Amie

Hello everyone

I had a couple of questions about Hinduism. Although I have taken religions of the world and I am enrolling in another course for spring I was hoping someone here may know the answer to these...

Can Hinduism itself be traced to any specific "founder" or individual? perhaps a historical event? Does anyone really know when Hinduism actually started? It just kind of seems that it existed forever...

I am just a little confused on these terms: Brahma, Brahmin, and Brahman?

Were the Vishnu and the Shiva rivals in some way?

can the law of Karma be viewed as some type of divine reward? or would that be false.

Thank you all for your time. I figured I may as well ask these here since this seems the appropriate forum...although I am a Christian I am immensely interested in world religions.

Sincerely~
Amie

Answerer

I can only give you a brief answer. Hinduism doesn't have a specific founder, indeed its main religious books, the vedas, comprises of several works written and compiled by several wise man over many centuries. Surprisingly, no one knew the identity those 'wise people' were. In Hinduism, Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu are called the creator, destoryer and preserver respectively, each has their own sphere of duty(instead of rivaling for power)and they cooperated with each other most of the time but occasionally, they may come to crash with each other( I can't remember which story). Brahman means 'absolute self', some people like to associate Brahman with Atman and say they are the same entity. Brahmin simply mean high priest if I'm not wrong.

Seraphim

"Can Hinduism itself be traced to any specific "founder" or individual? perhaps a historical event? Does anyone really know when Hinduism actually started? It just kind of seems that it existed forever..."

My reply : No founder, like what Answerer said, it appeared due to various wise men throughout the ages compiled together.

"I am just a little confused on these terms: Brahma, Brahmin, and Brahman?"

My reply : Brahma - the Creator of physical world (only the souls he cannot create), sits on a lotus flower held by Vishnu the Maintainer. He continues to create physical things continuously till one specific time when all the creation is stopped, the flower will close by itself and Brahma will take a break. Destruction will come to everything physical on the world and the creation will start fresh after the destruction is over.

Brahmin - word described the Priests' class in Hindus society.

Brahman - Another word for God in Hindusm.

"Were the Vishnu and the Shiva rivals in some way?"

My reply : Not that I know of. Don't remember ever reading that this two fought it out anywhere. Vishnu in charge of maintaining the world while Shiva in charge of death and rebirth (but doesn't deal with Karma).

"can the law of Karma be viewed as some type of divine reward? or would that be false."

My reply : Not sure what you meant by false. Karma simply means that anything you do (good and bad) will come back to you either in this life or the next. In Bhavagad Gita, there is some portion called Karma Yoga where Vishnu mentioned how to work for betterment of your karma.

Amie

Thank you Answerer and Seraphim.

Does this religion promote the worship of animals at all? I recall reading somewhere that a peacock was seen as sacred, other than the peacock and cattle, any others? Am I wrong about the peacock maybe it was another bird of some type...

Seraphim when I said "or is this false" I simply meant "or is that not the case" poor wording on my part, sorry about that...

So ultimately the goal in life would be based in spiritual growth? or would a sense of liberation be more accurate?

no doctrinal creeds to adhere to specifically?

From what I have read I see some definite positives to this religion. I appreciate you helping me understand this more. Thank you

Amie~

Seraphim

"Does this religion promote the worship of animals at all? I recall reading somewhere that a peacock was seen as sacred, other than the peacock and cattle, any others? Am I wrong about the peacock maybe it was another bird of some type..."

My reply : Well ... Yes and No. Yes if you observe the Old Hindusm, No if you observe the new Hindusm. The difference is in the approach toward the Brahman.

The old Hindusm is more toward approaching Brahman in a straightforward matter where the person who is trying to get close (or unification with Brahman) meditate upon the Brahman and doesn't bother about going through "mid-men".
New Hindusm is more toward having "mid-men" such as dieties which serves as link to the Brahman.

Animals which also serves as "mid-men" are :
Snakes (since it coils around Shiva's neck) and also becomes "bed" for Vishnu and as umbrella in numerous times throughout Vishnupurana. Snakes are still viewed as a "bad guy" just like in the Bible but Hindus don't hate them as Christians and Muslims would.

Cows - mostly to those who worship Shiva.
Monkeys - because of their faithful work to Rama (one of Vishnu's incarnation).
Peacock and Mouse - mostly to those who worship Shiva because they were vehicles to Murugan and Ganesha respectively.
Elephant - because elephant-headed Ganesha (elder son of Shiva).

"Seraphim when I said "or is this false" I simply meant "or is that not the case" poor wording on my part, sorry about that..."

My reply : I thought you were referring whether Karma is real or false belief. No problem.

"So ultimately the goal in life would be based in spiritual growth? or would a sense of liberation be more accurate?"

My reply : Here is one of the major difference between Arabic religion (Christian and Islam). While Arabic religions tries to get into heaven and avoid hell, Hindusm (and Buddhism) views heaven and hell as something you will be going whether you like it or not all due to our good and bad deeds. But the difference is that they do not damned there for eternity. After a certain time, the person gets reborn onto the world again and his rebirth is determined solely on his karma.

So, a Hindu's goal in life should be increase good karma, decrease bad one so he or she will be reborn as a better person who could do better things for better karma. Ultimate goal will be reunification with Brahman itself.

"no doctrinal creeds to adhere to specifically?"

My reply : You may want to read Bhagavad Gita to get better understanding. I think you can find one in local shops or the library.

Here :
<a href="http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/" target="_blank">http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/</a>

Boro Nut

Hindus believe in one god I think. Their god is also very easy to find. Anything you happen to have in the kitchen cupboard will do to start with.

Boro Nut

I'm sure they made on on Blue Peter once, although it might have been Tracy Island. Either way it involved a wire coat hanger and a washing up bottle.

Boro Nut

And to quote Gandhi himself "When it comes to defining hinduism, you just can't have enough egg cartons"

stryder2112

Others have answered, but I'll try to shed some light as well. Hopefully Hinduwoman or another person more knowledgeable will see this thread.

<strong> As others have said, no, there is no "founder." In fact, calling the wide diversity of similar and related religious practices and religious groups living in the Indian subcontinent is really an artificial construct. <a href="http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/335/focus/The_God_of_new_things+.shtml" target="_blank">Here</a> is a recently published article from the Boston Globe that delves into that somewhat.

<strong> To explain, I'll have to turn to a bit of history. In ancient Hindu society, there were four castes: Brahmins, Ksatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. Ksatriyas were warriors the ruling class. The Vaishyas were farmers, merchants, craftsmen. The Shudras were laborers. (There is also the outcastes: Dalits). Finally, the Brahmins were a caste of priests.

Since you are a Christian, I'll use an analogy you might understand. The Brahmins were much like the Levites of the ancient Hebrews - they were the priests, the ones in charge of rituals. They named the power inherent in spells, prayers, and rituals "brahma" or "brahman."

One encounters this word, "brahman," all over Hinduism: Brahman is the underlying nature of the universe. Brahma is the creator god and Brahmin means "priest." This aspect of Hinduism is called Brahminism: Hinduism characterized by magical and ritualistic practices performed by an elite priesthood.

Brahminism forms one of the two main aspects of Vedic culture, the other being intellectual Hinduism as it is represented in the Upanishads, which deliberately and often stridently sets itself in opposition to the priests and their practices.

The Upanishadic literature, as well as Jainism and Buddhism were reactions against both the social position and pervasiveness of the brahmins in early Indian society.

Another strain of ancient Indian society was the folk religious practices of more or less the "common people." Most of the wide panoply of gods and goddesses of "Hinduism" are drawn from this widely varying and mostly local religious life. However, two of these gods, Shiva and Visnu became the focus of the people who wrote the Upanishadic literature that became two widespread and distinct religious movements: one focusing one Shiva and one focusing on Visnu.

<strong> No, Karma isn't viewed as some type of divine reward or punishment any more than gravity is seen as some type of divine punishment for tripping. The word "karma" means "action", but is probably better described as "reaction." Karma is very similar to Newton's second law of physics "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" taken to a highly generalized and idealized form.

For example, falling down after tripping would be seen as karma. Falling down is simply a result of your action of tripping. Losing your friends for being a total ass would also be seen as karma. Losing you friends is simply the result of your bad behavior. Now, taken to an extreme this concept presents a dilemma similar to the dilemma addressed by Christianity:

Why do bad things happen to good people?
and
Why do bad people seem to get away with it?

A Hindu answer would be that karma eventually will work itself out, even if it doesn't occur in this lifetime. Its effects may be seen in another lifetime (due to reincarnation). Therefore, bad things happening to good people are the consequence of bad actions/thoughts/etc from a past life. Bad people will eventually get their comeuppance, possibly in another life.

While this may seem to suggest a sort of fatalism where there is no way to escape calamities visiting themselves on you in this life, living righteously today will cause good karma to offset some of the bad. Additionally, since karma isn't a form of divine punishment and helping others is part of living righteously, good Hindus should help those in need (i.e. are experiencing bad karma). Standing by as bad people hurt the weak and innocent is also bad karma, so a righteous Hindu should seek to fight evil wherever it is seen.

I hope that I somewhat answered you questions.

Stryder

[ December 04, 2002: Message edited by: stryder2112 ]</p>

Amie

Stryder Thank you as well as Seraphim Answerer and Boro Nut. I appreciate your responses...

Infinity Lover

For as far as there are elements within a religious doctrine I can sympathize with, it tends to be the aspects that work as an incentive to live a virtuous life, and make a positive contribution... like the concept of Karma in this case.

What's with the sacred status of the Ghanges river by the way? Is there some legend attached to it? Does it have to do with some kind of Hindu-babtism thing?

Oh and Amie: which simularities between Christianity and Hinduism are you aware of?