Hinduism

          The people recited from memory long stories and prayers, hymns, and rituals for many centuries before they were finally written in Sanskrit in four volumes of texts called the Vedas.  The oldest existing written record of the Vedas dates to about 1000CE. According to some Hindu traditions, these Vedas were supposed to have been divinely inspired at the beginning of the last earth cycle called the Kali Yuga.   Other religious traditions believe they were not divinely inspired, but are the work of very spiritual humans.

          In any case, the religion Hinduism has many stories that have been passed down orally and then in writing for over 3,000 years.  One of the main stories is called the Ramayana which tells of the god Rama, his wife Sita, and his monkey general Hanuman.  Another long epic is called the Mahabharata which tells a tale of war and battles.  This is the longest epic ever written; it is 8 times longer than the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer in Greece.  

                                                                                                      

          Some people say Hinduism is a polytheistic religion.  That means that the people worship many gods and goddesses.  Others say Hinduism is a monotheistic religion because they only believe in one god who created everyone and everything that exists.  That god is Brahman.  Hinduism is probably both.  Their belief in one supreme being, Brahman, coincides with the thousands, perhaps millions, of gods and goddesses people honor and worship in their homes and temples all over India.

          Hindus believe that Brahman cannot be understood by humans so is shown in all different ways and people give those ways the names of the gods and goddesses.  The three original gods are called Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. (Brahma is different from Brahman!) They are the Hindu Trinity.  Brahma is called the creator god; Vishnu is the preserver god; and Shiva is the destroyer god.  This is sometimes misunderstood, but Shiva must destroy the old to make way for the new.  Below are three pictures that show these male divine beings or devas.

Brahma	Vishnu	Shiva

Each god has both a masculine and feminine energy or shakti.  These gods are shown as male deities, and their feminine energy is shown as female deities.  Brahma’s female deity is Sarasvati, Vishu’s female deity is Lakshmi, and Shiva’s female deity is Parvati.   Here are some pictures of the female divine beings or devis.

Sarasvati	Lakshmi	Parvati

          People who practice Hinduism don’t go to a temple or church or mosque once a week.  They honor their gods every day.  Sometimes they worship right at little shrines in their home and sometimes they go to a temple in their village or near to where they live in a city.  As part of their worship, they often give puja to the statue of the god.  Puja is an offering which may be food or flowers or money or prayers.  They believe that the spirit of the divine being is actually present in the statue and so they honor the god in this way.  Many rituals and celebrations are held in Hinduism to honor the multitude of gods they worship.

                                          

          One of the basic beliefs of Hinduism is reincarnation.  This means that they believe when they die and leave this physical body behind on earth, they will be reborn in another body.  Sometimes that may be in an animal or a lower caste person if they did not live a good life this time around.  The belief in reincarnation is tied very closely to their belief in what is called karma.  Karma has to do with attaining or losing merit as you live your daily life.  If you achieved great merit, you may reincarnate in a higher caste; if you didn’t acquire much merit or were very evil, then you might reincarnate as a lower animal form. 

          This concept of reincarnation holds true for the gods as well which makes it very difficult to learn who is who!  Vishnu is supposed to have reincarnated nine times and Hindus are waiting for his tenth.  Krishna is one of these incarnations and he is a favorite god in India because of his fun-loving ways.  Another well-loved Hindu god is Ganesha. He is the second son of Shiva and Parvati and is an elephant-headed god who loves his sweets. There are many wonderful stories about the gods and goddesses in Hinduism in later scriptures called the Puranas. For information about these stories go to: http://www.dlshq.org/religions/puranas.htm

Krishna	Ganesha