Thursday, November 01, 2007

A Hindu's evening prayers


Evening prayers
Originally uploaded by aupeter100
Hinduism is the world's oldest extant religion,[4][5] and many of whose origins can be traced to the ancient Vedic civilization.[6] A conglomerate of diverse beliefs and traditions, Hinduism has no single founder.[7][8] It is the world's third largest religion following Christianity and Islam, with approximately a billion adherents, of whom about 905 million live in India and Nepal.[9] Other countries with large Hindu populations include Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.

Hinduism is an extremely diverse religion. Although some tenets of the faith are accepted by most Hindus, scholars have found it difficult to identify any doctrines with universal acceptance among all denominations.[13] Prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include Dharma (ethics/duties), Samsāra (The continuing cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth), Karma (action and subsequent reaction), Moksha (liberation from samsara), and the various yogas (paths or practices).

No comments: