Indus River Valley Religion and Beliefs
- Many religions were practiced in India throughout the course of it's history
- Brahmanism
- Aryan religion based on the vedas
- There are four vedas that each contain hymns and poems
- Brahmin thoughts were applied to the Vedic Texts
- One collection of vedic texts describes Aryan religious rituals
- A second collection of vedic texts describes a set of secret rituals that only certain people could perform the vedas by religious students and teachers
- Hinduism
- Practice poltytheism
- The three major gods are Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu
- Brahman is a universal spirit of the gods
- Everything in the world is part of Brahman
- Everyone has a sole that holds their personality
- Your goal is to reunite your soul with Brahman who is the ultimate spirit
- The world we live in is an illusion and Brahman is the only reality
- Believe that souls are born and reborn many times through a process called reincarnation
- The form you reincarnated into was based on your karma
- Good actions built good karma and bad actions built bad karma
- Buddhism
- Siddhartha Gautama was a man who left home looking for answers
- After lots of meditation, he found enlightenment under a tree and would there on forward be called the Buddha
- The Buddha was raised as a hindu and still believed that people should be act morally and treat others as well
- There were four main principles in the Buddha's teachings called the "Four Noble Truths"
- Four Noble Truths:
- Suffering and unhappiness are a part of human life. No one can escape sorrow.
- Suffering comes from our desire of pleasure and material goods. People cause their own misery because they want things they cannot have.
- People can overcome their desires and reach nirvana (a state of perfect peace). Reaching nirvana would free a person's soul from suffering and from the need for further reincarnation
- People can overcome ignorance and desire by following an eightfold path that leads to wisdom, enlightenment, and salvation.
- The eightfold path was a path the Buddha believed was a middle between human desires and denying oneself any pleasure