Thursday, December 25, 2008

Hindu Religion

http://www.freewebs.com/hindureligion/index.htm





Hindu Religion








 


 



Hinduism


Vedas Upanishads Puranas Epics Geeta and Dharma Shastra


Shankaracharya & Ramanuja Vaishnava & Shakti Schools


Hinduism in South India Hinduism reform movements


Before discussing Hindu religion it would be useful and necessary to understand the meaning of the word "Hindu": it has its origins in the word "Sindhu", Sanskrit for the river Indus. A philological search would reveal that the people living around and to the east of the river Indus were the ones called "Hindus", Islamic invaders used the word 'Hind' to describe India during medieval period ( In Arabic India is still called ' Al Hind') and they described the people living in India as Hindus. The word "Hindu" was officially adopted by the British during their forced occupation of India to distinguish people of Indian origin who followed faiths that originated before Christ or Mohammed. 


Hinduism is the modern day name of the religion and philosophy which developed in ancient land of Bharata (India). History of Hinduism dates back to 6000 B.C (or even before that period ). Most of the other oriental religions like Buddhism, Jainism, Sikkhism have their roots in Hinduism. Unlike many other religions Hinduism is not dogmatic religion. There are no prophets and no single book. Vedas (4 in number) and Upnishads (108 in number) form the core of Hindu religion and its philosophy. While popular hindu religion also includes mythological stories (which have their own symbolic meanings) called Purans. Two great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata are also considered to be part of holy hindu scriptures. Bhagvad Gita which is a part of Mahabharat epic can be considered as 'soul' of Hindu religion. It consists of a discourse given by lord Krishna to his disciple Arjuna and it summarizes the eternal religion of Hinduism.


Receptivity and all-comprehensiveness, it has been aptly stated, are the main characteristics of Hinduism. Since it has had no difficulty in bringing diverse faiths within its ever-widening fold, it has something to offer to almost all minds. The strength of Hinduism, lies in its infinite adaptability to the infinite diversity of human character and human tendencies. It has its highly spiritual and abstract side suited to the philosopher; its practical and concrete side congenial to the man of the world; its aesthetic and ceremonial side attuned to the man of the poetic feeling and imagination; and its quiescent contemplative aspect that has its appeal for the man of peace and the lover of seclusion. The Hindus, according to him, were Spinozists more than 2,000 years before the advent of Spinoza, Darwinians many centuries before Darwin. and Evolutionists many centuries before the doctrine of Evolution was accepted by scientists of the present age. No civilisation anywhere in the world, with the probable exception of China, has been as continuous as that of India. While the civilisations of Egypt, Babylon and Assyria have disappeared, in India the ideas emanating from the Vedic times continue to be a living force. European scholars of Sanskrit like Sir William Jones noted similarities in the languages, terminology and substances of Indian scriptures with those of Greece and Rome. Even a superficial study convinced them that, while the language of the Vedas is a great critical instrument in the construction of the science of philology, the Vedic hymns constitute a compilation of most Indo-European myths in their primitive form. Max Muller went so far as to say that the Vedas are the real theogony of the Aryan races, Homer and Hesiod having given a distorted picture of the original image. The excavations at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro and those in Saurashtra have disclosed the existence of a highly evolved culture long before the Aryan immigration, perhaps dating back to 3000 B.C. or later. Among the remains discovered are a three-faced prototype of Siva seated in a yogic posture, representations of the Linga, and a horned goddess associated with the pipal tree. These symbols, evolved by a very ancient civilisation, were assimilated by the Aryan immigrants in slow stages-their earliest literary work, the .Rg-Veda, almost overlooks these aspects.


The Vedic Aryans, it has been suggested, partly assimilated and partly destroyed the earlier culture. Vedic Aryans and Zoroastrianism It seems clear from the hymns of the .Rg-Veda and the Persian Gathas and Avesta that the Vedic Aryans and the Zoroastrians had a common origin. The languages in which Zoroaster preached and the Rsis sang their hymns are almost identical, and Vedic meters are re-produced in the Avesta. Evidently, the two groups of Aryans separated after a violent quarrel, so that several deities of one group - Indra or Jindra, Sarva and Nasatya - were transformed in the other into evil spirits. It is, however, to be noticed that Mitra, Aryama, Vayu and Vrtraghna are divine in both the systems. A period of unity was probably followed by civil war, as envisaged in the fight between Asuras and Devas. The Vedic Aryans were warlike, while the Avesta reflects an abhorrence of war. In the period when the ancestors of the Iranians and the Hindus had lived together, Asura had been a term of honour; and the Zoroastrian Ahura Mazda was Asura Mahat, the great Asura. The .Rg-Yeda (III-55-11 & 15) cites several Asura qualities of the Divinities. Varuna, Mitra and several other gods were called Asuras. Later, when differences were accentuated between the two communities, Asura became equivalent to a spirit of evil and Sura came to signify a good spirit. The undivided Indo-Iranians must have passed a long time in their Central Asian home. The Indo-Iranian culture and religion have been reconstructed, at least in part, by comparing the Vedas with the Avesta. Before the occupation of Iranian high lands by tribes from the Indo-Iranian original home, the plateau was the seat of a culture that was probably matriarchal, and the people worshipped snake-gods in the manner of India's primitive non-Aryans. It is likely that the pre-Aryan cultures of North- western India and Iran were alike in origin and spirit. This ancient cultural link between pre-Aryan Iran and pre- Aryan India, instead of getting strengthened by Aryan migration into the two countries, as could be normally expected, was to all appearances completely severed. Also, there is nothing to show that the Vedic Aryans of India maintained an active cultural relation with their brethren in Iran. In the earliest days, while the Aryans of India must have been connected with the Aryans of Iran as friends or as foes, actual historical contact cannot be asserted with any degree of probability. The two peoples turned their backs upon each other, as it were, and developed their distinctive civilisations apparently without the least mutual influence, although in language, culture and religion their similarity in the earliest period had been little short of identity. When, later in history, under the Achaemenids, Greeks, Bactrians and Sakas, the Iranians and the Indians were forced to meet as citizens of the same empire, they met as complete strangers, not as cousins or as scions from the same stock.


Links to Hinduism resources :


Gateway for India (www.gatewayforindia.com) - Find pages on Hinduism, Veda, Yoga and also Indian History and culture


Hindu-Unity - Forum for discussing deeper meanings of Hinduism


History of India - Comprehensive site on Indian history


Hindu web site


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