Hinduism And Salvation

1302 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Differences of Christianity to Hinduism

India’s first Vice President, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, said "Hinduism is not just a faith. It is the union of reason and intuition that can not be defined but is only to be experienced. Evil and error are not ultimate. There is no Hell, for that means there is a place where God is not, and there are sins which exceed his love." (Hinduism, 2008). The Hindu religion focuses on four key pieces that lead one to salvation - personal gods, karma, reincarnation, and moksha (spiritual liberation). In this paper, I will demonstrate how Hinduism is a plausible religion, and how it compares and contrasts to the Christian faith that I was brought up believing.

Hindus believe that there is not only one God, but many. It is estimated that there are 333 million deities in the Hindu faith. (Fisher, 2003, 79). The reason that there are so many gods is because those of the Hindu faith worship the godliness in everything. As Christians, we believe that the world was created by God, and that everything in it was developed by him with one master plan. We are taught to believe in one God, and to not worship any false idols or other gods. In contrast, Hindus believe that every living thing warrants its own worship. Ramanuja, a Hindu dualist, believed that there is always a difference between humans and god. However, he believed that we are all bodies of god, and therefore we are guardians of the world. (Carruthera, 2008). I was recently talking to a person I know of the Hindu faith, wondering how it is possible to have so many gods and how one could ever be expected to know or even be aware of so many gods. She told me that Hindus are not expected to know all of the gods – no one is. She put the Hindu’s perspective of god in a much simpler form for me. For example, a Hindu person could be walking down the road and see a rock. It could be the most beautiful rock that person has ever seen. So, that person will pick up the rock and bring it home to place on their altar. The person will then pray to that rock, considering it a personal god that is meant for them to worship.

Show More
Related

  • Understanding Hinduism in The World’s Wisdom

    573 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the chapter on Hinduism in Philip Novak’s book The World’s Wisdom the section titled “The Transmigration of the Soul” describes the Hindu concept of reincarnation, the wheel of life, and ultimately becoming one with god. The lines in this passage very concisely describe the Hindu concepts of Brahman, Atman, Samsara, Karma, Maya and Moksha (Molloy). I believe that these concepts are at the core of all of the expressions of the Hindu religion; which makes understanding this paragraph the key to having a basic understanding of the Hindu religion.

    Read More

  • The Seperation of Hinduism and Buddhism

    1408 Words  | 3 Pages

    The origins of Hinduism can be traced back to the Vedic traditions of the Indus Valley Civilization (Mittal and Thursby 23) where as Buddhism can be seen as originating from Hinduism, and yet they are seen as two completely different religions. Why? These religions do share some of the same practices, however there are also vast differences. The caste system is a major social institution of Hinduism, but Buddhism rejects the caste system. Buddhism opposes the idea of a soul, while Hinduism perceives the soul as being one with Brahman. Moksha and Nirvana are both the release from saṃsāra, but the pathways to attaining release are dissimilar.

    Read More

  • The Caste System and Reincarnation’s Effect on Ancient Hinduism

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...onsibility in life which is decided by the caste they are born into. However, living amongst other people, one’s soul might become “forgetful of the Lord” which leads to “[attaching] itself to pleasure” which would make it “bound” to the wheel of the universe. For a soul to escape this cycle birth, death, and rebirth, it is necessary to connect with this god. The Hindu people believed that “by uniting oneself with him…one ceases to be ignorant” and this means “Birth, death, and rebirth will be no more.” This credence of rebirth and karma highly influenced the way the Hindu society developed.

    Read More

  • The Seven Dimensions Of Religion

    913 Words  | 2 Pages

    I will now examine what it means to be religious with a critical enquiry into Buddhism, Hinduism and

    Read More

  • Ancient China Dbq

    416 Words  | 1 Pages

    From the text excerpt in Document A, “Hinduism was (and is) a polytheistic religion - Hindus believed in many gods. --- In this kind of Hinduism, people believed in reincarnation - that people could be reborn into other bodies after they died.” This evidence shows that because of religion, Hindus have belief in many gods, and believe in reincarnation. Without a religion, they would not believe in an all-mighty ruler, or in reincarnation. Hindus also believed in karma, which means the good and bad actions that have an effect on the soul, and dharma, or spiritual duties one must follow. As you can see, beliefs were greatly influenced by religion.

    Read More

  • Death And Death In Hinduism

    1481 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hinduism is unlike many other religions in that it does not have a single founder or text, but is more like an umbrella in ways of life. In death and life for the Hindu, “The ultimate goal of the soul is liberation from the wheel of rebirth, through reabsorption into our identity with the Oversoul (Brahma)-- the essence of the universe, immaterial, uncreated, limitless, and timeless” (Leming & Dickinson, 2011, p. 134).

    Read More

  • How To Compare Mooksha And Hindu Moksha

    1669 Words  | 4 Pages

    Moksha is a common belief in the Hindu religion and it describes a state where one’s soul connects with God’s soul. In the Hindu religion, achieving moksha removes one from the cycle of life and death, which is the state of reincarnation as one moves from one life to the next. In essence, moksha is a state of unification of one’s soul with that of the creator, therefore achieving oneness of atman and Brahman. This essay discusses the various similarities and differences that exist between Buddhist Nirvana and Hindu Moksha. It can be noted that Buddha was raised in a rich family and he lived through the riches up to some point in his life when he realized that he wanted to discover something different.

    Read More

  • Hindu Religious Traditions

    1173 Words  | 3 Pages

    "In Hinduism, salvation is achieved through a spiritual oneness of the soul, atman, with the ultimate reality of the universe, Brahman. To achieve this goal, the soul must obtain moksha, or liberation from the samsara, the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. As a result of these basic teachings, Hindus believe in reincarnation, which is influenced by karma (material actions resulting from the consequences of previous actions), and dharma (fulfilling one's duty in life)"(Teachings and Beliefs, 2004, par. 1).

    Read More

  • The Similarities and Differences between Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism

    1179 Words  | 3 Pages

    Upon reading about the historical and religious background of Ancient India, one can clearly assume that the country was strongly influenced by three main religious teachings: Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. These three sects in religious thinking have many similarities as all recognize the life-cycle and the need of liberation, they worship one central deity that used to be a human who gained enlightenment and they all recognize the existence of the eternal soul and after-death re-incarnation. However, they also share a lot of differences that mark the underlying principles of practicing them. I will identify the scope of differences and similarities in these ancient religions in an attempt to understand why each attracted followers, why each was shaped a certain way and how they preserved the interest of followers on into the modern times as well.

    Read More

  • Comparing Christianity And Buddhism Salvation

    979 Words  | 2 Pages

    A comparative analysis of salvation in Christianity and Buddhism exposes stark contrasts between the grace of Jesus Christ and the self-saving action and enlightenment of Buddha. I attempt to compare the Christian and Buddhist concepts of salvation in this essay to emphasise on the significance of each founder's roles in salvation, and to extract similarities and differences between them both.

    Read More

  • A Reflection upon Creation: Hinduism and Buddhism

    1129 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hinduism has been a religion for a long time, the Buddha was a Hindu before seeing how terrible the world was, he then found the religion Buddhism. Since the creator of Buddhism was Hinduism as a child, it is only expected for the two religions to be similar. While the two religions are similar they are also quite different as seen by their creation stories. The creation stories are these religions way of explaining how the world started. With most religions the creation story gives the most basic beliefs of the religion as this is where their religion supposedly starts its life. The two stories this paper focuses on is no different, and since they technically have the same origin, it can be obvious as to how they would be similar. However, in the case of the idea of social order and moral decline, they can be different too.

    Read More

  • Essay On Hindu Culture

    1407 Words  | 3 Pages

    Today, Hinduism stands as India’s primary religion. In fact, India houses 90% of the world’s Hindi population and 79.8% of India’s population follows the Hindu religion, according to the 2011 census. It is thought by some to be the oldest religion in the world and the “eternal law” (Fowler). This culture is truly one as defined by Edward Taylor: “A complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, and any other capability and habit acquired by man as a member of society.” In order to have somewhat of an understanding about what the Hindu religion entails, one must study the Hindu conception of God, its basic concepts and key beliefs, as well as symbolism.

    Read More

  • Hindu Mythology

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hindu mythology has interesting theories on how the Earth was created and the reincarnation of people, Hinduism is very different to many other mythologies and has some unique key features that make it stand out from the rest. History tells that there are over 330 million gods in Hindu mythology. There are six main gods in Hinduism. Hindu’s have an interesting belief of what happens to them after death, the afterlife Hindus believe in must be met by accomplishing a goal. Hinduism is a unique belief in many gods, the life cycle and reincarnation of its people.

    Read More

  • Nature of God

    602 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Hinduism there is one ultimate God, Brahman, who lives within each individual. Hinduism is a belief system that is followed to help one find Atman, which is your personal part of Brahman inside of you. There are 330 million God/Goddesses that people can choose...

    Read More

  • Reflection Paper On Hinduism

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Hinduism some of the things I found most fascinating is that the idea of God in Hindu is compounded and how they worship. There is one Supreme God and his form is unlimited. The Supreme God’s qualities and forms are represented by the numerous deities that stem from him. The deities God can form can be either male or female, allowing Hindus to pray to a god or goddess.

    Read More

More about Hinduism And Salvation

Open Document