Critical Analysis Of The Historical And Modern Beliefs And Practices Of Hinduism In Essay.

Historical background information of Hinduism

 The Vedas and Puranas are considered to be the oldest forms of religious texts that depict the proposed beliefs and collected ideas that take the shape of a worldwide religion in the contemporary time (Flood, 2022). The aim of this report is to provide critical analysis of the historical and modern beliefs and practices in terms of worship, rituals and other practices of the Hinduism religion through authentic Factual Data And Information.

Brief Historical Study and Background Information on the Hinduism Religion

Table 1: Historical background information of Hinduism

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Hinduism cannot have considered being single religion unlike other modern ideas of religion, it is rather a culmination of embraced ideas from several traditional beliefs. That is the utmost reason for not being able to commemorate a single founder of the religion, simultaneously the religion also lacks a specific timeline even though the traditions can be regarded as quite ancient which makes the historians believe that the timeline might be around 2300 B.C. to 1500 B.C (Flood, 2022). Time can be regarded as a cynical concept through the traditional texts that refers to the existence of four successive times or Yuga similar to the idea of four seasons.

Geography plays a major role in defining the origin of the identity of the religion since Hindu is considered to be a geographical identity. Considering the current demographical situation of the religion, it can be said almost 92% of the followers are originated from India and subsequently spread across more than twenty countries around the world. The United States is a shelter to around 12.6% of the total Hindus is almost an average of 2 million followers (Worlddata.info, 2022).

Table 2: The Major Components of Hinduism

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The simple set of rules followed by the disciples of Hinduism can be regarded as Ten Commandments that includes local, regional, caste and community-centric practices that influence beliefs in a Supreme Being as a common thread to adhere by the concepts of Truth, Dharma and Karma (BBC, 2022). The history of worshipping includes the concept of Vedic Gods inspired by the earthen elements of fire, water and thunder, namely Agni, Indra and Varuna. The major rituals of the religion include the completion of the sixteen samskaras within their lifetime. There are also beliefs of the existence of the Trimurti or the three main Gods who are responsible for creation, nurture and destruction, namely, Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the nurturer) and Maheshwar (Shiva or the destroyer) (Culture and religion, 2022).

The complete process of rebirth is regarded as the “samsara” which is the concrete beginning or end and comprises lives of perpetual attachments. It is believed in the teachings of the Hinduism religion that the actions that are normally generated from the desire and appetite that binds the spirit or jiva of the beings to an endless cycle of death and birth to fulfil their roles in the boundaries of good or bad karma (BBC, 2022). The religion also forecasts the beliefs of salvation or moksha to be emancipation and escape from the impermanence of the inherent feature of the mundane existence.

Major Components of Hinduism

In the modern-day practice of the Hinduism religion, there have been several instances that are noted to have changed over time. Religion has been known to have not only influenced the non-religious section of society but also inspired other religions. According to Saizar (2018), preventing religions like Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism can be regarded to be greatly influenced by the teachings and guidelines of the Hindu traditional beliefs. The beliefs related to the concepts of Atman or the inner self is considered to be one of the prime teachings of Hinduism. The spread of the teachings from the core regions of the Indus valley civilization has been taken to a different parts of the present countries like Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Nepal and even the western countries like that of the United States.

The idea of charity or dana, in the root values of Hinduism, is regarded as an important course of action to fulfil the duties of human lives. The different community services provided through the principles of Hinduism are-

Environmental Charities- Conservation of the green life is considered an essential movement in the diction of Hinduism which has influenced several organisations and groups to take responsibility for cleaning and restoring the environmental balance through proper education and awareness (Wisker et al., 2020).  

Societal Charities- The Hindu communities are also focused on providing the ideas of a complete life to the underprivileged people and have been supporting several trustee boards for funding education to the underprivileged sections.

The major world issues that need immediate attention of the religious groups from different backgrounds and beliefs are- Poverty and homelessness, gender inequality, racial discrimination and existential crisis. The non-exclusive belief of Hinduism directs the acceptance of other faith and religious paths (Rangiwai, 2020). The ultimate concern of world religions is to work on restoring the lost faith of the individuals in the present society. Faith has the power of impacting global issues and reshaping the global perceptions through increasing awareness of the socio-cultural, cross-faith and other religious engagement by the global religious leaders from every world religion including Hinduism. 

For the Growth of United States

The challenges of the Hindu Americans identified due to the growing trends of becoming to the category of “religious nones” in the States which is also due to the rejection of the religious worldview and indifferences to religion (Flood, 2022). Despite the obstacles, the strength of Hinduism can be related to the strong immigration policies of the United States, which directs the strengths of the religion as almost 80% of the adults have been encountered to adhere to Hinduism. It can be considered the highest retention rate in the country.

For the Growth of it on the World’s Stage

The count in the number of individuals adapting to the Hinduism religion in the worldwide context can be recorded to be increasing from around 1 billion as of last calculated in 2010 which is assumed to increase up to 1.4 billion soon by 2050 (Culture and religion, 2022).

Conclusion

From the above analysis, it can be concluded that earliest history of the Hinduism religion is subjected to debatable outcomes since no traces of the modern idea of the religion could be traced even though the traditions followed by the Hindus can be considered to be quite ancient. The religious lives that are consecutively depicted in the texts focus on the historical sacrificial system than the modern practices. The Hindus are generally found to be embedded in following the doctrines of transmigration and rebirth generated from the complementary beliefs in Karma. The ultimate mission of the Hinduism religion is considered to be attaining salvation or moksha after the end of life through contributing in serving the communities to gather good karmas in a lifetime for clearing the path for salvation.

References

BBC, 2022. Dharma - The nature of human life in Hinduism - GCSE Religious Studies Revision - AQA - BBC Bitesize. [online] BBC Bitesize. Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zmgny4j/revision/5> [Accessed 22 January 2022].

BBC, 2022. The nature of God in Hinduism - The nature of God - CCEA - GCSE Religious Studies Revision - CCEA - BBC Bitesize. [online] BBC Bitesize. Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zbkmvk7/revision/4#:~:text=Many%20Hindus%20believe%20in%20Brahman,male%2C%20female%20and%20even%20animal.&text=Shiva%20%E2%80%93%20assists%20in%20the%20creation,end%20for%20others%20to%20begin> [Accessed 22 January 2022].

Culture and religion, 2022. [online] Tfhc.nt.gov.au. Available at: <https://tfhc.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/252221/nt-hinduism-fact-sheet.pdf> [Accessed 22 January 2022].

Flood, G., 2022. BBC - Religions - Hinduism: History of Hinduism. [online] Bbc.co.uk. Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/history/history_1.shtml> [Accessed 22 January 2022].

Rangiwai, B. (2020). The impacts on tikanga of the Hindu practice of scattering human ashes into waterways compared with the practice of disposing of blood via the wastewater system as part of the arterial embalming process. Te Kaharoa, 15(1). ISSN 1178-6035

Saizar, M. (2018). Between tradition and change: appropriation dynamics and integration processes of Hinduism in Argentina. International Journal of Latin American Religions, 2(1), 72-85. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41603-018-0042-9

Wisker, Z. L., Muniapan, B., & Rosinaite, V. (2020). Religiosity and sustainable practices in small to medium-sized businesses: A mixed-method analysis. Malaysian Journal of Business and Economics (MJBE), 147-147. ISSN 2289-6856 (Print), 2289-8018 (Online)

Worlddata.info, 2022. Hinduism - Worldwide distribution. [online] Worlddata.info. Available at: <https://www.worlddata.info/religions/hinduism.php> [Accessed 22 January 2022].