NINE BELIEFS OF HINDUISM
Our beliefs determine our thoughts and attitudes about
life, which in turn direct our actions. By our actions, we
create our destiny. Beliefs about sacred matters—God,
soul and cosmos—are essential to one’s approach to
life. Hindus believe many diverse things, but there are
a few bedrock concepts on which most Hindus concur.
The following nine beliefs, though not exhaustive, offer
a simple summary of Hindu spirituality.
1. Hindus believe in a one, all-pervasive Supreme
Be ing who is both immanent and transcendent,
both Creator and Unmanifest Reality.
2. Hindus believe in the divinity of the four Vedas, the world’s
most ancient scrip ture, and venerate the Ågamas as equally
revealed. These primordial hymns are God’s word and the
bedrock of Sanâtana Dharma, the eternal religion.
3. Hindus believe that the universe undergoes endless cycles of
creation, preservation and dissolution.
4. Hindus believe in karma, the law of cause and effect by which
each individual creates his own destiny by his thoughts, words
and deeds.
5. Hindus believe that the soul reincarnates, evolving through
many births until all karmas have been resolved, and moksha,
liberation from the cycle of rebirth, is attained. Not a single
soul will be deprived of this destiny.
6. Hindus believe that divine beings exist in unseen worlds and
that temple worship, rituals, sacraments and personal devotionals
create a communion with these devas and Gods.
7. Hindus believe that an enlightened master, or satguru, is essential
to know the Transcendent Absolute, as are personal
discipline, good conduct, purification, pilgrimage, self-inquiry,
meditation and surrender in God.
8. Hindus believe that all life is sacred, to be loved and revered,
and therefore practice ahiμsâ, noninjury, in thought, word
and deed.
9. Hindus believe that no religion teaches the only way to salvation
above all others, but that all genuine paths are facets of
God’s Light, deserving tolerance and understanding.