Hinduism is among the oldest religions ever practiced on the planet. It is shared and practiced by many individuals and is vast and has complex beliefs unlike any other religion practiced. The main belief among this religion is the belief in soul, also known as “aatma.” This means that every human has a soul and the main goal is to connect to the soul giver alias Parmatma (Blackwood & Burns, 2012).
Vedic Deities History of Development and its Functions
The Vedic Deities are the different gods that this religion has. There are two major groups of gods in the Hindu religion. The Devas and the Asuras. These gods have evolved over time and the deities from long ago are believed to have been out timed and other gods evolved from them. The Vedic gods formed the basic structure of the Hindu religion and from this there developed eight major gods with each a unique story of development and function. First there was the Indra who was the god of rain and the king of all other gods. He is the guardian of the universe and is believed to rule the place of immense beauty. There was also the Agni who is considered the most important god, this is the god of fire and is believed to help farmers based upon their pleasing him. He was represented with three arms and three heads. Another god was Surya who was the god of the sun and depicted as a glorious light. There was also Vayu who was the god of the wind who was the messenger of the gods and is believed that Vayu was the father of Hanuman.
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There was Varuna the god of water who was the representative of the sea. Others included Yama who was the most feared deity as he was the god of death; it is believed that this god was the brother of the god. Soma was the ritualistic drink drunk on special occasions where praises of the qualities of these gods was done, It was assigned as a beverage in a cup. There was also Kubera who was a dwarf god believed to be deformed and evil but was later accepted and joined to the list of deities of the Hindu. The gods in the Hindu religion was divided majorly into two groups that is the Vedic gods and the Puranic gods. The Vedic gods came first and they formed the basis for the Puranic gods who are mostly used today ( Jacobsen, 2012).
The Caste System and its Effect to the Life of an Individual Hindu
The caste system is a system that tends to categorize different individuals according to their differences as this system believes that every individual is different from another and so this system was adopted. It is believed that their singular abilities fit well into diverse aspects of society. A person attributes will determine which social class a person will be allocated to. There are four main classes where individuals can be placed with a fifth one been comprised as the untouchables. This group however, is not involved in the caste system. The first group is called the Brahmin which includes the seers, the priests and the religious and intellectual leaders. The next group was the Kshatriyas who were the born administrators, the protectors of the society who would today be the police, the politicians and the army.
There was also a group called the Vaisyas who were the skillful producers of material things, they included the farmers’ artisans and the like, this group in today’s society would include the engineers and merchants in general. There was also the Shundras who were the unskilled laborers or the followers or the maintenance people, this today are the manual laborers. This system is important even in today’s system as people are subdivided according to their individual ability and thus there is minimal or no favourism as everyone is awarded as per his or her ability. The advantage of this system is that there is a systematic separation of skills and thus no one would be born a loser.
Christian Communities Living in a Hindu Context and Their Interactions
India is a country where Christianity is the third most popular religion. This is a country wher Hinduism is the main religion practiced. Several communities have come together and are practicing Christianity and these communities include the residents of Meghalaya, Mizoam and Nagaland. These communities live at harmony with their fellow countrymen amid different struggles, they attend their churches and rarely have any conflict. This are majorly converts from the when the religion was introduced to India in the sixth century. Over time these diversity has been an issue where the majority were not at peace with the minority religion though this issue has been addressed over time with conferences to try and bring peace and the spirit of togetherness to these communities. Several factors have been addressed that include the need for social justice where the two religions are argued to realize the need for coexistences in peace and harmony, also another major issue is the dialogue of life where the human life is single and religion does not determine ones right over the other, also an issue of mission and conversion owing to the fact that a lot of religious differences is evident between the two communities. It is important that this is not a factor that hinders peace( Hayes, 2012).
In a nutshell, religion is an important element in the human race, it however, should not be a factor that makes communities living n the same locality experience lack of peace as all this religions represent a common purpose of self-realization and togetherness as a race on this earth.
References
Blackwood, K., & Burns, Z. (2012). Hinduism & Sikhism . Delhi: College Publishing House.
Hayes, J. (2012). Hinduism . London: Hodder Education.
Jacobsen, K. A. (2012). Brill's encyclopedia of Hinduism: Volume four . Leiden: Brill.
