Dharmic Faiths: A Comparative Analysis

Dharmic faiths are similar, so one has to inspect each religion to understand the differences. People of these faiths are often confused for one another, but if you are willing to look you can find the differences. Each religion, especially Sikhism presents its own challenges to its young followers as seen in the movie Bend it Like Beckham and the novel Under the Lemon Trees.
Hinduism is so old that historians do not know exactly when it was founded (Wilkinson, 163). It is speculated that it started around three or four thousand years ago (Hinduism.pptx, 3). They do however have a good idea of where it was founded, the “Indus Valley civilization” (Wilkinson, 164). Just like many other religions Hinduism has gone through changes as it was exposed
A Tirthankara is someone who has escaped the cycle of reincarnation and has achieved moksha, but came back to help others (Jainism.pptx, 6). Jains do not worship any Gods or Goddesses, they do however recognize them. Jains believe in Karma, but unlike Hindus they believe that one must break free from all Karma in order to reach moksha (Wilkinson, 228). Once they have reached moksha they are considered Gods and because of this Tirthankaras are worshiped more than Gods (Jainism.pptx, 17). Jains have “Three Jewels-Right knowledge, Right faith, and Right conduct” as well as five vows (Wilkinson, 228). The five vows include being non-violent to every living thing in the world, honest, not exploiting others, celibacy, and not forming attachment to material objects (Jainism.pptx, 8). Around the fourth century there was a big split between the Digambaras and the Shvetambaras. The Digambaras believe in getting rid of ego and goods, including clothing (Wilkinson, 226 and Jainism.pptx, 11). Only men can be Digambaras. The Shvetambaras are similar to the Digambaras, however they allow clothing. It is three simple pieces of cloth (Jainism.pptx,
I love the fact that there are many Gods and Goddesses for every aspect of live. Each one represents something different and you can go to that specific god if you need help in that area. Unfortunately, I did not get to see all of the presentations about the gods, I was especially looking forward to learning about Durga. My presentation was about Sita and I got to learn quite a bit about her and her journey as a wife and mother. There are a couple different variations of her story, but they all involve the avatar of Vishnu, Lord Rama. Sita is the perfect wife, mother, and embodies all the favorable characteristics of women. I even have a friend who is Hindu and he told me a bit about her. Obviously Ganesha, god of good fortune, is very popular and not just within the religion. But there are many aspects of his depiction that require further inspection. Such as his big ears representing wisdom and the ability to listen (Ganesha presentation). One of my favorites is Kali, the goddess of time, death, empowerment, change, preservation, and destruction (Kali presentation). I also learned on my own that she is sometimes called The Dark Mother, which is really cool. Probably my least favorite god is Hanuman, I don’t really know why he seems a little weird to me. The goddess Saraswati, representing knowledge, music, arts, wisdom, and learning, is depicted in all white she’s interesting as