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Indian Religions
India is a multi-religious country, and world's every major religion has its followers here. Major religions native to this country
are Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Islam and Christianity are not native to us, but now they command more followers than any other religion
except Hinduism. The chief reason for this is the proselytizing nature of these religions.
I will concentrate on hindusim for two reasons. One, I do not know much about other religions, two Hinduism is the most prevalent religion in India.
The Hindu religion prophesies an eternal cycle of life and death until the being does something which liberates him from this cycle. We, the people
who live in this world see and feel what is not the reality. All of us are bound to this world's pleasures and grief. In other words we are deluded
by Maya.. To be freed from this eternal cycle of life and death and to attain Nirvan, we need to follow either of the
following four paths:
Raj Yog.
Karm Yog Bhakti Yog Jnana Yog
So, that was about the methods of achieving nirvan. What I left unsaid, of course, is that what nirvan is and what Maya is. The Hindu religion recognizes the fact that all of us
are absorbed in our material pleasures, our sense of self, acquiring new amenities which we see as progress. But all this is Maya(Illusion, Just as in matrix the movie. This conveys the idea more
clearly) and nothing really exists except the one being who is whole and infinite. That being is the self. Every thing in this universe is Maya, and thus non-existent the moment on recognizes this fact and
sees this as the reality, he frees himself from this worldly existence and sees himself as he really is: the infinite and the undescribable.
Just as the reflection of one sun on water droplets creates a thousands of suns, In a similar fashion we perceive a multitude of beings and objects wherein reality only one exists. This the view of the Advaties.
The belief of people in god can be categorized into Four(Or more) levels. (Uh-oh! this is getting too complicated!). At the first( and the lowest) level are those who believe in gods and goddesses and worship
them as the supreme beings having forms. e.g Shaped like a human etc. These people worship idols and are on the lowest rung of the ladder of knowledge. They are stumbling along their path to final illumination.
They go up a step further when they realise that the God is formless. Notice the use of word God. They still believe in the existence of one or a multitude of gods, and still believe in the cycle of life and death.
They also believe that by worshiping gods they will find a place in heaven. But heaven is recognized as a temporary place, the cycle of life and death goes on until good deeds accumulate so much that the soul is finally
liberates and becomes one with God. This state is called nirvan.
The next state of belief is of the Samhkyis. They believe that the world is composed of Prakriti , which is composed of three Bhutas. In the beginning of a cycle, these bhutas-rajas, tamas and sattva are in equilibrium.
In the beginning of the creation cycle, this equilibrium is disturbed and by the interaction of these bhutas the whole universe evolves. These are the finest material in the universe. These interact with the
Akasha and the Prana to produce progressively the grosser matter in the universe. There are a lot of intermediate products, but I will stay away from them and will only note that the flow
of creation is from the finer particles to the coarser ones. The Prakriti itself is Jada (insentient). Then what is the source of Chitta? It what the Samkhyis call Purush.
It is not in the ambit of this Prakriti but is still the unwitting source of all. According to the samkhyis, every human being itself is the Purusha and thus an infinite being. He only has to liberate himself
from the bondage of Maya to realise himself.
The Advaitists agree with all of the Samkhyis views except for the fact that they believe that there is only One Purusha, the infinite being himself. Every man is the same infinite being
and it is only when he is caught in Maya that he begins to see this world. And what about the heaven and hell? They are all Illusions, of course!
This completes the overview of hindusim. The interested (and most likely, confused) reader is referred to books and tikas written by Swami Vivekananda, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan (He is a former president of India)
and Bal Ganga Dhar Tilak (see the history section for finding out who he is).
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