India Travel Info
Religion in India
India
is the home of one of the world's oldest civilizations. Sanskrit, its literary
language, is probably the most ancient language still in use and the Vedas,
which date back to the 12th century BC, are believed to be oldest scriptures
still in use.
Indian Buddhists, Jains and Hindus regards the land of India itself as sacred.
In a country where there are said to be 220 million gods and goddesses, divinity
may be also be attained by human beings. The profusion of gods and beliefs infact
reveals Indian eclecticism and tolerance.
Indian beliefs and rituals:
Karma
The law of karma states that just as every action has a cause, so actions have
reactions that are impossible to escape. Karma is the cause of our particular
destiny, the law of nature that ensures that we become what we think or do.
Misfortunes in our present life are the results of acts that we have committed
in the past,
Bhakti
Bhakti was a movement which stressed the emotional attachment and love of a
devotee for his or her personal god. It therefore implied a dualistic relationship
between worshipper and god.
Sadhus
Sadhus (Yogis) follow a path of penance and austerity to attain enlightenment.
The extreme austerity of some sadhus does not mark them as religious fanatics
in India. They are a common site on the country's roads, and renunciation can
also be the "fourth stage" of asceticism - after bringing up a family
- in an orthodox hindu's family.
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Jainism
Jainism is a religion of India. It is based on the belief that every living
thing consists of an eternal soul called
the
Jiva and a temporary physical body. The eternal Jiva is imprisoned ion the
body as a result of involvement in worldly activities. To free the Jiva
one must avoid such activities as much as possible.
Each Jiva is reincarnated in many bodies before it is finally freed. After being
freed it exists eternally in a state of perfect knowledge and bliss.
A broom and a bowl are important symbols of Jainism, and a Jain monk always
carries both with him. The broom represents the Jain belief that all life is
sacred. A monk uses it to sweep aside insects so that he might not step on them.
He carries the bowl to collect food for himself.
Jainism was founded by a teacher called Mahavira, which means the great hero,
in 500 B.C. The Jains believe he was the 24th in the line of teachers of Jain
principles. The Jains do not believe in supreme God.
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Buddhism
Buddhism
is one of the major religions of the world. It was founded in India around
500 B.C or shortly afterwards by a teacher called Buddha. Buddhism has about
300 million followers, most of whom live in Srilanka and Japan.
All Buddhists have faith in Buddha, his teachings called the dharma and the
religious community he founded called the sangha.
The Dharma
Buddha preached that the existence was a continuing cycle of death and rebirth.
Each person's position and well being in life was determined by his or her behaviour
in previous lives. Buddha also taught that as long as individuals remain within
the cycle of death and rebirth they can never be completely free from pain and
suffering.
The Sangha
The word Sangha sometimes refers to the ideal Buddhist community which consists
of those who have reached the higher stages of spiritual development. The word
also refers to the order of Buddhist monks and nuns.
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Hinduism
Hinduism,
the major religion of India is one of the oldest living religions in the
world. The roots of Hinduism date back to prehistoric times of India. Although
most of the Hindus live in India, Hindu literature and philosophy have influenced
the people throughout the world.
Beliefs of Hinduism
Hinduism was not founded on the teachings of one man. It developed gradually
over thousands of years. Like most religions, Hinduism has basic beliefs about
divinities, life after death and personal conduct.
Sacred Writings
Hinduism has no single book, such as the Bible, that serves as the source of
its doctrines. But Hinduism has many sacred writings writings, all of which
have contributed to its fundamental beliefs. The most important of these writings
include
The Vedas, The Puranas, The Ramayana, The Mahabharata, The Bhagvad Gita, and
The Manu Smriti.
Divinities
Hinduism is polytheistic: that is, Hindus worship many gods, the most important
ones of whom are Brahma - the creator of Universe, Vishnu - its preserver, and
Shiva - the destructor.
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Puja
Puja
is any Hindu ceremonial, from a simple ritual at home to an elaborate public
festival, in which the images of various gods are worshipped.
In Puja, a deity, considered to be manifest in its image, is treated like a
special guest. Elaborate ceremonies accompany the installation of a temple icon,
governing how the image should be placed and how it should be dressed. It is
first consecrated bvy the temple priests who chant mantras and purify the image
with incense and camphor.
Puja is typically offered two to four times a day - at sunrise and sunset, and
sometimes also at noon and midnight.
Om
In Indian philosophy, matter is sometimes said to be created from sound and
Om is the most sacred of all sounds, the syllable that preceded the universe
and from which the gods were made.
Since Om precedes all things, it is used as an invocation to prayer or sacred
singing, and is often used as the final exclamation, in a way similar to the
Jewish and Christian Amen. In yogic practice, Om is a fundamental part of the
techniques of auditory meditation.
Tantra
Hindu
Tantra is a highly unorthodox form of yoga. It has been developed as a mystical
but very detailed path to ecstatic release which harnesses the infinite
energies of mind and body. Rather than deny themselves, tantrikas (Tanric
practitioners) strive to gain the fullest possible pleasure from them. The
experience or realization of their enjoyment reaches such high levels that
the energy unleashed can carry conciousness to the peak of enlightenment.
Rasa
Rasa is the Sanskrit word for the sap or juice of plants, but it has also long
been used to describe the aesthetic pleasure which can be derived from the works
of art. Rasa can be felt when appreciating any of the arts; it can describe
the rapt attention of an audience listening to a piece of music or of a spectator
admiring a sculpture, or the mood evoked by looking at a painting. Literally
Rasa means liquid, juice or sap. The rasa of a pine tree is its resin, and lime
juice is rasa of a lime.
Each rasa is represented by a colour and a presiding deity. Shiva is the presiding
deity of hasya, the comic rasa, for example, which is represented by the colour
white.
Hindu Tantra is a highly unorthodox form of yoga. It has been developed as a
mystical but very detailed path to ecstatic release which harnesses the infinte
energies of mind and body. Rather than deny themselves, tantrikas (Tanric practictioners)
strive to gain the fullest possible pleasure from them. The experience or realization
of their enjoyment reaches such high levels that the energy unleashed can carry
conciousness to the peak of enlightenment.
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Religious Gurus
The Indian guru, with a message of liberation and enlightenment, has recently
become a familiar image of the spiritual East. Gurus teach a path of self-denial,
contemplation and the liberation of the soul from the grasp of matter, but they
occasionally return to their homeland fabulously rich.
The popular gurus amongst Indian religion are
Guru Nanak
Although the Sikhs constitute only two per cent of India's population, they
have had a disproportionately profound influence on the political and spiritual
development of the subcontinent.
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Sai Baba
Sai Baba is by far the most famous of all the "holy men" in India.
Sai Baba is an enigmatic figure, almost buried under the mass of largely mythological
devotional literature that describes his life.
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Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental Meditation (TM), is perhaps
the most successful of all the gurus who have taken Hindu philosophy to
the West.
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Krishna Consciousness
The theology of Krishna Consciousness is an offshoot from the ancient brand
of ecstatic Vaishnavism (worship of Vishnu) taught by the great 15th-centuryyogi,
Chaitanya.
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Pilgrimage tours
India's pilgrimage sites are known as tirthas, crossings between the worldy
and the divine spheres. A tirtha may be a river, such as the ganges, or a mountain
peak such as Mount Kailasa - the mythical Himalyan retreat of Lord Shiva.
There
are seven sacred cities in Hindu India, which are the principal pilgrimage
centres: Varanasi and Hardwar on the river Ganges; Ayodhya, the birthplace
of Lord Rama; Mathura, Lord Krishna's birthplace; Dwarka, where the adult
Krishna rules as a king, and where Krishna Vasudeva was born; Kanchipuram,
the great Shaivite temple of Tamil Nadu; and Ujjain, site every twelve years
of the Kumbha Mela festival.
The most holy pilgrimage for a Hindu to make is around the four divine "abodes"
that stand at the cardinal compass points of the mythological map of India:
Badrinath in the north, Puri in the east, Rameshwaram in the South and Dwarka
in the west.
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