Hindu Traditions

Hindu customs and traditions are an important part of Hinduism. Human civilization is incomplete without them, as Hinduism is the oldest religion on the earth, there are a lot of Hindu customs and traditions observed by Hindus around the world. Some customs are so important for the people that sometimes, they sacrifice their lives for them. There are literally thousands of customs and traditions in Hinduism, they vary from region to region.

Hindu tradition / practices include rituals such as pooja (worship), recitations, japa, meditation (dhyana), family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals, and occasional pilgrimages.

The most common rituals practiced in all Hindu households are pooja, meditation, Japa, and yoga, recitation of scriptures from Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavatam, bhajans, reading religious books, participating in Satsang (prayer meets), performing charitable work, preaching spirituality, visiting a temple, and chanting the name of their beloved God. Along with the practice of various yogas, some Hindus leave their social world and material possessions and engage in lifelong Sannyasa (monasticism) in order to achieve moksha.

The word Hindu is an exonym and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanathana Dharma, which refers to the idea that its origins lie beyond human history, as revealed in the Hindu texts. Another, though less fitting, self-designation is Vaidika dharma, the 'dharma related to the Vedas or upanishads.

Hinduism is a diverse system of thought marked by a range of philosophies and shared concepts, rituals, cosmological systems, pilgrimage sites, and shared textual sources that discuss theology, metaphysics, mythology, Vedic Yajna, Yoga, Agama rituals, and temple building. Prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Purusharthas, the proper goals or aims of human life; namely, dharma (ethics/duties), Artha (prosperity/work), Kama (desires/passions) and Moksha (liberation/freedom from the passions and the cycle of death and rebirth), as well as Karma (action, intent and consequences) and Samsara(cycle of death and rebirth to which life in the material world is bound). Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, Ahimsa (abstain from injuring living beings), patience, self-restraint, virtue (behaviour showing high moral standards) and compassion.

Hindu Text

Hindu texts are classified into Sruti ("heard") and Smriti("recollect"), the major scriptures of which are the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and the Aagamas. There are six Aastika schools of Hindu philosophy, which recognise the authority of the Vedas, namely Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya, vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedaanta. While the Puranic chronology presents a genealogy of thousands of years, starting with the Vedic rishis, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of orthopraxy with various Indian cultures, having diverse roots and no specific founder. In simple words, Hinduism is a way of life, which helps you to liberate yourself from the cycle of birth and rebirth... In other words, Hinduism is a conglomeration of different doctrines and traditions mainly based on Vedas and modified from time to time by great saints without changing the basic teachings of the religion and the main aim of life i.e., salvation (liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth).

Some people define the Hindu religion as the way of life followed by people in India, which is only partially true. Though Hinduism was not a religion and was just a way of life followed by people of India and most of Asia, it is now identified as a separate religion. There is no single book or a single doctrine, which can describe Hinduism. In order to understand Hinduism, you need to know all the streams of thoughts within Hinduism. Hinduism is a very vast religion and there are quite a handful of books on which it is based. Lots of Hindu customs and traditions, and beliefs differ from region to region and climate conditions. There is a considerable difference between the Hinduism in scripture and Hinduism followed practically.