Hinduism

The history of Hinduism dates back over 5,000 years, to the time when Krishna came to Earth as the incarnation of Narayana (God) and played his games (leelas). Hinduism is thus the oldest of the five world religions.

Unlike other religions, Hinduism has: 

• No single founder
• No single fundamental text
• No single theology

Instead, the faith is synonymous with Sanatana Dharma, the eternal religion. This means that the religion is based on spiritual practice and that life is a cyclical circle in which we develop through evolution and experience. 

 Hinduism is often regarded as polytheism (i.e., belief in many gods). However, in our understanding, the various deities are much more than attributes of Brahman (in our case, Narayana), who rules over the nature deities (=Devas (cf. pantheism)), recreates them in each cycle of creation, and ultimately dissolves them again. The all-encompassing form of God (Narayana) reigns at every moment over all living beings (jivas) and nature (prakriti/maya).

 In summary, our path could be described as follows:

 "As an individual soul (Atman), I want to reach God (Brahman). But due to my karma (law of cause and effect), I remain in the cycle of rebirth (Samsara) – and therefore try to achieve my liberation (Moksha) by following righteous action (Dharma) here in creation (Shristi) and return to Narayana (God/Brahman) in Vaikunta (heaven)." 

Hinduism has more than 800,000 deities. Depending on tradition and orientation, different aspects of the divine are considered to be the supreme truth. The four classical traditions are:

Vaishnavism

Shaivism

Shaktism

Smartism

Among Shaivites, Shiva occupies the role of the Supreme (Brahman). For Vaishnavites, on the other hand, Shiva is considered a bhakta (i.e., a loving devotee of God) of Narayana.

Depending on the interpretation and theology of the scholars (Acharyas), he has characteristics, attributes, and forms—or is formless, absolute, and without shape or personality. Brahma, the creator god who recreates the universe before each cycle (yuga), will return at the end, when Shiva (the destroyer) dissolves everything again – into the navel of Maha Vishnu/Narayana/Krishna. His aspect (Brahman = God), on the other hand, is completely independent of Shristi/Pralaya (creation and dissolution) and always exists completely independently in Vaikunta (the spiritual heaven, the home of God).

Among the Shaktas, the Divine Mother is worshipped as the highest ideal. She takes the form of Kali, Durga, or Maha Devi and, in this form, is superior to all other deities.