Hinduism
Religions of the World
July 25, 2010
What makes up the Hindu religion is a diversity different denomination. While there are many others, there are four major groups which include Vaishnavism, Savism, Shaktism, and Smartism. There are tens of thousands of guru lineages in which each is independent and self-contained. In other words, the grand tradition is defined as ten thousand faiths in harmony under a single group called Hinduism, or Sanatana Dharma. To overlook the diversity of this vast group is a misconception of the religion. Most religious groups are usually a little simpler and unified to understand. However, this religion is and remains a mystery to this day.
There are four basic principles that are shared by the vast majority of Hindus. The Hindu people live by these essentials beliefs as their way of life and they are karma, reincarnation, all-pervasive Divinity and dharma. A person is considered a Hindu when they live by these principles. Karma refers to deed or act and is the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction which governs all life. Karma is not fate it is the natural law of the mind.
Reincarnation refers to the natural process of birth, death and rebirth. When a person dies the physical body is taken off and the inner body or spirit of the soul continues on until it is entered again into birth. The reincarnation process consoles the Hindu people because it eliminates the fear of death.
All-pervasive Divinity refers to a family of faiths as Hindu upholds a wide array of perspectives on the Divine, yet they all worship all-pervasive Supreme Being hailed in the Upanishads. They believe in the absolute reality which is God is unmanifest, unchanging and transcendent, the Self God, timeless, formless, and spaceless.
Dharma, according to Hindu when God created the universe, He made it to have order, with the laws to govern creation. Dharma is God’s divine law prevailing on every...