Hinduism religion Essay

Hindiism is the religion of the great legal age of the people of India. The word comes from the Sanskrit sindhu, river, and origin every(prenominal)y referred to the Indus. Hinduism is actu totallyy a collection of umteen endemic Indian religions, past and pre direct. It is responsible for the companionable structure of India, especially for the caste system (a hereditary class system). Hinduism has some 684,000,000 adherents, roughly known of whom live in India. The lie down live in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and countries with Indian settlements. The oldest of the do primary(prenominal)s great religions, Hinduism is the only unmatched without a founder.It has never tried to gain converts by force and has always tolerated opposite religions and absorbed ideas from them (Chaudhuri 291). Hinduism has about 20 sects, with beliefs that die from primitive forms of animism to the highest r from for severally one onees of transcendentalism and philosophy. homophiley of the s ects and cults at ladder to be separate religions. Yet all flip a family relationship since they discharge from common usages and thrive on the conditions crotchety to India. more or less curb a mystic strain and all stress nonviolence. Hinduism began to arise about 1500 B. C.while the Vedas were organism self-possessed and collected. Vedic Hinduism, or Vedism, had galore(postnominal) personality gods, who were appealed to and appeased by prayers and sacrifices. A second grade, thinked brahminic Hinduism, appeargond about 1000 B. C. In this stage religion had fallen under the fake of the Brahmins, or priests, who used magic rites in efforts to influence and control the gods (Wilkins 114). A one-third period opened about 800 B. C. with the spoiled philosophy of the Upanishads. Salvation was sought, not through sacrifices and rites, moreover through knowledge.Six schools of Hindu philosophy arose, the or so important macrocosm those of Yoga and Vedanta. In the six th century B. C. Jainism and Buddhism arose as restore movements within Hinduism only some(prenominal) became separate religions. Islamic invaders conquered India after the tenth century A. D. Hinduism withstood the rival religion Islam but absorbed a few features from it. The brush in the midst of the two religions led to the knowledgeableness of Sikhism in the nineteenth century. In the 19th century rescuerian and western ideas presented a new challenge. Several Hindu reform movements borrowed from Christianity and the West.When India became independent in 1947 the conflict between Hindus and Moslems forced a division of the country, the Moslem section becoming Pakistan (Wilkins 121)). II. Discussions A. impressions and Practices of Hinduism. N primaeval all the sects and cults respect the Vedas (revealed knowledge), the ancient collections of spectral writings. The Rig-Veda, whose origins probably go back to onward 1500 B. C. , consists of about 1,000 hymns and prayers addressed to various deities. later Vedas be the Sama-Veda, Yajur-Veda, and Atharva-Veda. The philosophical portions of the Vedas be the Upanishads (approaches).These ar speculative treatise dealing with the nature of piece of music and the universe. The fundamental philosophical system is that of the identity of the separate watching with the universal soul (Brahman), or matinee idol (Kinsley 205). Brahman exists through a trinity of gods. Brahman is the principle of creation, Vishnu of preservation, and shibah of destruction. In addition to this trinity, most villages harbor their own godlings, demons, spirits, and ghosts to which the people make sacrifices and prayers. Vishnu is call backd to have appe ard from time to time in avatars, or bode incarnations, in both tool and human forms.The highest human forms ar Rama and Krishna, who are worshipped as savior deities (Chaudhuri 297). Hinduism has many inspirational objects and places. The cow is the most relig ious of animals and must be protected. Most sacred of all places is the Ganges River, to which millions go individually year to bathe and to become purified. Hindus believe in rebirth, or reincarnation, and in what they call the law of karma. Under this law the conditions of each new flavourtime are laid by the actions of the preceding life. To the Hindu, salvation consists of liberating the soul from attachment to worldly desires in identify to gain union with Brahman.If a Hindu dies liberated he must be born again into this world and again endure its suffering (Chaudhuri 299). The Vedas describe quad main castes. 1. The Brahmins exercise spiritual power. (Brahmin is in any case spelled Brahman). 2. The Kshatriyas are warriors who exercise secular power. 3. The Vaisyas are merchants and cultivators. 4. The Sudras are artisans and laborers. Indian society has thousands of castes and subcastes, each of which identifies itself with one of the four castes in Hindu literature. Me mbership in a caste is based on family association and occupation. under the castes are the outcastes, or untouchables, who historically have been denied certain social rights. The Indian fundamental law of 1950 outlawed discrimination against untouchables. The scriptures do not make the caste system an demand element of Hinduism, but it is perpetuated by tradition (Wilkins 139). Hindu worship for most part takes place in the home. A Hindu temple or shrine is considered an remain of deity and is not used for communal worship. There are kinds of Hindu clergy. tabernacle priests collect offerings and care for the temples and shrines. Domestic priests fare rites involving births, marriages, and deaths.Gurus are spiritual teachers. Sadhus are monks most live in monasteries, but many live as wandering mendicants (beggars) (Chaudhuri, 304). B. delivery boy Christ and Hinduism The original raw material beliefs of Christianity are stated in the Apostles Creed. It affirms that messiah Christ is the son of idol and that God sent him to earth to live as a man and to suffer and die for the buyback of mankind. It also states the belief that Jesus, after being crucified, arose from the dead and ascended to heaven, from which he will production to earth to judge the living and the dead.Belief that Jesus was born of a new m opposite and that there is a life for man after death are essential parts of the creed (Kinsley 211-212). Mans need for help from a higher power was stressed in religious earlier than Christianity. The concept of God as benevolent and forgiving kind of than as vengefulis a main tenet of the Christians faith. some other Christian belief is that even though man has sinned seriously and separated himself from the experience of God, he can be salvage by repentance and accept Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior.The necessity, and because the possibility, of communion between God and man is accepted by all Christians (Kinsley 211-212). C. positiv e Differences At first, the gospel of Jesus was facing pages by his disciples, followers who remembered his sayings. As Gentiles (non-Jews) as well as Jews entered the church, the influence of other minds began to be seen in the interpretations of doctrines. In this work, early Christian theologians borrowed ideas from the teachings of the Greek philosophers. At the aforementioned(prenominal) time, national traits and customs began to affect rituals and observances. pull down within each year of the iii great divisions of the Christian church papistical Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox there are variations of practice. This is particularly true of the Protestants. The sacrament of baptism provides an example. Baptists exact that the convert must be totally immersed in water Methodists believe that sprinkle water on head is sufficient. Most denominations baptize infants, but some insists that the someone be old enough to understand the meaning of the sacrament (Wilki ns 144). There are other differences.The Disciples of Christ and certain Protestant groups insist upon using the Bible solely as a source of guidance. The doctrine of the Trinitythe belief that God is three beings (the Father, Son, and saintly Spirit) in one divine natureis accepted as basic by most Christians, but is spurned by Unitarians and Universalists (Wilkins 144). III. Conclusion Religion is such a big help in building our faith on God as individuals. Hinduism is a religion where each believer believes on reincarnation. Its followers are hoping to live life again but depending on how they live their lives at present.though Hinduism has no founder yet believers tend to have strong faith and incessantly believe and follow its structured beliefs. On the other hand, for the Christian Church, its faith is build on the Trinity which is the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and Christians believe that these three personas are one.Reference1. Chaudhuri, N. C. Hinduism a Religion to hot By (Oxford University, 2003). 2. Kinsley, D. Hinduism a Cultural billet (Prentice-Hall, 2002). 3. Wilkins, W. J. Modern Hinduism an Account of the religion and action of the Hindus, 5th edition (Humanities Press, 2005).