Why Hinduism Should Be Considered A World Religion

“Hinduism is a collection of religious beliefs that developed slowly over a long period of time.” (World History Patterns of Interaction, 2005) Hinduism has been made up of so many different cultures and beliefs that unlike Christianity and Islam it is unable to be traced back. Hindus believe in karma and reincarnation. Karma is good and

Hinduism is faced with a revolving wheel of life, death and rebirth called Samsara better known as reincarnation. They believe this life cycle is a direct relation to a person’s karma of deeds done. Karma “determines the kind of body, whether human, animal, or insect, into which he or she will be reincarnated in the next

In Hinduism karma and reincarnation are two meaningful major elements. Karma is a concept that the universe will return your good or bad actions back to you. You will find with certain actions you make, you feel good and others around you feel good. When remembering karma think about mental and physical actions that you would make. In the Hindu religion the soul reincarnates itself over and over until it becomes perfect.

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.

The United States has become a large melting pot of religions and this diversity only continues to grow. Two major world religions worth discussing are Hinduism and Judaism; from their distinctive points to the similarities, it is better to learn about them than to ignore them as they have made an influence in America. Hinduism and Judaism are two of the oldest and largely followed world religions. Hinduism dates back to around 3200 B.C.E (51), and Judaism about 1300 B.C.E (although in some cases is thought to be legend) (244). Since Hinduism is followed by around 80 percent of the people of India, it is said to be “the religion of India;” despite the several other religions known to exist there, such as Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, it is

India is a country full of mysteries and differences. It has a long history, a profound yet unique culture, with diversified nationalities, races, religions, languages and a huge population. The pursuit of secularism and inveteracy of sectarianism have brought huge influence to the Indian society. As the mainstream culture in India, Hinduism plays an important role in the Indian society and has dominated almost 2000 years of its history. Although in the following years since, the Indian culture gradually becomes a combination of different races, religions and languages, Hinduism still remains to be the key to dig into the development of the culture and society of India.

Considering that Hinduism lacks a uniting belief system, what makes up the Hindu religion is Sanarana Dharma, which is also known as Hinduism, an alternative label that is preferred today. Hinduism is the traditional religion of India. Sanatan Dharma is one of the oldest religions known to mankind and Hinduisms religion is still in practice today. The spiritual expressions of Sanatana Dharma range from extreme asceticism to the extreme sensuality, from the heights of personal devotion to a deity to the heights of abstract philosophy (Fisher, M.P., 2005). Hinduism have been able to hold itself together for several years; Hinduism is still one of the major religions in the world, so, the factor that it is more than a way of life,

Reincarnation in the Hindu belief that once someone has died, their soul is reborn in a new body. In Hinduism, the main goal in life is to achieve moksha, or the state of perfect understanding of all things. In order to reach moksha one must perfectly understand the relationship between atman (individual soul) and Brahman (world soul). Hindus also believe that when you do a good or bad deed -karma- in your life, it follows you to you next life when you reincarnate. It decides which caste you will be in in your next life. If you have good karma you will be in a high and respectful caste, and if you have bad karma you will be at the bottom of the caste

Hinduism is the oldest religions. The most interesting thing about Hinduism is that they have no specific founder or date of origin. Based on their beliefs Hindu’s are divided in to two casts. In the current world, there is still a big conflict about whether Hinduism is a monotheistic religion or a polytheistic religion. Because according to Hindus believe it’s one God with many different faces. This concept regarding Gods is accepted by some scholars, but not all of them. Hinduism has four sacred text Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Epics. The two most common sacred texts are the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita. The authors of all sacred texts are still unknown.

During my research, I discovered the Hinduism is the third largest religion next to Christianity and Islam with approximately one billion followers! Hindus are known for believing in rebirth, reincarnation, and the endless cycle of reincarnation until moksha is achieved. When I think about death, I think one will go to one of three places: heaven, purgatory, or hell. The theory of karma is huge in this religion and many of its followers strive to live peaceful/pure lives so their karma is good. I do believe in good/bad karma and I feel like it explains why a lot of

Hinduism is very similar to many religions. Hindus have gods whom they worship and have relationships with. They have Brahmins, who are priests, who conduct all of the necessary public rites and sacrifices. Also like many religions, Hinduism has sacred writings from which they look to for to guidance and for the knowledge of their practices and beliefs. They have the Vedas, there are four in the collection of the Vedas, with the most important being the Rig-Veda. It is the main and the oldest, it contains over one thousand hymns and reflecting the religious devotion of long-established family and other groups. There is one thing that makes Hinduism different than many religions though, Hinduism is an orthopraxy religion where others are orthodoxy in practice.

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

Hinduism is a very interesting religion to study. Hinduism was founded and is primarily focused in India. Hinduism is a way of life for many Indians. The Hindus have one God named Brahman, the Ultimate Reality, who takes many forms to three other gods, Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi (M. Nichols 8/31). This religion is not polytheistic, it is just that Brahman appeals to all. Hindus also have many ways of practice. The goal of the Hindu religion is to unite one’s atman, soul, with Brahman, the ultimate (M. Nichols 8/31). An individual can strengthen that relationship with karma. There is good karma and bad karma in the world. Karma is the moral law of cause and effect (Smith 49). One can get good karma by doing their dharma or duty.

With more than a billion adherents, Hinduism is the world's third largest religion. The vast majority of Hindus,

Hinduism being very vast with its philosophies and emitting the light that stood time tested, glares many times the eyes of one who seeks to find what is inside it. Often one gets confused with the availability of multiple answers to the same question and the presence of numerous ways that it suggests to one who seeks it for upliftment. Because of this glare one may see only the darkness and may tend to think Hinduism is a religion of rituals and old fashioned. But when one comes beyond this initial confusion and gets to taste its real essence, he/she would realize these qualities of Hinduism are in fact its assets. It is an open-minded discipline. It is a discipline that does not use force on its follower. That is, it does not dictate the follower to act by one step by step recipe it gives, condemning all other recipes. In fact Hinduism is a discipline that allows many religions like shaivam, vaishnavam and many others to coexist sharing the dharma (discipline), permitting many philosophies - at times mutually exclusive - to be propounded. It is not a religion of mere postulations. The religion is a free but disciplined system, which has the concepts that could be proved by logic or by experience. To be a Hindu is to belong to one of the greatest philosophies in the world. It is based on a belief in a Universal being which permeates the whole universe, and any other universes which we do not know about. The central concepts are Dharma (do unto others as you would like