Most Hindus believe in an immense unifying force that governs all existence and cannot be completely known by humanity. Individual gods and goddesses are personifications of this cosmic force. In practice, each Hindu worships those few deities that he or she believes directly influence his or her life. By selecting one or more of these deities to worship, and by conducting the rituals designed to facilitate contact with them, a Hindu devotee is striving to experience his or her unity with that cosmic force.
While scholars, philosophers, and priests debate the finer points of Hindu theology, lay worshipers call upon familiar gods to help with their everyday hopes and problems.
There are three primary Hindu deities:
Shiva
Shiva (the Creator and Destroyer), who destroys the old while creating the new. His consorts include the loving Parvati and the ferocious Durga, who represent the feminine aspects of his complex nature.
Vishnu
Vishnu (the Preserver) and his two most popular incarnations, Krishna and Rama.
Devi/Parvati
Devi (the Protecting Mother), sometimes known simply as the Goddess, who appears in some form in every region of India. She is often identified as the creative energy of the universe, and is considered by her followers the equal of Vishnu and Shiva.
Hinduism was born in India, but it was not founded by one individual. Rather, it is the fusion of many religious beliefs and philosophical schools. Accordingly, Hinduism is said to be a religion of a million and one gods. Its origins are mixed and complex.
Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, Hinduism Today's founder, assembled these beliefs, a creed shared by most Hindus, to summarize a vast and profound faith. He wrote, "The Hindu is completely filled with his religion all of the time. It is a religion of love. The common bonds uniting all Hindus into a singular spiritual body are the laws of karma and dharma, the belief in reincarnation, all-pervasive Divinity, the ageless traditions and our Gods. Our religion is a religion of closeness, one to another, because of the common bond of loving the same Gods. All Hindu people are of one family, for we cannot separate one God too far from another. Each in His heavenly realm is also of one family, a divine hierarchy which governs and has governed the Hindu religion from time immemorial, and will govern Sanatana Dharma on into the infinite. The enduring sense of an ever-present Truth that is God within man is the essence of the Sanatana Dharma. Such an inherent reality wells up lifetime after lifetime after lifetime, unfolding the innate perfection of the soul as man comes more fully into the awakened state of seeing his total and complete oneness with God."
1 Reverence for Our Revealed Scriptures
Hindus believe in the divinity of the Vedas, the world's most ancient scripture, and venerate the Agamas as equally revealed. These primordial hymns are God's word and the bedrock of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal religion which has neither beginning nor end.
2 All-Pervasive Divinity
Hindus believe in a one, all-pervasive Supreme Being who is both immanent and transcendent, both Creator and Unmanifest Reality.
3 Three Worlds and Cycles of Creation
Hindus believe there are three worlds of existence--physical, astral and causal--and that the universe undergoes endless cycles of creation, preservation and dissolution.
4 The Laws of Karma and Dharma
Hindus believe in karma--the law of cause and effect by which each individual creates his own destiny by his thoughts, words and deeds--and in dharma, righteous living.
5 Reincarnation and Liberation
Hindus believe that the soul reincarnates, evolving through many births until all karmas have been resolved, and moksha--spiritual knowledge and liberation from the cycle of rebirth--is attained. Not a single soul will be eternally deprived of this destiny.
6 Temples and the Inner Worlds
Hindus believe that divine beings exist in unseen worlds and that temple worship, rituals, sacraments as well as personal devotionals create a communion with these devas and Gods.
7 Yoga Guided by a Satguru
Hindus believe that a spiritually awakened master, or satguru, is essential to know the Transcendent Absolute, as are personal discipline, good conduct, purification, pilgrimage, self-inquiry and meditation.
8 Compassion and Noninjury
Hindus believe that all life is sacred, to be loved and revered, and therefore practice ahimsa, "noninjury."
9 Genuine Respect for Other Faiths
Hindus believe that no particular religion teaches the only way to salvation above all others, but that all genuine religious paths are facets of God's Pure Love and Light, deserving tolerance and understanding.
Below is a picture of the Hindu temple that is across the road from the clinic and is the temple for the village here in Chanaute.
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