what is the essence of jainism and how does it differ from hinduism?
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Jainism is very similar to Hinduism, being an offshoot. It shares the Hindu beliefs that all life is sacred and that God is the eternal reality of the universe, called Brahman in Hinduism. They believe in ahimsa, originally a Hindu concept, and take it to the level that some very orthodox Jains will cover their mouths with a cloth in public so bacteria do not enter their mouths and die. They are vegetarian for the same reason and because they believe that all of nature is sacred and equal. They follow the teachings of Lord Mahavira among others.
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http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Symbolism_in_Hinduism.htm\n\nIf u study hindu & buddhists higher thought's, there is'nt much difference in it\n\nhttp://sc.essortment.com/hinduismandbud_rtqs.htm
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hindus believe everything is god,\nmuslims believe everythin is God's\nso the difference is ('s)
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Your perception of God is your own.\n\nAs a Hindu I believe that there is one God, but that God is so vast and large that we each individually experience and approach God differently (thus lots of different religions). That all will discover the same ultimate truth in any religion because it dwells within our inner self (and every religion ultimately takes the practictioner to look within). Thus all religions are valid paths. "Truth is one, though humanity calls it by different names." Rig Veda\nAs a Hindu I believe that God always listens to us regardless of what name we call God by that whatever form we meditate upon God, God will always come to us. "What I am is utterly beyond your minds ability to fully comprehend, thus call me by whatever name and worship me and meditate upon me in whatever form. I promise that by whatever name you call upon me I shall hear you and by whatever form you worship me I shall come to you." Tripura Rahasya. \nUltimate God is beyond name and form, and yet manifested the entire cosmos into existences and thereby took form, too. \nHindus believe that when one dies our consciousness projects the experience we will have. Thus, when we die it is our consciousness that creates the temporary heaven we go to. If we have expected heaven to be a place where we gather with our ancestors...then our consciousness will project a heaven with our ancestors and God will take on the form of ancestors to be with us. If we expect a heaven with, say, Jesus, then our consciousness will project a heaven and God will take the form of Jesus. Heaven is just temporary and our karma (actions) and desires will lead us back to samsara (the cycle of birth, death, rebirth) and we will reincarnate. The ultimate goal of a Hindu is moksha or liberation of samsara and union with God completely. They often use the example of an ocean. The water evaporates and forms clouds, the clouds get so heavy that eventually the water falls in the form of rain. The rain forms streams and the streams come together and form rivers. The rivers ultimately merge back into the ocean. God is the ocean and we are the droplets of water. The rivers and streams are just religions and paths back to God.\n\nAnd that is what I believe, as a Hindu.
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Among all the religions Hinduism is the oldest. Buddhism originated from Hinduism. Hinduism originated in India, Buddhism in India / Nepal. Some of the teachings in Buddhism are similar to Hinduism. I will list mainly similarities. Answer is quite big so hope u will read it. For Hinduism read my answer in\n\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AuWA4OkO7pG27o7HQyUVPKzsy6IX?qid=20061105200549AAtcPGl\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ArkcX6TbHB8AmP6Sqh1a_Wvsy6IX?qid=20061112105239AAHLRXF\n\nFor Buddhism the philosophy is the four noble truths and the 8 fold path that i mentioned below.\n\n\nMany people may know about Buddhism, but few seem to understand its connections with Vedic / Hindu culture and how many aspects of it have origins in the Vedic / Hindu philosophy. To begin with, it was several hundred years before the time of Lord Buddha that his birth was predicted in the Srimad-Bhagavatam: "In the beginning of the age of Kali, the Supreme Personality of Godhead will appear in the province of Gaya as Lord Buddha, the son of Anjana, to bewilder those who are always envious of the devotees of the Lord." (Bhag.1.3.24)\n\nThis verse indicates that Lord Buddha was an incarnation of the Supreme who would appear in Gaya, a town in central India. But some historians may point out that Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, was actually born in Lumbini, Nepal, and that his mother was Queen Mahamaya. Therefore, this verse may be inaccurate. But actually Siddhartha became the Buddha after he attained spiritual enlightenment during his meditation under the Bo tree in Gaya. This means that his spiritual realization was his second and most important birth. Furthermore, Siddhartha's mother, Queen Mahamaya, died several days after Siddhartha's birth, leaving him to be raised by his grandmother, Anjana. So the prediction in the Bhagavatam is verified.\n\nWhen Lord Buddha appeared, the people of India, although following the Vedas, had deviated from the primary goal of Vedic philosophy. They had become preoccupied with performing ceremonies and rituals for material enjoyment. Some of the rituals included animal sacrifices. The people had begun to sacrifice animals indiscriminately on the plea of Vedic rituals and then indulged in eating the flesh. Being misled by unworthy priests, much unnecessary animal killing was going on and the people were becoming more degraded and atheistic.\n\nThe rituals that included animal sacrifices, according to the Vedas, were not meant for eating flesh. An old animal would be placed in the sacrificial fire and, after the mantras were chanted, it would come out of the fire in a new and younger body as a test to show the potency of the Vedic mantras. However, as the power of the priests deteriorated, they could no longer chant the mantras properly and, therefore, the animals would not be brought back to life. So in the age of Kali all such sacrifices are forbidden because there are no longer any brahmanas who can chant the mantras correctly. Thus, Lord Buddha appeared and rejected the Vedic rituals and preached the philosophy of nonviolence. In the Dhammapada (129-130) Buddha says, "All beings fear death and pain, life is dear to all; therefore the wise man will not kill or cause anything to be killed."\n\nThe Vedic literature also teaches nonviolence, but Buddha taught the people who used the Vedas for improper purposes to give them up and simply follow him. Thus, he saved the animals from being killed and saved the people from being further misled by the corrupt priests. However, he did not teach the Vedic conclusions of spiritual knowledge but taught his own philosophy.\n\nBuddha was born in the town of Lumbini in Nepal as the son of a king of the Shakya clan. He is generally accepted to have lived during 560-477 B.C. but has been shown to have been born in 1887 B.C. and died in 1807 B.C.\n\nHis mother, Queen Mahamaya, before she conceived him, saw him in a dream descending
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For heaven's sake... understand the concept of Hell and Heaven(;-)\n\n\nUnderstanding the whole concept of Heaven? Heaven that is also called as Swarga in Hinduism is the stage when our Atman the soul within waits for a suitable body for it to manifest again. This Atman the soul within has a balance of positive merits due to which it remains in heaven (Swarga).\n\nAny Atman the soul within that has a negative balance of merits is awarded hell, also known as Naraka in Hinduism. Naraka (hell) is also the stage when our Atman the soul within is in waiting for the next manifestation to occur.\n\nBriefly, it can be stated, that if we have the balance of positive merits from zero to plus hundred we shall be awarded the stage of Heaven (Swarga) after our "Atman, The soul Within" has left the mortal frame. However if the balance of merits is between zero and minus hundred our Atman the soul within shall be given a place in hell (Naraka).\n\nHeaven (Swarga) and hell (Naraka) are interim stages in the cosmic Life cycle of our Atman the soul within. The moment this Atman the soul within gets matching parents on Mother Earth... it shall again manifest a body... the body can be that of a Human Being and also of an animal depending upon the balance of merits or demerits possessed by the Atman.\n\nAs stated clearly in the Bhagavad Gita... the foremost of all sacred scriptures (the doctrine dictated by Lord Krishna to King Arjuna in the battlefield of Mahabharata between the Pandavas and the Kauravas... no Atman the soul within can directly gain immortality from Heaven.\n\nLord Krishna is considered as an Avatar (a direct incarnation of God) in Hinduism. He descended on Mother Earth roughly 1000 years before Bhagwan Mahavira, 1077 years before Gautama Buddha, about 1500 years before Jesus Christ and about 1700 years before the advent of Prophet Mohammed.  More on god here- http://www.godrealized.org/understanding_the_whole_concept_of_heaven.html
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The Hindu scriptures state that we are spirit souls which are neither created nor destroyed - therefore the first thing to understand here is that God did not create us we have always been existing. However, the Hindu scriptures also explain that God is altogether more superior to the infintesimal souls. God created the material universe so that the souls could try to enjoy life separately from him.\n\nIt is also explained in the Hindu scriptures that the material creation is a poor reflection / mirror image of the spritiual world. Thus we can gather from this that this material world provides all the opposites found in the spiritual world, i.e. darkness, sin etc. This is why the spiritual world is described as self luminous not requiring any sun/moon/stars whereas the earth needed a sun and moon to brighten things up and regulate seasons etc.\n\nTo learn more about God, souls, karma, reincarnation, the material universe and more importantly the true purpose of our existence, check out:
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Hinduism (real name Sanatan Dharma- Eternal Relgion), is basically a way of life.\n\nAnybody worshipping the God by any name or by any ritual is a Hindu in broad terms.\n\nAll the religions in the world are sub-sets of Santan Dharma for example christians follow the Bhakti Yoga path of hinduism and muslims follow the Karma Yoga path..with some deviations.\n\nThe main soul of hinduism is its deep philosophy which mainly deals with the mysteries of the Universe, creation, evolution, life, Death and God.\n\nThe philosophy of hinduism is found in Upanishadas and Gita with no fairy tales but concrete logics to show the truth
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CONCEPT OF GOD IN HINDUISM\nby Dr. Zakir Naik\n \n1.   \nCommon Concept of God in Hinduism:\n \n Hinduism is commonly perceived as a polytheistic religion. Indeed, most Hindus would attest to this, by professing belief in multiple Gods. While some Hindus believe in the existence of three gods, some believe in thousands of gods, and some others in thirty three crore i.e. 330 million Gods. However, learned Hindus, who are well versed in their scriptures, insist that a Hindu should believe in and worship only one God.\n\nThe major difference between the Hindu and the Muslim perception of God is the common Hindus’ belief in the philosophy of Pantheism. Pantheism considers everything, living and non-living, to be Divine and Sacred. The common Hindu, therefore, considers everything as God. He considers the trees as God, the sun as God, the moon as God, the monkey as God, the snake as God and even human beings as manifestations of God!\n\nIslam, on the contrary, exhorts man to consider himself and his surroundings as examples of Divine Creation rather than as divinity itself. Muslims therefore believe that everything is God’s i.e. the word ‘God’ with an apostrophe ‘s’. In other words the Muslims believe that everything belongs to God. The trees belong to God, the sun belongs to God, the moon belongs to God, the monkey belongs to God, the snake belongs to God, the human beings belong to God and everything in this universe belongs to God.\n\nThus the major difference between the Hindu and the Muslim beliefs is the difference of the apostrophe ‘s’. The Hindu says everything is God. The Muslim says everything is God’s.\n \n \n2.   \n  \nConcept of God according to Hindu Scriptures:\n \n We can gain a better understanding of the concept of God in Hinduism by analysing Hindu scriptures. \n\nBHAGAVAD GITA\n\nThe most popular amongst all the Hindu scriptures is the Bhagavad Gita. \n\nConsider the following verse from the Gita:\n\n"Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures."\n                   [Bhagavad Gita 7:20]\n\nThe Gita states that people who are materialistic worship demigods i.e. ‘gods’ besides the True God.\n \n \nUPANISHADS:\n\nThe Upanishads are considered sacred scriptures by the Hindus. \n\nThe following verses from the Upanishads refer to the Concept of God:\n\n"Ekam evadvitiyam"\n"He is One only without a second."\n        [Chandogya Upanishad 6:2:1]1\n\n"Na casya kascij janita na cadhipah."\n"Of Him there are neither parents nor lord."\n         [Svetasvatara Upanishad 6:9]2\n\n"Na tasya pratima asti"\n"There is no likeness of Him."\n        [Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:19]3\n\nThe following verses from the Upanishad allude to the inability of man to imagine God in a particular form:\n\n"Na samdrse tisthati rupam asya, na caksusa pasyati kas canainam."\n\n"His form is not to be seen; no one sees Him with the eye."\n        [Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:20]4\n\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n1[The Principal Upanishad by S. Radhakrishnan page 447 and 448]\n[Sacred Books of the East, volume 1 ‘The Upanishads part I’ page 93]\n\n2[The Principal Upanishad by S. Radhakrishnan page 745]\n[Sacred Books of the East, volume 15, ‘The Upanishads part II’ page 263.]\n\n3[The Principal Upanishad by S. Radhakrishnan page 736 & 737]\n[Sacred Books of the East, volume 15, ‘The Upanishads part II’ page no 253]\n\n4[The Principal Upanishad by S. Radhakrishnan page 737]\n[Sacred Books of the East, volume 15, ‘The Upanishads part II’ page no 253]\n \n \n \n  \n\nTHE VEDAS\nVedas are considered the most sacred of all the Hindu scriptures. There are four principal Vedas: Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samveda and Atharvaveda.\n\n\n \n Yajurveda\nThe follow
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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.
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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
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Karma is actually simple and vast at the same time.\nSimply put - As you may well know, is the law of cause and effect, that's it, that is all.\n\nDharma:  \n\nIn Dharma it is also based on a very objective definition.... \nFirst what it is not:\n\nIt is not a response based on Right and wrong\nIt is not based on Will per say.\nIt is not necessarily based on Intention.\n\nDharma is action (or non action) yes, however it is action aligned with a pulse, it is a JUST action. The intention is aligned with the Will which is aligned with the inner pulse that some would identify as Gods Will. They say that when we are in Dharma, the Supreme Will is no different than our own.\n\nSo Dharma can care less about Truth, Truth is man made and it can be twisted to be framed in all directions. Dharma is in touch with REALITY.\n\nHope it helped !
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A person named Mahavira was the founder of Jainism. It became an extreme sect of Buddhism. Because Buddhism taught that no person should hurt a living thing, Mahavira took it to extremes. Jains (as practitioners of Jainism are called) had brooms, with which they sweep away any possible small living things (such as ants) that they would otherwise step on. Another radical practice that the Jains have is to cover their mouths, so that they don't breathe in any microscopic organisms. The Jains still exist today. If you ask me, though, that sect is kind of weird.
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Here is the difference.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyotish#Hindu_and_Western_astrology
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hinduism is not a religion inwestern sence. it is a culture and includes the beliefs of whole india. hindu=indu=indian.\n\nthere is know known origin. its oldest beliefs go way back. even before bronze age.\n\nbuddha started his preachings in Sarnath, Varanasi.\n\nSikhism was organised by Guru govind Singh in punjab. he started is as martial branch of hinduism to fight muslims agaist percecution of hindus.
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One of the oldest religious traditions of India, Jainism has existed side by side with Hinduism throughout its long history. With fewer than 5 million adherents and comprising less than 1% the Indian population, Jainism has demonstrated a remarkable tenacity and endurance and continues to exert an influence far beyond its small numbers. \n\nFounder: Jainism (the name derives from a Sanskrit word meaning "follower of the Jina, or conqueror") was established in our era by Mahavira ("the Great Hero") in the sixth century B.C.E. In fact, Mahavira is considered only the most recent in a list of 24 such teachers who brought Jainism into the world during previous great cosmic eras of time. These teachers, or "Tirthankaras," taught a path to religious awakening based on renouncing the world by practice of strict religious austerity. Mahavira established a monastic community of both nuns and monks. This community is the oldest continually surviving monastic community in the world. \n\n     Mahavira followed an ascetic group called Nirgranthas which had been founded some 200 years ago by a certain Parshva. The term "Nirgrantha" was latter used for the members of the order Mahavira started.Parshva is remebered as 23 rd of 24 great teachers or  Tirthankaras of the jain faith. after 12 years of meditation and travells Mahavira found full enlightment nirvana; he becane worty (Arhant), a conqueror ( Jina), a "ford maker".
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There are sevral Things abt Hindu religion. Actually its worlds third most popular religion in the world. They Beleive in universal soul and even though they beleive in many gods but still they think that there is one god in the world who has made this world and who is the creator,preserver and destroyer.They believ there is one religion in the world, A religion fill with fill,respect and care.\nIt beleives that the soul passes through a cycle of successive lives and its next incarnation is always dependent on how the previous life was lived.\n\nSo if you behave badly in this life, your next incarnation is likely to be more unpleasant than your current one—you reap what you sow.\n\nThe Hindu tradition encourages Hindus to seek spiritual and moral truth wherever it might be found, while acknowledging that no creed can contain such truth in its fullness and that each individual must realize this truth through his or her own systematic effort. Our experience, our reason, and our dialogue with others—especially with enlightened individuals—provide various means of testing our understanding of spiritual and moral truth. And Hindu scripture, based on the insights of Hindu sages and seers, serves primarily as a guidebook. But ultimately truth comes to us through direct consciousness of the divine or the ultimate reality.\n \nAnother great aspect of Hinduism is that it has promoted spirituality and recommended restraint in becoming overly materialistic. The knowledge gained by learned people, has been used for general good of the public (such as Ayurveda, Yoga etc). I believe, no other religion or religious literature has such copious mix of spiritualism and knowledge related to daily life applications.\n\nI hope this prove usefull, If You need any more question abt it or want to be more specifc than ask someone who is hindu or who knows abt it not just anyone who actually doesnt know at all but still make it a pleasure to have rude comments\n\nP.S. The answerer 16 Hindu's God is not dead and When You Say God that simply means eternity.Think Before you Comment on something u dont know