Definitions by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫
Illuminati
The Illuminati are the people who killed Kennedy, they are the people who print our dollars, they are the people who control our government and many others. The only governments they did not control in 2001 were: Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. If your memory serves you correct that is what Bush called the "Axis of Evil". So far they have taken out one and they want to move on Iran so they can get the oil. They want to create a one world government.
The Illuminati controls everything.
Illuminati by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ June 21, 2010
Hinduism
Hinduism is a modern reference to the many religious paths of India deriving from the Persian word for an Indian. Hindus themselves now use the term, though it is more traditional to refer to the Sanatana Dharma—the Eternal Law. The religion is centered on the Vedas (the 4 Hindu holy texts) and the caste system related in it. Outside that core is a vast and rich world of texts, teachings, stories, rituals, behaviors, experiences, etc. A pious Hindu will rise early, to meditate on the god or goddess, pray and ritually bathe before the morning meal. Hinduism has many gods/goddesses such as Vishnu, Krishna, Shiva, Rama, and Kali, to name a few.
4 important goals in Hinduism are kama (pleasure), artha (wealth), dharma (duty and obligation), and moksha (liberation from samsara, the endless cycle of reincarnation).
Hinduism by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ June 1, 2010
Jainism
An ascetic religion of India, founded in the sixth century BCE that teaches the immortality and transmigration of the soul and denies the existence of a perfect or supreme being. Both Jainism and Buddhism was rooted in dissatisfication with Brahmanic ritual and was founded by rough contemporaries in the 7th-6th centuries BCE by memebers of the kshatriya varna. It appealed to the masses by offering methods of salvation free from priestly control and rejecting the caste system. It Focuses on the need for extreme self mortification, the absence of possessions (including clothing) and the necessity of ahimsa, the practice of no-harm. They practice ahimsa to the point that they wear no shoes so that they do not step on insects and kill them. By doing bad deeds, they believe that karmic matter sticks to the soul. By doing good deeds, they believe that karmic matter loosens from the soul. Along with the act of ahimsa, Jains cannot lie, and commit sexual unchasity or infidelity. They must also guard against evils that can be avoided, observe regular meditation, observe regular periods of self denial, ocassionaly observe days as monks, control greed, and give alms (especially to ascetics).
The goal of Jainism is to rid one's soul of karmic matter and so escape samsara (cycle of re-birth/re-death) in moksha (release). There are 3 monastic sects - Digambaras (the Sky-Clad), The Shvetambaras (the White Clad), and The Sthanakvasis (those who reject idols and temples).
Jainism by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ June 1, 2010
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion based on the teachings of Buddha. Buddha taught that 1) life permates around suffering, 2) humanity suffers because of their desires, 3) to overcome desires, one must obtain nirvana, and 4) to obtain nirvana, one must follow the eight-fold path (Right Views, Right Resolve, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration). These are known as the four noble truths. Buddha accepted the concepts of karma and samsara, but rejected the idea of the Brahman and atman. Buddha also taught different understandings of reality and psychology which was based on the idea of anicca; that reality is not permanent and predictable but rather transient and changing. Thus all things flow according to cause and effect. The idea that there is a self, or ego, is an illusion. Buddhism teaches anatman or anatta, No Self. Acting on this illusion of the Self leads to dissatisfaction in existence - Dukkha.
Buddhism teaches that karmic cause and effect leads to the generation of energy, a process called dependent co-arising. The workings of karma cause those energies to coalesce as five bundles of energy called skandhas. The skandhas are: Body (rupa), Perception (jamjna), Feelings (vedana), Inherent Impulses (karmic predispositions, samskaras), Consciousness/Reasoning (vijnana). These are always in flux and disperse at death. Karma causes them to reform as a new existence unless the chain of cause and effect is broken.
Buddhism by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ June 1, 2010
Sikhism
A monotheistic religion which combines beliefs from Islam and monotheistic Vaishnavite bhakti Hinduism, founded in northern India in the 16th century by the guru Nanak. Nanak spent his off hours singing, praying, and thinking with others from the same monotheistic Vaishnavite or Islamic background as himself. Seeking truth, Nanak reached a crisis at the age of 30. After bathing in a forest stream, Nanak received a vision. He emerged from the forest and annouced what he learned to those who would listen. His message stressed there was one true God, but it was not Vishnu and not Allah, but the Sati Nam, the true name. From that point on, Nanak spent the rest of his life gathering disciples (Sikhs). When Nanak was on his death bed, an arguement broke out over whether he should be buried or cremated (Islamic ritual or Hindu ritual). Nanak said that when he died, Hindu disciples should place flowers on his right and Muslims disciples should place flowers on his left. The flowers that were fresh the next morning could have the body. The morning following his death, the body had disappeared, and all the flowers were fresh. Thus whether originally Hindu or Muslim, to be Sikh places one in a new community of faithful devoted to the One True Name. Sikhism rejects caste distinctions, idolatry, and asceticism and is characterized by belief in a cycle of reincarnation from which humans can free themselves by living righteous lives as active members of society.
Sikhism also teaches that The True Name created Maya, the created world, by his Word. This means the world is real, but only God has ultimate Reality. Maya covers God like a veil. Only spiritual pure minds free of selfishness and desire can pierce the veil and perceive God. Nanak accepted karma and samsara. He also taught that selfish egoism and desire cause humans to make negative choices, accumulating negative karma. The Lord of Death, Yama, uses this to ensnare those separated from God and lost in the world, locking them into the cycle of rebirths. Ethical behavior, the prayerful repetition of the True Name, and focus on God brings control of egoism and desire. When the disciple dies free of karmic guilt, the soul is absorbed into the Sati Nam. The final goal, then, is to attain nirvana, defined as being absorbed into total blissful unity with God like water into water. In total union with God, one is free of samsara, and enjoys bliss forever. The final human guru, Gobind Singh, founded the military order of the Khalsa (The Pure). Initiates in the Khalsa signify it with the five Ks - 1) the kesh: uncut hair on head and chin. The hair is covered by a turban. 2) The kangha: the comb. 3) The kacht or kaccha: short drawers. 4) The kara: the steel bracelet. And 5) the kirpan: the short sword or knife.
Sikhism by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ June 1, 2010
Zoroastrianism
The dualistic religious system founded by the Persian prophet Zarathustra (Zoroaster in Greek) and set forth in the Avesta in the late 7th or early 6th centuries BCE, teaching the worship of Ahura Mazda in the context of a universal struggle between the forces of light and of darkness. It is one of the most ancient of living religions and once the faith of the Persian Empire. It is also rooted in ancient Aryan traditions. Today there are less than 200,000 Zoroastrians, mostly in Iran, India, and the West. At the age of 30, Zarathustra was returning with river water for haoma for spring festival when he had a vision and was taken before Ahura Mazda, The Wise Lord, the supreme creator & his 7 created helpers, the Holy Immortals (Amesha Spentas) by the Vohu Manah. Zoroastrianism teaches that Ahura Mazda is the supreme god and all others are subordinate to him. It also teaches that the evil spirit, Angra Mainyu (Ahriman in Pahlavi) and his demons (daevas) upholds the Lie (druj) instead of Truth (asha). As a result, this creates conflict between humans who follow the Lie (dregvant) and those who uphold the Truth (ashavan).
The religion also teaches that each person has free will to choose, with consequences of happiness and misery. Zoroastrians believe that when someone dies, the body must be kept in home for 3 days while the soul hangs about it. On the 4th day, the corpse-bearer raise a massive Tower of Silence (dakhma) with a circular stone platform on the top inclined to a central wall. The body is stripped and then placed on this, exposed to vultures and elements. When the flesh is gone, the bones are swept into the well to disintegrate. This is done to minimize effects of decay on the air, fire, earth, and water. Many Parsis still use Towers of Silence, but those in Iran have shifted to earth burial and those in the West use burial or cremation. After this life, each person is judged at the Chinvat Bridge, shaped as a sword. It turns on its edge for the evil and they fall into an abyss of torment and the righteous pass over it as a broad and flat path to rewards in heaven. The traditional temple of Zoroastrianism is the Fire Temple. It has a central chamber with a stone platform on which fire is always burning in a metal urn on a bed of sand or ash. The priest (magi) keep the fire, perform rituals, prayer, and wear masks so they do not pollute the fire. The fire at Udvada north of Bombay is held to have burned for over 1,000 years.
Zoroastrianism by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ June 1, 2010
Sufi
Sufism began as an ascetic movement in reaction to the drive for wealth and power characterized by the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. They drew on the model of Muhammad and the four rightly guided caliphs. Umar was noted for his shabby clothes and Ali gave away all he had. These ascetics abandoned sensuous life and took on coarse woolen garments from which the name Sufi may derive (from suf, wool). They were also called faqir, poor one, for their aspirations to poverty. Mahabbah (love) became a focus for Sufism as exemplified in the poetry of a female mystic poet. While others strove for intellectual knowledge, Sufis strove for interior knowledge, ma’rifa.
Sufi by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ May 31, 2010