Hinduism
Adherents: 900 Million
Founded: 1500 B.C.
Founder: Aryan nomads from the Baltic regions
a. Joined two religious systems: ancient civilization (animist) in the Indus River Valley (3000 BC) and their own religious beliefs as they began to invade northern India appx. 2000 BC.
b. Aryans also settled much of the area of modern day Greece.
Hindu Writings
a. The Vedas (knowledge or wisdom) 1400 BC - 500 AD comprised of:1. Mantras (hymns of praise)
2. Brahmanas (guide for ritual rites)
3. Upanishads (teachings on religious truth or doctrine).
i. contains: law books, Ramayana & Maabharata, Puranas, aqamas, sultras,and the bhakti (devotions to gods)
ii. describes the religion of the Aryans via the writings of “Holy men” or rishis (seers). sruti: all that is heard; smriti: all that is remembered
iii. Describes a number of deities who are mostly personifications of natural phenomena: storms, fire, etc. (c.f. animism)
b. The Upanishads (secret teaching) 800-600 BC
i. the “later” Vedas which reflect the development of Pantheism: Brahman also the concept of “Atman is Brahman”; and maya the creation of the unreal.
ii. spoke of a multitude of gods
c. Bhagavad Gita - inspired but of lesser authority because it is smriti and not sruti
i. the “New Testament” of Hinduism which records a conversation between the prince Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna (the incarnation of the god Vishnu) condoning
personal devotion to deity.
Hindu Religious Practices
Hinduism embraces the idea of evolution in that they feel that it coincideswith their core beliefs that man is progressing steadily over time.
a. Hindus are vigilant about the doctrine of ahimsa which means ‘non-injury’ to all
living creatures and the protection of life in general (c.f. Mahayana Buddhism)
It is for this reason that many Hindus are strictly vegetarian. It is also important
to note that despite the doctrine of "ahimsa" there are extremist factions of
Hinduism which attack Muslims and Christians (and Sikhs for a time) in the
name of their Hindu Deities. This goes on under the nose of the Indian
government and is not condemned nor condoned.
b. The caste system – social classes with thousands of sub-groups in each caste.
Determined at birth by family, and/or by personal karma.
i. Bahmins – are the priestly class and the highest order in the caste system.
ii. Kshatriyas – warriors or ruler class. 2nd only to the Brahmins.
iii. Vaisyas – merchant or farmer class follows the Kshatriyas
iv. Shudras – laboring class “bottom feeders”
v. Dalits – untouchables or “outcastes” which are outside the caste system.
c. 4 goals of the Hindu
i. kama – pleasure/enjoyment particularly through love and sexual desire
ii. artha – wealth and success
iii. dharma – moral duty, renouncing personal power and pleasure to seek the
common good of others brings personal fulfillment
iv. moksha – liberation from the death and birth cycle “salvation”
Hindu Theology
Hindus are are considered Pantheistic in belief.1. Who or what is God to the Hindu? 330 million gods within Hinduism
a. Brahman – an ultimate reality beyond our comprehension. Impersonal “force”
comprised of all living things it binds the galaxies together. Is sometimes
referred to personally as “Isvara”.
i. Brahman is he whom speech cannot express and from whom the mind,
unable to reach him, comes away baffled – Taittiriya Upanishad (c.f. Taoism)
ii. A philosophic concept to be meditated on, not to be adored or worshiped.
b. Maya is the way by which Brahman chose to create the material world.
It is a type of “relative” reality.
i. Huston Smith – compared the concept of maya to the question posed “are
dreams real?”. They are real in the sense that we have them but not in the sense
that the events depicted in them actually take place. Maya is the concept that
the world that the mind sees is real to the mind in its present state but it is not
real as it truly is. 13(cf. agnosticism; Christianity)
c. Primary gods
i. Brahma (the creator)
ii. Vishnu (the preserver) – has had10 incarnations over time called Avatars
iii. Shiva (the destroyer) – is really THE primary god worshiped due to the
overwhelming fear of his wrath. Has many temples built for him11
Shiva’s wife “Kali” is also an angry goddess that has a large cult-revival.
d. The Cow is god: atharava veda – “The Cow is heaven, the Cow is earth,
the Cow is Vishnu, Lord of life” – permitted to have full reign eating as it wishes.
World View:
Problem of Evil:
Afterlife:
Sects:
Is Hinduism compatible with Christianity? Here is what the Christian writings say regarding the belief system of Hinduism:
Click To See The Religion of Hinduism compared to other religions
