25 September 2010

HINDUS' BELIEFS IN CYCLIC LIFE AND THE HOLY RIVER GANGES

The belief in the cyclic nature of life is that the course of the universe's true time is cyclical ,that's every event has occurred before will occur again in future. This is why Hindus respect animals because these animals may be people who come back to life.Sacrifice is done for purpose not for the sake of killing for religion.
Mohandas Gandhi(1869-1948) also populary known as 'Mahatma' is one of the modern philosophers who civilised Hinduism in which respect of animals was priortised such as cows ,snakes and monkeys. Hindus strictly respect life. Mahatma claimed non violence (ahimsa) as the fundemental moral value and concerned with dignity and well-being of every person. To him anything contrary to ahimsa is not a Hindu holy scripture. He also the brainchild of womenisation in all social and economical spheres of life.Mahatma was deeply concerned if Hinduism failed and he also loved other major world religions Christianity and Islam ,but through Hinduism.
The caste system divided the society into four rigid classes called castes or varnas which means colour.According to Hindu mythology the origin of four major castes are based in the body parts of Purusha and mankind's original father-figure.
Marriage and ford laws are linked to these caste groupings. Hindu literature called the code of the social classes are divinely ordained. Brahman created the brahmans by Kshatriyas,Vaishyas ,Rajanya and Shudras from his face arms ,thighs and feets .
Aryan societies develop categories called 'Vamas'. The top class which is called the Brahmans of priest ,teachers in the second class of chiefs police ,third class are trader and farmers. And the Shudra are the fourth class members of the society who believe in many gods.
Hinduism's pantheon of gods and its mythology is directly related to the sacred river Ganges or Ganga Ma(mother Ganga).The river is closely associated with their daily survival and is believed to formery existed in the heavens as milky way. Most Hindus believed that Maharajah Sagara had 60 000 sons who were killed by the fire of Kapila a manifestation of Vishnu. This necessitated the goddess Ganga to come down from heaven to cleanse the condemned souls in hell and release them from their curse. Sagara's great grandson Bhagiratha interceded with Brahman to allow the sacred Ganga to relocate on Earth. The god Shiva was persuaded by Bhagiratha to stand high above the Earth's amidst of rocks and ice in the Himalayas.Shiva allowed the Ganga to thunder down from the skies in to rocks of Himalayas across the plains flowing water of life to the dry Earth.
Although Vishnu's believers argued that the river Ganges started on the region of holy seat of Vishnu and proceeds to remove all sins.The Hindus has the firm belief that the river Ganges has the holy power to release ,purify ,cleanse and cure believers and they are finally liberated.
The Hindus flock to this holy rivers worshipping(Puja)by offering flowers ,chanting prayers and receiving from priests the tilak on the forehead.Then they bathe the waters or drink it ,despite being polluted by sewarage,chemical and cadavers. The power of their belief in the spiritual attraction of the river Ganges which motivate them to bathe atleast once in their lifetime in this holy river.
Some bring the dead bodies of their loved ones to be burned on pyres by the riverside and ashes sprinkled in the river.This guarantees eternal bliss for the departed soul and the poor who are incapacited to pay for pyre ,they just shroud the body off into the river ,where it can be eaten by scavenger birds or just decomposes in the water.

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