Hindu Religious Traditions

Hindu Religious Traditions

Hinduism, a religious tradition of Indian origin, comprises the beliefs and practices of Hindus. The word Hindu is derived from the river Sindhu, or Indus. Hindu was primarily a geographical term that referred to India or to a region of India as long ago as the sixth century BC (Sharma, 2005). In most religions, beliefs and practices come first, and those who subscribe to them are considered followers. In Hindu tradition, however, the acknowledgement of Hindus came first, and their beliefs and practices constitute the contents of the religion.

Hindus use the Sanskrit term Sanatana Dharma, which is often translated into English as eternal tradition or eternal religion (Fisher, 2002). The word Dharma also has many other meanings in Sanskrit, the sacred language of Hindu scripture, including moral order, duty, and right action. Dharma is a very important concept for Hindus. In addition to tradition and moral order, it also signifies the path of knowledge and correct action. Because of Hinduism’s emphasis on living in accordance with Dharma, anyone who is striving for spiritual knowledge and seeking the right course of ethical action is, in the broadest sense, a follower of Sanatana Dharma. The Hindu tradition encourages Hindus to seek spiritual and moral truth wherever it might be found, while acknowledging that no creed can contain such truth in its fullness and that each individual must realize this truth through his or her own systematic effort. Our experience, our reason, and our dialogue with others, especially enlightened individuals, provide various means of testing our understanding of spiritual and moral truth (Sharma, 2005).

In many religions truth is delivered or revealed from a divine source and enters the world through a single agent; for example, Abraham in Judaism, Jesus in Christianity, and Muhammad in Islam. These truths are recorded in scriptures that serve as a source of knowledge of divine wisdom; the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Koran. In the Hindu tradition, by contrast, there is no single revelation or established doctrine by which people may achieve knowledge of the divine or lead a life backed by religious law. The Hindu tradition acknowledges that there are many paths by which people may seek and experience religious understanding and direction. It also claims that every individual has the potential to achieve enlightenment.

There are certain beliefs and practices that can clearly be identified as Hindu. The worship of sacred trees and the mother goddess, for example, go back to a culture known as Harappan, which flourished around 3000 BC. (Sharma, 2005). Other Hindu practices are even older. For example, belief in the religious significance of the new and full moon can be traced to the distant proto-Australoid period, before 3000 BC. (Sharma, 2005). It is with good reason that Hinduism perceives itself as Sanatana Dharma or a cumulative tradition. Its origins are shrouded in the mist of antiquity, and it has continued without a break. Hindu tradition aims at comprehensiveness so far as religious beliefs and practices are concerned. It also encourages the exploration of all avenues that would lead to a realization of the divine, and it provides a system with many paths for such realization.

The religious texts that are often referred to as the foundations of Sanatana Dharma are called Vedas. The are four Vedas that constitute the most important body of Hindu literature, at least in theory. Other sacred literature may be more popular with readers, but the Vedas, written in the ancient Sanskrit language, are the oldest and most respected scriptures. They are separately titled the Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda, and Atharva-Veda, and collectively referred to as the Veda. Each of the Vedas can be divided into four types of texts, which are roughly chronological in order. They are Mantra or Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka, and Upanishad (Sharma, 2005). The Mantra or Samhita portion largely consists of hymns addressed to the various deities. The Brahmana texts gather the authoritative utterances of Brahmans and describe the rituals, chiefly sacrificial offerings, in which the hymns are employed. The third section consists of Aranyakas, or forest texts, presumably composed by sages who sought seclusion in the forests. The last section consists of the Upanishads, philosophical texts that have an air of mystery and secrecy about them. Scholars have suggested that the four types of texts represent four different stages in the spiritual evolution of the Aryans, the peoples of the Vedas (Fisher,