Hinduism

Hinduism is the religion of the Hindus, a name given to the Universal Religion which hailed supreme in India. It is the oldest of all living religions and contains within itself the seeds of all religions, including all and excluding none.

It is formed of diverse traditions and types and has no single founder. Hinduism is the world's third largest religion after Christianity and Islam, with approximately a billion adherents, of whom about 905 million live in India.

Hinduism, unlike other religions, does not dogmatically assert that the final emancipation is possible only through its means and not through any other. Hinduism allows absolute freedom to the rational mind of man. It never demands any restraint upon the freedom of human reason, the freedom of thought, feeling and will of man.

Though there are some core beliefs common to virtually all Hindus, there really is no "Hindu orthodoxy"- no hard dogma that all Hindus must believe. It's actually a family of gradually developing beliefs and practices. There are no specifically laid out rules constricting a person's eating/drinking habits, or clothing style or something like that.

The Hindus have received their religion through revelation, the Vedas. They hold that the Vedas are without beginning and without end. They mean the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times. The discoverers of these laws are called Rishis, and they are honored as perfected.

The Vedas teach that the soul is divine, only held in the bondage of matter. Hinduism is based on the concept of reincarnation, in which all living beings, from plants on earth to gods above, are caught in a cosmic cycle of becoming and perishing.

Hinduism begins simply by differentiating between matter and spirit. Spirit is understood within two main categories, namely:

- the individual self, or soul (the atman)

- the Supreme Self, or God (the paramatman).

Almost all Hindus believe that the real self (atman) is distinct from the temporary body made of matter (prakriti). The eternal soul identifies with matter and is entrapped by maya (illusion). (28 - 37)

Under the influence of eternal time and the three gunas (material qualities - self, soul and god) he moves throughout the creation (the cycle of repeated birth and death), sometimes going to higher planets, sometimes moving in human society, and at other times entering the lower species.

The goal of most Hindus is moksha, liberation from this perpetual cycle, through re-identification with the eternal brahman (Supreme). Hinduism accepts different paths towards this common goal (union with God). (35 - 46)

Hinduism is a way of life. According to the tenets of Hinduism, life and religion are inseparable. Religion is every where, dominating and regulating every aspect of human life, infusing it with divine presence and making life more meaningful and purposeful to its followers, influencing even the business ritual, which has to be respected by their partners.

Hinduism is the only religion which says that different religions also lead to the same god although in many forms, it accepts them as various paths to salvation and does not attempt to convert people.