Hinduism is the name given to a family of religions and cultures that
began and still flourish in India.
Like other Eastern religions, it doesn't fit comfortably into the same
box as Western religions like Christianity.
Hindus do not separate religion from other aspects of life. For Hindus
in India, Hinduism is an inextricable part of their existence, a
complete approach to life that involves social class, earning a living,
family, politics, diet, etc., in addition to the things Westerners view
as religious.
The word "Hindu" comes from the name of the river Indus, which flows
1800 miles from Tibet through Kashmir and Pakistan to the sea.
Originally the name referred to people living in a particular region of
the world, regardless of their faith; so in the 18th century someone
could quite sensibly be described as a "Hindu Muslim".
There are 750 million Hindus in the world, and most of them live in
India. In the UK there are 400,000 Hindus, 160,000 of whom are active in
their faith.
Hinduism includes a very wide range of beliefs and practices, so there
aren't many things that are common to all Hindu groups. However they all
have a "family resemblance" to each other.
Hinduism has no founder, no creed, and no single source of authority.
The things most often common to Hindus are a belief in a single Divinity
or supreme God that is present in everything, belief in other gods who
are aspects of that supreme God, belief that the soul repeatedly goes
through a cycle of being born into a body, dying, and rebirth, belief in
Karma, a force that determines the quality of each life, depending on
how well one behaved in a past life.
Most Hindus worship at home and have a shrine there. Hindu temples are
the focus of religious life, but there is not a strong tradition of
corporate congregational worship.
Hinduism has not had a significant tradition of seeking to convert
people, although some modern Hindu sects now do seek converts.
To learn about
Hinduism you can go to the following links or perform your own research:
http://www.hindunet.org/
http://www.hindu.org/
http://www.atributetohinduism.com/
