Hinduism Paper

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The Hindu religion is one that is lacking a uniting belief system, but is made up from many different Indian religious ways that have been categorized together as if they were a single tradition named “Hinduism.” This term is derived from a name applied by foreigners to the people living in the region of the Indus River, and was introduced in the nineteenth century under colonial British rule as a category for census-taking. Some of the unified religious systems that are included are Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Some cultural and societal influences that have made Hinduism vital to the religion in which is originated are influenced in their everyday life by devotional traditions. Their lives are so imbued with spiritual meaningful aspects that spiritually are never far from one's mind. Rituals, castes and social duties, life stages, home puja, homage to the guru, fasting, prayer, auspicious designs, and reverence paid to trees and rivers, pilgrimages, and religious festivals and a few things that make up the Hindu way of life. Rituals from a cradle to the cremation ground, the Hindu's life are wrapped up in rituals. Life stages of attaining spiritual realization or liberation is thought to take at least a lifetime, and probably many lifetimes. Hindus believe that the death of a human being only extinguishes the bodily form of existence as the soul reincarnates in another life form. The exercise of Sanatana Dharma (the central theological system) is to gain the favor of the powers of creation so that the soul finds a happier and an elevated existence in its next life-episode. A failure to live a virtuous life would force the human soul to find the body of a lesser animal in its next life. These reincarnations are not meant to go on in never-ending cycles. The purpose of a Hindu’s life is to achieve the ultimate experience of Absolute Reality, through the achievement of which there should be no more re-births and the soul merges into this ultimate reality. This liberation from sensual realities to the absolute reality is called Moksha. A human being has it within his ability to attain Moksha by applying the principles suggested by the scriptures. Now, an animal, lacking in powers of higher cognition and control of the self cannot ever achieve Moksha. This makes it important for a Hindu to utilize the precious occasion of human life toward reaching the ultimate goal. It also explains why Hindus desire liberation from earthly existence. Moksha is a core concept in Hinduism and all other philosophical discourses in the Vedas and Upanishads revolve around this core. To attain Moksha, a Hindu subject embraces principles such as Bhakti Yoga in his daily life. Application of Bhakti Yoga is said to help the individual overcome hurdles and challenges (also known as Karma) in his march toward enlightenment. Tensions
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