Many religions, whether they believe in the soul's existence in another world like Christianity, Islam and many pagan belief systems, or in reincarnation like many forms of Hinduism and Buddhism, believe that one's status in the afterlife is a reward or punishment for their conduct during life.

In Hinduism, the belief is that the body is but a shell, the soul inside is immutable and indestructible and takes on different lives in a cycle of birth and death.

Soul is believed to be indestructible. None of the five elements can harm or influence it. Hinduism through Garuda Purana also describes in detail various types of " Narkas " or Hells where a person after death is punished for his bad Karmas and dealt with accordingly.

According to Hinduism the basic concept of Karma is ' As you sow, you shall reap '.

Likewise a popular Hindu ritual form of worship of North Malabar in Kerala, India is the Tabuh Rah blood offering to Theyyam gods, despite being forbidden in the Vedic philosophy of sattvic Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, Theyyam deities are propitiated through the cock sacrifice where the religious cockfight is a religious exercise of offering blood to the Theyyam gods.

It is an important tenet of some Indian religions ( Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism ).

Like in Hinduism, the aim is to prevent the accumulation of harmful karma.

Decisive in distinguishing Buddhism from what is commonly called Hinduism is the issue of epistemological justification.

For some schools of Hinduism and Buddhism the received textual tradition is an epistemological category equal to perception and inference ( although this is not necessarily true for some other schools ).

Breatharianism is a related concept, in which believers claim food and possibly water are not necessary, and that humans can be sustained solely by prana ( the vital life force in Hinduism ), or, according to some, by the energy in sunlight ( according to Ayurveda, sunlight is one of the main sources of prana ).

Hinduism preaches ahimsa ( or ahinsa, non-violence ), but also teaches that the soul cannot be killed and death is limited only to the physical body.

In Hinduism, celibacy is usually associated with the sadhus (" holy men "), ascetics who withdraw from worldly ties.

In Hinduism, Vayu ( Sanskrit व ा य ु ), also known as Vāta व ा त, Pavana पवन ( meaning the Purifier ), or Prāna, is a primary deity, who is the father of Bhima and the spiritual father of Lord Hanuman.

As the words for air ( Vāyu ) or wind ( Pavana ) it is one of the Panchamahābhuta the " five great elements " in Hinduism.

In Hinduism, it is also the name of the deva, a personification of water, ( one of the Vasus in most later Puranic lists ).

A subject of much scholarship by sociologists and anthropologists, the Hindu caste system is sometimes used as an analogical basis for the study of caste-like social divisions existing outside Hinduism and India.

In Hinduism, sexual intercourse is seen as a sacred act of procreation within marriage.

The coastal Karnataka has a different tradition of praying to spirits ( see also Folk Hinduism ).

Indian Hindu artisans from the period of the Chola empire in Tamil Nadu, used bronze to create intricate statues via the lost wax casting method with ornate detailing depicting the Gods of Hinduism mostly, but also the lifestyle of the period.

This draws parallels with some sects of Hinduism who also do not consume pungent tasting foods.

The Chicago Metropolitan Area also includes adherents of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and the Bahá ' í, among others.

Some also denounce non-Christian religions such as Islam, Wicca, Paganism, New Age groups, Buddhism, Hinduism, and other polytheistic religions.

Britannica's presentation of Hinduism has also been criticised.

Indian religions, also known as dharmic religions, are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent ; namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism.

Islamism can also be described as part of identity politics, specifically the religiously-oriented nationalism that emerged in the Third World in the 1970s: " resurgent Hinduism in India, ultra-Orthodox Judaism in Israel, militant Buddhism in Sri Lanka, resurgent Sikh nationalism in the Punjab, ' Liberation Theology ' of Catholicism in Latin America, and of course, Islamism in the Muslim world.

Theistic schools of Hinduism such as Vedanta thus disagree with the Buddhist and Jain views and other Hindu views that karma is merely a law of cause and effect but rather is also dependent on the will of a personal supreme God.

Some other religions also include monastic elements, most notably Buddhism, but also Hinduism and Jainism, though the expressions differ considerably.

Hinduism uses the terms Aikantya, Apamarga, Brahma-upalabdhi, Sahaj, Sakshatkara, Sayujya, Videhalcivalyam and Yogakshemma, while Buddhism also uses the term Bodhi.

It is also fewer than the adherents Jediism, whose campaign made them the fourth largest religion after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.

These rituals include bathing the murtis ( the statues of the gods / goddesses ), performing puja, a ritualistic offering of various items to the Gods, the waving of a ghee or oil lamp also called an offering in light, known in Hinduism as aarti, before the murtis.

Balinese Hinduism also includes the religious belief of Tabuh Rah, a religious cockfight where a rooster is used in religious custom by allowing him to fight against another rooster in the religious and spiritual cockfight of the Balinese Hinduism spiritual appeasement exercise of Tabuh Rah.

Weber also did considerable work in world religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism.

Both of these predecessor organizations began as Christian Unitarian and Christian Universalist denominations ; but modern Unitarian Universalists define themselves as non-creedal, and therefore they are not limited to Christian beliefs or affinities, but may also draw wisdom from other religions and philosophies as well, such as Humanism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Earth-centered spirituality, among others, or different combinations of them.

" His mystical interests — also inspired by a study of Hinduism, under the Theosophist Mohini Chatterjee, and the occult — formed much of the basis of his late poetry.

In Hinduism, the Himalaya have also been personified as the god Himavat, the God of snow, who is mentioned in the Mahabharata.

As an old religion, Hinduism inherits religious concepts spanning monotheism, polytheism, panentheism, pantheism, monism, and atheism among others ; and its concept of God is complex and depends upon each individual and the tradition and philosophy followed.

The name Muralitharan is derived from murli dhar ( Devnagri: म ु रल ी धर ) meaning " the bearer of the flute ", which is a synonym for Lord Krishna, a deity in Hinduism who is said to play upon his bamboo flute while looking after cattle.

The latter group of refugees started to impose their view of Hinduism upon the Magars, while the former group were given the status of Chettri by the latter group in accordance with their view of Hinduism.

A fifth individual whom Drury identified as an important influence upon the New Age movement was the Indian Swami Vivekananda ( 1863 – 1902 ), an adherent of the philosophy of Vedanta who first brought Hinduism to the West in the late 19th century.

This syllable Om is a central element of Hinduism, appearing in all the Upanishads, including the earliest Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads, and expounded upon in the Mandukya Upanishad.

The name is a transliteration of Garuda ( Sanskrit: गर ु ड ; Pāli: ) a race of enoromously gigantic birds in Hinduism, upon which the Japanese Buddhist version is based.

Shaktipat or Śaktipāta ( Sanskrit, from sakti-"( psychic ) energy "-and pāta, " to fall ") refers in Hinduism to the conferring of spiritual " energy " upon one person by another.

Traditionally, it has been bestowed upon or used for acharyas belonging to the Vedānta school ( among the six traditional schools of thought in Hinduism ) who have written Sanskrit commentaries on the Prasthānatrayī ( literally the three sources )-the Brahma Sutra ( the original scripture of Vedānta ), the Bhagavad Gita ( part of the Mahābhārata ) and the principal Upanishads.

He became a large believer in the idea that Hinduism, above nationality, was the pivotal point upon which an Indian lifestyle must be based.