What are some Central beliefs of Hinduism?
90736
Hindu Beliefs\nThe beliefs of hindu thought are wide and varied, and have been expounded upon by saints and writers throughout the centuries. Some of the salient elements of hindu beliefs are presented below (from an article in Hinduism Today, April 1993). The two articles Duty to masses and Why we differ, also provide tremendous insights into hindu beliefs. Enjoy! \nOn Creation: \nThe universe exists in endless cycles of creation, preservation and destruction. There is no absolute end to the world. \nOn The True God: \nThere is but one true and absolute Self, Supreme Being. God is pure Love. \nOn Paths to God: \nMan is free to choose his form of worship, for all paths lead ultimately to God. Sin is only of the mind; Soul is pure. \nOn Man's Plight: \nMan's suffering is but his soul's immaturity. He is on a progressive path which leads from ignorance to knowledge, from death to immortality. \nOn Evil: \nThere is no intrinsic evil. All is good. All is God. \nOn Virtue and Salvation: \nVirtuous conduct and light belief are the foundation of religious life. Liberation requires knowledge and personal attainment. \nOn Doctrines: \nDoctrines tend to be subtle, complex and even paradoxical. Freedom to worship and to believe in a variety of ways is predominant. \nOn Enlightenment: \nThe goals of enlightenment and liberation are to be found in this life, within man himself. \nOn Sainthood: \nThe path to saintliness is through self-discipline, purification, concentration, and contemplation. Value is placed on ascetic ideals, individual sadhana, and yoga. \nOn Worship: \nWorship is individualistic, highly ritualistic and meditative, centering around the temple and home shrine all days of the week
941690
Most popular and worshipped hindu god is shiva. (Krishna was never a god but an avatar... god manifest in human form)-\n\n\nShiva lingam is the most worshipped entity in the Hinduism religion. We find Shiva temples having a Shiva lingam installed in them at every nook and corner of India nay world. Why?\n\nShiva who is considered as a part of the Trinity in hinduism represents the most powerful among all the three entities. The first being Brahma... the creator! The second being Vishnu the maintainer (preserver) and the last being Mahesh (Shiva) the destroyer!\n\nAnd why is the entity of Shiva considered as the most powerful? It is because one who finally makes the system go round is Shiva. Brahma creates and Vishnu maintains the creation but unless and until Shiva destroys one who is born... every entity would grow beyond limits.\n\n\nBased upon the theory of karma... when the time comes... it is Shiva who has to snuff out life so that there can be a new beginning... a new start! Unless and until the decaying body withers and dies out... a new life can never germinate.\n\nTo maintain balance in the whole of Cosmos is the responsibility of Shiva. And why is so much significance attached to the Shiva lingam that people worship it.\n\n\nThe reasons are absolutely clear... everyone fears death and none wants untimely death! To ward of the evil effects of death people worship Shiva lingam with total submission. It is the faith in the power of the Shiva that people pay their obeisance to the Shiva lingam.\n\nOn the other part Shiva lingam denotes the power of the lingam. It is symbolic of the creative power of the Cosmos. It is the lingam which is able to create a life on Mother Earth as God meant it to be.\n\nProperly used... this power can be transmuted into pure creative energy. It is this power which when subdued wisely leads to the awakening of the Kundalini in human beings and man in particular. The awakening of the Kundalini can never occur otherwise. More here- http://www.godrealized.com/shivalingam.html
800153
I would say that the most important aspect of Hinduism is darsan, or to see and be seen by the god(s). This is where the statues come in to play. The statues or sculptures are a temporary vessel for the god to enter and give darsan to the worshiper. To see and be seen by the divine is the whole point of worship. \n\nThis is hard for some people to understand without indepth study.\n\nHere is a really good website that can give you more information.\n\nhttp://www.hinduwisdom.info/index.htm
1104227
The beliefs of others are always viewed critically and found to be mythology, while one's own mythology is viewed as fact.\n\nWhat I like about the Hindu god is that you can't corner it, you can't trap it, you can't blaspheme against it because, well, because it's god. The Hindus have one of the highest concepts of god on the planet, and if people think it's stupid because there are cows involved then they simply lack the ability to understand what "infinite" means. That's why such people are limited to worshiping a finite anthropomorphic god made in their own image.
603865
I have studied spirituality and religions for many years, nearly 18 years now since I was in my late teens. I found Hinduism philosophies a great source of Truth, Knowledge, Wisdom and Love. So I ended up being so drawn to it applying its philosophies into my life. Now I seriously follow the teachings of Mata Amritanandamayi. I've been a devotee of hers for a year now.\n\nI am still learning a lot about Hinduism. I LOVE reading books about Indian sages (ALL of them!). Hey who is that in the picture you use for your avatar?
413417
Hinduism, Islam, Budhism, Christianity, Jainism, Sikhism are main
688658
Hinduism is a way of life rather than a religion. We do not believe that our way is the only way to God. Even within our religion there are many different paths to becoming one with God. That is the ultimate goal for a Hindu to achieve liberation from the chain of reincarnation. The soul must be cleansed through the course of, in many cases, many lifetimes before it is rid of worldliness and can join the ultimate reality, what is known as Brahman, or God. There are many ways to becoming closer to God. You can do so through rituals or simply by being a good person. Krishna tells us that no matter what God we pray to, we are ultimately praying to him. God is both male and female, appears in many forms, is called by many names, and is everything. Hinduism is the world's oldest religion, and still continues today because we do not force a particular way of living on anyone. You are a Hindu if you are born one or if you choose to be. You do not have to follow any one ritual or any one set of rules to be Hindu. \n\nHope that helped at least a little. Contact me if you have questions.
64991
Hinduism is a complex religion that believes in many forms of one god.  They do not even consider themselves a religion, but a Dharma, which is something far greater.  The true name for Hinduism is Sanatana Dharma.  They worship numerous gods, but the main ones (called the Trimurti, similar to Christianity's Trinity) are Brahma the Creator(who created the world), Vishnu the Preserver/Protector (who protects and is currently Hinduism's most popular god and Shiva the Destroyer (who wil end the world when the time comes, for now he destroys evils.)  Hinduism believes in reincarnation.  You begin as a more lowly life form and work yourself up to being a human through good deeds (known as Karma, which is sort of a point system ith God.)  Once you achieve Moksha, which is utmost goodness and connection with God, you are granted eternal heaven.  Hinduism is far more complex than all this.  I suggest you do more research, it's an incredibly interesting religion.
604414
Hindu is a religion in India among majority people. Hindus believe in worship of God's an godes's idols for which they have made or established a system oftemple where these idols are being placed by doing some religious ceremony called Murti Sthapan. This place is called Temple MAndir in Hindi which is a centere of most religious activities and celebrations and also a part of society.
412645
To put it simply, Hinduism has no defined beginning. The people who lived near the River Indus in N. India were the original Hindus, I suppose. When the Aryans invaded their home about 5000 years ago, they called the river the "Hindu River" and called the land "Hindustan." From there, the people that lived there were known as "Hindus" \n\nThere was no one founder.\n\nHinduism today is a life style based on the lives of these ancient "Hindus." Basically, it's a list of instructions to make you a perfect person. Discipline, kindness, certain rituals...anything that the ancient Hindus thought would make them batter people. \n\nHindus today practice things like yoga, and worship various gods and goddesses. Each Hindu, however, has a slightly different belief system. It's sort of like they take the things they find most important from some massive ancient list of "good things" and adopt them as a belief system. They believe that following this list of selected beliefs will bring them absolute peace and happiness (like nirvana).\n\nOh, and Hinduism became popular throughout Asia between 2500 and 1500 years ago, but it only became popular in the western world in the last 200 years. It was spread mostly by traders who traveled across Asia.
269120
The only thing I know for a fact about Hinduism is they were the 1st advanced mathemeticians, they invented the integer of zero(0) as a way of seperating positive numbers from negative numbers, something the muslims claim they invented(yet another islamic lie)
475649
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." \n\n (source: Religions of India: Hinduism, Yoga, Buddhism - Thomas Berry p. 3-16).\n \n  O Lord forgive three sins that are due to my human limitations:\n   Thou art everywhere, but I worship you here;\n   Thou art without form, but I worship you in these forms;\n   Thou needest no praise, yet I offer you these prayers and salutations,\n   Lord, forgive three sins that are due to my human limitations.   \n\nHinduism allows everybody to reflect, investigate, enquire and cogitate. Hence, all sorts of religious faiths, various forms of worship or Sadhana, diverse kinds of rituals and customs, have found their honorable place side by side within Hinduism, and are cultured and developed in harmonious relationship with one another. \nThe Bhagavad Gita, with a clear grasp of the historical, warns us against taking away the psychological comfort of people by unsettling their faith." \n\n"Though I manifest Myself in all things, I am identified with none of them".\n\nAccording to the Bhagavad Gita, even those who worship other gods (anyadevatah), ancestral deities, elemental powers, if they do so with faith, then their faith is justified, for the Divine accepts every form conceived by the worshipper. \n\nToleration is the homage, which the finite mind pays to the inexhaustibility of the Infinite.\n\nHinduism, unlike other religions, does not dogmatically assert that the final emancipation is possible only through its means and not through any other. It is only a means to an end, and all means which will ultimately lead to the end are equally approved. \n\nhinduism is really not a religion it western sence.\n\noff course there are contradictions. they are bound to be. the simple reason is that in hinduism every sage/scholler presented god in his own words. but nobody actually rejected other theories. \n\nas far back as rigveda you will find discription of one abstract god. upanishads are deep philosophies and they concentrate on abstract god. soul and their relation. but even they had many different schollers and different schools.\n\nupanishads simply say also say "munde munde matirbhinna". as many heads as many opinions.\n\nthere are different books of law written by different writers. most famous is Manu samhita but it wa lost a long time ago. there are yagyvalkya and narad samhita too. so there is no one hindu religious law either. thats why reforms in hinduism are easier. those laws are not considered god made. \n\n  hindu schollers tended to retain the culture.\n\nthe main difference between Indian and western tradition is acceptance of all types of forms of worship as legitimate in hinduism or india. at least till it is not harming or hurting someone or others. not all Hindus practice all of the traditions and we like some and we do not agree with some other philosophies but none of them is called false. just that everybody has his own interpretation and is free to express his devotion as s/he wants. \n\nit is really confusing for an average westerner to understand that hindus are Monothist and believe god can is beyond depicting yet they worship him in form of icons.\nwhen muslims came to india they destroyed thousands of temples and thought they have proved supremacy of their god by destroying local ones. it was a surprise for them that hindus threw away broken icons and built a new one and kept worshipping them. they had learnt to respect and understand the concept to some extent. and you will get some devotional songs and poetry written by muslims writers in hindu tradition .in some sufi tradi
701801
Hinduism is not a religion.\nIt is a collection of thoughts and beliefs gathered over thousands of years.\nThey have hundreds of Gods and hundreds of different theories.\nEvery region in India has a differnt following for a particular God and follow different rituals.\nHinduism has evolved with time. Because people have made changes according to thier wishes.\nEven Jesus and Mohammad (PBUT) are considered Avatars or forms of thier God.
830299
Hinduism (real name Sanatan Dharma or eternal religion) started with the humanity...it is the oldest and have all in its philosophy all what Pagans, christians, muslims, buddhists have...and more than that is its Philosophy which deals with the mysteries of Universe, life, death and God
679152
One ...there is no modern Hinduism. Two there is no difference between any religion and Hinduism.  Hinduism is the mother of all religions.  Bhakti yoga of hinduism can be found in Christians, Karma Yoga is Muslims and Sankhya Philosophy in Buddhism.\n\nQuantum physics can be better understood by Tantra !\n\nBudhism is an off-shoot of Hinduism...there is nothing new which Hindus did not know!\n\nAnd yes tell all that Hindus do believe in One God with different manifestation, as liked by individual as per his mental status.\n\nAnd yes we do not reject any belief...we accept all !!
989761
As per Hindus philosophy, woman is a manifestation of Shakti (Eternal self conscious Energy)....Shakti is half of the Shiva, the supreme consciousnes.\n\nShiva is worshipped by hindus in "Ardhanarishwara" form...a form which is half male and half female.\n\nIn Tantra philosophy of Hindus, God is worshipped in a woman form of Mother.\n\nMost of the Gods of hinuds are with their wives..whose names come before their male counterpart during worship.\n\nWomen were the head of family, and important factor in society in ancient India...of course with arrival of muslim and christian invaders, some pollution entered the Indian culture...and women lost a little of their respect.
538728
of course... it means different things to different cultures.\n\nIn Vedic/Sanstkritc beliefs itself there are 2 major trinities:\n\nBrahma, Vishnu & Mahesh (Creator, Sustainer & Destroyer)\n\nMahasaraswati, Mahalaxmi & Mahakali (Creatrix, Evolution & Enlightener)\n\nand of course our popular concept: Father, Son and Mother.\n\nI believe in them because I see their actions within the reflected cosmos, our selves, on a daily basis. e.g. \n\nThe Father is the all pervading energy we need to connect to. The Mother and Son help us cross the final step before meeting the Father. The Mother and Son, Mary and Jesus are also referenced in Sanskritic/Vedic litterature as Mahavishnu/Mahalaxmi and the predicted dates of advent and action match closely.