Whey 0 Report post Posted April 5, 2001 Hello there For a philosophy assignment, I am required to research Hinduism and explain it to my class. I am looking forward to this assignment! I was hoping someone in here could give me the basic outline of Hinduism and what it is based on. I was wondering how important the Bhagavad Ghita is considered to be by Hindus, and also if it is considered to be the word of God. Thank you very much for your help. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
animesh 0 Report post Posted April 5, 2001 Dear Whey, There are many people on this forum who can make very good contribution towards this topic, but it is just not possible to explain Hinduism in detail in a short time. No matter, how much one explains, we can not do justice to the philosophies of Hinduism. Having said that, let me write some thing about Hinduism. But, as I have written above, whatever I am going to write should be considered less than tip of the iceberg. There is no human being who can be considered as the founder of Hinduism. There are many scriptures who are considered to be holy books by Hindus. Of course, while doing research on Hinduism, you will come to know about many sages of ancient India. They are respected, but they are not considered to be founders of Hinduism. Regarding Bhagwat Gita, it is considered to be very very important by Hindus. It will not be an exaggeration if I say that it is considered to be the most important of all hly books in Hinduism. The reason is that devotees consider this to be the epitome of Vedas. And yes, it is considered to be the word of God. The teachings of Gita were imparted to great warrior Arjun by Sri Krishna. It is said that God came on earth as Krishna to save righteousness and demolish unrighteousness. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
animesh 0 Report post Posted April 5, 2001 Out of many scriptures in Hinduism, Vedas are considered to be the oldest. In fact, it is believed that the teachings of Vedas are eternal transcedental sound. Nobody is considered to be the author of Vedas. Sometimes you will come across some articles which give some dates on which Vedas were written. But these articles can only tell when the Vedas were presented in printed form. But Indian sages had knowledge about the teachings of Vedas even before that, even if they may not have written them down. In ancient India, pupils had to live near their guru and gain knowledge. Knowledge was imparted orally, so there was no need of writing. Latter on writing was also used. It is said that the great sage Ved Vyasa wrote the four Vedas, viz. Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Saam Veda and Atharv Veda. What it really means is that Ved Vyasa wrote the teachings in the Veda in systematic form for easy understanding of people, but the knowledge in the Vedas were known to sages even before Ved Vyasa. As I have written above, Vedic knowledge is considered to be eternal. The Vedas contain hymns, prayers, rituals, blessings. They also contain righteous way of leading one's life. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
animesh 0 Report post Posted April 5, 2001 The concept of reincarnation (rebirth) in Hinduism _______ In Hinduism, there is concept of atman i.e. soul. It is believed that soul does not take birth and does not die. As a person changes clothes, so a soul changes body. When a person dies, then only body and not the soul dies. The soul again enters into a new body, thus resulting in reincarnation. The kind of body one will get in the next life depends on one's actions in the present life. This cycle of birth and death continues till one gets liberation from wordly bondage. After that he is not born again. Rather he goes back to God. There he gets absolute and eternal bliss. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gauracandra 1 Report post Posted April 6, 2001 Hi Whey, Actually this is a question that comes up alot in these forums. In my opinion it is really a matter of semantics. Perhaps you should check out the topic titled "Who is a Hindu?" in these forums a little while back. You'll get a number of responses to this question. As for the Bhagavad-Gita being the word of God, the very title means "Song of God", so I think that applies. Gauracandra Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Love 0 Report post Posted April 6, 2001 Dear Whey, Try this site out: http://members.tripod.com/lkisslay I have got works of one of the greatest Indian philosophers, Mr. Nirmal Kumar (just a couple of chapters) that may be of help. He has written more than 25 books on Hindu philosophy and culture. If you will be interested you could try locating his books. Some of his books that I know of are: The Tao of Psychology Philosophy of Being Human Sikh Religion and Philosophy among many others. Cheers Love Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Whey 0 Report post Posted April 7, 2001 Thanks very much to all of yoou. That was extremely helpful Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
