HINDU+IDEAS

__**HISTORY, BELIEFS, AND BASIC IDEAS OF HINDUISM**__
 * What are the basic beliefs and ideas of Hinduism? How and when did the religion arise? How prevalent is it in India today?**

1. In Hinduism one's karma has to be good in order for a person to reach moksha, a place like heaven.( WCo)

2. Hindus worship many gods and goddesses, called devas. (alim)

3. Hindus believe atman, the spririt of soul, is eternal. (alim)

4. Hindus believe in one God, but they allow for the addition of new gods and multiple forms of existing gods. (cne)

5. Hinduism is the most practiced religion in India. About 80% of the population of India practices it. (zba)

6. Hinduism originated in the Indus Valley in modern Pakistan. (kbe)

7. Hinduism is the oldest known religion in the world, and is a major influence in Indian culture due to its prevalence. (pgei)

8. Hindus believe in samsara, or reincarnation, in which souls are trapped on earth, living, dying, and being reborn into different forms over and over again until they have lived a perfect life. Then and only then can a soul reach moksha, the freedom for the cycle of life. (mhu)

9. Hinduism is a religion that believes in one god, but what makes it different from every other religion is the idea that the one god can take on many different forms resulting in a very tolerant people, open to new forms of the same god. (mhu)

10. Hindus believe that their gods can come to earth in different forms. All of the gods have multiple avatars which are slimply different forms of the origional god. (bbr)

11. In Hinduism the surpreme god is Vishnu. He is the god that came up with the idea to create earth. (jst)

12. Hinduism is older than any other religion. It is very open and tolerent. (spa)

13. Hinduism originated in the Indus valley, and was found primarily in India. The term "Hindu" was founded in the 16th century. The text on Hinduism is called the Vedic. The Hindus beleive that Silva is the creator, maintainer, and destroyer of life. Hinduism is the way of life that encompasses and embodies existence. (jat)

14. Hinduism provides the basic beliefs for multiple religions, such as Buddhism and Jainism. (moe)

15. Hinduism is often referred as Sanatana Dharma by its practitioners, a Sankrit phrase meaning "the enterna law".(dmc)

16. Hinduisms god beliefs are often reffered to as henothiestic. (wste)

17. The Rig Veda is one of thew oldest texts of Hinduism. (WCo)

18. The ishta-deva is a god that one chooses to worship because of it being a personal favorite. (eda)

19. The concept of Maya is (in a nutshell) an illusion that veils the actual truth of the universe. It is known as "piercing the veil" when one sees past our material earth and into the real truth of everything that is. (eda)

20. Bhakti is a Sanskrit word for devotion.The Bhagavad Gita stresses the practice of Bhakti yoga as the ultimate religious expression, and that all other dharmas should be abandoned. (hpo)

21. Yoga is a Hindu disipline aimed at training the conciousness for a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility. (eboo)

22. Indra is the god of rain and thunder. (eboo)