Major world Religions

Jesus, Lord Buddha, Lord Krishna – Religion

Religion is a belief, traditions, views and cultural practices that are believed to hold the humanity together. There are various mysteries in this world, and religion has always been the center of humanity and the religion has always aimed to explain the meanings of these mysteries, as well as the origin of the universe.

“Religion is part of human make-up. It’s also part of our cultural and intellectual history. Religion was our first attempt at literature, the texts, our first attempt at cosmology, making sense of where we are in the universe, our first attempt at health care, believing in healing, and our first attempt at philosophy.”

Religion is a way to relate humankind with spirituality, and various moral and cultural values. In ancient India, it is believed that the religious people are the first teacher to mankind. They provide moral values of life, death, afterlife, Gods, and also bound people to various practices. Most of the children seek education with these religious people. Many religions have their own moral values, behaviors scripture, and practices. These practices include rituals, sacrifices to a deity, god, goddess, set of duties, feasts, festival, music, dance, art.

There is various definition of religion in the world. One of the popular definitions related to religion is “belief in or the worship of, a god or gods”. It is also defined as relatively bound system of belief, practices that show the existence of the world. Some people estimates that there are actually around 4200 religions that exist in the world. Some study of religion shows that religion can be categorized in three types which are:

1. World Religions
It refers to international and trans-cultural belief

2. Indigenous Religions
It refers to specific religions related to country, culture.

3. New Religious Movements
It refers to newly developed religions and faiths.

Hinduism

“Perform all thy actions with mind concentrated on the Divine, renouncing attachment and looking upon success and failure with an equal eye. Spirituality implies equanimity.”
Quoted in 700-verse Hindu scripture The Bhagavad Gita .

Believed to be one of the oldest religions in the world is said to be Hinduism . Hinduism is very much dominant in India and Nepal. Over 900 million significant people around the globe support and follow Hinduism. Unlike other dominant religions such Buddhism, Christianity, Muslim; Hinduism has no single founder, no single creature. It is even believed that Hinduism is a collection of various cultures and traditions that are found in many regions of India and Nepal. There has always been a debate about the history of Hinduism. Since there is no evidence of the origin of Hinduism, the traditions, culture, scripture, practices, artifacts related to Hinduism goes back to several thousands of years. But according to various artifacts, scripture, Hinduism can be categorized in various periods like The Indus Valley civilization, The Vedic period etc. The existence of The Indus Valley Civilization dated back to before 2000 BCE.

Christianity

According to current Census, Christianity is the most dominant religion in the world. Around 2.2 billion people around the globe support and believe in Christianity. Jesus of Nazareth, son of God is the founder of Christianity. The religion is based the teachings and life of Jesus also known as Christ.

“And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time” – Jesus Christ

Christian people believe that following Jesus Christ will lead you to heaven. Even most heinous sins will be forgiven by Jesus Christ.

According to Christianity, Jesus Christ was born to the Virgin Mary. According to New Testament, most sacred scripture of Christianity, God exists in three persons, The Father, the Son Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit.

Buddhism and Christianity both can understand each other and each figure has left behind their wisdom and to help and shape the life of billions of people to end their suffering.

Buddhism

One of the most dominant religions that cover the most part of East Asia, Buddhism is based on the teachings and life of Lord Buddha. Gautama Buddha is the founder, creator of Buddhism, and dated back to around 2500 years ago. Around 500 million people around the globe follow the belief of Buddhism and walk on the path shown by Lord Buddha.

Buddhism is a tradition which mainly focuses on personal spiritual development and freeing people from suffering, greed, hatred, by the light of wisdom left behind by Lord Buddha. The ultimate aim of wisdom of Buddha is the attainment of a state of Nirvana, also known as “Enlightenment”. The major Buddhism scripture practice Noble Eightfold path which can also be refer as Middle way.

Islam

Second dominant religion in the world is Islam. Islam began in Arabia. Around 1.6 billion people around the globe follow Islam religion, and those who follow Islam religion, are called Muslims. Unlike other religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Muslim believed that only one God exists and he is incomparable and they are existed to follow the will of God and worship the God.

“There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” Quoted in The Quran

The Quran is the Islamic holy book and Muslim people consider it as the word of Allah. According to Islam, Allah is the Almighty God and Prophet Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. In 632 CE, prophet revealed Islam to humanity. In Islam, God knows all and control all that is happening and this is explained in Qur’anic verse.

“Nothing will happen to us except what Allah has decreed for us: He is our protector…”

Unlike Christian art, Islamic art is limit to religious work, which includes all the artistic traditions in Muslim culture. Islam is integral to every part of Muslim’s life and Islamic art should be used to make the life more beautiful.

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