Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is a term that was introduced by British rule in the nineteenth century. It was applied to people that were living in the region of the Indus river as a category for census taking. The preferred term today is Sanatana Dharma, which means eternal or ageless religion. The foundations of Sanatana Dharma come from religious texts called the Vedas. The common belief (which some scholars disagree with) is that they were brought by invading Indo European tribes called the Aryans. These Vedas are a revered four-part collection of ancient sacred hymns from several of those early Aryan tribes. Among them are the Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads.

The Samhitas are hymns of praise in the worship of deities. Brahmanas are the directions for performances of ritual sacrifices to deities. The Aranyakas were writings from a reclusive people who spent their time meditating in the forest. Finally the Upanishads, these are teachings from a spiritual master explaining the personal transformation that results from psychic participation in the ritual process. Along with the Vedas religious texts there are three related philosophical systems, Samkhya, Advaita Vedanta, and Yoga.

Samkhya is thought to be the oldest of the three and its philosophy mentions two states of reality. The first being Purusha, the self, eternally wise, pure, free, beyond change, beyond cause. The second one is Prakriti, the cause of the material universe. All of our suffering stems from our false confusion between the two. We must understand the dualistic nature of life to distinguish the ultimate transcendent reality. Advaita Vedanta is another philosophy but unlike Samkhya it is a monistic reality. The belief is that our material life is an illusion and the spirit is the essence of everything with no beginning or end. It is a momentary wave rising from the ocean, which is the only reality.

The last philosophy is Yoga....