Hinduism

• There are many gods and goddesses in Hinduism - Brahma creates the universe, Shiva destroys it, Vishnu maintains it.
• Hinduism is the world's oldest religion, according to many scholars, with roots and customs dating back more than 4,000 years.
• Hinduism is the third-largest religion behind Christianity and Islam, with about 900 million followers.
• Hindus do not have a single bible like Torah, Koran, New Testament, etc but they have a bunch of sacred texts.
• The word "Hindu" comes from the name of the river Indus, which flows 1800 miles from Tibet through Kashmir and Pakistan to the sea.
• Roughly 95 percent of the world's Hindus live in India.
• Hinduism refers to a family of religions that are native to India, are based on the Vedic traditions, and share certain doctrines in varying degrees.
• Early Hindus referred to their own religious beliefs as Sanatana Dharma (meaning, “eternal law”).
• Most Hindus later on adopted the term “Hinduism” to refer to their own religious belief.
• Hinduism has no specific founder, it’s difficult to trace its origins and history.
• Hinduism has no definite starting point.
• Dharma means in Hinduism as a cosmic law underlying right behavior and social order.
• The period when the Vedas were composed became known as the “Vedic Period” and lasted from about 1500 B.C to 500 B.C.
• The word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit word Sindhu, which means "a large body of water", covering "river, ocean".
• The sacred texts of Hinduism are divided into two main categories: The Shruti and Smriti.
• Shruti literally means “what is heard.” It refers to all Hindu sacred texts containing revealed knowledge or knowledge based on direct experience.
• Shruti texts are primary sources that contain truths that are external and unchanging and of divine origin.
• Smriti literally means “what is remembered.” It refers to all Hindu sacred texts containing remembered knowledge.
• Smriti texts are secondary sources that contain truths from humans and may change over time.
• In Hinduism, behaviors are the second most important component (after community and before beliefs).
• Hindus strive to achieve dharma, which is a code of living that emphasizes good conduct and morality.
• The Puranas are comprehensive discussions of the history of the universe, the genealogies of kings, heroes, and demigods, and Hindu cosmology and geography.
• The concept of Karma can never be separated to any religion that originated within the Indian sub-continent.
• The followers of Hinduism believe in reincarnation, or transmigration.
• The Om is one of the most important religious symbols to Hindus.
• Most forms of Hinduism are henotheistic, which means they worship a single deity, known as “Brahman,” but still recognize other gods and goddesses.
• One of the key thoughts of Hinduism is “atman,” or the belief in soul.
• The goal of Hinduism is to achieve “moksha,” or salvation, which ends the cycle of rebirths to become part of the absolute soul.
• Hindus revere all living creatures and consider the cow a sacred animal.
• The Dharma Shastra refers to the books about laws and rules of behavior such as the book Laws of Manu.
• The word Swastika stems from the Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language and means 'being happy'.
• Doing the right thing is more important than believing the right thing, because doing a particular action shows you are part of a particular group.
• The syllable Om is composed of the three sounds a-u-m (in Sanskrit, the vowels a and u coalesce to become o), which represent several important triads: the three worlds of earth, atmosphere, and heaven; the three major Hindu gods.
• Swastika is a pictorial character in the shape of a cross with branches bent at right angles and facing in a clockwise direction.
• The Hindu concept of Moksha is somehow similar to the Buddhist concept of Nirvana.
• Hindus believe in the doctrines of samsara (the continuous cycle of life, death, and reincarnation) and karma (the universal law of cause and effect).
• In India the word Swastika is related to things of good fortune because it means being happy.
• The Ithasas (The Epic poems) – it consists of the epic poems Ramayana and the Mahabharata (of which the Bhagavad Gita is the most important part).
• Shiva is known as the Destroyer in Hinduism.
• The goal of life in Hinduism is to attain salvation, or moksha.