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How Did Hinduism Influence Indian Society

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How Did Hinduism Influence Indian Society
How did Hinduism influence Indian society? What similarities do they have with these religions?

Although Hinduism has no central doctrine, the beliefs have spread throughout the Indian society; the country in which its main effect is. These beliefs include the concept of karma, reincarnation, respect for all forms of life, and respect for other religions. The largest effect however, is the caste system that is placed on society. The belief is that each person’s life has Ashramas, four life stages. The life begins as a student, then goes on to be a keeper of the household, retires, and then begins the stage of asceticism. Asceticism is a modest lifestyle, one without any indulgences. This lifestyle is what eventually evolved into the caste
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Hinduism influenced Jainism with both things, and played a big role in Jain’s begining to promote asceticism. Both religions believe that to reach their death, or in other words freedom, their individual person must be cleansed of all things bad. Believing in Karma makes people have a kinder outlook on life so that they do not end up having a bad position in their next life. Both religions believe that practicing asceticism is a benefit of the whole of society.

Some would say that the similarities between Christianity and Hinduism are very small. The only known one being that both religions have a god. Some scholars believe that the story of Jesus Christ and Krishna have some links. Ayyavazhi is an Indian religion that was adapted from Hinduism. Hindu’s view Gita and Vedas as their holy texts while Ayyavazhi’s only follow one book out of the many Hindu’s follow called Akilattirattu. There are many rituals and such that both religions follow which include: how they dress during worship, circumambulation, and they both consider saffron to be sacred. They both believe in the ultimate oneness, incarnation (God incarnates himself so that he can educate his children on obtaining union with him), reincarnation (All lives are continuously reborn until they reach the state of moksha), karma (they believe practicing karma will grant them moksha), moksha (The goal: to be in union with god. Your soul achieves perfect peace

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