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Hinduism is a religion that originated in India and is still practiced there, as well as in those countries within the Indian cultural sphere (chiefly South East Asia) and those with resident communities of Indian stock (chiefly South East Asia, East Africa, South Africa, and Britain).
The word Hindu is derived from the Sanskrit word sindhu (“river”, more specifically, the Indus); the Persians in the 5th century BC called the Hindus by that name, identifying them as the people of the land of the Indus.
The Hindus’ own definitions of their community are Sanatana Dharam “old tradition” or Vedantic Dharam “those who believe in the Vedas” or “those who follow the way (dharma) of the four classes or castes (varnas) and stages of life (ashramas)”.
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Hindus believe in an uncreated, eternal, infinite, transcendent, and all-embracing principle, which, “comprising in itself being and non-being,” is the sole reality, the ultimate cause and foundation, source, and goal of all existence. This ultimate reality is called Brahman.
As the all Brahman causes the universe and all beings to emanate from itself, transforms itself into the universe, or assumes its appearance. Brahman is in all things and is the Self (atman) of all living beings. Brahman is the creator, preserver, or transformer and reabsorber of everything. Although it is Being in itself, without attributes and qualities and hence impersonal, it may also be conceived of as a personal high God, usually as Vishnu or Shiva.
Ahimsa: non-injury
A further characteristic of Hinduism is the ideal of ahimsa. Ahimsa, or the absence of the desire to harm, is regarded by Indian thinkers as one of the keystones of their ethics. Historically, ahimsa is unrelated to vegetarianism; in ancient India, killing people in war or in capital punishment and killing animals in Vedic sacrifices were acceptable to many people who for other reasons refrained from eating meat.
However, the tow movements, reinforced one another through the common concept of the disinclination to kill and eat animals, and together they contributed to the growing importance of the protection and veneration of the cow, which gives food without having to be killed.
Neither ahimsa nor vegetarianism ever found full acceptance. Even today, many Hindus eat beef, and nonviolence has never been a notable characteristic of Hindu behaviour.
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Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Upanishads elaborated the social doctrine of the four ashramas (stages of life). This concept is an attempt at harmonizing the conflicting tendencies of Hinduism into one system.
It held that a member of the three higher classes should first become a chaste student (brahmachari); then become a married householder (grihastha), discharging his debts to his ancestors by begetting sons and to the Gods by sacrificing; then retire as a vanaprastha, without his wife, to the forest to devote himself to spiritual contemplation; finally, become a homeless wandering ascetic (sannyasin). The situation of the forest dweller was always a delicate compromise that remained problematic. And was often omitted or rejected in practical life.
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