Religion Library: Hinduism

Hinduism is a collective term applied to the many philosophical and religious traditions native to India. Hinduism has neither a specific moment of origin nor a specific founder. Rather, the tradition understands itself to be timeless, having always existed. Indeed, its collection of sacred texts is known, as a whole, as Sanatana Dharma, "The Eternal Teaching." It is thus a complex tradition that encompasses numerous interrelated religious doctrines and practices that have some common characteristics but which lack any unified system of beliefs and practices. Hinduism encompasses a number of major sects, as well as countless subsects with local or regional variations. On one level, it is possible to view these sects as distinct religious traditions, with often very specific theologies and ritual traditions; on another level, however, they often understand themselves to be different means to reach a common end. The Hindu worldview is grounded in the doctrines of samsara (the cycle of rebirth) and karma (the universal law of cause and effect), and fundamentally holds that one's actions (including one's thoughts) directly determine one's life, both one's current life and one's future lives. Many, but not all, Hindus hold that the cosmos is populated by numerous deities and spiritual beings — gods and goddesses, or devas — who actively influence the world and who interact with humans. The tradition is typically divided into four major sects: Shaiva (devotees of the god Shiva), Vaishnava (devotees of the god Vishnu), Shakta (devotees of the goddess), and Smarta (those who understand the ultimate form of the divine to be abstract and all encompassing, Brahman).


 Hinduism has neither a specific moment of origin nor a specific founder. Rather, the tradition understands itself to be timeless, having always existed. Indeed, its collection of sacred texts is known, as a whole, as Sanatana Dharma, "The Eternal Teaching." At the beginning of each new cosmic age, or yuga, the core of these teachings is (re)revealed to human beings by the gods.
Some texts posit that the first human to receive the sacred texts is Manu, and so in some sense he is understood to be the founder of the tradition, although it is important to note that he is not the author of the texts, only their recipient. The great epic the Mahabharata says that Manu, as the first human, is thus the progenitor of all future Hindus.
Many of the numerous sub-sects and sub-schools that conglomerate to form the religion we know as Hinduism do, however, have individual founders. The Advaita Vedanta school of philosophy, for instance, which for many modern Hindus articulates the core philosophical principles of Hinduism, is often said to have been founded by Shankara Acharya in the late 8th century C.E. Shankara is credited with authoring some of the most important commentaries on key sacred texts, particularly the Upanishads commentaries that later became the basis for many of the devotional (bhakti) and meditational (yoga) principles and practices of later Hinduism. The core of his teachings is that there is no essential difference between the divine principle of the cosmos (Brahman) and the material and human realm. Shankara argued that what we think of as "the world" is merely an illusion, and that through knowledge (jnana) we are able to cut through this illusion and realize union with Brahman (called moksha).

Six branches of Hindu philosophy

1. Samkhya
2. Yoga
3. Nyaya
4. Vaisheshika
5. Mimamsa
6. Vedanta

FOUR MAJOR SECTS OF HINDUISM

Shaiva Vaishnava Shakta Smarta

Hinduism encompasses a number of major sects, as well as countless subsects with local or regional variations. On one level, it is possible to view these sects as distinct religious traditions, often with very specific theologies and ritual traditions; on another level, however, they can understand themselves to be different means to reach a common end. Likewise, although there is a wide variety of theological and ritual variance within Hinduism, it would not really be accurate to call any single movement, after the major breaks with Buddhism and Jainism, a schism.
It is typically held that Hinduism has four major sects: Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakta, and Smarta. Although this is in a sense technically accurate, it is also only one of many potential ways of classifying the varieties within Hinduism. In practice, these divisions often overlap, and individual Hindus do not necessarily define themselves in such terms.



Quick Fact Details:

• Formed: The exact beginnings of Hinduism are impossible to determine, since they evolved as time and culture impacted the religious ideas of early India.
• Deity: Many Hindus recognize a vast diversity of gods and goddesses; others believe in a Hindu "trinity" (trimurti): Brahman, Vishnu, Shiva; yet others claim an essential monotheism, believing that all the gods are manifestations of one.

Quick Fact Sources include www.adherents.com, www.bbc.co.uk/religion, The Oxford Handbook of Global Religions (2006), The Encyclopedia of Religion (2005), the Religious Movements Page at the University of Virginia, The Cambridge Illustrated History of Religions (2002), and the Encyclopedia of World Religions (1999).