Religious Traditions Hinduism Grew Up

Religious Traditions Hinduism grew up around a collection of different traditions and stories, and as such has many sacred elements. Five that are the most fundamental, and characterize the Hindu tradition, are dharma, samsara, karma, moksha and yogas. These five influence every aspect of Hindu life, as they represent the Hindu's understanding of the nature of the universe, the nature of life, the goals that a soul must have, and the pathways to achieve these goals.

These five sacred elements make up the core of Hindu belief and characterize Hindu religious tradition. Dharma represents the concept of duties or ethics. In Hinduism, dharma is essentially the roots upon which the universe is supported. Adherence to the natural laws of the universe is important, as without these laws worldly things cannot exist. Several dharmic laws are outlined in sacred texts. The Bagavata Purana, for example, outlines four key elements of dharma - tap, daya, shauch, and satya - or austerity, compassion, purity and truthfulness respectively.

Expanding upon those base concepts, the Manusmriti lists ten essential rules; while the Bhagavad Gita illustrates in a more practical way the necessity to adhere to dharmic law. Dharma is concerned with the acquisition of both pleasure in life and eternal bliss. This is a key difference between Hindu tradition and many other religions in that because of dharmic law, Hindus believe that the keys to eternal bliss are here on Earth. The concept of dharma has a counterpoint in adharma, which includes intoxication, pride and contact.

Samsara is the cycle of life, death and rebirth. This cycle is at the foundation of Hindu belief about the nature of the universe, and much of the faith is derived from this sacred element. The cycle of life, death and rebirth is endless, and driven by karma. The ultimate objective for a Hindu is to exit this cycle. To be trapped in this cycle is therefore undesirable, as it means that one does not understand one's true self.

That lack of understanding traps one in the phenomenal world, in the cycle of samsara. The concept of Samsara drives many Hindu traditions, such as vegetarianism (Hindus believe in six levels of life, with animals as the fifth-highest order). Belief in rebirth is important because it allows Hindus to dedicate much of their lives to the yogas, or even to renounce the world as they enter their elderly years. The belief in samsara means that Hindus do not approach death in the same way that westerners do.

Union with the Supreme Being is not something that occurs at death, but is a task that is fulfilled over the course of several lifetimes. Each lifetime builds upon the previous lifetime and the totality of that experience will eventually contribution to the union with the Supreme Being. Karma is the nature of action and reaction. One's path through samsara is driven by these actions and their corresponding reactions. The basic premise is that good actions are met with good reactions; whereas bad actions are met with bad reactions.

The observance of dharma creates good karma; the commission of adharma creates bad karma. The acquisition of good karma helps one towards liberation from samsara whereas bad karma moves one further away from liberation. There is no God who provides humans with karma either good or bad, we create our own through our deeds, words and thoughts. This puts the fate of each individual Hindu is his or her own hands. The significance of this is that Hindus are proactive when it comes to seeking spiritual release.

They do not wait for salvation, and understand that it will not come to them. They must seek it out, or be stuck in samsara forever. While the journey is understood to take several lifetimes, the acquisition of good karma must take place consistently throughout the soul's journey through samsara before moksha can be attained. Moksha is the liberation from samsara. Because Hindus believe samsara to be essentially painful, moksha is one of the key goals that a Hindu strives to achieve over his/her lifetimes.

It involves the freedom from the laws of karma and union with the Supreme Being. Moksha often implies the eradication of the soul's false sense of identity. The soul is not seen as a complete being in the same sense that the Supreme Being is. Many Hindu traditions view the Supreme Being and the soul as being one and the same, but the soul does not yet understand its true nature. To attain that understanding is to attain moksha. At that point, karma ceases.

Moksha is prevalent in Hindu's tradition of asceticism, in that liberation from samsara requires Hindus to remove their attachment to the world and its pleasures. Many daily habits and rituals are driven by the desire for moksha, as it also requires control over both body and mind. Some of these rituals have become codified in the yogas. Yogas are paths or practices by which a soul can move towards moksha.

Yogas are a sacred part of Hinduism because they are the means to which a soul can achieve its most important end, that of moksha. Yogas are undertaken to help silence the mind, which in turn helps the mind to accurately reflect on objective reality. Each yoga, or path, is to be followed according to scripture, in order to achieve the goals of dharma, karma,.