HINDU, YOGA, VEDA
A Hindu , as per modern definition, is an adherent of the philosophies and scriptures of Hinduism, the religious, philosophical and cultural system that originated in the Indian subcontinent.
There are approximately 1 billion Hindus, making Hinduism the third largest religion in the world, of whom approximately 890 million live in India. Other countries with large Hindu populations include Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, and Indonesia. Hinduism is believed to be the oldest living religious tradition in the world. Ancient or Epic India was known as Hindustan, meaning the „land of Hindus“. Hindustan continues to remain as a popular alternative name for the Republic of India.
Origins of the word Hindu
The origin of the word Hindu is still disagreed upon by historians and linguists. It is generally accepted as having originally been a Persian word for someone who lives around or beyond the Indus River, which is called Sindhu in Sanskrit, and meant any inhabitant of the Indian subcontinent, before the Partition of India. The Indus now flows the length of Pakistan and is locally referred to as „Deriya’e Sindh“. One of Pakistan’s provinces is also named Sindh.
In Persian and Arabic, the term „Hind“ denotes the Indian subcontinent, and the term Hindu (Indu or Intu in China) is still used in some languages to denote a person from the region. A variant of the word was taken into old Greek, and lost the initial aspiration (‚h‘) in modern Greek. This led to the Greek name of ‚India‘.
Alternative explanation is that the word ‚indu‘ originates from Rigveda with reference to a mythological plant juice offered for oblations, while the ‚h‘ represents auspiciousness or delight, thus implying that one who propitiates by drinking soma is a hindu.
Until about 19th century, the term Hindu implied a culture and ethnicity and not religion alone. So Hindus have adopted this term because „Hind“ (India) is their fatherland. The term some Hindus have used for their religious beliefs is Sanatan Dharma („Eternal Code“ – see also Dharma). When the British colonial government started taking a periodic census and established a unified legal system, the need arose to define what constitutes Hinduism as a religion, in order to compare it with the likes of Christianity or Islam.
Since then, various definitions have been proposed by scholars like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who tried to define it as a religion based on the Vedas, just as the Bible and the Qur’an are the basis of Christianity and Islam, respectively. Although, even an atheist can be a Hindu.
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Who is a Hindu?
A Hindu is one who follows his or her own religion of Sva-Dharma, practices Bhakti (devotion) on any form of God (who is Brahman or creator of the universe), practices virtuous path of life believing in the concept of Karma for the purpose of Moksha. Sva – is the „self“. Karma is the law of eternal onus of one’s actions leading to balanced effects for all times to come. Moksha is the ultimate resolution of life and death cycle. However there have been many confusions over the word as several people of other religions have been included as being „Hindu“ such as Buddhists and Sikhs. Although these religions have been thought by followers of these other Dharmic religions themselves from reformers of Hinduism just as Buddha proclaimed He was reviving the Arya Dharma.
The word Hindu is an Apabhramśa (Sanskrit for „distorted“, or a word derived out of distortion of another word) for the Sindhu (Indus) river flowing in Northern India.Before that the name for area in and around Indus river was „Aryavarta“. With the invasion of Alexander the name of the river became Indus from Sindhu (as Indus was easier for the Macedonians to pronounce) and people residing by the river became to be known as Hindus.
Some have proposed that a Hindu is follow Vedic principles („Vaidik Dharma“). All other Hindu scriptures are commentaries based around the Vedas.
The colonial British government introduced the census as it is today, and for legal purposes set worded definitions and distinctions between populations that had lived interwoven for thousands of years.
Many Hindus identify the Brahma itself as Vishnu and believe that Vishnu Himself represents the Trinity and are known as Vaishnava; many others believe the Supreme Being is Shiva or Shankara and that He Himself represents the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva Himself and are known as Shaiva; while yet others believe in the female Principle Shakti as the Supreme Energy or Force for life (birth and preservation) and destruction unified, and are called Shakta.
In Vaishnavism and Shaivism, Shakti is God’s Unified Energy (Power) personified. So all these groups choose their Deity and classify Him/Her as God Almighty while all other Gods are but a form of the One. The fourth major group, the Smarta, are non-sectarian Hindus that call the Trinity and Shakti the Supreme One Brahman, which manifests into personal forms of God, such as Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva (also known as Mahesh). However, no barrier or distinction or rivalry of any nature exists between any of these – historically, Hinduism is known for its religious tolerance and there is no friction whatsoever between these groups, who respect each other’s practices. Each naturally respects all incarnations of the God, only choosing to see the Supreme in one particular form.
Many follow a blend of all three beliefs and this is by far the most common form of religion for Hindus, with a mix of Shaivism, > Shaktism < and Vaishnavism as well as other reform movements. In most Hindu temples one will find Shiva lingam together with vaishnava aspects of worship.
Because the foundation of Hinduism, the > Rig Veda < says that there are many paths to the Lord, any God may be worshipped for the achievement of a union with the Supreme, Moksha. In certain sections, contradictions appear such as depicting Vishnu and the Lord, while other sections maintain that another spirit is God. The contradictions are believed to come from the same truth because, for Hindus as well as others such as Zoroastrians or Parsis, God is beyond conception, beyond imagination. God is believed to be both impersonal (without qualities) and yet transcendent (with qualities) by Hindus.
Hinduism, especially its history and heritage, is vitally important to the political identity and expression of India and other countries‘ Hindus.
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