Hinduism Philosophies
The life,religion and philosophies of India are expressed through an amazing rich mixture of Ideas,practices and social customs that have developed over thousands of years.Hinduism,which includes schools of philosophy and mysticism,is constantly evolving even today.
Hinduism is one of the world's major religions. The ancestors of Hindus were known as Araya Dharma- the religion of the Aryans, and Sanskrit as the language spoken by Indo- Aryans. The Aryans called their religion Manava Dharma or Religion of Man, meaning that it as not an exclusive religion of Aryans, but was meant for the whole mankind. Another name was Sanatama Dharma- The Eternal Religion,illustrating belief that the religion was based on Eternal truths. The name Hinduism came much later. The common border between Persia and ancient India was the river Indus, Called in Sanskrit, Sindhu. The Persians could not pronounce Sindhu correctly;they pronounced Hindu. Thus the religion of the Aryans became known as Hinduism.
Key Concepts :
Hindu thought argues that there is multipicity of gods. beyond this multipicity there are three gods who represent complementry aspects of life : Brahma- The Creator ; Vishnu - Sustainer; shiva- the destroyer. but beyond these there is the idea of brahman. This denotes ultimate reality , which includes the whole universe with its multiplicity of gods and goddesses. Brahman is seen as the invisible reality within and around everything. All other gods represent limited aspects of brahman and make him visible.
Similarly, there are images of goddesses : Saraswati, Laxmi and Parvati respectively, who are taken to represent very different aspects of life; that represents famine power(Shakti)
Brahman is represented by the syllable OM(or Aum). Hindu chants this slowly , the sound rising through three progressive tones from chest , the throat and finally heads. It is believed to be the vibration of the life -giving energies of the whole universe, emitting from Brahman, but it also represent a gathering together of the whole of the individual in a single expression. This claim, that the chanted syllable is infact in touch with the universeal, reinforces he basic view in the Upanishads of identity of brahman and the self or Atman.
It is religious symbol for the fundamental unified (monistic) view of reality. To sum up, Hindu thought that there are a multiplicity of gods,each of which is a way of representing the single ultimate reality,which is called Brahman.Had it been a religion with specific founder,it would have been hard for Hinduism to undergo the kind of evolution it has experiences during the past many thousands years. Various saints and divine incarnations at different times have appeared on the stage,played their individual roles and enriched Hinduism with their teachings.The saints and maharishis have given validity to the scriptural through their own spiritual experiences , because they had seen those truths with their purified minds. The saints or sages, in their context of Hinduism, have directly experienced God (Pramatama) in this lifetime.`
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