Hindu Religious Traditions

Hindu Religious Traditions

According to Mahatma Gandhi, "If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today" (All Great Quotes, 2008, ¶ 7). Being a Christian, this writer did not regard these words as disrespectful toward Christianity. Although the Bible is the major foundation of Christianity, multitudes of sacred elements are the basis of Hinduism. In the following paragraphs, this writer will discuss several sacred elements and religious traditions that one might consider significant when describing the Hindu belief system.

Hindu and Hinduism are terms that can be difficult to define not only accurately but also universally. These terms can define one's religious beliefs, one's place within the caste system, one's language or one's region within India. According to the 2001 census, India's population has reached over one billion and of those counted, Hindus make up over 80% (Narayanan, 2003). The Hindu belief system can be as simple or complex, as its follower chooses to make it because Hinduism itself is very diverse in its components. Hindus believe that their belief system has existed forever and many aspects within their belief system are cyclic in character instead of possessing a beginning, middle and an end, as is common among other belief systems. Given that Hinduism has no single founder or prophet, no one universally accepted holy book or scripture and no exact time in history documenting its origin, many Hindus choose which of many paths and components they believe as accurate or true based on their own region and tradition. The sacred elements chosen contribute to the simplicity or complexity of this ancient belief system while supporting the belief that Hindu practices and rituals among its followers reflect the diversity within this belief system (Toropov & Buckles, 2004).

Despite Hinduism's diversity, there are areas that exhibit common ideals and morals. Some of these shared ideals and morals include both mental and physical self-restraint, compassion, friendship, non-violence, purity and truthfulness. Self-control in its highest phase will lead one to detachment and the ability to expand one's goodness to include all aspects of the universe. Detachment is not removing oneself from the world but rather changing one's insight from the present to an insight that is more objective in character yet embraces eternity. Hindus believe that when one follows the path of truth, any obstacles and sacrifices encountered are part of one's progress toward becoming further prepared for life and the next encountered cycle (Chandramohan, 2007).

Sruti and smriti are two categories of Hindu scriptures found today that encompass over 2,000 years of Hindu history. According to Hindus, although sruti scripture is the primary and ultimate influence of religious truth, smriti scripture is the secondary influence and further expands on those same sruti religious truths. In addition, whereas sruti scriptures document the accounts or vedas of what the ancient Hindu rihis or scribes heard or saw, smriti scriptures document the recollections of those items committed to memory and those remaining Hindu sacred texts not classified as the vedas (Rishi, 2009). Some examples of smriti texts are aqamas or guides of worship and sultras or structures of philosophy. Additionally, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which are two Hindu epics, and the Puranas, which is the eclectic collection of Hindu legends, myths and stories, are other forms of smriti texts (Chandramohan, 2007).

According to Fisher, "there are actually 333 million deities in India" (Fisher, 2002, p. 79). A basic component of Hinduism is the belief that every Hindu deity symbolizes the personification of a partial aspect or belief in the general representation of what a follower believes is the Supreme. In early times, Hindus believed that Vishnu the Protector and Shiva the Destroyer were once rivals but true to Hindu faith and belief in non-violence, these two gods reconciled their differences and became allies. Vishnu and Shiva, along with Brahma the Creator, became what some consider the Hindu Trinity or Hindu Triad. Because Hindus believe that men and women should possess a well-balanced partnership, each of these male deities has a female companion that complements that deity's function. Of these three male deities, only Vishnu the Protector can assume a human appearance to rid the world from enormous types of evil. Other important deities include Krishna and Rama, the reincarnated forms of Vishnu, and Shakti, the female companion to Shiva (Toropov & Buckles, 2004). Because there a considerable amount of diversity within the Hindu belief system, many view Hinduism as a belief system that possesses