Hinduism is the world’s oldest living religion originating in India 5000 years ago and the third largest – behind Christianity and Islam – with more than 1 billion followers.

Although often viewed as a polytheistic faith, Hinduism is actually henotheistic. There is only one supreme god in Hinduism, Brahma, and all other deities are his aspects and reflections. Since Brahma is too immense a concept for the human mind to comprehend, he presents himself in the many different versions of himself which people recognize as deities such as Vishnu, Shiva, and the many others. The Hindu scriptures number the gods at 330 million and these range from those who were known at a national level (such as Krishna) to lesser known local deities.

The primary understanding of Hinduism is that there is an order to the universe and every individual has a specific place in that order. Each person on the planet has a duty (dharma) which only they can perform. If one acts rightly (karma) in the performance of that duty, then one is rewarded by moving closer to the supreme being and eventually becoming one with god; if one does not, then one is reincarnated as many times as it takes to finally understand how to live and draw closer to union with the supreme soul. It is the Hindu belief that there is no religion that is superior to another.

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