Benny Gambino	11/21/06

St. Helen School	6-1

Hinduism Report

Hinduism is a religion that originated on the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism encompasses many

religious beliefs, practices, and denominations. Most Hindus believe in a supreme cosmic spirit called brahmen that is worshipped in many forms, represented by individual deities such as and Hinduism centers around a variety of practices that are meant to help one experience the divinity that is everywhere and realize the true nature of the Self.

Hinduism is one of the largest religions in the world, with approximately 1 billion adherents (2005 figure), of whom about 890 million live in India. Other countries with large Hindu populations include Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, with Nepal being the only country with Hinduism as its official religion.

Considered to be the oldest living religion in the world, Hinduism has no single founder and is based on a number of religious texts developed over many centuries that contain spiritual insights and practical guidance for religious life. Among such texts, the Vedas are the most ancient. Other important scriptures include Upanishads, the eighteen Puranas and the epic poems Mahabharata and Ramayana. The Bhagavad Gita, which is contained within the Mahabharata, is a widely studied scripture that summarizes the spiritual teachings of the

Modern Hinduism evolved from the ancient Vedic tradition (Vaidika paramparāa). Prominent themes in Hinduism include Dharma (individual ethics, duties and obligations), Samsāara (rebirth), Karma (right action), and Moksha (salvation). Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism all share some traits in common with Hinduism, as all these religions originated in India, and all focus on self-improvement with the ultimate aim of attaining personal spiritual experience (recognizing the "personal" as an integral element of the universal).

According to the monotheistic and pantheistic theologies of Hinduism, God is, in the highest sense, One: beyond form, infinite, and eternal. God is changeless and is the very source of consciousness. God is beyond time, space, and causation and yet permeates everything and every being. God is beyond gender.
1. [8] When God is thought of as this infinite principle, God is called Brahman. Brahman is the Absolute reality: it is pure existence and knowledge. Brahman does not exist; it is existence itself. It is not all-knowing; it is knowledge itself.

However, when human beings try to think of the infinite God, they project the limitations of their finite minds on God. The human mind cannot think other than in human terms. Therefore, it projects human limitations, such as personality, motherhood, and fatherhood on God. According to the Advaita school of thought God does not have any such attributes.[7] However, many consider it helpful to project such attributes on God — the myriad names and forms of God one finds in Hinduism are all ways for humans to approach the divine. Therefore, the Hindu scriptures depict God not only as an abstract principle or concept, but also as a personal being, much like the God in the Judeo-Christian religions.

Despite Hinduism's belief in the abstract principle of Brahman, most Hindus worship God on a day-to-day basis in one of God's less abstract personal forms, such as Vishnu, Shiva, or Shakti. Some Hindus worship these personal forms of God for a practical reason: it is easier to cultivate devotion to a personal being than to an abstract principle. Other Hindus, such as those following the Dvaita traditions, consider the personal forms in themselves to be the highest form of truth and worship God as an infinite and yet personal being. I learned from this passage that hindu's have a totally different religion then us. (This took 3 days to finish)