Hinduism
is a name of a religion that encourages my curiosity to read more about.
Hinduism is a religion of over a billion people and the world oldest religion.
It is at least 3500 years old and it is the third largest religion after
Christianity and Islam. Hindus consider that their religion is a way of life.
In
addition, Sanskrit is the ancient language for the Hindus and they have a river
was known by “Sindhu” but later they named it Hindu which is the name of the
religion nowadays. So the people that were living around the river became
Hindus. What is really interesting about this religion is that they have seven
beliefs:
1. Belief in a one universal soul: this soul is known as
Brahman and he is the source of all reality as well as the material that made
this universe.
2. Belief in an immortal individual soul. This means when
you die your soul moves to an another body. This is known as Atman.
3. Belief in Karma: They are actions that affect souls in
the present and the future. For example, Karmic actions such as bulling,
affects a person today and a 100 years later.
4. Belief in Moksha: Hindus achieve Moksha when they
realize their way to Brahman.
5. Belief
in Vedas: Vedas are their four books. The Rig Veda, The Samaveda,
Yajurveda, Atharvaveda.
6. Belief in cyclical time: for Hindus there are no
beginnings nor endings. According to them, time is a cycle of four parts and
they believe that we are now in the final part.
7. Belief in Dharma: this maintains balance of the
universe. Each creature has its own Dharma. For instance, the Dharma of a whale
is to eat fish in order to survive. Or learners Dharma is to achieve success.
Hindus
have no prophet, no ONE GOD and no holy books unlike other religions. On the
other hand, a Hindu person should have four goals to achieve: Balance in the
Dharma, true prosperity, pleasure in body and mind and Moksha which is the
release of the soul.
Meanwhile,
Hindus have to get rid of six temptations:
1. Materialism
2. Anger
3. Greed
4. Power
5. Pride
6. Jealousy
There is always a lot of differences between each religion. Getting to know about them makes every religion special itself, Hinduism is very interesting due to the strange beliefs they have. Each one of us should appreciate our religion and always respect others religion!
ReplyDeleteBeside being an English Teacher , I am a social studies teacher for Grade 10 &11 . This month I was explaning for them the Buddhism and Hinduism. I got so excited to see you writing about the topic .
ReplyDeleteAs a teachers we should benefit from the philosophies .Philosophy and education are aligned together.
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