The following overview of Hinduism was written by Religion Transcends writer Jackie Walker for the Winter 2008 issue of Relate magazine. Relate’s mission is to inspire teen girls to pursue their dreams with confidence and to teach them to be an example for others in their speech, life, love, faith and purity. Religion overviews may have Christian overtones to make the content relatable for the Christian teen audience.

Did you know Hinduism is considered the oldest religion in the world? In 1500 B.C., various Jewish-Christian groups were just beginning to organize. (Moses, known for the Ten Commandments and old age, would have been 26 years old at the time.) But Hinduism was already an established religion in India.

Thanks to its Indian roots, Hindu religious practice was often fused with Indian culture. Example? The caste system. Castes are similar to classes (upper class, middle class, working class) with different names — priests, nobles/warriors, commoners, and servants. But there’s an important difference: unlike classes, Hindus believed they were meant to be born into their specific caste – and that they could not and should not belong to another caste. If you were born a servant, perhaps you had done something bad in a previous life and now have to pay for it. If born a priest, perhaps you had done something worthy of praise.

The caste system is gone. But Hinduism is still the main religion in India. And it has grown: Hinduism is now the third largest world religion, following Christianity and Islam. With no founder and no specific historical events that led to its creation, Hinduism can be tough to define. But you may have already seen some of its basic concepts in other religions – and even at the gym.

You’ve heard of worshipping God…

Jews, Christians, and Muslims all believe in God (which Muslims translate as “Allah”). Like them, Hindus also believe in One Ultimate, which they call “Brahman.” The difference is that Hindus believe its main God, Brahman, is divided into over 3,000 other gods. In other words, Brahman can appear in many forms as many gods. Among them are the gods Krishna and Shiva, and the goddesses Kali, Durga, and Shakti.

Just as all gods are versions of Brahman, people are also thought to be part of that Ultimate. Brahman is in everything and everyone – including people, gods, and even animals. The problem for humans begins when they do not understand their unity with the Ultimate.

You’ve heard of being born again…

When people don’t realize their unity with the universe, they get stuck in a cycle of reincarnation: birth, death, birth in a new body, death, and so on. Reincarnation is much different from the Christian concept of rebirth. When a Christian is born again (when she gives her life to Christ), her sins are forgiven. And while she is set on a new course in life, her physical body does not change. Reincarnation begins when a person’s physical body actually dies. Then their “soul” moves into a new body, which is then born into the world. And being a part of the world is seen as failure for Hindus, since they believe continued life leads to continued suffering. It’s better to be born into higher and higher positions until you get out of life and become part of the bigger universe.

You know it’s important to do the right thing…

Every world religion has a path followers take to achieve their goal. For Christians, the path is to give your life to Christ to achieve eternal life. For Jews, it is to follow God’s laws in order to please Him. Here are three paths Hindus use to get out of reincarnation:

Knowledge: Hindus use the brain to realize they’re one with the universe through yoga. You’ve heard of yoga the exercise. But yoga was originally a type of Hindu meditation. It involves stopping mental activity (try not having any thoughts sometime!), focusing on breathing, and sometimes twisting the body into poses. All of this is used to help the mind to focus on the universe (kind of like prayer).

Action: Hindus try to do the right thing. This is especially important for Hindus thanks to karma, a concept in which one is rewarded for good actions and punished for bad actions. If you lead a good life, you may be born into a higher lifestyle or escape reincarnation altogether. If you do bad things, you may see negative consequences in this life – and you may be born into a lower realm in the next life (yes, you could even be reborn as an armadillo).

Devotion: Hindus worship gods to realize their own unity with those gods. And the best type of devotion is asceticism where you give up everything you have (even your family) and your desires for material things, to be able to focus on the universe.

Find news and holiday information related to Hinduism on ReligionTranscends.com.

Watch a 5-part YouTube video series, “Introduction to Hinduism,” produced by Hinduism Today. Once you get through the first video, you’ll see a link to go to the second video, and so on.

Copyright 2009, Religion Transcends.

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