Hinduism
Hinduism is a form of religious faith wherein the followers (hindus) believe in the existence of an omnipotent God who can assume multiple forms. Humans and other life forms are believed to consist of Atma which cloaks itself by a perishable external morphological form. Salvation is defined as the realization of God by the the Atma and that there are multiple ways of achieving this salvation.
Lifestyle of a Hindu
Guidance to hindu lifestyle is compiled together and rigidly divided into two main divisions: (1)Shrutis (Scriptures) and (2)Smritis.Shrutis deal with the spiritual aspect of life and guide in achieving salvation. Smritis deal with the non-spiritual, social behaviour. The shrutis are unmodifiable and have remained unchanged over the past seven millenia. On the other hand smritis are modifiable and mutiple authors have put out different smritis over the period of history. The most popular of the smriti is that compiled by Manu and known as Manusmriti.
Hindu religious faith
There are two main schools of religious philosophy in Hindu religion: (1)Advait or Non-dual and (2)Dvait or Dual.Advait philosophy does not differentiates between the God and Atma, thereby implying that God and Atma are one and the same entity. On the other hand Dvait philosophy regards God and Atma as two distinct entities. Followers of Advait philosophy seek the God within themselves. They may undertake the path of Rajyog, Gyanyog, etc. in their quest for salvation. The core scriptures followed by these Hindus are Veds and Upanishads.
Followers of Dvait philosophy seek God whom they perceive as distinct from themselves. They largely follow the path of Bhaktiyog in their quest for salvation. Hindus following the dvait philosophy can be subdivided into two categories: (1) those who believe in formless (Nirakar) God and (2) those who believe in a form (sakar) of God. The main scriptures for the dvait hindus are the biographic and or teachings of their perceived God. Thus, for followers of Ram, Ramayana is the main scripture. However, they may also follow Veds, Upanishads, and other scriptures.
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Introduction to Hinduism
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