that his son had learned the scriptures without
understanding the nature of Brahman. He therefore asked his
son to sprinkle some salt in a glass of water. The next day
the father asked his son to find the salt in the water. As
the salt had dissolved, the search proved to be futile. The
father asked his son to taste the water from the top, middle
and bottom of the glass and asked him how it had tasted. The
son replied salty and the father asked where is the salt the
son replied he could not see the salt. His father replied
that just in the same way you cannot see the spirit, the Brahman,
which encompasses the universe but it is there. That is the
reality, that is the truth and you are that truth”.
The Brahman
may be interpreted as God in an impersonal, absolute aspect.
It is important not to confuse Brahman with the Hindu creator
god Brahma or with Brahmin, a Hindu priest or caste.
The Brahman
philosophy is a divine and the supreme spiritual principle,
which has presence in everyone and everything and always.
The
Sacred Books of Hinduism:
Hindu scriptures
date prior to about 1500BC when the first hymns were complied.
Hinduism does not however have any fixed scriptural canon
but its doctrines can be found in certain ancient works such
as the Veda, the Brahmanas, the Upanishads and the Bhaggvad
– Gita.
The Veda or Sacred Lore
has come down in the form of mantras or hymns. The Vedas are
the foundation of Hinduism and their acceptance is one of
ultimate authority. The oldest section of the Veda is the
Rig Veda, which includes a hymn, the Song of Creation, which
raises questions about the origin of the world, and it implies
that answers may not be easy to find.
Brahmana:
The
second part of the Veda, a class of voluminous writings to
guide the Brahmanas in their rituals.
Purana:
Bible –
like text of varying length and genealogies of gods and age.
Deals with the creation of the Universe, patriarchs, and myths
associated with various cities, rules for living and descriptions
of heaven and hell.
Upanishad:
erived from
up a (near), ni (down), sad (sit) and is the fourth and last
part of the Veda which is known as Vedanta. It contains the
parables, dialogues and maxims and it is the most philosophical
of Hindu scriptures. It concentrates in particularly on the
attainment of liberation through knowledge of the unity of
Bramha and atman (the true self). Since the 19th
century the teachings of the Upanishad have become widely
known in the West. The Upanishad also describes the preparation
for the discipline of Yoga, Sankhya, Tantra and many more.
Ramayana:
An epic
which tells the life of Prince Rama from before his birth
until his death. It is divided into seven sections and consists
of 24,000 double verses.
Bhagavad
Gita: (song of the Lord)
A section
of the Mahabharata (tells of the war between two families
the Kauravas and the Pandus, complied 3rd or 2nd
BC), in the form of a battlefield dialogue between the warrior
prince Arjuna and Krishna. Krishna encourages Arjuna that
wisdom requires him to fulfill his proper role while at the
same time renouncing the consequences of his actions.
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