The Christian Arsenal

Christianity, Cults & World Religions
Hinduism

Hinduism

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Religion:  Hinduism

Category:  World Religion

Founder/Leader:

There is no single founder that can be credited with beginning Hinduism. There are many sects today. Their beginnings run from approximately 1900-1000 B.C. in India.

Foundational Documents:

There are a large collection of writings, including the Vedas (oldest, about 1000 B.C.), the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad-Gita.

God is...

Brahma is the chief god, the omnipresent one who is father of the Brahman Trinity. He has four heads, three of which can be seen from any point of view.

Brahma(the creator)

Vishnu(the preserver)

Siva(the destroyer of evil)

God is seen as "The Absolute", and to be "universal spirit". Everyone is part of God (Brahman) like drops in the sea. People worship manifestations of Brahman (gods and goddesses). People are god, but like many other movements insist, they are totally unaware of it. The two great theistic movements within Hinduism are Vaishnavism, the cult of Vishnu, and Shaivism, the cult of Shiva. Hindu belief, however, usually holds that the universe is populated by a multitude of gods. These gods share to some extent the features of the Godhead but are seen as behaving much as humans do and as being related to each other as humans are.

Jesus is...

Jesus Christ is seen as a teacher, a guru, or an avatar (an incarnation of Vishnu). He is a son of God as are others. His death does nothing toward atonement for sins and he did not rise from the dead.

The Holy Spirit is... 

The Holy Spirit is not part of this belief system.

Method of Salvation:

Achieved through yoga and meditation, salvation is the release from the cycles of reincarnation. This can take many lifetimes. Final salvation is ultimately absorption or union with Brahman.

Death and Beyond...

Reincarnation into a better status (good karma) if person had behaved well. If one has been bad he can be reborn and pay for past sins (bad karma) by suffering.

Other Beliefs:

Some disciples wear orange robes, and have shaved heads. Some Hindu followers worship stone and wooden idols in temples. Hindu gurus demand complete obedience. Hindu disciples will meditate on a word, phrase, or picture for hours, days , months or even years attempting to achieve a state of transcendence or an internal harmony with the universe. Yoga is a tool espoused by Hindus it involves meditation, chanting, postures, breathing exercises. Hinduism is one of the key foundations of the New Age and Transcendental Meditation.

Dharma is one of the four aims of life (purusartha) distinguished within Hinduism. It is thought of as superior to two others - kama, or enjoyment of desires, and artha, or material prosperity. These three constitute the aims of those in the world (pravritti). The fourth aim is liberation (moksa), the aim of those who renounce the world (nivritti), and this is classically viewed as the supreme end of man. is one of the four aims of life (purusartha) distinguished within Hinduism. It is thought of as superior to two others - kama, or enjoyment of desires, and artha, or material prosperity. These three constitute the aims of those in the world (pravritti). The fourth aim is liberation (moksa), the aim of those who renounce the world (nivritti), and this is classically viewed as the supreme end of man.

The ideal way of life is sometimes referred to in classical sources and by Hindus as the "duties of one's class and station" (varnasramadharma). The term "class" (varna) is one of the words connoting the Caste system peculiar to India. The ancient texts suggest four great classes, or castes: the Brahmins, or priests; the Ksatriyas, or warriors and rulers; the Vaisyas, or merchants and farmers; and the Sudras, or peasants and laborers. A fifth class, Panchamas, or Untouchables, includes those whose occupations require them to handle unclean objects. It is speculated that the Untouchables were originally assigned such lowly tasks because of their non Aryan origins. This classification system hardly does justice to the modern complexity of the caste system, however. The classical works on dharma specify distinct duties for different classes, in keeping with the distinct roles each is expected to play in the ideal society.