What are the main beliefs and methods of worship of hinduism?

Question

just finding out for our Humanities subject. :)

Answer 1

Hinduism is a set of religious traditions that originated mainly in the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism encompasses many religious beliefs, practices, and denominations. Hindus believe in a supreme cosmic spirit, who is worshipped in many forms, represented by individual deities such as Vishnu, Shiva and Shakti.

Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world, with approximately 1 billion adherents (2005 figure), of whom approximately 890 million live in India.[1] Other countries with large Hindu populations include Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, and Indonesia.[2] Fifteen million Hindus live in Bangladesh, 2 million in Pakistan, 1 million in the United Arab Emirates,[3] and 1.4 million in the United States[11]

Hinduism is considered to be the oldest living religion in the world.[4][5][6] Unlike many other religions, Hinduism has no single founder,[7][8] and there is no clerical hierarchy of the type found in some religions, such as the Roman Catholic Church. Hinduism looks to a large number of religious texts developed over many centuries that contain spiritual insights and provide practical guidance for religious life. Among such texts, the ancient Vedas are usually considered the most authoritative. Other scriptures include the eighteen Puranas, and the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. The Bhagavad Gita, which is contained within the Mahabharata, is a widely studied teaching that is said to contain, in distilled form, the highest truths of the Vedas.

The Hindu faiths, practices and philosophies have evolved from the ancient Vedic tradition (Vaidika paramparā). Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism all share some common philosophical and spiritual traits with Hinduism, as all these religions originated in India, and they all focus on self-improvement for the ultimate purpose of attaining personal spiritual experience.

Themes common to the value system of Hinduism are the beliefs in Dharma (individual ethics, duties and obligations), Samsāra ("rebirth"), Karma ("right action"), and Moksha ("salvation") for every soul.

Whereas most major religions of the world base their beliefs on certain books which adherents believe are the words of God or other supernatural beings, Hinduism is based on "the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times."[14] The earliest records of these laws are called the Vedas. Hindus do not claim that God or any person created the Vedas; the Vedas are said to be without beginning and without end. "Just as the law of gravitation existed before its discovery and would exist if all humanity forgot it, so is it with the laws that govern the spiritual world."[15] The Vedas have therefore been called apaurusheya ("not man-made").[16] The ancient sages who first discovered the spiritual knowledge known as the Vedas are called rishis.[17]

Thus, Hinduism accepts a large number of scriptures, and remains open to any new revelations that may come in the future. Because the same eternal spiritual truths can be viewed from innumerable perspectives, there is relatively little theological quarrel among Hindu denominations.[22]

In whatever way a Hindu might define the goal of life—and multiple definitions are allowed—there are several methods (yogas) that have been developed over the centuries for people of different tastes and temperaments. Paths one can follow to achieve the spiritual goal of life include:

1. Bhakti Yoga (the path of love and devotion),

2. Karma Yoga (the path of right action),

3. Rāja Yoga (the path of meditation) and

4. Jñāna Yoga (the path of mystical understanding).[25]

Bhakti yoga is prescribed for people of emotional temperaments. Karma yoga is prescribed for people who like to always be engaged in action. Raja yoga is recommended for meditative people. And Jnana yoga is meant for the rational person. It is typical for Hindus to combine two or more of these paths into their spiritual life to create a path that suits their personal temperaments.[26]

A few schools hold only one or two of these paths leads to salvation. For example, some followers of the Dvaita school hold that Bhakti ("devotion") is the only path. A large number of Hindus, however, believe that although one particular path may be best for them, another path may be better for another person, and any path—if followed sincerely—can lead to God.[27]

Note: Although to many westerners the word yoga may evoke images of stretches and stress reduction, yoga in the Hindu religion is a spiritual practice whose primary goal is self-realization.

The philosophy of Karma is basically the law of cause and effect. It states that everything one does, leave imprints in one's mind and intellect, which determines what kind of life one would be in next birth or possess tendencies if born as human. If, one regularly perform good motivated actions, one will develop good tendencies. If, one do bad motivated things, one would develop bad tendencies, which naturally can cause bad things to happen in one's life. Since Hinduism believes in reincarnation, it follows that one's actions in this life can determine what kind of tendencies one will be born with in subsequent lives. Virtuous actions purify the mind and intellect and help the soul to be closer to the Supreme Divine and lead to a birth with higher consciousness/conscientiousness. Evil actions hinder this recognition of the Supreme Divine, and the soul takes lower forms of worldly life. As per Hindu doctrines the life has ability to think and desire, thus one has freedom to choose one's actions and for this blessed gifts, one is solely responsible for one's actions. The right and judicious actions help in further purifying the mind and sublimating the pious mental and intellectual tendencies. Therefore, Hinduism teaches, one should try to behave in a virtuous manner as much as possible, so that one will develop good habits and tendencies both in this and the next life. Over the course of time, if one can sufficiently purify one's mind, one can attain the goal of life: experience of the highest truth, which is God.

Hinduism is sometimes called a polytheistic religion, but strictly speaking, this is not entirely accurate. Hinduism believes in One God, but recognizes that the One God can appear to humans in multiple names and forms.

Nearly all Hindu practices seek to accomplish a single purpose: increasing a person's awareness of the divinity that is present everywhere and in everything. Therefore, the Hindu tradition has developed numerous practices meant to help one think of divinity even in the midst of everyday life. The more a devotee can think holy thoughts, the sooner he or she can purify his or her mind, which is the way to salvation.

Most observant Hindus engage in some type of formal worship both in the home and in temples. In the home, Hindus usually have a special room, or part of a room, that is used as a shrine, and which contains a picture or statue symbolizing the individual's chosen form of God (ishta). The devotee enters the shrine at dawn and at dusk to make an offering to God, symbolized by placing items such as food, water, and flowers before the image, waving incense and a lighted candle, ringing a bell, and/or waving a fan. The devotee thus symbolically offers to God items that can be enjoyed by each of the five senses. Other practices in the home include meditation (dhyāna), the chanting of God's name or names (japa), and the recitation of scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita.

Visiting temples is not obligatory for Hindus.[75] Many Hindus go to temples only during religious festivals. As a result, temples do not have as much hold on Hindus as Christian churches or Jewish synagogues have over their members.[76] Temples are not used for weddings, funerals, or as social hubs; they are primarily used for formal worship. Often there will also be devotional singing (kīrtana) and religious discourses. Hindu temple priests (pandās) are salaried workers, hired by temple authorities to perform ritualistic worship. They are not to be confused with swāmīs or sanyāsins (all-renouncing monks, who do not work for money).[77]

Priests begin to perform temple worship at daybreak, and continue to perform various rituals until late in the evening. During the worship the priest makes various offerings to God, such as food, drink, flowers, and perfume. As the human mind can think only in human terms, God is worshipped in the form of a person. The priest is fully aware that God does not need any of the things that he is offering, but he offers them to God as a token of love and devotion. Often, devotees visiting the temple bring their own food to the temple, or purchase it from vendors outside. The priest takes the food from the devotees and offers it to God on their behalf. After the offering, the food is considered to be sanctified (prasāda), and is freely distributed by the priest—depending on the particular temple—to the devotees, wandering monks or nuns, and the poor. Eating prasāda is considered spiritually beneficial.[78]

Besides home and temple worship, observant Hindus try to perform every action as an offering to God. They try to do their duties in the world, but without seeking any personal benefit, thinking instead that they are doing the work as an offering to God. This type of worship is called karma yoga, and is considered higher than ordinary formal worship. Thus, in the Bhagavad Gita God (as Sri Krishna) states,

"Perform every action with your heart fixed on the Supreme Lord. Renounce attachment to the fruits. Be even-tempered in success and failure; for it is this evenness of temper which is meant by yoga. . . In the calm of self-surrender, the seers renounce the fruits of their actions, and so reach enlightenment"[79]

Answer 2

there is not any longer something stated as Aryans and Dravidians. the assumption of Dravidians develop into presented by potential of Bishop Caldwell, as in basic terms an yet another attempt to divide India. the assumption of Aryans has additionally been now proved to be incorrect now. in accordance to the DNA try performed by potential of faculty of Michigan and college of Mysore it truly is been proved that each and all the Indians have the comparable ancestors regardless of whether or no longer they're Hindus, Muslims or the different faith or they're in south India or North India or they say in the different factors of India. Dravid is a Sanskrit observe meaning assembly ingredient of three oceans and it develop into first time presented by potential of Adi Shankaracharya while Arya potential mushy adult men and our united states's unique call is Aryavrat( As suggested in Vedas) and subsequently whoever are denizens of Aryavrat are Arya (and not Aryan).....this concept develop into falsely interpreted by potential of the Britishers in basic terms as an yet another attempt to divide India wherein they have been tremendously effective. They knowingly misinterpreted the observe dravid and suggested that the persons in south India have been initially dravidians at an identical time as the north Indians have been Impure Aryans who migrated from Europe while the organic Aryans stayed in Europe. For extra effective information possible refer Vedas which has no longer something so stated as Aryan- Dravidian concept yet quite Arya on my own who lived contained in the land of Aryavrat.

Answer 3

iam christian, but in India I have seen so many people they worship their Gods with full faith, and they persecute themselves to prove their faith in front of God, I like their fear of God and faith of God.