Hinduism nature of god and death

Brahman, the atman and the trimurti

BRAHMAN = one true God / supreme spirit

BRAHMAN is in every person as the eternal spirit and soul, ATMAN

TRIMURTI :

• VISHNU = the PRESERVER

Restores peace on Earth. He has ten AVARTARS. His vehicle is Garuda the eagle Which represents courage and peace.

• SHIVA = the DESTROYER

He dissolves the universe for the next cycle. Known as Shiva Nataraj, the dancer.

• BRAHMA = the CREATOR

Brahma has four head but used to have five heads.

Miracles and Avartars

AVATARS:

Avatars come to earth when ther is an unbalance of good and evil and bad is more than the good. They are an incarnation of God and appear on Earth in any form.

VISHNU has ten avatars and the tenth one is yet to come at the end of KALI YUGA. We are in KALI YUGA, age of darkness, and before whe were in the SATYA YUGA

MIRACLES:

It is the intervention of God in the Earth. They, like sacred texts and scriptures, prove that God exists.

Beliefs about life after Death

ATMAN

The ATMAN, soul, is permanent, but the body isn't permanent and so can change. Hindu's believe that the ATMAN is REBORN many times.

This is known as SAMSARA (REINCARNATION)

KARMA

If a person is good in their life they will get GOOD KARMA and so in their next life, they will be REINCARNATED to be closer to MOKSHA, one with God. They will then have a higher VARNA, caste, and a higher DHARMA, duty.

If a person is bad in their life they will get BAD KARMA and so in their next life, they will be REINCARNATED to be further away from reaching  MOKSHA, one with God. They will then have a lower VARNA, caste, and a lower DHARMA, duty.

Death Rites

CREMATED - helps soul, ATMAN, escape from the body

THE STEPS

• a lamp is placed by the head of the body
• prayers and hymns are sung
• pindas (rice balls) are placed in the coffin
• water is sprinkled on the body
• a MALA (necklace of wooden beads) may be put around the dead person’s neck as may garlands of flowers
• the ashes are put in the GANGES, holy river

MOURNING

 The family mourn for 12 days and on the 13th day they do a ritual KRIYA