Religions Throughout the World. It

¶ … religions throughout the world. It is interesting to look at Hinduism and determine its origin, absolute (god), scriptures, world view, problem for man and its solution, and the view of the afterlife and how to attain it. It is also important to look at four philosophical combinations of agreements and disagreements that would encourage or prevent one from following the religion.

Understanding Hinduism

Hinduism was introduced to India in 1500 BC by the Aryans. The initial phase of Hinduism was "early Brahmanism, the religion of the priests of Brahmans who performed the Vedic sacrifice, through the power of which proper relation with the gods and the cosmos is established. The Veda comprises the liturgy and interpretation of the sacrifice and culminates in the Upanishads, mystical and speculative works that state the doctrine of Brahman, the absolute reality that is the self of all things, and its identity with the individual soul (unknown, Hinduism)." Yoga practices and the fully developed theistic elements are outlined in the later Upanishads.

Post-Vedic Hinduism "in all its forms accepts the doctrine of karma, according to which the individual reaps the result of his good and bad actions through a series of lifetimes. There is also the universally accepted goal of moksha or mukti, liberation from suffering and from the compulsion to rebirth, which is attainable through elimination of passions and through knowledge of reality and finally union with God (unknown, Hinduism)."

Hindus look upon the problem of who has access to God in a universal way. According to their beliefs "every man, woman and child has the same direct access to God through his or her own efforts (Mugilan)."

Philosophy

There are philosophical ideas which can result in one following or rejecting Hinduism. An early Hindu school of philosophy "analyzed reality into six categories: substance, quality, activity, generality, particularity, and inherence. It taught that the universe is made up of nine kinds of substance: earth, water, light, air, ether, time, space, soul (or self), and mind (unknown, Hindu philosophy)."

In the "Bhagavad Gita, a greatly revered philosophical poem depicting the dialogue between God as Krishna and a devotee, it says: 'All creatures great and small- I am equal to all; I hate none, nor have I any favorites.' This rules out the claim of anyone to be the privileged or 'chosen' agent of God, and thus makes exclusivism impossible in Hinduism (Mugilan)."

One of the largest differences between "Hinduism and other revealed religions is that Hinduism recognizes no prophet as intermediary with exclusive claim over truth. One is not required to acknowledge an intermediary as a prophet or as a chosen agent of God. In a revealed religion, one who denies the authority of this intermediary is called a non-believer, even if one believes in God (Mugilan)."

The Hindus can not conceive "any accommodation of a belief system that denies one's freedom of choice and conscience. Therefore, even an atheist is welcomed in Hinduism. A Hindu is free to question any or all of the scriptures and one does not cease to be a Hindu if he denies the authority of the scripture (Mugilan)."