Hinduism Essay

For thousands of years, the human race has pondered its existence. One of the most common ways in finding meaning and purpose in our everyday lives and daily struggles is through the pursuit of religion. Beyond a mere religion, Hinduism, the third-largest in the world, is considered by its practitioners to also be a lifestyle, a daily way of living that incorporates both material and spiritual pursuits and one that is “guided though an interconnected and philosophical religious compilation of spirituality, yoga and meditation,” (Thillainathan, 2010). According to a 2015 Pew Research Center survey, Hinduism will remain at about 15% in both 2010 and 2050 and is projected to rise from slightly more than 1 billion in 2010 to nearly 1.4 billion

Karma itself is all the actions a person takes in their entire life. Ultimately, the goal is to have “karma that will free a soul and gain moksha, or liberation from the cycle of rebirth,” (Basu, 2014). The intention of karma yoga is also very important. It isn’t enough to merely do an action. No, one who "performs karma with a disinterested interest and does not adopt wrong means,” does it wrong, while “(k)arma performed by right means does not harm anybody and is in accordance with the law of dharma. To see oneself as a mere tool of the divine and to offer the fruit of our actions to the divine, is karma yoga,” (Marchand,

It allows us to “use all of our senses, all of our emotions, and all of our actions to express love in our daily interactions and offer them to whatever form of God suits our individual personalities and cultural upbringing,” (Petryszak, 2013). Bhakti yoga includes “a path to self-realization, to having an experience of oneness with everything” including a relationship with God, or a “surrender to the Divine as one’s inner self,” (Isaacs, 2008). Unlike many other forms of worship, particularly in caste-conscious India at the time, it included low-caste women and “values love and tolerance,” (Isaacs, 2008). It is when our love for God makes us desire to “experience love in its purest and highest form, to unite with that which is eternal and unchanging,” (Petryszak, 2013). Love is both the way to worship and the way to become closer to the