Culture and Traditions of India: Religions Om Sri Sai Ram, India is a very intense and eternal land.

Many Avatars, Prophets, and Sages were born in this holy land. It is also a very multicultural area where there are lots of religions. One of the main religions in India is Hinduism. Hinduism is special because it wasnt founded by any special prophet. The Aryans who were the founders of Hinduism were believed to have invaded India thus ending the Indus Valley Civilization. Hinduism is mainly based on the teachings of the 4 Vedas. The 4 Vedas: Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda were the basis of Hinduism. The Vedas were believed to be written down around 1500 BCE but Hindus say that the Vedas are not of human origin. Hindus also believed in the caste system

putting Brahmins at the highest point. Brahmins were mostly priests and scholars. At 2nd place was the Kshatriyas who were the warrior type of people. Then came the Vaishyas who were the tradespeople. The last in the caste system were Shudras who were slaves, farmers etc. They were treated poorly and were not allowed in temples. Swami says that we should not be doing this because they too are humans and Swami also says Theres only one caste, the caste of humanity. Hindus also believe in Karma which is that if we perform good actions in life, we can have a good afterlife whereas if we perform bad actions, it can lead us to hell where we will get punished severely. If today we believe in Karma, it would mean that people will fear the consequences for the bad action they performed in life in hell. Another religion in India is Buddhism founded

by Siddhartha Gautama or The Buddha who was a Kshatriya originally but after seeing death, poverty, old age, and an ascetic he decided that he should be an ascetic too because he saw that the ascetic was in a state of supreme bliss. His teachings were mainly the Four Noble Truths and The Eight Fold Path which told people to leave of desires and lead a good life. Many Shudras decided to become Buddhists because Hindu priests told them that they should perform a lot of yagnas. To conduct a yagna costs a lot of money but the Shudras had no money so they decided to become Buddhists. Buddhism says that you dont have to perform sacrifices and you should just follow the Eight Fold Path. Swami also says that the only sacrifice you can make is the mind. There is a yagna called the Aswhameda Yagna where people have to sacrifice a horse but Swami says

instead of sacrificing the horse, we could sacrifice our horse like mind. Another religion that came up after Buddhism is Jainism which basically is the same thing as Buddhism. They also say to give up all desires and never hurt living creatures. This what the Vedas also say. Vedas also said that knowledge is very mighty (It never meant bookish knowledge. It meant the true knowledge). But the Brahmins took it the wrong way. It is said that God has thousands of arms, legs and heads. Each of these parts were said to be the people. The rishis believed that there were only a thousand people in their times. But now the count would be billions. Brahmins were supposed to be the head. Kshatriyas were supposed to be the arms. The Vaishyas were the thighs. And the Shudras were the legs. If we think about it all these parts are necessary for a human so we

shouldnt discriminate about who is important but we should do our duty which is to go back to our source which is god. The people usually misinterpreted the Vedas. After Zoarasthrinism came to India because of Muslim invasions in Persia. Zoroastrians were very wealthy business people who settled along the west coast of India. And soon enough came the Muslim invaders who looted lots of temples in India and established the Mughal Empire. The starting emperors didnt allow Hinduism to be practised by Hindus. But a few emperors such as Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan were tolerant. About the same time Bhakti Hinduism was also going around. People thought of it as a different sect of Hindus who thought that praising the lord was the best way of reaching to him. And mostly Bhakti was practised through Bhajan, Abhangs, Keerthana, and

Namasmarana. Also came another religion which was Sikhism. It was founded by Guru Nanak who wanted to unite the Hindus and Muslims. He created Sikhism as a cross between Hinduism and Islam. Sikhs arent allowed idol worship and also have to cover their hair like Muslims do. Their Hindu practices were they believed in Avatars and Gurus. They also believe in rebirth. After sometime came Christianity along with the European empires such as the British, French and the Portuguese. Some of these empires forced people to become Christians. Swami says that you shouldnt convert people to the religion theyre following because religion is part of their Dharma. Soon the British conquered India and the Indians led by Mahatma Gandhi got independence from the British through Ahimsa and Sathya which were Hindu traditions from

the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita. People say this as a revival of Hinduism which Mahatma Gandhi did. Then came our beloved Swami whose teachings summarize all religions basic teachings. Swami was born in India because of the long traditional history. All these religions have all the same thing: Love. Swami is teaching us all these teachings over and over again but we still forget. India has taught us a great lesson to have forbearance and love for every religion. Swami has put all teachings from all religions into the five human values: Sathya, Dharma, Shanti, Prema, and Ahimsa. If we follow all these human values, this will surely be a better world. We should remember his teachings always without forgetting it. Jai Sai Ram