Hinduism

Hinduism: From a Christian View

Hinduism is regarded as the world’s oldest organized religion. Hinduism as a whole consists of thousands of various religious groups that have evolved over time. Hinduism has no recorded origin or founder and is applied to many of the philosophical and religious traditions found in India. The External Teaching or “Sanatana Dharma” is known as the religions collection of sacred texts. These texts while complex, encompass traditions and practices that share common ground but lack overall unity and consistency. To grasp the traditions and true understanding of Hinduism, one must first learn the history of the Aryans, the scripture, the God Brahma Vishu Shiva and the religions key ideas in relation to Christianity.

Hinduism also known as the Vedic culture, originated with a race known as the Aryans. They migrated to the Indian subcontinent thousands of years before the birth of Jesus Christ. The Aryans brought their own culture and soon after began to evolve to conform to their environment. Their original homeland which is believed to be located in current day central Asia, was known as the lost Airyane Vaejahi which translates to, “The seed land of the Aryans”. As the Aryan’s changed, the beginning stages of Hinduism began to form through Greece, Italy, Germany, France and Scandinavia.

There is a wealth of knowledge contained within the Hindu’s series of scriptures. They are organized into two main categories, Shruti revelation and Smriti tradition. Shruti describes all things heard and Smriti is all things remembered. Schruti literature is composed of the four Vedas, and the Upanishads represents the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times. Shruti ...

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...ns and religious philosophies. In the history of mankind there has never been a war between the Hindus and Christians over religious convictions.

The Hindu religion holds on to the idea that beliefs are what determines ones thought and attitude about life, which also directs a person’s actions. It’s the actions of a person that creates their destiny. Christianity follows in a similar pattern as a person’s actions and attitude towards life will have an effect as a Christian. While the Hindu’s believe in one Supreme Being they also believe in the laws of karma and reincarnation. There is one very important similarity between Christianity and Hinduism. The Hindus as well as the Christians share the belief that no religion teaches the only way to God’s salvation and that all religious paths are facets of God’s light, equally deserving of understanding and tolerance.