Hindu ism Theory???

Question

Can any body tell me about Hindu ism...Is it true that Hindus worship statues of their Gods like ancient Rome? are there more than one God to worship in Hinduism???

Answer 1

For thousands of years India has been a veritable laboratory of religion: everything imaginable has been tried out, and nothing ever has completely been rejected. Its ethos has evolved down the ages through its the ancient Hindu traditions, customs, philosophy and culture.

The first fundamental principle of Hindu Dharma is that "the Reality is one without a second." This reality is beyond description by human mind. Hence it is indicated by a single world, "Brahman". "Infinite, eternal, changeless existence is the All; from that All, All comes forth; to that All, all returns," that is what the Chandogya Upanishad (vi.2.1) tells us.

Hinduism is the only faith to have boldly and confidently proclaimed that "Truth is one, the wise call it by various names." (Rig Veda).

Hinduism may not be called religion in the sense other religions are known. It has no founder. It is much more than a religion. It is a total way of life.

When religion becomes organized, man ceases to be free. It is not God that is worshipped but the group or the authority that claims to speak in his name. It is not faith, but just social idolatry. God is not like a father in a patriarchal society, who has His favorite children to whom He communicates.

The distinguishing feature of Hinduism is pluralism combined with freedom of choice. Further, Hinduism recognizes no intermediary or prophet as standing between man and God. It has none of baggage of exclusivism expressed through a prophetic medium.

Idol Worship (Symbolism)

Yes, said he, but just how many gods are there Yajnavalkya?" "Thirty three". "yes," said he, but just how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?" "One."
- Brhadaranyaka Upanishad III, IX, I

Hindus have represented God in innumerable forms. Idol or image is a kind of yantra or a device for harnessing the eye and mind on God. As the Vishnu Samhita puts it:

"Without a form how can God be mediated upon? If (He is) without any form, where will the mind fix itself? When there is nothing for the mind to attach itself to, it will slip away from meditation or will glide into a state of slumber. Therefore the wise will meditate on some form, remembering, however, that the form is a superimposition and not a reality."

Don't Christians, have their cross? their images of Jesus and Mary? Jews have their Star of David, their holy tabarnacle. Guru Nanak, the first of the Sikhs gurus, said to Muslims that they bowed to the Black Stone in Mecca, which is also an image.

Behind the lush tangle of religious imagery, is a clear structure of thought. Symbolism helps the seeker to concentrate his mind on the worship and meditation of god.

God is worshipped in both Transcendent (impersonal) and Immanent (personal) forms.

In the transcendent aspect, the Supreme Reality is called Nirguna Brahm, that is Brahm, without attributes.

Nirguna Brahm is not an object of prayer, but of meditation and knowledge. It cannot be described, and the most one can say is that It is absolute existence, absolute knowledge, and absolute bliss (sat-chi-ananda). It is unborn, self-existent, all-pervading, and the essence of all things and beings in the universe. It is immeasurable, unapproachable, beyond conception, beyond birth, beyond reasoning, and beyond thought". God cannot be defined in terms of any specific manifestation, nor indeed in terms of their sum total. He is beyond all possibility of definition. The Bhagavad Gita, the best-known scripture of India, states this point clearly:

"Though I manifest Myself in all things, I am identified with none of them".

In its Immanent (personal) aspect, the Supreme Reality, is called Saguna Brahm. He is the personal God, the creator, the preserver, and the controller of the universe. In Hinduism, the immanent (personal) aspect of Brahm is worshipped in both male and female forms. In the male form, he is worshipped as Ishvara, Maheshvara, Paramatma, Purusha. In the female form, as the Divine Mother, Durga, and Kali.

"Hinduism is a process - for this reason, Hinduism must be studied not as a fixed body of doctrine, but as a developing tradition that has changed considerably throughout the centuries and which is still changing in a creative direction. Everything in India makes sense in the light of the changing process. Nothing makes sense without it. Hinduism is still a living, changing process and must be seen as such."

(source: Religions of India: Hinduism, Yoga, Buddhism - Thomas Berry p. 3-16).

Chek out the site below if you want detailed analysis.

Answer 2

Yes, Hindus worship idols. There is the reason you see temples depicting God in various forms.

God is present everywhere, in all forms. From A to Z, all life forms have shapes, and God resides in them. It helps to focus and appreciate the form of life that exists. Being abstract, where you cannot fathom who God is, it is difficult to make a commonor understand how to worship Him.

Just because Hindus worship everything, that does not mean they do not have abstract form to worship either. Take the form air - it is considered God. You cannot breathe without air. Sun - same thing. Imagine this world where there is no Sun. All life forms will come to a halt.

Hindus worship all forms of life: anywhere from Cats, mice, cows and all little critters and creatures to elephants because God exists in all of them. In humans, he reigns supreme, by residing in their head. That's why touching another person's head without reverence is a big no-no. The "namaste" they do to greet each other with their bowed head is a form of respect that they submit their precious possession to you - their head - to another human.

Does it make sense now? Hinduism - that "-ism" means really, the way of life. It evolved into a day to day living and people called it religion. In strictest sense, it is not a religion at all. It is a way of living.

Answer 3

hinduism is a very ancient religion. yes hindus do worship idols of god. it is believed dat more dan 100 god & godesses r worshipped in india. According to hinduism a hindu shudnt eat non-veg more precisely beef , because according to hinduism cow is our mother. hinduism beleives in trinity of god -
Shri Brahma Dev- the creator ,
Shri Vishnu - the care-taker,
Shiva - the destroyer.
It is like every other religion very sacred and beautiful.

Answer 4

Hindu-ism is a word coined by the Muslims.. Before there was only Vedic Culture.. There is no mention of world Hindu in any Vedic Scriptures.. Because sages do not distinguish between different People when telling them about God..

In Vedic Culture, there are descriptions of many Demigods/angles, and worship of such Demigods is allowed. Even worship of Parents, Teachers, Seniors or Sages are allowed,

But they are not worshiped as Supreme Lord. In Quran or Bible you have only one God. There is very seldom reference of Gods Servants. All the Demigods are Servants of Supreme God..

Supreme God is only One and he is mentioned as Krishna (or the most attractive one)..
This is confirmed in Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam and other Vedic Literatures. It is also confirmed in Teachings of Demigods as Lord Shiva and Brahma.. It is confirmed in the teachings of Great Sages as Sankaracharya, Madhava, Narada, Vyasadeva etc.
Still those "Hindus" who are ignorant of Scriptures consider the demigods and Supreme God on the same level and say that there are many Gods.. and engage in Blind faith...

In Vedic Scriptures, the Details of the form of God is mentioned.. That is the depth of Information of God that is available... God existence is described in 3 forms:
Brahman or All Pervading energy or Light,
Paramatma or Supersoul present in every living entity heart, and
Bhagavan or Supreme Personality of Godhead in Personal Feature...
So the personal Feature of God is also described in details. Vedic Literature prescribes making of Deity according to the form described, and then Inviting God to please come and Stay there so that we are able to offer service and Prayers to him..

I dont know about Ancient Rome but I have heard that they too had knowledge about Demigods or Angles...

Answer 5

Hinduism worships a Trinity of Gods (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva).

They did this long before the Christians!

http://www.hindunet.org/god/trinity/index.htm

Have fun but be safe.

Answer 6

The statues are not worshiped, but used as a focal point to meditate upon the ONE and only ONE God, that is viewed in different forms of preference.

Answer 7

Readers please note: This answer is very long and there may be some mistakes in my English, however please read completely by adjusting…

The followings are my own opinion it has not been written to hurt any one individually or collectively.

The Supreme God would have been ruling the earth till the evolution of man, the moment man stood on his own legs, and the Supreme God would have ‘donated’ the earth to the man and went far away in the hope that the man would rule, protect and enjoy his life on the earth along with other animals.

With the evolution of man, the weak soul, ‘locked’ in his body would also have started developing and would have attained maturity. Meanwhile the discovery of fire would have finally confirmed the man to be superior to all the animals on the earth. It would have been only man’s body, which started dying after a stipulated age but not the Soul. Thereupon the theory of ‘Once again birth, once again death, once again lying in mother’s womb’ would have commenced.

The re-birth of the souls would have helped the new generations to achieve fast developments due to its past birth experiences. Then, after many many millenniums, the ‘talking, thinking and disciplined’ man would have understood the truth of existing of one Supreme God far away from him. He would have explored all the possible ways to reach the God but would have failed in all his attempts.

Then finally some people on the earth would have understood that however much they wised, they could not reach the God with their bodies; they would have understood the truth of presence of Souls in their bodies; they would have finally decided that the souls belonged to the Supreme God and although they could not reach the Supreme God directly, nevertheless, the souls present in their bodies could reach unto the feet of the Supreme God provided if they led the life without hurting others; they would have also understood that hurting others meant earning of curses and the curses definitely blocks the way to the heaven!

Then the policy of simple living, disciplined manner and high thinking life would have adopted by some people in order to reach the Supreme God; after leading their ‘research’ and strict disciplined life, at last some departed good souls would have finally reached the door of the Supreme God!!!

The Supreme God would have very warmly welcomed the souls from the earth and would have enquired the latest developments on the earth…. the Supreme God would have enquired about the life style on the earth…. HE would have felt happy over the development and would have felt sorry for the ignorance and ape-type natured of many many people on the earth.

HE would have blessed and asked the souls, arrived from the earth, to go back to earth and teach the people ‘how to lead the life’. Thus the first batches of holy souls in the form of God or angels would have taken birth on the earth.

Meanwhile some more people on the earth would have come to know about the secret of presence of the Supreme God … the temptation among them to do good and reach the heaven would have increased…. and in course of time more souls would have reached the heaven. Many souls would have discovered the path to reach the heaven and became permanent members there.

The Supreme God would not have wished all the souls coming unto HIM hence HE would have started filtering them and asking the rest of good souls to be on or around the earth and protecting the people. Thus only those souls with extreme virtue would have been allowed in heaven!!

Ultimately, the Supreme God would have thought of sending some virtues souls from HIS court to the earth now and then to minimize the sufferings of people…. accordingly, the Great Virtues Holy Souls from HIS court would have taken birth on the earth under the direct instructions from the Supreme God.

The Lord Sri Krishna, Lord Buddha, Lord Jesus Christ and The Prophet Mohammed are some who took birth on the earth with the souls- those were sent directly from the heaven. They came directly and served the people and went back to the heaven.

Apart from the above said Great Virtues Holy Souls; there are so some many good souls, who are representing the Supreme God but they stay on the earth. They can be called Great Holy souls who normally stay in the Worshiping Places because people visiting the worshiping places will have only positive thinking in their mind and their approach will be very sincere and obedient while visiting such places; they will not be seen to any living person; hence in some religions we install idols and worship them as God.

The Great Holy Souls present in any worshiping places-, never bother whether a person praying in front of them is a male or a female, nor they ever bother whether he / she belongs to any particular Caste, Creed, Color or any Religions, because the they never follow any Caste or any Religion, these stupid policies are just for living persons like us. The worshiping places, the Gods and all the ‘rules and regulations’ for the worshiping places are man made.

Apart from the above said Great Holy Souls, there also exist Unholy Souls whom we call Satan. These souls also roam here and there after committing all kinds of sins on the earth and will always be pushed out by the Great Holy Souls.

The Unholy Soul or Satan enters those places, very easily, where people lead corrupt and selfish lives. On the other hand, the Holy Souls love to stay in those places (house or establishment) where, people lead their lives honestly, sincerely, faithfully and without heeding to superstition.

Hence you would have got why Hindus worship statue of their God.

I want to write more and more about the subject connected with this and will do so, provided if I get good encouragement from my readers.

Answer 8

friend !!! hinduism, is a complete and oldest religion on the earth which has history of more than 10 k years., knowing it in one line is not possible. Yes, hindus believe in several gods but ultimately it is believed that god is one., !!!!

Answer 9

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