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Hinduism
Complex and Overlapping
• No single founder
• No single sacred text
• No single start-date
– Hinduism probably began to form when Aryans
combined their religious beliefs and gods with the
gods of the Indus civilization
– Later people added their own gods, beliefs, and
traditions
Brahman
• One underlying force
– “God is one, but wise people knowit by many
names”
– Everything is part of an unchanging, all-powerful
spiritual force called brahman
– The various Hindu gods giver concrete form to
brahman
– Each god can take many forms
Most important gods
•
•
•
•
Brahma: The Creator
Vishnu: The Preserver
Shiva: the Destroyer
Shakti: powerful goddess that is both kind and
cruel; a creator and a destroyer
Brahma
Vishnu
Shiva
Shakti
Sacred Texts
• Hindu teachings recorded in the Vedas
• Upanishads: section of the Vedas that answer
questions related to Hinduism
• Bhagavad-Gita: literary work that represents
Hindu beliefs
Main Beliefs
• Atman: every person’s essential self (either
the same as brahman or a form of brahman)
• Ultimate goal of existence: achieve moksha
(union with brahma)
• To achieve moksha, people must free
themselves from selfish desires, because
selfish desires keep them away from brahman
• Most cannot achieve moksha in one lifetime,
which is why they get many chances…
More Main Beliefs
• Reincarnation: belief that a soul is reborn after death
into another bodily form
• Soul can be reborn into any sentient (thinking) being
– Can be a human or an animal
– Can’t be a plant, because a plant can’t make selfish or
unselfish decisions
• In the new body, the soul keeps working toward
moksha
• Dharma: religious and moral duties of an individual… if
it’s followed, progress can be made towards moksha
More More Main Beliefs
• A person comes closer to moksha by obeying the
law of Karma
• Karma: actions of a person’s life that affect his or her
fate in the next life
• All existence is ranked
Brahman
– Bad karma leads to
Being reborn at a
Lower level!
- Good karma
Leads to a higher
Level!
Humans
Animals
Plants
Rocks
Hinduism Today
• Most Hindus are vegetarians… why?
• Many Hindus are nonviolent (all people and
things are forms of brahman and must be
respected)
• One of the most famous Hindus was Mohandas
Gandhi, who lead a nonviolent protest against
British rule in India. He’s often referred to as
“Mahatma,” which is a Hindu word meaning
“Great Soul”
• About 14% of the world today follows Hinduism…
that’s 950 million people!