Hinduism is the oldest religion in the world today and is currently the main religion in India. It holds about 1 billion followers (14.3 % of the worlds population) and is the third largest religion in the world after Christianity and Islam. Hinduism differs from many monotheistic religions in the form that:-it does not have a single founder -it does not have a single holy text -it does not have the concept of prophets Hinduism is a henotheistic religion. This means that they only worship one deity and that all other gods are manifestations of the one supreme god.
Founding/Growth through years
Hinduism has no direct founder. It is the result of thousands of years of different beliefs, many diffferent cultures, races, and religions. Most people believed though, that the first people who practiced and had the idea of Hinduism were the Aryans. The Aryans were an ancient group of peoples who lived in the Steppes of southern Russia. The Aryans spoke Proto-Indo-European (PIE). In this lost language the word Aryan was used to "denote" peoples, but Arya ment "noble". The Aryans conquered northern India in around 1500 B.C and settled there. They had a huge advantage over the Indians at that time. They had horses which were unknown to the Indians back then. Hinduism founded itself and grew for several thousands of years to become what it is today. But believe it or not, this religion has not stopped growing! In fact, Hinduism is one of the three religions in the world right now that shows that their increasing number of people joining it outruns the current birth-rate. The other two of these three religions are Christianity, and Islam. Which are also the ones that join Hinduism in the three biggest religions of the world.
Practices and Beliefs
Hinduism is unlike many other religions in another way which you have not learned about in here yet. This way is that in Hinduism there are a variety of different beliefs and ways to worship. For example: In Christianity there are some specific prayers and practices you do in church and when you pray. In Hinduism they do worship their god, but it depends on the person on how they want to worship, although it has to go along the lines of the religion. The person worships how he or she thinks is enough, or suitable. Among the the Hindu beliefs are these most prominent ones: Dharma, Samsara, Karma, Moksha, and the various Yogas. Dharma is the path of righteousness, and living one's life according to the codes of conduct described in Hindu Scriptures. In Hinduism Dharma is described as the universal laws that if you follow you will be able to be content and happy for the rest of your life, and be able to save yourself from a life of degradation and suffering. In Hinduism people believe in re-encarnation. Though they call it Samsara. Samsara is the continuing cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. In Karma you believe that every action has a sub-sequent reaction. In other words, what goes around, come around. If you do something bad, something bad will happen to you. On the other hand if you do something good, you will be rewarded. Moksha is basically the same thing as Samsara except that Moksha includes gaining bliss and happiness from re-birth. Now there is Yoga Yoga originated in Ancient India, and is a strong practice of the Hindu religion. Yoga is the practice of physical, mental, and spiritual discipline. The goal of yoga, or whoever is practicing it, is to attain a perfect state of insight and tranquility, while meditating on the Hindu concept of divinity or Brahman. Today Yoga is practiced all around the world, and is one of the top ways to release stress and stay calm. Today people who aren't even Hindu do Yoga, and you could do it anywhere. From in your house watching a dvd. To in a gym with an instructor.
Symbols and Sacred books
In Hinduism there are five main sacred texts. These texts are known as the Vedas, the Ramayana, the Mahanbharata, Bhagarad-Gita, and the Manusmirti. As you saw before in Hinduism there is no main holy text so these are the five main holy texts. The ones Hinduism was built around.The Vedas are a large body of texts that originated in Ancient India. These texts constitute the oldest layer of sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. The Vedas are "not from human agency" therefore they are called Sruti ("what is heard"). This distinguishes them from other sacred texts which are Smrti ("what is remembered"). The Ramayana is an ancient sanskrit epic,one of the two, and it is an important part of the Hindu religion. It depicts the duties of relationships, and ideal characters. Like the ideal father, ideal servant, ideal brother, ideal wife, and ideal King. This ancient text explores human values and the concept of Dharma. The Ramayana consists of about 24,000 verses in 7 books. The other sanskrit epic is the Mahanbharata. The Mahanbhrata contains much philosophical and devotional material. It discusses things such as the "four goals in life". There are various stories that are in this ancient text, such as, the Bhagavad City, the story of Damayanti (an abbreviated version of the ramayana), and the Rishyasringa. The Mahanbhrata follows a enumerated latter that goes like this: Dharma(right action), artha (purpose), kama (pleasure), moksha (libertaion). The Bhagarad-Gita is actually also part of the Mahanbhrata. This text is a 700 verse scripture that is about a conversation between Krishna and the Pandava prince Aljuna that takes place in the middle of a battlefield where both armies where on both sides and ready to battle. Lastly the Manusmriti. The Manusmrti is the most important and earliest work of the Dharmasastra textual tradition of Hinduism. According to Ancient Hindu tradition, the manusmrti records the words of Brahma. By attributing the words to supernatural forces, the text takes on an Authorative tone as a statement on Dharma.
Contemporary Issues
Contemporary Issues are things that are going on today that are not helpful to the people and society. Well, a contemporary issue currently facing this religion is a problem about abortions. Abortions are when the mother chooses to kill the embryo before it is born. In other words, to kill the child before it comes into the world. This process is very scientific and is done always by doctors, and it is like an operation. There are many different types of abortions. They all depend on the state of the mother. The problem of abortions facing this religion is going on with Hindus in the United States. Hindu mothers in the United States are tending to get abortions becacause they know that when the child is born it will be born a citizen of the United states and that they will have to be accostumed to America's secular society. Their family will have to change drastically and that will be hard.