Hinduism

When I was born my parents named me Neha which means loving. My people believe that the moment you are born you are created perfect, but the second after you begin to die.

When I was born my father dipped a golden pen in honey and wrote this symbol

The symbol stands for truth, in hopes that I would always speak the truth which is as sweet as honey.

After that my first time ever outside was to a temple, and the first time I was fed solid food was cooked rice.

My parents also preformed a ritual when I had to shave my head, and we offered it to a deity. There was also an ear piercing ceremony for me.

Today in school, I learned about the origins of Hinduism. Unlike other religions, there isn’t one founder or spreader of Hinduism. Instead, the ancient people of the Indus Valley formed beliefs about the world around them. When the Aryan nomads arrived, their beliefs combined with the beliefs of the Indus Valley. Eventually, Hinduism began to form.

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-50915185/stock-photo-indian-village-school-girl.html

With the Aryans came the holy book, the Vedas. It is considered the oldest writing in the world. The Vedas is made up of the Rig-Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama-Veda, and the Atharva-Veda. A long time ago, the Vedas was spread just through speaking. Eventually, it was written down in Sanskrit, the Hindu language that the Aryans formed.

“The man who is truly generous gives to the beggar who approaches him and in search of food. He puts himself at the service of the man who calls to him from the road, and makes him a friend for times to come.”- Rig-Veda 10.117

http://antiquatis.org/comment/40

Today at school, one boy was picking on some other kids. But he should know that he is breaking the rules of Dharma, the moral balance of all things. Also, if he doesn’t watch out he’ll be the one that gets picked on. Karma states that your actions affect your future, and everything has a consequence. What goes around comes around! Even worse, once he dies, samsara, or reincarnation will occur. He doesn’t want to reincarnate into something horrible, like an Untouchable. At that rate, he’ll never reach moksha, where the gods are. If you are really good in life, you’ll get sent to moksha forever. You just keep on reincarnating until you reach perfection.

http://gbgm-umc.org/missionstudies/interfaith/f-hinduism.html

I am getting very excited because one of my favorite holidays is coming up! The name of the holiday is Divali, which means “a row of lights”. The holiday celebrates the Hindu New year, and this year it falls on October 26th! My whole family gets very involved. In my house we decorate the floors with colorful floor paintings. Everyone decorates their streets and doorways with small clay lamps called divas. The reason we do this is for the coming of Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and good fortune. Colorful lights contribute to the festive surroundings, because only if Lakshmi is greeted with light then she will offer her blessings.

Every year I pick out my nicest clothing and jewelry to wear on Divali. Then, my family and I go around offering sweets and gifts to our neighbors/friends! I love Divali and cannot wait for the holiday to come!

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Hi everyone! Today has been a very hectic, but fun day! Today was the first day of the Holi festival. This is the Hindu spring festival, celebrating the equinox. Every year it’s different, but this year it starts on March 19th. One of my favorite things about this is the bonfires. The bonfires are meant to empower the sun as it moves into the warmer and longer hours of spring (I learned about that in school!). All night we sang, danced and prayed around the bonfires. Tomorrow morning all of the fires will be extinguished, and water becomes the center of the festival! A tradition in my family is we color water with special dyes, and we have a playful water fight and throw it at each other! All of this fun lasts for three days. Tomorrow will be another exciting day filled with family time and eating special foods and sweets!

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Maha Shivaratri is a another important holiday we celebrate. It is in honor of Lord Shiva (one of the goddesses). This year Maha Shivaratri falls on March 3rd. On this day we observe during the day and fast at night and worship to appease Lord Shiva. Something interesting about this holiday is that some legends say it was the wedding day of Lord Shiva and Parvati. Something else people say is, Lord Shiva performed ‘Tandava’ the dance of primal creation, preservation and destruction. In my family there are very strict rules about fasting. Throughout the day we worship and sing devotional songs in honor of Lord Shiva.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2234/2039877164_2baa4d3248.jpg

Today in school we were taught about the Caste System. The Caste System is a social class system, where your class in your next life is determined by your actions in your current life. For example, if I am in a low caste, with little money, but I do good my whole life, I will be reborn in the next life as a wealthier person. At the bottom of the Caste System are untouchables, people with such a low caste that people in a higher castes discriminate against them. Untouchables can never move to a higher caste. But my teacher said that many people don’t really discriminate against the untouchables today.

http://hinduism.iskcon.org/practice/701.htm

http://www.shreedarshan.com/hindu-society-culture.htm

http://www.markville.ss.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/projects/classof2008/chong2/kim/caste_system.htm

http://truereligiondebate.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/what-is-common-between-an-dog-a-crow-a-women-and-a-shudra-dalit-low-caste-hindu-untouchabel-in-hindu-religion/

http://ngphotooftheday.blogspot.com/2008_11_05_archive.html

Today my mom taught me about the gods of Hinduism. She said that there are 3 main gods (also known as the Hindu Trinity). The trinity consists of Brahma the Creator (who is said to have created everything), Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer. These gods are all combined to form one great deity, Brahman. My mom also said that more and more gods and goddesses are being created every day, because if a person is pure enough, they will eventually be turned into a god.

Brahma: The Creatorhttp://bit.ly/oo80Ug

Vishnu: The Preserverhttp://bit.ly/pL4CTQ

Shiva: The Destroyerhttp://bit.ly/gwqhRR

Today in school, I learned about the goddesses of Hinduism. The goddesses of Hinduism are similar to the gods. The 3 main goddesses are Sarasvati, daughter of Brahma, Lakshmi, wife of Vishnu, and Mahadevi Shakti, wife of Shiva. Like Brahma, Mahadevi Shakti is considered to be the greatest goddess, who created all other goddesses. I hope one day I will become a goddess!

Sarasvati, daughter of Brahma

http://bit.ly/lkNHOWc

Lakshmi, wife of Vishnuhttp://bit.ly/p6VCxH

Mahadevi Shakti, wife of Shiva

http://bit.ly/oQSEgw

Today was my wedding! I was arranged by my parents to be married by a man named Amar. Our wedding lasted three whole days and it was extremely festive. My whole family was there and there was so much food. The ceremony was decorated around the fire of our god Agni. We made many offerings to the fire. When we took seven steps around the fire it signified out marriage was complete. We were now bonded for life.

Karma: We should never inflict pain or hurt on other beings, such as animals, even indirectly like eating them. This could mess with our Karma. The same pain in our next life could be inflicted upon us because of it.

Today my grandmother died. We burned her body in the fire of our god Agni to releaser her soul. Hopefully she won’t be reincarnated so she can pass the circle of life and reach Nirvana (real reality which is where the gods are). After we burned her body we released it into the Ganges river, and we had to walk away without ever looking back.

The reason that we burn our bodies is so we can release the soul from the body. That is also the reason why we don’t eat meat. The meat is not burned therefore the essence of that animals soul is still in its body. The last emotion it felt was pain and fright. We should never have the essence of that kind of soul inside of our body.