Hinduism Paper

Hinduism Paper

HUM/130

March 18, 2012

Daniel Davis

Unity:

The Hindu Religion is said to be one of the oldest living religions in the world, yet there is not a uniting belief system like one would find in common religion. Instead the Hindu Religion is made up of many diverse traditions and beliefs that have evolved over time. The term Hinduism was actually given to the people living in the region of the Indus River. There was no single founder of the Hindu Religion to say this is what we will call our beliefs, instead some foreigners came along and decided that Hinduism was what they would label all the people in the region of the Indus River. Grouping all these people of the same area made it easy to identify who was being calculated in the census during the 19th century when it was introduced as a category for census-taking. Knowing the history of the name helps to explain how the religion does not have a uniting belief system like a common religion does. It explains how so many diversities can exist in one religion. Knowing the history of the name also makes one wonder if it would not just be a way of life if the foreigners would have never given them a label.

Society:

There are many practices and beliefs that have made Hinduism vital to India, the region Hinduism originated from. The most vital influences are the Vedas and other scriptures, the Samkhya system, Advaita Vedanta, and Yoga. The Vedas and other scriptures is where most practices got their roots from. Other philosophical systems born in India do not acknowledge the authority of the Vedas but they do draw on many of the same beliefs as Hinduism. So, even though the Vedas is not acknowledged as authority in these other philosophical systems, it still impacted them. The Samkhya philosophy believes there are two states of reality, the Parusha and Prakriti. The Purusha is pure and wise and the other is the cause of the material universe. It is believed that all suffering stems from a false...