India, her Cosmic Structures - Essay Example

Task India One of the best ways to understand India is through its cosmic structures. These cosmic structures shape the Indian beliefs on spiritualism and exert a significant influence on their culture. Hinduism is one dominant religion in the Indian culture. It generally refers to the set of religious beliefs and customs that have evolved over the centuries and have attained recognition in the Indian culture. Although the beliefs and teaching have evolved over the years, Hinduism is still founded upon nature and on the belief in the existence of gods (Griffin, 1). Hinduism practices a diversity of beliefs. The first and major belief of Hinduism is the belief in the sacred reality, which is founded upon Brahman. Brahman is the ultimate authority on sacred reality. He is considered as the manifest basis of the entire unmanifest (Griffin, 1). This means that Brahman is the manifestation of all the Vedic gods and this makes him the creator and the creation itself. He thus considered being eternal, changeless, perfect and absolute (Griffin, 1). The effect of this belief in humanity is the foundation of the belief in a supreme being. Human beings practice religion due to the belief in a supreme being, which is seen as the source of creation and authority on earth. The Supreme Being is depicted as one that must be accorded respect and obedience to its laws and teachings. It is this belief in a Supreme Being that evidences the aspect of humanity that demands respect to be accorded to the Supreme Being. The belief on life, death and reincarnation taught by Brahman is an indication of the perceptions held by human beings on life after death and the origin of life. The second vision of India is founded upon the teachings of Buddha. Unlike Hinduism, Buddhism dies not believe in creation or the existence of a creator god. It instead teaches on the impermanence of all reality and the need to focus on experiencing the present. It also teaches on the absence of an entity within the human body. This means that contrary to other human religions that lay an emphasis on the human soul, Buddhism does not place any belief on the existence of the human soul. Rather, it places belief on reincarnation and the need to preserve high standards of morality. In this respect, Buddhism explains humanity as independent existence guided by faith and high moral codes (Griffin, 1). Sikhism, on the other hand, has some degree of monotheism. It places belief on all powerful, magnificent, and immanent being. As opposed to the other visions, Sikhism place belief on creation. It insists that the world was created by the utterance of god. This view explains the source of humanity as originating as a creation by the divine being. According to this vision, humanity arose by creation. Jainism, like Buddhism and Hinduism, does not believe in creation but rather in reincarnation as the source of humanity. However, as opposed to the other visions, it places firm belief on the law of nature. This is the law of Karma, which may be described as the human soul, and is responsible for governing human conduct through the notion that bad deeds collect on the karma making it sticky. All these visions of India, though dissimilar in some aspects, converge on the insistence of divinity arising from nature. It is this convergence in these visions that may be used to argue that these similarities form the Indian vision on humanity. 2 The views of the visions of India are different from Europe and North East countries. The ‘mother vision’ of India is Hinduism that has influenced other religions in a great way. The religions affected in India are Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism and Baha’i. India has accepted different religions to be practiced by its citizens and has fostered on the freedom of worship, which has been the main factor that has promoted the diverse worship of religion. The vision, Hinduism refers to different types of believes and religion practices that religious individuals practices to their different types of gods. Hinduism believes on the principle of truth and encourages the worshippers to speak the truth always. The religion celebrates believe in organic, culture and multileveled as part of their worship. There are several gods that Hinduism worshipper’s worship that represents different aspects of lives, for example, god of rain. The ultimate reality of Hinduism is Brahman who is feared and respected as the ultimate creator and ruler. The humanity fit in the sacred reality by believing that they would return to Brahman at the end of the world. Comparing the vision of the North East to the Indian’s vision the method of worshipping is different. The North East practice Judaism that believes in only one God as their guider and protector. The religion believes that he is the only ultimate creator of the universe, and he should be worshipped. One person is worshipped and obeyed in a monotheistic religion, which is the core characteristic of the Judaism. The difference between the Hinduism and Judaism is that the number of personalities that are worshipped varies in each religion. Hinduism worships different types of gods that are believed to be in charge of a significant aspect of life. They believe they that God chose them as his people and will protect them in difficult times. They also believe that God will come and take his holy people who obeyed him in the world. Hinduism religion also believes in the same fact that Brahman will come back to take them. The ultimate reality of Judaism is to fear and worship God in all situation of life. European vision in religion is Christianity that has dominated in the continent for exceedingly long time. Other active religions practiced are Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. Christianity is different to Hinduism that is practiced in India, but has similarities with Judaism that is majorly practiced in North East region. The religion is monotheistic and only allows the worship of one God. They believe in live after death and the coming of God at the end of the world, showing the humanity fit. The ultimate reality of Christianity is worship and keeps the commandments given by God. 3 Though the visions of India are dissimilar on the aspect of creation, freewill is a common feature in the visions. This is because they all insist that when a human being is born, he/she is pure and free from all flaws. The flaws that are attained in the future are only because of human conduct. The consequences may differ, but the common theme of freewill remains prevalent among the visions. Another prominent feature of all the visions from India is that all the visions place nature at the centre of their beliefs. This means that all the visions incorporate the natural world into their beliefs. Brahman, for example, incorporates various creatures and dainties. The same case is for Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. The visions are compatible since they all both believe in one ultimate personality who is believed to possess power and maximum authority. The personality is worshipped by the believers, and his laws are obeyed. Hinduism believes in Brahman while the Judaism and Christianity believe in God as the creator and the ultimate source of life. The visions are similar in temperament since they have the guidelines that direct all the things they do in their lives. These guidelines are written in books and is everyone obligation to know and follow them amicably. Work Cited Griffin, John. Manifest and Unmanifest Divinity Conditioned and Unconditioned Consciousness in the Monistic Traditions of India. 2011. Web. November 12, 2011. Available at: Read More