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Being kind to a stranger would give the person good Karma, while being cruel to an animal would be bad Karma. Karma can also cause good or bad things to happen to a person during their life on Earth.
What are the cultural and societal influences that have made Hinduism vital to the region in which it originated?
Hinduism is so important to Indian culture because it is so old, dating back 5,000 years. The most important scriptures for the Hindu religion, the Bhagavad Gita, or Song of the Lord, dates back to 3,000 BC. It teaches that devotion to God is the highest level of worship. Because God is everywhere around the person, anything the person does, if done with devotion to God, pleases God. This caused the religion to infuse every day life
Explain the desire for liberation from earthly existence.
The highest goal for a Hindu is for its soul to learn all the Earthly lessons it needs to learn, completing all the reincarnations necessary to achieve that goal, and be released from moksha, or the cycle of reincarnation. When a soul reaches this high state, it is united with Brahma. This can take many reincarnations and makes it important for each Hindu to strive to learn all he or she can, and to worship God and act in ways pleasing to God, so the soul can move forward to this liberation (Atkinson, 2003)....
They must avoid negative emotions such as envy, greed and hatred. The Hindu religion provides several paths for a person to follow as he or she strives to lead a life closer to Brahman. One way is to use meditation, or Jnana-yoga, to gain insight to the truth and to move beyond attachments to material goods and the concrete life. Karma-yoga, or self-realization, is attained by dedicating what one does in everyday life to God (Atkinson, 2003). Bhakti-yoga, focuses on living a life of pure love of God. This requires daily worship, which included daily worship, offerings, and prayer. The Hindu view this approach as "God-centered" in that anything they do is done for God and not for the individual performing them (Atkinson, 2003). These multiple paths emphasize the Hindu belief that there is no one way to achieve release from moksha.
Bibliography
Atkinson, Glennis. 2003. "Basic Hindu Beliefs." The Hutchinson Encyclopedia, 2003.
Subramuniyaswami, Satguru Sivaya. 2000. "Nine Questions: Hinduism, with its ritual and philosophical richness, naturally arouses questions from curious non-Hindus.…
Bibliography
Atkinson, Glennis. 2003. "Basic Hindu Beliefs." The Hutchinson Encyclopedia, 2003.
Subramuniyaswami, Satguru Sivaya. 2000. "Nine Questions: Hinduism, with its ritual and philosophical richness, naturally arouses questions from curious non-Hindus. Do you have good answers?" Hinduism Today, June 30.
Hinduism is among the world's oldest religion that has no beginning it was there before recorded history. Unlike most other religions, it cannot be linked to a single founder as it is formed from diverse traditions. It is a predominant religion in the Indian subcontinent and is one of its indigenous religions (Sen, 2005) Due to the fact that it cannot be clearly defined and does not have rigid guidelines
The responsibilities of one's current caste also constitute the dharma which will further advance or punish one in your next life. In other words, exceeding one's dharma in not only unnecessary, but in all probability will hurt your dharma, causing you to fall into a lower caste in your next life. This intertwining of social strata with religion creates a fatalism derived from inevitable destiny, guilt complexes of past
Trimurti and the Trinity Hinduism is a religion which is practiced by millions of people all over the world, particularly in India and other eastern nations. It is a religion which is unlike any other, a religion designed for the individual. Unlike most religions which demand that followers a designated set of rules and practices which require adherence, Hinduism is about individual beliefs. Most religions begin from a written interpretation of
It is likely that in order to achieve this "release" from the tedium of one's worldly conception of one's self will only be achieved with the guidance of a Guru (or siddha) who provides inspiration but does not intervene on one's behalf. The key scriptures in Hinduism are referred to as "Shastras" (a collection of spiritual guides and laws revealed by "saints and sages" along the historical route through which
The practice of Yoga, and its focus on increasing the body's prana through awakening of chakras, or spiritual centers within the body, is also common in Hinduism. Many also share a common belief in an earth goddess who rules over our lives. Over fifty million Hindus are said to worship a variety of the goddess. Several Hindu traditions explain the importance of rising above the physical world. The Purusha is
The Vedas are the primary texts of Hinduism. The oldest is called the Rig Veda (hymns praising a number of gods), with the other three being the Yajur Veda (rituals for sacrifices), the Sama Veda (chants for ritual worship), and the Athara Veda (spells and charms for healing the sick). The Rig Veda, the oldest of the four Vedas, was composed around 1500 B.C. Vedas are ancient oral traditions