Day 4

Nine Beliefs of Hinduism
1. Hindus believe in the divinity of the Vedas, the world's most ancient scripture, and
venerate the Agamas as equally revealed. These primordial hymns are God's word and the
bedrock of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal religion which has neither beginning nor end.
2. Hindus believe in a one, all-pervasive Supreme Being who is both immanent and
transcendent, both Creator and unmanifest Reality.
3. Hindus believe that the universe undergoes endless cycles of creation, preservation and
dissolution.
4. Hindus believe in karma, the law of cause and effect by which each individual creates his
own destiny by his thoughts, words and deeds.
5. Hindus believe that the soul reincarnates, evolving through many births until all karmas
have been resolved, and moksha, spiritual knowledge and liberation from the cycle of
rebirth, is attained. Not a single soul will be eternally deprived of this destiny.
6. Hindus believe that divine beings exist in unseen worlds and that temple worship,
rituals, sacraments as well as personal devotionals create a communion with these devas
and Gods.
7. Hindus believe that a spiritually awakened master, or satguru, is essential to know the
Transcendent Absolute, as are personal discipline, good conduct, purification, pilgrimage,
self-inquiry and meditation.
8. Hindus believe that all life is sacred, to be loved and revered, and therefore practice
ahimsa, "non injury."
9. Hindus believe that no particular religion teaches the only way to salvation above all
others, but that all genuine religious paths are facets of God's Pure Love and Light, deserving
tolerance and understanding.
Periods of Hinduism
Hindus may be the generation of Shem (Noah's son) the major religion of this world has
some certain very important events happen in certain period. The idea of incarnation,
reformation, renaissance and other such events happen in the religious history. When
Hindus came to India there were Dravidians were there, Hindus mixed their religion with
them and formed a new religion that is Hindu philosophy. There are mainly 5 periods in
Hinduism.
We can divide Vedic period in two parts:
(Brahma The god of creation)

1. Vedic Period
*. Pre-Vedic period (3000-1500BCE) their life in Indus valley, their life in Harappa culture,
the idea of god of Bull- moving to the east.
*. The Vedic period (1500-700 BCE) in this period Aryans were somewhere in Asia- India
where Indian polytheism of Hinduism underwent its great development. Aryan were the one
who introduce polytheism in India especially nature deities.
# Varuna- the thunder god (Mitra)
# Indra-Lightching god (Rudra)
# Maruta- Wind god
# Surya- Sun god
Agni, Prithivi also god of earth also develops in this period.
The animal sacrifice also was the part of the Aryan religion; Aryan also brought Vedas-
knowledge.
Another important aspect of modern Hindu life the caste system began to emerge the Vedic
period. The system of classifying individuals into cast is vocational and related to skin color.
a. The Brahminas- the priestly deities- teaching Vedas, assisting in sacrifices, accepting
gifts, scholarly caste (fair in color) created from the head of Brahma.
b. The Kshetriyas- The warier or soldier caste (red color) wearing weapons and protecting,
punishing with royal staff (danda) - Administrative duties, created by chest.
c. TheVaishyas-the agricultural and merchant caste( brown in color) stock breading,
agriculture, commerce( including money lending) made from stomach of Burma)
d. The Sudras- servant caste ( black color) made from the legs of Burma)
e. The hariyans, harijans, achut ( achhut)( Unouchables) dark black in color
Gandhian's role in outcaste
King Mahendra and other political changes and their role in caste system in Nepal
Main ideas of Vedic period
* Worship of god and goddesses
* Sacrifice system
* The duties of priest.
* The way of Karma
Another great idea was Philosophy in Hinduism- forest school were develop to give
education to the priest, many Ashramas were established in this period.
Brahmachraya/Ballya vasta.
Grahastha
Vana prastha
Sannyasa
2. Upaneshadic Period ( 700-300/100 BCE)
The word Upaneshed means to sit in the feet, this is a period of great transformation, this is
the time rebellion, Hindu religion developed a lot the idea or re-incarnation, magical
mantras, Buddha(563-483) and Mahavira (599-527) were born in this time they were against
of priestly and caste system of Hindus. The idea of teacher/ students and Guru disciple
relationship grown in spiritual level, cycle of re-birth,( mokshya) and Karma. Gautama
Buddha was trying to summarize all this ideas in one word called enlightenment.
This is the period Balmiki wrote Ramayana and Vyasa wrote Mahabharata. These two great
epic are considering most popular books in Hinduism.
The concepts of Trimurti/Trideva and many magic also developed more in this period. The
way of salvation-3 ways and yoga philosophy is the came in sense in this period.
3. Pauranic Period100 BCE-1200AD)

This is also called Ithihasic period, even the god Bruhma concept was already develop in
Hinduism , the harmony among gods was another benefit, Lord Krishna and ten incarnation
of Bhagawan Vishnu the dominant deity in Hinduism, at the same time god Shiva the
destroyer of the universe became the third most important deity at this time.
Puranas were written in this periods, many cults are develop in this time as shakti the
mother goddesses, Skanda- the son of shiva, surya- the sun god, lakshmi, kalki, Durga and
hundreds other became very famous in this time.
Officially Hindu religion divided in two groups
*. Shivaism- non vegetarians
* Vishnuism- vegetarians
4. Medieval Period ( 1200-1700AD)
In this period all Indian Continental was covered by Bhakti cult. The select one personal God
whom they like and worshiped, Bhagawat Purana – one of the 18 puranas became world
famous in this period. Slowly it became the text book for Hindus. Bhakti, Rama Krishna,
Vishnu is glorified in Bhagwat Purana. Love of Rama and Sita and Mahavali( Hanumana) very
fmous in this period. Srikrishna loved Radha ( a cow head girl) , love and respect of Krishna
and Sudama plays the vital role in this period.
Because of Islamic dominion in India many Hindus were scattered north and south, at the
same time the great harmonization effect between the Two religion took place under the
rule of Muslim Sultan Akbar (1556-1605)
Not only Hinduism many religion of the world reformed in this time. (Christianity, Islam,
Buddhism, Judaism)
5. Modern Period (1750-Today)
In the beginning of modern era the Hindu religion and culture had reach in low level. The
East India Company did not give any value to the Hinduism, The Muslim dominion in India
peninsula also affects to the Hindus, but Hindu religious reader tried to manage it, so the
Hindu philosophy and religion went west. In this time South, East and West part of India
was captured Muslim and only north were majority of Hindu. The idea of Rama Rajya,
Hindusthan, was established in this period, Hinduism impacted the West with its ideas in the
little latter half of the Nineteen Century , and throughout the Twenty Century, particularly
through its reform movements, like Shikhism founded by Gurunanak, who rejected the caste
system, East India Company also reject the Sati System of Hinduism.
The first reform movement of Hinduism was started in 1830 AD by Rajaram Mohan Roy.
First introduction of an organized Hindu society to USA came in 1890s when Swami
Viveknanda established the Vedanta society in New York City in 1895. The Arya Samaj was
formed by Swami Dayananda Saraswati, and theological society was formed in W. Bangal so
many such religious movements were started like that, Ramakrishna Mission, Divine Light
Mission, International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Transcendental
Meditation, Rajanishism, Sai Baba Movements, Manab Dharma, OUM Shanti Mission, Radha
swami mission, are established and some of them are very famous in the west in the 20 th
century.

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Nine Beliefs of Hinduism

(Brahma The god of creation)

3. Pauranic Period100 BCE-1200AD)

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