Hinduism – Various facets – an introduction…

Hinduism, one of the oldest religions of the world, is a vast religion with multiple facets. It is said that it is not really a religion, but ‘Sanatana Dharma‘ — the eternal, righteous way. For the less-informed, Hinduism may look too confusing, too complicated to understand and too contradictory in its percepts and practices. Even many Hindus do not know the exalted philosophies of the religion.

In Hinduism, God is the creator, protector and destroyer. He is amenable for worship with different names and forms. He is at the same time beyond name and form, omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient called Brahman.

There are 3 different schools of philosophies interpreting the relationship of individual soul with God. At the ultimate level of spiritual knowledge called Advaita, Individual soul (Jivatman) and God (Brahman) are one and same.

As regards the source books of scriptures for core spiritual knowledge, there are 4 Vedas (inclusive of Upanishads) – also known as Shruti and there are other scriptures in the form of stories and sastras called Smriti.  Itihas and puranas (mythological stories) come under smriti.

There are lot more aspects and tenets in Hinduism. To get a bird’s eye view of Hinduism and its various facets, please click the specific article shown in the Featured Articles listed below.

Under the various Facets of Hinduism, this site covers lots of sub-titles.