Hinduism
is the oldest religion in the world. Hinduism is world's third largest
religion after Christianity and Islam. Hinduism is the dominant
religion in India, where Hindus form about 84 per cent of the total
population. Hinduism is also known as "Sanatan Dharma" or the
everlasting religion. Hindu religion is based on the concept that
human and animal spirits come back to earth to live many times in
different forms. The Hindus believe that a soul moves up and down
hierarchy on the basis of behavior.
According to Hinduism a person is born into the higher class because
he/she must have done good deeds in past life whereas a person is born
into poverty and shame because of misdeeds in past life. Central to
Hinduism are the concepts of reincarnation, the caste system, merging
with Brahman, finding morality, and reaching Nirvana (the peaceful
escape from the cycle of reincarnation). According to Hinduism the
paths to salvation include rituals, devotion and the way of knowledge
(realization of reality and self-reflection). If the practitioner
follows the paths of these ways, salvation can be achieved.
The main Hindu scriptures are Sruti (what is heard), Smriti (what is
remembered) the Vedas, the Brahmanas, the Upanishads, the Puranas and
epics. The Sruti include deeply religious things communicated to a
seer and recorded. The Vedas, the religious writings, include mantras
(hymns of praise), brahmanas (sacrificial rituals) and Upanishads (108
sacred teachings). The Smriti include the law (books of laws), puranas
(myths, stories, legends) and epics (sets of holy myths including
Ramayana and Mahabharata).
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HinduOfUniverse Hinduism
Hindu Religious Texts
Hinduism is considered to be the oldest living
religion in the world. Hindus from allover the world depend on a large
number of religious texts written and developed over many centuries in
order to get spiritual insights and guidance to practice a perfect
religious life.Vedas are the oldest and most authoritative among all these ancient texts. Eighteen Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Upanishads, and Bhagavad Gita are also respected scriptures of Hindu religion. Followings are few of the most important Hindu religious texts :
About Hinduism
Hinduism is the oldest living religious tradition
in the world and is also known as Sanatana Dharma and
Vedic Dharma. It is not a single religion but a set of different
schools of thought and traditions. Hinduism is a mixture of many
religious rituals, sects and philosophies and all of them are
different from each other in different parts of India. Majority of
Hindus follow the Vedanta philosophy of one God- "Brahman" who is
worshipped in many forms like Vishnu, Shiva, Durga, etc.About 1 billion people worldwide are followers of Hinduism making it the third largest religion of the world. The followers of Hinduism regard the four vedas as the main scripture. Each veda is divided into parts called : Brahmanas, Samhitas, Aranyakas and Upanishads which are also widely followed. The other main scriptures are the 18 puranas, 18 up-puranas, the bhagvad gita and ramayana. The basic beliefs of Hinduism are :
Different schools of Hinduism follow different paths or means for salvation. The four main paths that most of the schools follow are : the path of devotion- "Bhakti", the path of action-"Karma", the path of meditation- "Raja" and the path of enlightenment- "Jnana". The basis of hindu philosophy is that all souls that are born from Brahman ("Cosmic Spirit") finally merge with it.
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