FOR HINDOOS: Can anyone tell me about the Hindoo religion?

Answer 1

Hindoo religions is perhaps the oldest pantheistic religion with hundreds of gods and goddesses. The core religion of the Hindoos is surprisingly monotheistic, even though the common HIndoo is very much a pantheist worshipping many gods and goddesses.

The ancient scriptures talk about One God, although later alterations created various sub-gods and reincarnations of god in human form. (Many Christians think that the god taking the form of man is a uniquely christian thing, when in fact all pagan religions at one point or another had human god-men).

The primary books of the Hindus are called the Vedas, which are four in numbers and the Purana. In addition there are classics written by the ancient sages of India, called the Ramayana and the Mahabharta.

Mahabharta is a war classic which describes the moral issues raised during the fight of two sets of cousins, the Pandvas and the Kaurvas, in which Krishna, a reincarnation of god Vishnu sides with the Pandvas and leads them to victory.

Ramayana is another book of the Hindoos or Hindus as they like to spell it, which is the story of a good prince Rama also worshipped as a god-incarnate, who abandoned his throne to fulfill the promise made by his father to his step-mother, who wants his step brother to take the throne instead of Rama after the kind dies.

It is a moral story of an obedient son who was willing to discard the comforts of the palace and live in a forest for fourteen years. It also shows the human aspects of selfishness by his step mother who wants Rama's step brother to take the throne, by trapping Rama's father the King Dasaratha into making a blanket promise to fulfill any wish she will make, AND asks the king to order his son, the heir aparent to leave the palace, in the hope that her own son Bharata would take the throne. When compared to the wife of Herod who asked for the head of John the Baptist, this step mother was decent enough not to demand the death of Rama.

In a beautiful twist of fate, Bharata who loves his step brother immensely decides to keep the sandals of Prince Rama on the throne to rule instead of himself sitting on the throne, after the death of their father.

There are other dimensions to this story, including the stealing of Sita, Rama's wife, by an evil king Ravana and how Rama wins his wife back.

Hinduism has many sects and sub-sects. Do a search on Wikepedia to learn about them. India has a very rich cultural heritage, lots of holidays and festivals and by and large Hindus have been liberal people who have accepted many faiths with open arms over the centuries.

Answer 2

I'm not a Hindu but here are the basics...

Hinduism is based on the concept that human and animal spirits reincarnate, or come back to earth to live many times in different forms. The belief that souls move up and down an infinite hierarchy depending on the behaviours they practised in their life is visible in many of the Hindu societal policies. The caste system survives and charity towards others is unheard of because each individual deserves to be in the social class they were born in. A person is born into the highest class because they behaved well in a past life, and a person is born into poverty and shame because of misbehaviour's in a past life.

Today, a Hindu can be polytheistic (more than one god), monotheistic (one god), pantheistic (god and the universe are one), agnostic (unsure if god exists), or atheistic (no god) and still claim to be Hindu. This open theology makes it difficult to discuss basic beliefs since there are many ideas about what Hinduism means. However, these universal ideas must be mentioned.

Central to Hinduism are the concepts of reincarnation, the caste system, merging with brahman (or the ultimate reality), finding morality, and reaching Nirvana (the peaceful escape from the cycle of reincarnation).