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Hinduism is India and India is Hinduism.
Born in 2000 before Christ, it is the oldest religion in the world.
Hinduism is the result of the meeting of various cults which had been developed in India and can be described as a socio-religious way of life. Indeed, beyond the religious aspect, Hinduism is a way of living and thinking.
The sacred texts and basis of Hinduism are called the Veda (“knowledge” in Sanskrit).
Their basic teachings is that the true nature of the man is divine; God exists in each human being. The religion is thus a research of the self-knowledge, a research of the divinity in each individual.
A very interesting way to formulate this is the idea of disappearance of the ego (like Buddhism). The purpose would be to learn to forget oneself, to get ride of this narrow shell we call “I”. Free from this ego, we would get ride of the pain and all negative feelings, and we would be ready to merge with the divinity. Thus by recognizing the ego as the source of our problems, we can attack it more easily.
In the Hinduism, the Yoga is considered as the ultimate way to reach the spiritual goals. The Yoga means “union” and is generally interpreted as the union with God.
The four goals in life are the following :
- the dharma : law of the perfection that each Hindu has to follow,
- the artha : material success and wealth,
- the kama : true desire,
- the moksha (liberty in Hindu) : release of the infernal cycle of the reincarnations.
Only the highest caste and thus purest can reach the moksha.
One of the fundamental assets of Hinduism is its open-mindedness.
Hinduism has always accepted and integrated in itself every exterior contribution, because there are different ways to access to God and every are valid. For instance,
Sidarta Gautama (also known as Buddha) who disavowed the Hindu fundamental writings, had nevertheless been recognized and adopted as divinity thanks to its teachings. Today you can follow the teachings of Buddha while remaining Hindu.
This spiritual tolerance is is remarkable, so that today's Hindu pantheon reaches more than 30 millions of divinities.
However, it is important to differentiate divinities and gods. In India, divinities emanate from Brahma (God of Creation).
Hindu people consider that Brahma lives in the heart of each man.
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Today the cult is organised around the Trinity (Trimurti) composed of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu. However it is important to cite another gods like Ganesha (most venerated), Hanuman, Kali (Goddess of creation, preservation, and destruction), Vishnu, Parvati.
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The Hindu society has been ruled by a discriminatory caste system inherited from the Hinduism. Traditionally there are four main castes: Brahmins (priests, teachers), Kshatriyas (warriors, kings), Vaishyas (farmers, merchants, businessmen), the Shudras (servants and labourers). There is an another group which represents the untouchables (impure), excluded from the main society. These people are "outcasted" and mostly have a profession in relation with the death and birth.
An Hindu is submitted to the reincarnation cycle (samsara), which depends on accomplished actions in your anterior lives (karma). We reborn in an higher or lower caste. Hence the goal is the immortality besides the Gods.
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