Hinduism Essay

Improved Essays
Hinduism is most likely the oldest and most complex religion in the entire world. Traces of the religion go back as far as the third millennium B.C.E. The possible religious views of Hinduism are effectively infinite due to the number of gods both major and minor, priests and temples. Nearly 80 percent of the India population consider themselves Hindu and there are at least 30 million practitioners outside of India making this religion the third largest after Christianity and Islam. The word “Hinduism” is a collection of various traditions that are closely related and share common themes yet they do not constitute an integrated set of beliefs or practices. Hindu is a word derived from the Sanskrit name for the river Indus, Sindhu. The …show more content…
Around 700 BC the Upanishads along with the development of the Vedanta developed a more philosophical focus. After this near 500 BC, several new beliefs rose from Hinduism with Buddhism and Jainism as the most significant. The Upanishads are a gathering of stories similar in many ways to the Jewish Talmud. One story that is often told is about the father who had a conversation with his son. In this conversation the father gave instructions to his son to dissolve a piece of salt in a glass of water and look for the salt on the next day. The son could not see the salt but brought the salt water to his father where he was instructed to drink the saltwater. The salt still exists. This is how the father was teaching his son that the whole universe has its self, the self is real and you are the universe. The Bhagavad Gita is an epic Indian poem of culture and religion. This poem is compared to the Homeric poems of the Greek and Hellenistic cultures. This is a part of the Mahabharata, the story of two families battling form the beginning of Indian history. This story is believed to have been written over a long period of time starting as early as the eighth of ninth century B.C.E, with the Gita being written between the second and third centuries

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Originally, Caste system classified into four levels: Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shdras. Brahmans symbolized the highest status of priests. Kshatriyas was the status of warriors. Vaisyas expressed merchants and commoners. Shdras indicated peasants, and laborers (Jordan, 2014).…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    • 6 Works Cited
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Arelys Loriga Professor Theology 9 October 2015 Not religiously different after all In a world with many different countries, ethnicities, and cultures comes a variety of religious groups, such as Hinduism, Santeria, and Scientology. Religion is a sort of belief that people acquire from either a family tradition or personal beliefs. Religion tries to generate an explanation for many things, for example, why the earth was created and what purpose does human life have.…

    • 1560 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Gupta Dynasty had an advanced empire that was based on Hinduism. Hinduism is a religion that has no specified founder and the people who practice the religion believe it has always existed. Hinduism is polytheistic, meaning they worship more than one god. Three gods that Hindus worship are Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva. These gods are responsible for the creation, sustenance, and destruction of the world.…

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout history, belief systems and their practices, have influenced societies and regions. This affected civilizations and the societies around them. For example the Caste system found in the area where Hinduism was practiced. While this was happening, Buddhism was founded and did away with this practice. Hinduism is the world's most followed belief system.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Legalism- A negative philosophy that humans are all bad people. He incorporated this into his laws which had harsh punishments and very little rewards. Confucianism-Based on Confucius’s thinking that a person could improve. These laws were lighter and led to education reforms improving literacy.…

    • 1107 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Bhagavad Gita Meaning

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Bhagavad Gītā- A Hindu scripture written in Sanskrit. It is a part of the Mahabharata. The Bhagavad Gita is a story of Arjuna and the difficult decisions he has to make. Thus he is guided through them by Krishna.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Upanishads are a collection of texts that contain the main concepts of Hinduism and discusses the importance of fulfilling the ultimate reality of being a brahman and describes the character of the path to human salvation or moksa. The Upanishads form the last part of the four Vedas, which contain hymns, scriptures, morals, and other rules that Hindus live by. The Sutras establish parts of the Upanishads and helped form the orthodox schools thought. The Bhagavad Gita is a Hindu scripture that tells the story of Prince Arjuna and his relationship with Krishna, a Hindu deity. Even though the schools generally believe that the ultimate goal is to reach moksa, each school interprets the Upanishads, Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita is different ways and has different thought about how one can obtain the ultimate reality.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Stages Of Hinduism

    • 1742 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Hinduism “Hinduism is a major world religion, not merely by virtue of its many followers, but also because of its profound influence on many other religions during its long, unbroken history, beginning about 1500 BC.” (Hinduism). The term Hinduism comes from the Indus river which flows through Pakistan. Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world, out of all the larger belief systems. The Hindu religion has been around for thousands of years and contains many beliefs, practices, and types of worship.…

    • 1742 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Practiced by 80% of the population, Hinduism is the oldest religion of the world, dating back to prehistoric times. Hinduism differs from other religions by their lack of founder. Their religion exist since the beginning of time but has apparently no founder; for that same matter Hindus do not join a congregation even when they become fond of it. Hinduism is a syncretic religion that welcomes a variety of people from different doctrines including but not limited to monotheists, polytheists and atheists. Hindi’s belief is that Braham is the principle and source of the Universe Hindus also believe in the concept of reincarnation, or rebirth of all living beings.…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the Vedic Age (1500 – 1000 BCE), the Indo-Aryans, a group of nomadic people, were able to bring their many traditions and practices into the Northern region of India. This migration was done willingly and played a substantial role in the development of the Indian language “Sanskrit”. This language is used today by religions such as Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. Within the languages the Indo-Aryans brought forth to Northern India were “poetry, hymns, prayers, and heavily allegorical history” which would later be translated into text (von Sivers et al 71). The effect these new teachings had on the culture was immense because these were not written until 600 BCE, therefore they were passed around by speech thus creating an early form…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hindus believe in many gods, but realize they all come from Atman. A temple is generally where Hindus worship by meditation. Religious Hindus follow the means of the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhaguad Gita, and the Agamas. Even though Hindus follow the means of the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhaduad Gita, and the Agamas the religion has no set way of teaching. Hinduism was found in early 1900 BEC in modern-day India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    With the rise of polytheistic Hinduistic ideology beginning in South Asia around 2000 BCE, during a time of hunting and gathering and the start of rice cultivation, the process of envisioning a faith and establishing a solid following proved to be difficult. The Indus River Valley civilization in northern India was populated by a diverse community, one group being Indo-European peoples known as the Aryans, who of which founded Hinduism. Acknowledging the large variety of people and beliefs, Hinduism’s characteristics, like the caste system and Hinduistic gods and goddesses, needed to be readily adaptable to already existing religions and daily activities. Hinduism encourages the following and worshipping of approximately thirty-three million…

    • 1625 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Philosophy plays a significant role on examining religious claims to certainty regarding metaphysical reality because it questions the unquestionable, and challenges ideas that have been in motion for centuries. As stated in the book, Elements of Culture, by Susan Andreatta, “religions support the status quo by keeping people in line through supernatural sanctions, reliving social conflict, and providing explainations for unfortunate events.” Religions provide knowledge of the unknown, or at least a theoretical explanation, of things in life that we are incapable of explaining through simple learned knowledge. In the text, The Developing Person, by Kathleen Berger, “knowledge base is a body of knowledge in a particular area that makes it…

    • 1128 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Hindus gradually accepted by its religious leaders and followers in the Vedic tradition. There…

    • 2073 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Musallam Almashali Dr. William L. Blizek RELIGION AND FILM December 4, 2017 Eat Pray Love Description: Hinduism is the religion of the major population in both Nepal and India, which is considered the set of religious beliefs, religious traditions, and a way of living. It has no single scripture, no single founders, and no unified set of teachings which make Hinduism different from other religion (Senker n.p.). There are instances wherein this religion is considered the oldest living religion in the world. Since it is one of the prominent and largest religions throughout the world, application and depiction of Hinduism in modern and popular culture is an ordinary thing.…

    • 1261 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays