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(Brahma, Hindu god of Creation. This is a carving from the temple in Halebidu) |
NAME: HINDUISM (Often called Sanatana Dharma by followers). Hinduism is broken up into smaller categories such as: Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism, Smartism, Bhakti movement.
FOUNDER: Historical roots of Hinduism comes from the Vedic Religion. Because of this people claim it is the "Oldest living tradition in the world."
MEMBERS: In a 1998 article of the "Christian Science Monitor", it lists Hinduism as the 3rd largest Religion in the world with approximately 781 million followers. Vaishnavism would be the Hindu Tradition with the largest following.
SACRED WRITINGS: Shruti, Smritis, Puranas (part of the Smritis writings), Rigveda, Brahmanas, Upanishads etc.
HINDU VIEWS
GOD: Hinduism would reject the Historicity of the Bible and te Biblical God of the universe, resorting to their own Hindu god. Unlike other groups it can be difficult to state exactly the view of God to Hindus. Some hold to pantheism, monotheism or polytheism. Yet they all seem to worship some form of the supreme Hindu God: Brahman (Vedanta)
Vaishnavism - This tradition would hold to a monotheistic view worshiping Vishnu (The Supreme god. Vishnu is described as having 4 arms which hold a mace, conch, lotus and chakra (wheel) and has a "universal form"
Saivism -- This tradition consists of those who primarily worship the god Siva as the supreme God. They consider Shiva to have the ability to be with or without form and have no beginning or end. This tradition also focuses greatly on meditation, love and yoga.
Shaktism -- This tradition (one of the oldest) worships the god "Shakti", the divine Mother. This god Shakti can take on many forms such as:
Kali -- goddess of death and destruction. Considered today as the goddess of time and change( sometimes presented though as dark and violent)
Durga -- Depicted as a goddess having 10 arms. Name basically means "the invinsible". It can also be stated as one who rescues in utmost distress.
Laxmi -- the goddess of wealth and prosperity. (Some of the earliest depictions of Laxmi (Lakshmi) is found in Buddist Monuments).
Saraswati -- goddess of music, art and knowledge.
Smartism -- This tradition has the "freedom" to worship any diety they feel they should worship. They do worship the supreme Hindu God: Brahman, but any any of the 6 manefestations they want (Shiva, Shakti, Vishnu, Surya, and Skanda)
THE TRINITY: Hinduism would reject the Trinity of the Bible. Hindu's do have their own form of Trinity. The name of their Supreme god is Brahman who is then split up into three part: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. There is also the goddess form of the Hindu Trinity. The three goddesses formed are called the Tridevi. The three Hindu goddesses are: Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati(or Durga).
JESUS CHRIST: Hindu's do not view Jesus Christ as the true, eternal Son of God. Gandhi could write:
...My Christian friends have told me on more than a few occasions that because I do not accept Christ as the only son of God, it is impossible for me to understand the profound significance of his teachings....What then does Jesus mean to me? To me he was one of the greatest teacher’s humanity has ever had. To his believers he was God’s only begotten son. Could the fact that I do or do not accept this belief make Jesus have any more or less influence in my life? Is all the grandeur of his teaching and of his doctrine to to be forbidden to me? I cannot believe so.
HOLY SPIRIT: N/A
VIRGIN BIRTH: N/A
SALVATION: One of the prodminant views of Hinduism is called: Samsara. Where the Karma (actions) of the person is calculated to determine what type of life they will have when they are re-born upon earth. The goal of the Hindu though is to gain salvation or "Moksha" by freeing themself from all "bad things". They can gain their salvation by "love", "pshyco-physical meditation through different forms of yoga. Biblical Christianity makes it very clear that salvation is alone through Jesus Christ, and we are incapable of doing anything to save ourselves.
HEAVEN: The Biblical view of Heaven is not at all like the Hindu view of "heaven" which they call "Moksha". which is basically meaning to "let loose". To get out of the cycle of Samsara. It's not the goal of Hindus to continue in the cycle of reincarnation. They wish to reach Moksha, a place of higher conscience. In a place where energy, matter, space and time no longer matter.
HELL: Hinduism has a number of different views on Hell. One major view is that there is a god named Yamaraj who presides over Hell (he is also the god of death). Within the court's of Yamaraj is Chitragupta who is the record keeper of everyone's sins. Yamarj has a list of punishments for people including things such as dipping them in boiling water, torturing with various weapons and burning them in fire. After a short period of punishment the person is then released and reborn based off their Karma. It is possible though for a person who have lived an overall good life to just pay punishment for one or two sins and then move right on to Moksha. Once again this view is completely contrary as well to the Bible. Which makes it clear that there is no person other then God in control of hell. It is a place where people are judged for their sins and rejection of Christ and there is no trial period. It is for eternity.
SIN: Sin to Hindus generally means actions that result in negative karma. This may come about from violating moral or ethical laws. Shaivite guru Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami in his book "Dancing with Siva" explains that sin is not a transgression against God, but against divine law/ moral order. This is completely against the teachings of Biblical Christians that teach that Sin is against God and we must answer to God for our sin, or put our trust in Him for Salvation.
INSPIRATION/AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE: N/A
THE RAPTURE: N/A
THE SECOND COMING:
Vishnu -- This god as mentioned earlier is held by some Hindus as the one supreme god. They also teach that he has appeared to the world on a number of times. So far according to some sources atleast 22 times One of the visits of Vishnu according to Hindu tradition is Prithu. They consider him as the first consecrated king. The earth received her name from Prithu according to Hindu Tradition. He also supposedly restored herbs and foodgrains to the earth.
There have been many other incarnations by Vishnu, Hindu's claim. But they are still waiting for the major one. The next one he wil be born as Kalki. Some believe that the last incarnation of Vishnu as Kalki, Vishnu will appear either on a white horse or as a white horse. At this time they claim that Vishnu will rid the world of evil and restore rigtheousness. |
