Reflection on Hinduism

535 Words3 Pages
Reflection on Hinduism Hinduism is the world’s third largest religion in the world with approximately one billion followers worldwide. It is also widely considered to be the oldest of the world’s religions as it can be traced all the way back to 5000 B.C. Despite these facts, many people are very unaware about how Hinduism works. I was one of these people before we began reading about it and discussing it in class. The thing that interested me most when reading about Hinduism was that there is no known founder of Hinduism, nor is there a specific event that its people point to as the specific moment of origin. One reason why there might be no known founder of Hinduism is the religion’s great age. Despite there being no founder or specific moment, the religion has somehow managed to evolve over time and continue to change. Another interesting aspect of Hinduism is Brahman. Most Hindus believe that there is one main god named Brahman, but they also believe that there are many other gods that are embodiments of Brahman. In Hinduism, Brahman occupies the highest place as the creator of all. It does not make much sense to me that most Hindus view Brahman as the one true God while also accepting the existence of other gods. This is contradictory to the beliefs of most other major religions where there is only one God that is over all. One reason why Hinduism is still evolving to this day might be the existence of all these gods and all of their duties. The vast amount of deities, gods, Idols, and many other holy beings in Hinduism can be somewhat overwhelming. Another part of Hinduism I find interesting is its continued embracement of the caste system. The caste system in India, and in Hinduism in particular, is basically a ranking of different groups of people from least to most importance based on socioeconomic status. This practice, considered standard among Hindus,
Open Document