Hindu Religious Traditions

Hindu Religious Traditions

In every religion , practices and beliefs had always been present Traditions are one of the most significant and mostly given importance by their followers . One of the best examples would be the Hindu religion . Hinduism had been one of the ancient religions that are present until today . Its followers are comprised of around 900 million people who include more than 20 million people that are not living within India . Due to this , Hinduism is the world 's third largest religious population in the world (MSN Encarta . Although Hinduism is

br considered as a religion for more people , its structure is a mixture of various systems of beliefs , symbols , scriptures and practices . The Hindu religion does not have a single scripture , religious teacher of a deity compared to other religious beliefs in which the all of such is designated (Shattuck 1994 . The collective world-view and its openness to recognize such view and commemorate all these diversities formulate the understanding of Hinduism 's complexity which therefore makes it more difficult to comprehend compared to other religions . However , this diversity makes this religion unique and fascinating (MSN Encarta

In spite of all these multiplicity of beliefs and teachings , Hinduism has their own values system . Such beliefs are Karma which means actions that leads to a cause and effect relationship , Dharma or an individual 's duties , ethics and obligations , Samsara which means reincarnation or rebirth and the Moksha or the deliverance of the soul though different paths . The different paths to deliverance could be in the course of the devotional service (Bhakti , the enlightenment of knowledge (Jsana , the selfless acts (Kharma , the belief of God (Ishvara ) and meditation (Raja . The soul 's revivification or reincarnation through the sequence of birth into death towards the attainment of Moshka was presided over via the ideology Karma

In the Hindu tradition , sacred texts are seen as the one of the basis of knowledge and teachings of the religion . The Veda , based on the MSN Encarta is said to be 'the most ancient sacred literature of Hinduism or individual books belonging to that literature ( Veda ' 2006 .With in the Veda , there are four different collection of literature which are the Rig-Veda , the Sama-Veda , the Yajur-Veda , and the Atharva Veda These literatures are also called Samhitas or collection ( Veda 2006 . Based on the writings of Anita Ganeri (2003 , the Rig-Veda also known as the Song of Knowledge ' is containing 1028 various hymns that is used for praising gods whom are in control of nature . The Sama Veda is a collection which includes various melodies for singing the sacred hymns ' Yajur Veda is a much sacred literature because it is used by priests as their instructional guide during rituals and the likes . Last is the Artharva Veda which is containing various chants , charms and spells (Ganeri , 2003 .

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Upanishads or Vedanta on the other hand , are shurti texts which were composed about 2500 years ago (Ganeri , 2003 , 14 . Upanishad in the Sanskrit language means to sit...