6.Chapter 20.The Indian Religions.History.

Chapter  20

The Indian Religions

HINDUISM Hinduism is the oldest religion of the world.  It is also known as Sanatan Dharm.  It is so old that its founder's name or the specific period is not known.  The name Hinduism was given to it only at a later stage.  Some of the gods and goddesses worshipped today, were there in the Harappan civilisation or even earlier to it.  Shivling, Pashupatinath, mother goddess, sacred sign of Swastik and worship of trees and plants help us to prove this point.  Hinduism believes in one supreme God who is present in every living thing, i.e.  humans, animals Do you know?  plants, etc.  It allows its followers to worship the Ganesh is regarded as remover of all Supreme God in any form or in any way they like obstacles (Vighna Vinashak).  Every Hinduism believes that there are three ways to attain religious function starts with the Moksha- (i) Karma Yog (ii) Gyan Yog and (iii) Bhakt worship of Ganesh Yog (devotion and surrender to the Supreme God).  Srishti (creation) is governed by three gods known as Tri - Deva, i.e.  Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh.  Brahma is considered - the creator, Vishnu - the preserver and Mahesh or Shiva - the destroyer.  Shiva is also known as the originator of music and dance.  He is called Natraja.  The other gods are worshipped by the Hindus are Rama, Krishna, Ganesh (son of Shiva and Parvati), Hanuman (devotee of Rama) and goddesses Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kali, Parvati (wife of Shiva) and many others.  Hindu philosophy deals with the subjects as - What is god?  ',' What is soul?  ',' Where does man go after - and so on.  The Upnishads are the greatest works of philosophy which explain Atma, Parmatma and death?  'It never dies.  When it leaves one's body, it enters the Natraja 163

Parsees Hinduism emphasizes non - violence Ahimsha Parmo Dharma '.  Brotherhood, love and care for all living beings of the world, virtue of tolerance towards all faiths and religions and harmonious living and peaceful relationship among all people without any distinction.  It believes and preaches the doctrine of Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam, i.e.  All people living on this earth are like one family and we are all the members of this family, and Sarvadharma Sambhava which means that all religions are equal '.  Scriptures: Unlike other religions, there are many holy books of Hinduism, e.g.  the four Vedas, the six systems of philosophy - Darshan, the Puranas, Gita (a treasure of Indian philosophy), Sanhita, Aranyaka, Brahman Grantha, Shruti, Smiriti, Upnishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, etc.  ZOROASTRIANISM Zoroastrianism is the ancient religion of Iran.  Zarathustra or Zoroaster, the prophet of (Persia) Iran, founded this religion around sixth century BCE.  The followers of this religion are known as It is one of the oldest religions of the world.  According to Zoroastrianism, there is only one God who is known as Ahur Mazda.  He is the God of good forces, i.e.  light and wisdom.  Evil is represented by Ahriman.  There is always a tussle between the two, and the ultimate winner religion teaches to follow the right deeds, right thinking and right speech (as in Jainism and Buddhism), Fire Temple If a person's right or good actions are more than the evil, he  goes to the heaven, otherwise to the hell.  Zoroastrians offer prayers in front of the fire.  They worship sun and fire.  Scriptures: His holy book is Avesta.  It contains Gathas (sacred songs) in praise of Zoroaster which are recited every day.  is the good force.  ) (This JUDAISM Judaism is the religion followed by the Christians or the Hebrews. The Hebrews first lived in Mesopotamia. Abraham was their leader. They later migrated to Palestine. Hebrews established their united state in Palestine with Jerusalem as their capital. In 70 CE  , many suspected left Palestine and settled in different parts of the world. 164

The He believes in one single God, le Jehovah (Yah Weh).  He loved his people but punished the wrong - doers or the sinners.  They believed in the coming of Messiah on the Earth to purify the Hebrews and cleanse the world of all sins later on, Christians and Muslims also followed the doctrine of mono - theistic religion.  Scriptures: Old Testament and the Apocrypha are their sacred books.  These scriptures contain the history of arriving and the rules to be followed by every Jew.  They also contain legends and poetic verses to teach them the right way to live.  They contain knowledge of medicine and astronomy.  The people are supposed to offer prayers to God every day.  The Jewish temple is known as Synagogue.  Synagogue JAINISM According to Jain traditions, there were 24 Tirthankars.  The first Trithankar was Rishabh Dev.  There is lack of authentic information about the first twenty - two Tirthankars.  The twenty - third Tirthankar was Parshva Nath.  He belonged to the royal family of Kashi (Varanasi in UP).  He left his house and carried on hard penance for 84 days, after which he attained supreme knowledge.  His teachings were- (i) to adopt non-violence, (ii) not to tell a lie, (iii) not to steal anything, (iv) not to own property.  He preached that to attain Moksha, penance was a must.  Later, his teachings became the doctrines of Jainism.  His spiritual successor was Mahavir.  The earlier name of Mahavir was Vardhaman.  He was born in 540 BCE.  The name of his father was Siddhartha.  Mahavir He left his royal home at the age of 30 years.  After great meditation, he attained kaivalya or Supreme knowledge through which he conquered the feeling of pleasure and pain.  After this, he was known as Jindev and his followers were known as Jains.  He left a for his heavenly abode at the age of 72 in the year 468 BCE at Pavapuri (in Bihar).  Vardhaman Mahavir preached the same teachings as his predecessor and added a fifth one, i.e.  lo follow brahmacharya (not to marry).  He wanted his followers to discard wearing clothes.  Later on, 165

Jainism was divided into two sections - Digambars who do not wear clothes and the Shvetambars, 2) who wear only white clothes.  (Mahavir suggested three ways to attain Moksha. These were- (1) right faith, (ii) right action, (ii) right knowledge. These are known as Triratna or Three Jewels. He laid great importance on ahimsa or non-violence in  One life scriptures: Kalpasutra in Sanskrit, is the famous work of Jainism. It contains biographies of 24 Tirthankars and the rules to be observed by the Jain - munees. Hemchandra was one of the most famous Jain writers (Parshista Parv). The most famous  Do you know? Examples of Jain sculpture is 70 feet high statue on a hill top in Shravanvelgola in Karnataka State. Mathura and Ujjain were Jainism flourished mainly in western and southern India, le. The main centers of Jainism. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat  , Rajasthan, Malwa, Odisha, etc. BUDDHISM Gautam Buddha was the founder of Buddhism. His real name was Siddharth. He was born in 563 BC at Lumbini in Tarai of Nepal. His father was Shuddhodhan and his mother was Mahamaya. He was the  only child of his parents.  When he grew up, he was married to Yashodhra.  He had a son, Rahul.  He was totally detached from all the worldly affairs.  He realised that worldly goods, could not give him real happiness.  So, he left his home in search of truth and real happiness.  At the age of 35, when he was sitting under a pipal tree in Gaya (Bihar), he got the enlightenment and realized the truth and became Buddha, i.e.  the enlightened one.  He, then, preached his doctrines for 45 years.  He passed away at the age of 80, in 483 BCE at Kushi Nagar (UP), Gautam Buddha realised that the real cause of misery is desire.  He expressed four noble truths as the way to Gautam Buddha overcome desires.  These are the following: (i) This world is full of miseries.  (ii) All sufferings are caused by desires.  (ii) To remove the sufferings, one should conquer (overcome) the desires and only then Nirvana can be attained 166

(IV) The desires can be removed by following the Ashtangika Marg or Eight - fold path.  • Right observation Right determination.  Right action • Right speech • Right livelihood • Right exercise • Right thinking Right meditation Buddha declared that if one follows the Eight - Fold Path, he can attain the desired goal, Le.  Moksha without the help of any rituals or the priests.  He believed in this type of middle path to attain Nirvana Scriptures: Mahatma Buddha was silent on the existence of God and discarded caste biases.  He organized Sanghas which were open to all.  Buddha's teachings are compiled in Tripitakas.  It contains rules for monks, sermons for the people and the Buddhist philosophy.  It is in three parts.  Buddhism spread over to Sri Lanka, Burma, China, Nepal, south-east Asian countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, etc.  Kings Ashoka and Kanishka took special interest in popularizing the doctrines of Buddhism in India as well as abroad.  CHRISTIANITY Jesus, was the founder of Christian religion.  Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.  He was born in Bethlehem, a village of Jerusalem.  His mother's name was Mary and his foster father was Joseph.  We do not know much about his early life up to 30 years except that he worked along with his father, a carpenter in Nazreth, near Bethlehem, during this period.  It is said that he performed certain miracles before the people and claimed that he was the son of God.  He preached that there is only one God.  He gave His message to the people in simple language in the form of stories.  He emphasized that God is the great healer and He loves His people just as a father loves His children.  He was fearless and spoke freely against the existing evils of the society.  Some of the orthodox people and the rich cross - a Sacred Symbol became his enemies.  He called himself the 'King of faces', so he was considered as a rebel by Roman rulers.  He was then nailed to a cross and killed.  Since the cross' has become a sacred symbol for the Christians.  The sacred day of his death is called al 167

Good Friday and prayers are offered on this day.  It is believed that Jesus Christ came back to life after three days and then left for his heavenly abode.  This event is celebrated as Easter every year.  The birth of Christ is celebrated all over the world on 25 December every year as Christmas.  This is the biggest festival of all the Christians.  The Christian era started from first CE.  Scriptures and Teachings: Jesus Christ was born to serve the purpose of God, I.e.  love for the sick and the old, to remove sin from this world, to hate the sin but not the sinner.  The holy book of Christians is Bible.  It has two parts: (1) Old Testament - It contains history of the religious beliefs of the people.  (New Testament - It contains biography and teachings of Jesus Christ, keywords biography: an account of someone's life written by someone else. Civilisation: the stage of human social development which is considered most advanced. Enlightenment: awareness that brings change in life. Meditation  : it is a practice in which an individual trains the mind. orthodox adhering to traditional and established faith. penance: punishment inflicted on oneself as an outward expression of repentance for wrong - doing. 168)