According to historians, the origin of Hinduism dates back to 5,000 or more years. The word "Hindu" is derived from the name of River Indus, which flows through north-western India. In ancient times the river was called the "Sindhu", but the Persians who migrated to India called the river "Hindu," the land "Hindustan" (Sanskrit, Hindi), and its inhabitants "Hindus". Thus the daily life practices evolved as the religion followed by the Hindus came to be known as "Hinduism
What is Hinduism
Hinduism is a term for a wide variety of related religious traditions native to India. Historically, it encompasses the development of Religion in India since the Iron Age traditions, which in turn hark back to prehistoric religions such as that of the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilization followed by the Vedic religion.
What is Hindu philosophy
Hindu philosophy had six branches, evolving from about the 2nd century BCE to the 6th century CE, viz. Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa, and Vedanta. Monotheistic religions like Shaivism and Vaishnavism developed during this same period through the Bhakti movement.
Supreme court defines Hinduism
In 1995 The Supreme Court of India highlighted Bal Gangadhar Tilak's formulation of Hinduism's defining features: Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence; Recognition of the fact that the means or ways to salvation are diverse; and the realization of the truth that the number of gods to be worshipped is large, that indeed is the distinguishing feature of Hindu religion.
Hinduism is Sanatana Dharma
Hinduism is often referred to as Sanatana Dharma meaning 'the eternal path'. The belief is a conglomerate of religious, philosophical and cultural ideas characterized by the belief in reincarnation, the path to righteousness, and the desire to liberate from the cycle of births and deaths.
Hinduism is Human Dharma
Hinduism rests on the spiritual bedrock of the Vedas, hence Veda Dharma, and their mystic issue, the Upanishads, as well as the teachings of many great Hindu gurus through the ages. Many streams of thought flow from the six Vedic/Hindu schools, Bhakti sects and Tantra Agamic schools into the one ocean of Hinduism, the first of the Dharma religions.
Dharma is foundation of Hinduism
Dharma, a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law", by its adherents. Hindu beliefs vary widely, with concepts of God and/or gods ranging from Panentheism, pantheism, monotheism, polytheism, and atheism with Vishnu and Shiva being the most popular deities. Other notable characteristics include a belief in reincarnation and karma, as well as personal duty, or dharma.
Gayatri Mantra raises the Human consciousness
Aum bhur bhuvah svah Tat savitur varenyam Bhargo devasya dhimahi Dhiyo yo nah pracodayat
For Dharmic man life is a Delight
From Delight we came into existence.
In Delight we grow.
At the end of our journey’s close,
Into Delight we retire.
Dharma is foundation of Hinduism
Dharma, a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law", by its adherents. Hindu beliefs vary widely, with concepts of God and/or gods ranging from Panentheism, pantheism, monotheism, polytheism, and atheism with Vishnu and Shiva being the most popular deities. Other notable characteristics include a belief in reincarnation and karma, as well as personal duty, or dharma.
Chandogya Upanishad on origin of Life
"In the beginning was only Being,
One without a second.
Out of himself he brought forth the cosmos
And entered into everything in it.
There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that."
Every Man’s Prayer
Lead me from the unreal to the Real.
Lead me from darkness unto Light.
Lead me from death to Immortality.
Concentration is Meditations
The earth seems to rest in silent meditation; and the waters and the sky and the heavens seem all to be in meditation." On Earth, those who reach greatness achieve it through concentration.
Who Is God
"He is everlasting and omnipresent, infinite in the great and infinite in the small. He is the Eternal whom the sages see as the source of all creation.
What is Creation Veda Upanishad
Where there is joy there is creation. Where there is no joy there is no creation: know the nature of joy.
Your future life is decided by..
Live in accordance with our deep, driving desire. It is this desire at the time of death that determines what our next life is to be. We will come back to earth to work out the satisfaction of that desire.
From Mortal to Immortal
When all the desires that surge in the heart Are renounced, the mortal becomes immortal. When all the knots that strangle the heart Are loosened, the mortal becomes immortal, Here in this very life.
Truth alone Triumphs
Whatever takes form is false.
Only the formless endures.
Truth alone triumphs.
Who is Infinite
For God is infinite,
Within the body and without,
Like a mirror,
And the image in a mirror.
Ashtavakra Gita 1: 18-20
As the air is everywhere,
Flowing around a pot
And filling it,
So God is everywhere,
Filling all things
And flowing through them forever.
Ashtavakra Gita
I am boundless space.
The world is a clay pot.
This is the truth.
There is nothing to accept,
Nothing to reject,
Nothing to dissolve.
Sri Ramakrishna
The formless Absolute is my Father, and God with form is my Mother.” God reveals Himself in the form which His devotee loves most. His love for the devotee knows no bounds.
Tirukkural on Compassion
Find and follow the good path and be ruled by compassion.
For if the various ways are examined, compassion will prove the means to liberation.
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.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948
After long study and experience, I have come to the conclusion that all religions are true; all religions have some error in them; all religions are almost as dear to me as my own Hinduism, in as much as all human beings should be as dear to one
The Mahabharata on Highest Human Dharma
Do not to others what ye do not wish Done to yourself; and wish for others too What ye desire and long for, for yourself. This is the whole of righteousness, heed it well.
Rig Veda
When there is harmony between the mind, heart and resolution then nothing is impossible
“One should performed his deeds for the benefit of mankind with an unbiased approach because of bias gives birth to evil, which creates thousands of obstacles in our path.
Rig Veda
“ Ego is the biggest enemy of humans.
People who are soft spoken and truthful are loved by all. ”
A person can achieve everything by being simple and humble.”
By getting up early in the morning one also gets more time at his disposal for work as compared to late-risers. Scholar and thinkers get up early in the morning and contemplate
Rig Veda
One should, perform karma with nonchalance without expecting the benefits because sooner or later one shall definitely gets the fruits. ~
People accept only that person as their leader who is radiant with good knowledge and karma (deeds). ~
Rig Veda
One should be cautions not to speak anything that hurts others. Such kind of speech never helps but always brings destruction. ”
“The main factor behind success is - self control.
Rig Veda
Kindled in various forms, the perennial flame is One; sprinkling the world with golden beams at dawn; painting the evening clouds with changing colors, the sun is one.
Swami Vivekananda
You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.”
Swami Vivekananda
We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far
Swami Vivekananda
“The goal of mankind is knowledge ... Now this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside: it is all inside. What we say a man 'knows', should, in strict psychological language, be what he 'discovers' or 'unveils'; what man 'learns' is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.”
Swami Vivekananda
Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin to say that you are weak, or others are weak.
Dharma basis of Hinduism
Dharma is God's divine law prevailing on every level of existence, from the sustaining cosmic order to religious and moral laws which bind us in harmony with that order. Every form of life, every group of men, has its dharma, the law of its being. Related to the soul, dharma is the mode of conduct most conducive to spiritual advancement, the right and righteous path.
Dharma is Divine Law
When we follow dharma, we are in conformity with the Truth that inheres and instructs the universe, and we naturally abide in closeness to God. A dharma is opposition to divine law. Dharma is to the individual what its normal development is to a seed--the orderly fulfilment of an inherent nature and destiny.
What is superior
The desires are superior to the senses, the mind is superior to the desires, the intuition (understanding) is superior to the mind, the great Self is superior to the intuition.
Controlling self remain the Highest Yoga
The senses, they say, are the horses; the objects of sense, what they range over..
He who is ever of unrestrained mind, devoid of true understanding, his sense-desires then become uncontrollable like the wild horses of a charioteer.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Hinduism has made marvellous discoveries in things of religion, of the spirit, of the soul. We have no eye for these great and fine discoveries. We are dazzled by the material progress that Western science has made. Ancient India has survived because Hinduism was not developed along material but spiritual lines
Mother Sarada Devi,
Hinduism does not see sins, but only mistakes
Why I am a Hindu Mahatma Gandhi
I am a Hindu because it is Hinduism which makes the world worth living. I am a Hindu hence I Love not only human beings, but all living beings
Hinduism is Spiritual Progress
Hinduism has made marvellous discoveries in things of religion, of the spirit, of the soul. We have no eye for these great and fine discoveries. We are dazzled by the material progress that Western science has made. Ancient India has survived because Hinduism was not developed along material but spiritual lines
Mahatma Gandhi
Sri Aurobindo
Hinduism.....gave itself no name, because it set itself no sectarian limits; it claimed no universal adhesion, asserted no sole infallible dogma, set up no single narrow path or gate of salvation; it was less a creed or cult than a continuously enlarging tradition of the God ward endeavor of the human spirit. An immense many-sided and many staged provision for a spiritual self-building and self-finding, it had some right to speak of itself by the only name it knew, the eternal religion, Santana Dharma...."
Wilhelm von Humboldt
Bhagvad-Gita is the most beautiful, perhaps the only true philosophical song existing in any known tongue…....perhaps the deepest and loftiest thing the world has to show.
Ralph Waldo Emerson on Bhagwad Gita
It is sublime as night and a breathless ocean. It contains every religious sentiment, all the grand ethics which visit in turn each noble poetic mind…
Voltaire on Sacred Land
I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges, - astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis, etc."
Dr. Annie Besant
After a study of some forty years and more of the great religions of the world, I find none so perfect, none so scientific, none so philosophic, and none so spiritual as the great religion known by the name of Hinduism. The more you know it, the more you will love it; the more you try to understand it, the more deeply you will value it”
Dr. Annie Besant
After a study of some forty years and more of the great religions of the world, I find none so perfect, none so scientific, none so philosophic, and none so spiritual as the great religion known by the name of Hinduism. The more you know it, the more you will love it; the more you try to understand it, the more deeply you will value it”
Will Durant Hinduism teaches Love for all
Perhaps in return for conquest, arrogance and spoliation, India will teach us the tolerance and gentleness of the mature mind, the quiet content of the unacquisitive soul, the calm of the understanding spirit, and a unifying, a pacifying love for all living things."
Hinduism continues to Inspire Great thinkers in the World in spite of several Religious beliefs
