Hinduism

The Hindu symbol, "Om"

Transcript: Hinduism is the 3rd largest religion in the world. It has over 1 billion adherents, or over 16% of the world's population. The product of religious development in India, that spans over 4000 years, it's original origins remain unclear. It has been called the "Oldest living religion". Hindu's believe in the "Trinity Of Gods". Those being:

1. Brahma: The creator of all reality.

2. Krishna/Vishnu: The preserver of all creation.

3. Shiva: The destroyer.

The Trinity operate under a supreme being known as Brahman. They can be considered a personification of him. Brahman can best be explained as the supreme universal spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Hindus follow goals and aims of their human existence called Puruṣārtha. The 4 main outlines of this are:

1. Dharma: Righteousness, both spiritual and ritual

2. Artha: Prosperity as well as pursuit of meaning

3. Kāma: Pleasure

4. Mokṣa: Liberation; or renunciation as well as detachment

Afterlife beliefs for Hindu's revolve around the idea of Karma. The basic idea of this is "if karma unresolved, soul is born into a new body; if karma resolved, attain moksa (liberation)". The ultimate spiritual goal is to achieve liberation from the cycle of reincarnation. To do this, a soul needs to only perform actions that lead to "good" karma. There needs to be 100% good karma for the soul to be liberated. A large part of Hindu daily practices revolve around yoga and Puja. Puja is a ritual performed every morning by all Hindus that occurs after bathing but before eating anything. It can be performed simply by looking at an image, or intense silence and prayer. Hindu sacred texts are classed into two categories. Those two categories are "sruti" and "smruti". "Sruti" scriptures are considered divinely inspired and fully authoritative for belief and practice, while "smruti" are recognized as the products of the minds of the great sages.