Guest guest Posted September 18, 2008 Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 Dear friends and devotees, Bhakti is eternal. Some of our friends have been asking me to write about Hinduism, Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas. Though I am not fully conversant with the subject, with the blessings of Paramacharya, some details have been collected. The same are being sent under two headings simultaneously. One is Hinduism and the other is Mantras. The details are collected from many sources and consolidated and as such may not cover the full subject. Kindly forgive me for lapses if any. Regarding Hindu Dharma, many more details from the voice of Holy Paramacharya will be sent separately after completing these articles. About Hinduism Hinduism is the oldest living religious tradition in the world and is also known as Sanatana Dharma and Vedic Dharma. It is not a single religion but a set of different schools of thought and traditions. Hinduism is a mixture of many religious rituals, sects and philosophies and all of them are different from each other in different parts of India. Majority of Hindus follow the Vedanta philosophy of one God (Brahman) who is worshipped in many forms like Vishnu, Siva, Durga, etc. About 10 billion people worldwide are followers of Hinduism making it the third largest religion of the world. The followers of Hinduism regard the four Vedas as the main scripture. Each Veda is divided into parts called: Brahmanas, Samhitas, Aranyakas and Upanishads which are also widely followed. The other main scriptures are the 18 puranas, 18 up-puranas, the Bhagavad-Gita and Ramayana.The basic beliefs of Hinduism are: Dharma (individual ethics, duties and obligations) Samsara (rebirth) Karma (actions) Moksha (salvation) Different schools of Hinduism follow different paths or means for salvation. The four main paths that most of the schools follow are: the path of devotion- "Bhakti", the path of action-"Karma", the path of meditation- "Raja" and the path of enlightenment- "Jnana". The basis of Hindu philosophy is that all souls that are born from Brahman (Cosmic Spirit) finally merge with it. Contd. . . . .(Hinduism - 2) With love and regards, Sastry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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