The world’s 3rd largest religion closely following Christianity and Islam is Hinduism. Hinduism is the world’s oldest known religion and originally known as Sanatana Dharma, with its roots going back to 10,000 years and Hindu scriptures dating back to 7000 BC.
Here are few Interesting Facts about Hinduism.
Hinduism is the only religion which can be accurately, yet not fully described individually, by all these terms: Hinduism is An Atheist at the same time as it is Polytheist at the same time as it is Monotheist, as well as henotheistic
Belief in one major God with other subsidiary Gods “worshippable” too! Oh, and Hinduism can also be considered “monist” i.e. the belief that all the seemingly disparate elements in this universe can be reduced to one single unity.
Unlike other major religions, Hinduism doesn’t consider the pursuit of wealth as a sin.
In fact, we celebrate wealth in the form of many gods such as Lakshmi, Kubera and Vishnu. Hinduism has a 4 level hierarchy – Dharma (pursuit of philosophy, religion and doing duties to society), Artha (pursuit of livelihood, wealth, and power), Kama (pursuit of pleasures including sexual/sensual) and Moksha (liberation) and we progress from the top to bottom. This is very close to Maslow’s hierarchy and thus, Hindus are natural capitalists.
The holiest number in Hinduism is 108.
This is the ratio of Sun’s distance (from earth)/Sun’s diameter or Moon’s distance (from earth)/Moon’s diameter. Thus, most of our prayer beads have 108 beads.
Unlike all other major religions, Hinduism doesn’t have a founder. According to Hinduism, the religion has no origin.
Hinduism is the only religion that is pro-science from early ages.
Some of the mind-boggling advances in Hinduism texts were:
Mathematics: Search Engine Hashing Algorithms – Kathapayadi System Musicology; Concept of zero (as a number and as a marker), the concept of Infinity and concept of the Decimal Number System (with a carry-forward); Pythagoras Theorem
Evolution: Contrary to most religious beliefs of God creating life, Vedic Vishnu Purana deciphered evolution thousands of years ago in the form of Dashavataram. It starts with Matsya (Fish) and next came to the Tortoise (Kurma) – the amphibian. The next avatar is the Boar (Varaha) – symbolizing the first Mammal. The next is Narasimha (Man-lion) – the being in between the humanoid and the mammal. Next, comes Vamana (dwarf) – the primal short man, and then Parashurama (man with an axe) – representing the first hunter-gatherers creating the first tools. Before Darwin.
Cosmology: The Big Bang theory is mentioned as early as the Rig Veda, where, in Mandala X – the Cosmos and the ‘Golden Egg’ or the Sun, is born from the Cosmic Void – often called as Asat (Non-being) – also meaning ‘Non-wisdom’ or Chaos.
Medicine: Ayurveda was also taught to Chinese, Greek, Roman and Persian students who studied at the great Indian Universities as Takshila in Pakistan and Nalanda in India – as early as 700BCE
More Interesting Facts About Hinduism You May Not Know
- Hinduism has no concept of conversions. All the people following the faith have either willingly embraced it or acquired it by birth.
- Hinduism has spread across many countries over the years, especially in Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and other South East Asian countries.
- Hindu temples are not just architectural marvels, they are energy centers and hold great scientific significance which was proven. The usage of metals and construction patterns are proven to transmit positive energy.
- The institution of marriage was founded and put forth by Hinduism.
- Hinduism has reformed itself multiple times to get rid of any practices like Sati Sahagamana to suit humanity.
- Yoga, the World’s most practiced form of spiritual and physical fitness procedure, originated from Hinduism in the Indus- Saraswati civilization 5000 years ago.
- In Hindu cosmology, it is believed that the universe is created and destroyed in a cycle every 4.32 billion years. Quite interestingly, this period is quite close to the current scientific age of the earth.
- J. Robert Oppenheimer (considered ‘Father of the Atomic Bomb’) learned Sanskrit in 1933 and used to frequently quote from the sacred Hindu book – the ‘Bhagwad Gita’. He used his Sanskrit knowledge to decode the Vedas and ancient scripts to form the basis of the Manhattan Project and probably much more under the rug.
In the End, this is what Hinduism teaches us
‘ लोका समस्ता सुखिनो भवन्तु !!! ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः !!! ‘‘Loka Samastha Sukino Bhavantu. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti,‘May all the beings in all the worlds be happy. Let there be Peace, Peace, and Peace everywhere.
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