HINDU BELIEFS Hinduism is a vast and profound religion. It worships one Supreme Reality (called by many names) and teaches that all souls ultimately realize Truth. There is no eternal hell, no damnation. It accepts all genuine spiritual paths -- from pure monism ("God alone exists") to theistic dualism ("When shall I know His Grace?"). Each soul is free to find his own way, whether by devotion, austerity, meditation (yoga) or selfless service. Stress is placed on temple worship, scripture and the guru-disciple tradition. Festivals, pilgrimage, chanting of holy hymns and home worship are dynamic practices. Love, nonviolence, good conduct and the law of dharma define the Hindu path. Hinduism explains that the soul reincarnates until all karmas are resolved and God Realization is attained. The magnificent holy temples, the peaceful piety of the Hindu home, the subtle metaphysics and the science of yoga all play their part. Hinduism is a mystical religion, leading the devotee to personally experience the Truth within, finally reaching the pinnacle of consciousness where man and God are one. The spiritual goal of a Hindu is to become one with Brahma, thus ceasing to exist in illusory form. This freedom is referred to as moksha.

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Until moksha is achieved, a Hindu believes that he/she will be repeatedly reincarnated in order that he/she may work towards self-realization of the truth (the truth being that only Brahman exists, nothing else). How a person is reincarnated is determined by karma, which is basically a principle of cause and effect promoting balance. What one did in the past affects and corresponds with what happens in the future, past and future lives included.

The ultimate goal of all Hindus is release (moksha) from the cycle of rebirth (samsara). For those of a devotional bent, this means being in God's presence, while those of a philosophical persuasion look forward to uniting with God as a drop of rain merges with the sea.

	ATMAN: Though casually described as the self, atman is actually the eternal within us. You could call it the spirit or soul that is enshrined in every human being. When an individual attains moksha, his atman is believed to merge with the divine or the universal consciousness.
	DHARMA: Derived from the Sanskrit root dhara (to bear, to support, to maintain), dharma literally means `that which is established by law, duty or custom’. When used in the context of Hinduism, it implies an order of values which links the individual to the social and the cosmic. Hindus believe that each act bears certain consequences in individual, social, ethical and cosmic terms. A dharmic act, therefore, is one that brings positive results.
	FOUR ASHRAMS: The four ashrams or stages of life prescribed for a Hindu presume that a person will live to a good 100 years. The first 25 years are set aside for learning, the next for life as a householder, then comes the quarter dedicated to self-control and abstinence and the last quarter involves renunciation or withdrawal from the world.
	KARMA: Actions or deeds performed by an individual in a lifetime. In fact, karma is believed to accrue from past births. Moksha simply cannot be attained till one has neither good nor bad deeds to one’s credit.
	MANTRA: A sacred syllable or ritual incantation which is believed to have the power to convert word into reality, like the root mantra Om which is supposed to be the sound of the vibration of the world when it was being created.
	MAYA: Generally the illusion that this tangible world is the real world and success herein the ultimate goal of life. According to Hinduism the real world is the world of the soul, not of the body and the senses.
	MOKSHA: Final release or liberation of a soul from the endless cycle of death and rebirth.
	SAMADHI: The internal ecstasy attained through meditation by a yogi (someone who has renounced the world to lead a life of meditation). This is usually the final stage of ecstasy when the soul transcends the human body to merge with the cosmos.
	SAMSARA: The endless cycle of death and rebirth which believes that a soul is reincarnated till it has evolved enough to attain moksha.
	SAMSKARAS: A Hindu is expected to perform certain rituals throughout this life from the moment of conception of life to death. Numbering to about 40, these samskaras include a child’s naming ceremony, marriage and the funeral rites performed by the off-spring of the dead.
	SUPERSTITIONS:
	TANTRA: Religious texts that describe an esoteric path to enlightenment. However, tantra is usually understood as a term with negative connotations. In this context it refers to sorceress practices that center around the cult of the goddess and may involve sexual orgies.
	YANTRA: A symbolic diagram used as an aid to meditation usually associated to tantra. A condensed symbol of the cosmos; abstract lines, shapes and colors go into the making of a yantra.
	YOGA: Yoga can broadly be described as the method of attaining the ultimate goal (liberation of soul from the body) by mastering the body, the senses and the mind through physical exercises and meditation.

Hinduism is generally regarded as the world's oldest organized religion and believes in one God called Brahman which is the unchanging reality of all things in this universe. God to the Hindus is not remote but can be discovered by looking within. Some may know God as omnipresent and impersonal, the infinite light of existence that is the true nature of the Self, whereas others need to experience God on an intimate human level. Yogananda tell us that God is both personal and impersonal and explains that Jesus was a personal manifestation of God. When Jesus said “I and my Father are one” and “These things that I do, you can do also” He was revealing to us that we are all made in this image of Divinity.

Hinduism believes in One God, but asserts that the One God can appear to humans in multiple names and forms. For the Hindu chanting the name of or worshiping the forms of God is a valid way to experience contact with the divine. They may chant the names of Shiva, Krishna, Ram and the many thousands of names of God but would equally feel at home chanting the name Jesus or Buddha as all holy personages are valued by this faith. Where they differ from other religions is that they do not consider their path to be the only way to God.

Some Hindus begin the day with a visit to the neighborhood temple; others adhere to fasts and rituals. While some go on pilgrimages and bathe in holy rivers; still others declare all rituals redundant. Hinduism thrives and revels in all its contradictions. Within its elastic structure, it allows great flexibility and is much more tolerant than any other religion of the world.

The key scriptures are the Vedas, and these were continued in the Upanishads. The most important sacred text for most Hindus, however, is the Bhagavad Gita, a Sanskrit poem consisting of 700 verses divided into 18 chapters. The text is part of a larger collection, the sixth book of the Mahabharata, an ancient and sweeping epic depicting the cosmos and humanity, and constituting the primary historical influence on Hindu culture. The other major epic is the Ramayana.

Because Brahma is in everything, Hindus believe that ultimately they themselves are gods, and will often worship themselves as an extension of Brahma. All of reality outside of Brahman is considered mere illusion.

In Hinduism, there is not just one purpose of human life, but four:

Dharma - fulfilling one's purpose
Artha - prosperity
Kama - desire, sexuality, enjoyment
Moksha - enlightenment.

Contemporary Hinduism is divided into four major divisions, Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. The denominations all believe in one God but differ in their conceptions.

Look to this day!
For it is Life, the very Breath of Life.
In its brief course lie all the varieties
And realities of your existence :
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendor of beauty.
For yesterday is already a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision;
But today well-lived, makes every
Yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well therefore to this day!
Such is the salutation of the dawn.

Sanskrit Verse