Task 2: Hinduism – An Insider’s Perspective

Hindu Worldview Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in India and accommodates approximately 80% of the population of India. Hinduism is a highly organized and disciplined religion with prayers sometimes exceeding five times a day. Hinduism is a way of life with the law that governs all action a Dharma. Unfortunately we are unable to trace its origin, there is not a central person to be found. Hinduism has its own beliefs, traditions, advanced system of ethics, meaningful rituals, philosophy and theology. Karma is the teaching that all our actions have the appropriate consequences. Ethically good actions result in desirable consequences and ethically bad actions result in undesirable consequences (Yadlapati, M. p.150). Karma isn’t only the physical action a person makes, but it also a person’s thoughts and desires that will affect the future. The Hindus goal is to get away from Samsara which is the cycle of birth, death and re-birth and to gain moksha which is the liberation from the limitations of space. Moksha transcends the karmic worldview in which one does good to achieve good and instead seeks to avoid accruing karma at all ( Yadlapati, M. p.151). To achieve moksha they have to release all evil doings and wrongs to get there. They live through their yoga and correcting living dharma. Once all this is achieved the Hindu will have a more desirable reincarnation. Dharma is the natural universal law whose observance enables humans to be contented and happy and to save himself from being destroyed. Hinduism attempts to maintain a complex system of polytheism along with earth based worship of nature. Humans are the highest of all creation in Hinduism. Souls can take many births in lower forms to obtain the eligibility to be born as humans. Life can form lower than human beings such as insects, plants and animals only a few of many. Hindus believe in eternal spiritual truth, this is called Brahman from where all existence comes. Their purpose of life is to understand this truth and also to understand one’s eternal identity as the soul. The soul passes through many kinds of life but it is only the human life that offer’s the chance of learning the truth. There are many sacred texts that have been written over a long time span. The oldest Hindu texts are called the Vedas. The Veda’s contains accounts of creation, information about ritual sacrifice and prayers to the God’s. They are written in Sanskrit, they speak of self-acceptance but are often misunderstood by modern scholars as being superficial ( www.worldview u.org). The four Vedas are Yajur veda, Rig veda, Sama veda and Atharva veda. These are translated into ritual, ceremony, singing and priest. The Veda’s must be practiced with discipline as simply studying the concepts of Hinduism. They have a Caste system that is used to shape their lives. They are divided into three castes. Castes rule where Hindus work, whom to marry and their social status. The highest of the Castes are Brahmins, they are the priests and philosophers. The second group are called Kshatriyas which are the warriors and nobles of India. The third group is the Vaishya, are the farmers and merchants and craftsmen. The lowest group are called the untouchables, they do the dirty work, such as removing human waste, sweeping streets and working with the skin from dead cows (http://www.teachingaboutreligion.org). The Hindu worldview is valid in the doctrines of samsara the cycle of re-birth and karma, the universal law of cause and effect. It solely holds that’s one’s actions including thoughts determines one’s life, both current and future. They believe they are populated by numerous God’s and Goddesses who actually influence the world and who also interact with humans. For a religion that has existed so long, its sustainability is remarkable even by today’s standards.

Works Cited
“Hinduism” n.d. www.worldview u.org/Hinduism n.p.
“Hindu Worldview” n.d. http://www.teachingaboutreligion n.p. org/sampler hindu.html.
Yadlapati, M. World Religions in Dialogue copyright@2013 by Anselm Academic, Christian Brothers Publication, 702 Terrace Heights, Winoma, MN. 55987-1320.