About Hinduism

Hinduism is the world's oldest existing religion. Hinduism is a set of religious traditions that originated mainly in the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism encompasses many faiths, practices, and philosophies whose details vary widely. Hindus generally believe in a cosmic spirit called Brahman, that is worshipped in many forms such as Vishnu, Shiva or Shakti.

Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world, with approximately 1 billion adherents (2005 figure), of whom approximately 890 million live in India.[1] Other countries with large Hindu populations include Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, and Indonesia.[2] Moreover, 15 million Hindus live in Bangladesh, 2 million in Pakistan, 1 million in the United Arab Emirates [3], and 1.4 million in the United States[8].

Hinduism is one of the oldest living religious traditions in the world. [4][5] [6]Unlike many other religions, Hinduism has no single founder,[7][8] and there is no clerical hierarchy of the type found in the Roman Catholic Church. Hinduism looks to a large number of religious texts developed over many centuries that contain spiritual insights and provide practical guidance for religious life. Among such texts, the ancient Vedas are usually considered the most authoritative. Other scriptures include the eighteen Puranas, and the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. The Bhagavad Gita, which is contained within the Mahabharata, is a widely studied teaching that is said to contain, in distilled form, the highest truths of the Vedas.[9]