Many religions offer an exact path to the afterlife; illuminated by various rules and regulations that one must follow to reach enlightenment. Hinduism, on the other hand, is much more complex, offering multiple ways to achieve moksha and providing many answers to the ancient question of “what happens after we die?” Many people think that Hindus believe in many deities, but the Hindu concept of God is much broader than that. In fact, Hinduism itself encompasses much more than just one specific set of religious beliefs. While some Hindus believe that God is a divine being with certain identifiable attributes, others believe that God cannot be defined and is an all-pervading being that extends beyond everything. Although some beliefs differ, the majority of Hindus see the concept of God in multiple ways. Among these are the concepts of God as one and many, God and the soul, God as sound, God as image, God in nature, cows, and avatara. One of Hinduism’s most distinguishing features is the concept of multiple gods. These multiple gods are manifestations of the various powers of the divine. Hindus believe that the all-pervasive God is both one and many. Because this concept carries the idea of God as an omnipresent being, everything can be seen as being God’s form. Hindus worship many Gods, but they also believe that the divine is singular or one. These Gods are representations of different aspects of the overall God. Although their worship of multiple
Dualistic Hindus try and understand divine reality through their many different gods. With that there is a focus put onto the one god Brahman which Brood describes as, “supreme, unitary reality, the ground of all Being.” (Brood et al., 2016). The monistic viewpoint of Brahman can best be described as the belief that all reality is ultimately one. Brahman is, “treated as a basic cosmic principle.” (Hopkins, 1971). According to Hopkins in the, “Atharva Veda, brahman is said to have the lowest and highest forms and to be ‘the womb of both the existent and the nonexistent.’ In 10.2 it is said that ‘by brahman the earth was disposed, as brahman the sky was set above, as brahman this atmosphere, the wide expanse, was set aloft and crosswise.’” (Hopkins, 1971). Brahman can most easily relate to the Christian, Islam, and Judaism God.Both Brahman and the God of Christianity, Islam,
The Hindus call their supreme reality “Brahman,” a God of infinite being, infinite awareness, and infinite bliss. “Utter reality, utter consciousness, and utterly beyond all possibility of frustration is the basic Hindu view of God” (Smith 1991). Hinduism sees their God as an archetype of supremacy with the noblest crown, a parent, loving, merciful, almighty, eternal salvation, and an understanding companion. There is also a distinction between personal (ramanuja) and transpersonal (shankara) notions of God in Hinduism; “God so conceived is called Saguna Brahman, or God-with-attributes or God-without-attributes, Nirguna Brahman” (Smith, 1991). Also, it is important to realize that God’s relation in Hinduism varies on symbolism and what is embraced: the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer who resolves all finite forms of life. They view the world as “God-dependent.” A personalist in Hinduism “will see little religious availability in the idea od a God who is so far removed from our predicaments as to be unaware of our very existence” (Smith, 1991). Were as a transpersonalist sees God serving as a master in their life to guide them through their struggles and becomes possessed by this
Most Hindus revere one Being of extreme unity (Brahman) through boundless representations of divine beings and goddesses. These different signs of divine beings and goddesses get to be incarnate inside of symbols, sanctuaries, masters, streams, creatures, and so on.
The main deities of the Hindu religion are Brahma and his two lieutenants named Shiva and Vishnu. The god Vishnu is the creator, and Shiva is the destroyer. One is not looked upon as better than the other. This shows the ultimate realism that the Hindu culture possesses. These are not the only gods in Hindu culture. There are many others and all have special skills and talents. The gods themselves also give birth to the idea of avatars, or the form of god when he or she comes to earth. Perhaps the most important part of the philosophy of a religion lay in its path to enlightenment. The main ideas of enlightenment come through the Four Ends of Life.
In this photo, there is a very well presented young woman with a white blouse and a black jacket this is a dress for a job interview. But there is a tense atmosphere between these two people. The girl is a bit confused but at the same time she is scared, nervous, and feels a frustration because she does not understand what this man is telling her. She tilts her body to the left giving a clear message of fear and even in her eyes, you can see a little fear. In her mind, she has a question mark because she does not understand what is happening with her and only manages to stay seated. However, this man who is the interviewer stands has a very aggressive attitude with her and has in his right hand a megaphone, which he uses to yell at her that
Hinduism is a religion that is difficult to define. No one can say who the founder is, or connect it to a certain place or time. So in order to understand Hinduism, we follow a coherent set of assumptions upon which people base their lives; otherwise defined as the Indian Worldview.
Hinduism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity developed centuries ago and have been practiced since then to today. Groups of people who practice these religions are bound to the conventional norms, beliefs, cultures and way of life of each. Each religion has a particular faith in a supreme being (Woodhead, Partridge & Kawanami, 2016). Muslims believe in Allah, Christians believe in Jesus Christ, Hindus believe in multiple Gods (Coomaraswamy, 2011) and Buddhism follower’s belief in various Gods and their enlightened priests especially the "most high priests" Buddha Almond, P. C. (2007). All these religions regard their places of which as sacred places which
What elements of earlier belief systems do you see integrated into Hinduism? What were the external conditions (environmental/societal/political/economic etc.) which gave rise to the origination of Hinduism? What was it about this time period? Location? Population?
Hinduism and Buddhism both have numerous gods and both follow the same paths to ultimately achieve Nirvana (a place where all the enlightened beings reside). "He set himself forty-eight vows to fulfill, which, he proclaimed, would allow him to reach Nirvana." (Encarta 98, "Amitabha,") This is about one man who makes rules for himself so that he can get into Nirvana. The concept of a god or gods in Buddhism is almost void and therefore in the eyes of some not even a religion. Hindus have many gods governing different aspects of Hindu life. The three main gods in Hinduism are Vishnu who is the
Hinduism is the world religion that comprising both continuity and change. Hinduism has always combined and adapted to a variety of social and cultural contexts. It encompasses several and varied systems of philosophy, belief, and ritual. Hinduism is a Basic Religion with an animistic cosmology, out of which developed monistic and monotheistic. Hinduism is characterized by the belief in reincarnation, one absolute being of multiple manifestations, the law of cause and effect, and the desire for liberation from the cycle of births and deaths. In the following, there will be discussion of some characteristics of Basic Religion that are found in the Hindu tradition, philosophical monism of Hinduism and how it relates to the Basic Religion of Hinduism and also the beliefs and expressions of monotheism in the Basic Religion as well as scriptures.
Imagine a religion so old that it is said to be timeless and has always been there, even before humans set foot on the Earth. It’s mindboggling to think that the knowledge of everything is floating in the space of the universe and the mind is just a way of reaching it. Hinduism is a very complex religion, yet it still sets one ultimate goal for the soul. To deeper understand Hinduism we must reveal its origin, doctrines, customs, and culture.
They say that Hindus believe in 300 000 gods. Most Hindus believe in Supreme God, whose qualities and forms are represented by multitude of deities which emanate from him. God, being unlimited, can have unlimited forms and expressions. Sanskrit words Bhagavan and Ishvara mean “Lord” or “God” and indicate an absolute reality who creates, sustains and destroys the Universe over and over again. Bhagavan can be understood as a supreme person with love and compassion towards creatures. Bhagavan might also be understood as an impersonal energy and is beyond language. For convenience Hindus are often classified into three most popular Hindu denominations, paramparas, depending on their attraction of the particular form of God. The most popular is
The Hindu religion and culture is a very complex subject. The Hindu religion combines rich ethnical and standard beliefs. We will take a closer look and try to understand the Hindu religion and culture. The Hindu religion is the oldest religion of the five major religions, which are Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism (Major World Religions, 2006). The Hindu religion began to develop about 4.000 years ago in India, but it there was no single founder or system of belief (Major World Religions, 2006). There are many diverse and various Gods in the Hindu religion. One of the most important beliefs is the theory of karma, which holds that all beings, human or animal have karma which determines which soul is for which body and
The society in India practices their religion in a unique way. There are multiple types of Gods. There is Brahma, the divine creator of the universe, Vishnu, another creator, and Shiva, the destroyer. The most important God is Atman, the God within yourself. In the Hindu culture, the ultimate goal is to find Atman and escape worldly desires. There are four permissible qualities that leads to Atman. Each quality is to be considered to be more important than the one before .
Gandhi: “That is an interesting assertion, Buddha. Hinduism is a henotheistic religion, meaning Hindus worship a single deity and view all other gods and goddesses as different manifestations of the supreme deity. Hindus believe in ‘one, all-pervasive formless cosmic power, Brahman, that manifests into many forms and may be called by many names’ (“Hinduism”). Brahmin is ‘all-knowing and endowed with all powers, [his] essential nature is eternal purity, intelligence, and freedom’ (Hopfe 113). The three main derivatives of Brahman are Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu. Brahma is the ‘god of gods’ (Chackal 14). He is the creature of the universe and symbolizes the ‘work of the mind and the intellect’ (Chackal 14). Shiva is paradoxically known as the Destroyer and the Restorer. He is the god of ‘death, disease, and destruction’ (Hopfe 93). He is also responsible for plant, animal, and human reproduction. Vishnu is the preserver and maintainer of the universe. He is the ‘restorer of moral order’ (Chackal 15).”