1. The Dasas and the Aryans clashed and fought with one another.
At first, the Aryans and the other civilization in India practiced their own religions.
The Dasas were the other major civilization living in India at the time
The Dasas and the Aryans clashed and fought with one another.
Eventually, the Aryans and the Dasas intermingled
Their seperate forms of religions fused into one.

2. New religious ideals were formed
The Aryans’ + Dasas’ beliefs = Hinduism
Hinduism is a collection of religious beliefs that developed slowly over a long period of time in India around BC.
*NO founder has been traced
Vinayagar
Hanuman

3. Hindus share a common worldview.
Religion is a way of liberating the soul from illusions, disappointments, and mistakes of everyday existence.
Sometime between 750 and 550 B.C., Hindu teachers tried to understand and explain the hidden meaning in the Vedic hymns
Remember the Veda?
The teachers’ interpretations were written down in a book called the Upanishads
Adi Shankara

4. This achievement is known as moksha
The Upanishads are written dialogues or discussions betweens students and teachers.
The dialogues between the students and teachers explain how people can achieve freedom from desires and sufferings.
This achievement is known as moksha
A state of perfection

5. Brahman (the uniting soul)
Atman (the human soul)
Brahman (the uniting soul)
When a person fully understands the relationship between atman and Brahman, this is when they achieve PERFECT understanding
PERFECT understanding= Moksha
God Kali

6. Three Paths to achieve Moksha:
Path of right thinking
Path of right action
Path of religious devotion
*A sadhu is person who has given up their
life to achieve Moksha*

7. Moksha does not usually come every lifetime.
Sometimes it takes multiple lifetimes before a spirit reaches the PERFECT understanding
Hindus believe in Reincarnation
Reincarnation is basically a Rebirth
An individual soul or spirit is born again and again until moksha is achieved.

8. Reincarnation is affected by karma
Karma is the soul’s good or bad deeds.
It follows one’s soul from one reincarnation to another.
It influences specific life circumstances, such as being born into castes.

9. Hinduism has changed greatly over the last 2,500 years.
The word soul Brahman has the personalities of THREE GODS
Brahma = The Creator
Vishnu = The Protector
Shiva = The Destroyer
Devi (a mother Goddess) has become more important.

10. Devi Bhrama
Vishnu Shiva

11. Hinduism and the caste system determined:
Hindu ideas about karma and reincarnation has strengthened the caste system
*Remember the social order system?*
Whatever social class you were born into depended on your karma in a past life.
If you lived a good life, you were born into the wealthier class
Ex: Merchant or warrior
If you lived a bad life, you were born into the bottom classes
Ex: Untouchables
Hinduism and the caste system determined:
What a person ate
Cleanliness
And who you could associate and talk with

12. April 2008