1. Hindus believe in the divinity of the Vedas, the world's most ancient scripture, and venerate the Agamas as equally revealed. These primordial hymns are God's word and the bedrock of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal religion which has neither beginning nor end.
2. Hindus believe in a one, all-pervasive Supreme Being who is both immanent and transcendent, both Creator and Unmanifest Reality.
3. Hindus believe that the universe undergoes endless cycles of creation, preservation and dissolution.
4. Hindus believe in karma, the law of cause and effect by which each individual creates his own destiny by his thoughts, words and deeds.
5. Hindus believe that the soul reincarnates, evolving through many births until all karmas have been resolved, and moksha, spiritual knowledge and liberation from the cycle of rebirth, is attained. Not a single soul will be eternally deprived of this destiny.
6. Hindus believe that divine beings exist in unseen worlds and that temple worship, rituals and sacraments as well as personal devotionals create a communion with these devas and Gods.
7. Hindus believe that a spiritually awakened master, or satguru,, is essential to know the Transcendent Absolute, as are personal discipline, good conduct, purification, pilgrimage, self-inquiry and meditation.
8. Hindus believe that all life is sacred, to be loved and revered, and therefore practice ahimsa, "non injury."
9. Hindus believe that no particular religion teaches the only way to salvation above all others, but that all genuine religious paths are facets of God's Pure Love and Light, deserving tolerance and understanding.
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The millions of gods:
Just as a single force in space can be mathematically conceived as having various spatial components, the Supreme Being or God, the personal form of the Ultimate Reality, is conceived by Hindus as having various aspects. A Hindu deity (god or goddess; note small g) represents a particular aspect of the Supreme Being. For example, Saraswati represents the learning and knowledge aspect of the Supreme Being. Thus, if a Hindu wants to pray for acquiring knowledge and understanding, he prays to Saraswati. Just as sunlight cannot have a separate and independent existence from the sun itself, a Hindu deity does not have a separate and independent existence from the Supreme Being. Thus, Hindu worship of deities is monotheistic polytheism and not simple polytheism.
Hindus declare that there is only one Supreme Being and He is the God of all religions. There is no "other God." Thus the Biblical Commandment "Thou shalt have no other God before me," really means, "Thou shalt not deny the Ultimate Reality or worship any power other than the Ultimate Reality."
Hindus view cosmic activity of the Supreme Being as comprised of three tasks: creation, preservation, and dissolution and recreation. Hindus associate these three cosmic tasks with the three deities, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Lord Brahma brings forth the creation and represents the creative principle of the Supreme Being. Lord Vishnu maintains the universe and represents the eternal principle of preservation. Lord Shiva represents the principle of dissolution and recreation. These three deities together form the Hindu Trinity.
One must clearly understand that Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are not three independent deities. They represent the same power (the Supreme Being), but in three different aspects. Just as a man may be called a doctor, father or husband based upon the tasks he performs, the Supreme Being is called Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva when conceived as performing the three different cosmic tasks of creation, preser-vation, and dissolution/recreation. "The oneness of the three gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva is brought out by the mystic symbol AUM where 'A' represents Vishnu, 'U' Shiva and 'M' Brahma."
Hindu religion is often labeled as a religion of 330 million gods. This misunderstanding arises when people fail to grasp the symbolism of the Hindu pantheon. According to the Hindu scriptures, living beings are not apart from God, since He lives in each and every one of them in the form of atman (BG 10.39). Thus each living being is a unique manifestation of God. In ancient times it was believed that there were 330 million living beings. This gave rise to the idea of 330 million deities or gods. Actually, this vast number of gods could not have been possibly worshipped, since 330 million names could not have been designed for them. The number 330 million was simply used to give a symbolic expression to the fundamental Hindu doctrine that God lives in the hearts of all living beings.
Caste system:
We learned how human kind can be divided in four general categories. There are those who can think and intellectualize; they are the Brahmins; these include people like Einstein and Gautama Sidhartha. Then there are those who have the capacity to rule; these include people like Winston Churchil or Adolph Hitler. There are others who can generate wealth; these include people like William Gates and the Walton family. Lastly there are people who derive pleasure in service and these are people like Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi.
These categories do not match each other as per the current caste system. Einstein a Jew , Gautama sidhartha a Kshatriya and Mother Teresa a Catholic. What happened? Is there a relationship between the Varna system that Krishna talked about in Gita and the caste system of today? There does not appear to be.
Let us accept that there are four different kinds of people. Let us accept Krishna’s classification that is to find the potential of these people when they are young and then give them appropriate opportunity. This is not as simple as it sounds. Aptitude detection is one of the hardest challenges we face. If we could channelize a singer into a music school and a painter into a painting school, life will be so wonderful for all of us.
The same thing happened 2500 years or so ago when the King found out that his son is going to be an ascetic. The infant was no other than Gautama Sidhartha, the future Buddha. A saint came and proclaimed to the King that his son will be a saint. The King could not accept the destiny. He tried to change the fate by shielding the boy from anything that could lead him to becoming a saint. The boy grew up and became an adult. He was shielded from seeing any old age and any one die. He saw one death and one old age and his life changed. A Brahmin (Gautama Buddha) was born in the family of Kshatriya and the Kshatriya King was unable to deal with this child (Sidhartha).
It is possible that a system was put in place long time ago to avoid such mishaps. A system could have put in place to facilitate a Brahmin temperament soul to find a suitable place where his potential will have a better chance of becoming accepted. The journey is not limited to one life. Our journey continues from one life to another ,we are going to die one day. We are not enlightened. Our journey is not finished yet. We have to come back. What can facilitate us to come to a family and society where we can progress further from where we stand today. A system in was placed in the society then. The society then understood the journey from life to life better than we do today. Our scriptures describe the devaloka and pitriloka as if they were in touch with each other. There were some people who had researched in those areas to an extent that they could communicate with those spaces.
It is therefore not inconceivable that this system in place created the caste system. The meaning was to facilitate different kinds of people to further themselves in their own areas. Accidents did happen in those times as well. Mahavira was born to a Kshatriya family as well. But, by and large the system worked well. This perhaps was one of the most important experiments performed in our history.
What went wrong? How vulnerable was this system. The result is in front of our eyes. The caste system of today has become a hierarchical system and has been totally corrupted and it is no wonder that it does not work. The Brahmins were revered. The King used to travel to the Brahmin. Raja Dasarath would go to Guru Vashishtha and listen to what he has to say. He will never go against what Guru Vashishtha has to say. Guru will also not say something because he wants a favor from the King. What happens now? Many Gurus are known today by which politicians go to them. They are not important because they have something divine in them. They are important because they keep company with the Prime Minister or some other such body.
The caste system of today has been corroded. Blames can be laid on several factors including the people in the higher pedestal at one time. The system is non-functional in strict sense. Varna system is no more there for last 2000 years. It has met a natural death. In its place a discriminatory Caste System was installed.
It is unfortunate that the experiment based on Varna system had to end this way. However, that does not mean the classification is wrong. There are still four categories of people. They are no easier to identify and the system in place is not that helpful for channeling their potentials. The Varna system of classification still is as true as it was in Krishna’s time. The caste system on the other hand has met its demise. This is the reality although there are those who wish it were otherwise.
Perhaps we should now blame Bible for discrimination against blacks & jews in Europe & America.
The movie Matrix trilogy can even be considered as an example to better understand some of the concepts of Hinduism. There are many parallels between The Matrix trilogy and Hindu philosophy. As a matter of fact the Wachowski brothers studied the Vedas & Upanishads before making the movie. Maya, Moksha, the concept of God and the balance of good and bad can all be understood through its well-known story. For those who haven’t seen the movies, The Matrix is about a computer hacker (Neo) who is given the knowledge by Morpheus that the world he was living in is not real, and just a simulation created by machines of the future. He races to save the city of the real world (Zion), created by others like him, from the machines.
Let’s start from the beginning of the story. Neo, a computer hacker, is wondering about what The Matrix is, after he hears about it in a chat room. It haunts him for a long time, until he meets Trinity, aide of Morpheus, who tells him how to find out. Neo asks her, "What is the Matrix?", to which Trinity replies, "Twelve years ago I met [Morpheus], a great man, who said that no one could be told the answer to that question. That they had to see it, to believe it." Morpheus here acts as a guru or teacher, a realized one who leads his followers to truth. He tells Neo exactly what Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said to Swami Vivekananda’s question, "What is God?" Hinduism says that God cannot be explained…the truth can only be experienced.
Then in the story, Morpheus shows and explains to Neo about the Matrix, the world from which he was living in before he got to the real world. Neo asks, "This isn't real?" To which Morpheus replies, "What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about your senses, what you feel, taste, smell, or see, then all you're talking about are electrical signals interpreted by your brain."
In Hinduism, this concept of the "Matrix" is called Maya. It is said that the world we live in is just an illusion, created by our minds. Our senses, feelings and emotions are just illusions we trick ourselves into believing in. In explaining Maya, Sankara very often refers to the example of the rope and the snake. As long as one mistakes a rope for a snake, he is frightened and reacts to the rope as if it were a real snake. When he realizes that what he sees is only a rope, he laughs.
The Hindu concept of God is the state in which one realizes that the world is just a Matrix, or Maya, and that everything around him is an illusion. This state is called Moksha, or Nirvana, which Neo attains in the movie after he realizes what the Matrix is.
Then, in the second movie, the maker calls Neo "an unbalanced equation". By this he is saying exactly what Hinduism believes. Good cannot be alone in this world. Without Bad, the earth will not spin. There has to be a balance of good and evil, of creation and destruction. One of our Gods, Shiva is called the destructor. Destruction is also necessary because "Everything that has a beginning has an end."
Hinduism is such a scientific way of life that it automatically applies to the modern world. To fully realize Hindu philosophy, we must do what a well known phrase says – "Wake up, Neo."
Source(s):
http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/
http://www.hinduwisdom.info/ http://www.kamakoti.org/newlayout/template/shlokas.html
http://www.hinduism.co.za/
http://www.bhavans.info/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/
http://www.ramakrishnavedantamath.org/publi.html
http://www.aurobindobooks.com/
Temple List
http://www.hindulinks.org/Temples_Yatra_and_Organizations/Temples_and_Ashrams/
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/index.htm
http://www.dharmicscriptures.org/
http://www.hinducounciluk.org/newsite/hindu-kids.asp
IF SOME OF THE LINKS DO NOT WORK
Try adding it to Google and see if you can find similar Links
http://vedabase.net/bg/
http://www.dharmicscriptures.org/scriptu...
http://www.karamsad.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_7615...
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Hinduism
http://www.floridavediccollege.edu/
http://www.hinduism.fsnet.co.uk/
http://www.hinduismtoday.com/
http://www.encyclopediaofauthentichindui.../
http://www.avatara.org/
http://faculty.washington.edu/kpotter/
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resource...
http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/
http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/F00...
http://www.geocities.com/lamberdar/_cast...
http://www.godrealized.com/
Taken from
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080202133518AAgtI9E
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Posted by 'kumara'
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