Monday, October 15, 2007

Rituals and Practices



Many Hindus practice Hinduism in different ways depending on their stage in life. Hindus believe that they should complete four stages during the course of their life. The first stage, brahmacharga takes place during schooling and is focused on obtaining knowledge and developing character. During the teenage years they are required to focus on their family, developing a career, and finding a life partner. Once the children become adults, in the vanaprastha stage, they increase their focus on religious practices. At the final stage, sanngasu, they focus entirely on their religious practices.

The basic principles of Hinduism revolve around personal cleanliness, eating habits, family relations, marital practices and manner in which they choose to interact with others.

Many other rituals and practices include:

-Funeral Rituals, the body is cremated and their is disposal of ashes which is supposed to remove the pollution of death.

- Ayurveda, an ancient system of medicine and healing.


- Yoga, Hatha Yoga is the practice of meditation that provides physical and breathing exercises and helps complete the ultimate goal of achieving a complete focus of the self. Karma yoga is the yoga of work or action. Bhakti yoga is the yoga of devotion or love to God, and is full of religious practices.

-Namaste Greeting, the gesture is attained by putting your palms together and holding them in front of the heart.


-Puja, a religious ritual that is performed every morning after bathing and dressing but before mealtime. The ritual includes gazing at an image, and supplying an offering such as food or flowers, and sometimes lighting a candle or incense.



Resources used: http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/practices.htm
Patterns of Religion

6 comments:

KoreanChef5 said...

Hey guys I thought your presentation was pretty cool. I didn't know like any information about Hinduism so it's pretty cool to be able to learn about it. your blog had a lot of useful information and i was able to learn about the different Veda's and stuff so yeah cool material!

Juliet said...

I think it is very intriguing that Hinduism can be practiced in different ways depending on your stage in life. I never knew that Hinduism was so in depth.

Courtney said...

I was unaware that yoga was a part of the Hinduism religion, it's interesting to look at how widely it has spread and how it has become popular.

Maddie said...

this is really interesting.i never knew that hinduisum life is divided into 4 sections and you have to fallow the basis of each stage depending on you age. its really interesting. i also never knew that yoga came from hinduism. its cool how now its something that so many people practice now days, wheather or not you practice hinduism. its really intriguing.

Matt E- Hr. 2 said...

I think its really interesting with the four stages and stuff. It totally makes sence, but its a really stringent religion to follow.

Ted Owen said...

I also find in interesting that Hinduism can be practiced in different ways depending on your sprirituality.