Hindu
To see a map of Hindu sites in Wales please click here
Inter-faith Council Representatives: Mr Naran Patel, President,
Shree Swaminarayan Temple, Cardiff, info@swaminarayanwales.org.uk and
Mr Bhupendra Patel, Sanatan Dharma Mandir
Hindu Faith and interfaith in Wales
Interfaith work is a necessity in present times. One has to understand each other's faith and belief and dispel myths and ignorance. Interfaith work is a vehicle to reach this goal. The different Hindu Communities in Wales actively participate in interfaith work and pass the message of tolerance to one’s community.
Our first step has been to visit Christian churches, discussing beliefs, way of life and taking part in other faith communities events and festivals: celebrating the opening of the Second National Assembly for Wales; Lord Mayor’s multi-faith civic service; attending the celebration of solemn vespers to mark the death of Pope John Paul II at St. David’s Metropolitan Cathedral; Holocaust Memorial Day to name the few.
For more details see the Inter-faith Wales Report.
About the Hindu Faith
The Hindu tradition is more a way of life than a set of beliefs. Hindus have many different practices that vary from country to country, even from community to community. Hindus believe that no one religion is exclusively true, but that all genuine ways of faith are aspects of the one universal, all-encompassing truth.
Most Hindus believe that the whole universe is permeated with the Divine, a reality called the Brahman. This Divine can be known by many names and take many forms, and it is fully present in the human soul.
Hindus believe that God is one but has many attributes and many functions, and that God can take many forms. For example:
- Brahma is Creator
- Vishnu is Sustainer
- Shiva is Destroyer / Dissolver
Hindus understand these as many ways to understand the Divine. Thus many Hindus do not worship a multitude of gods, and understand the one supreme world-soul as manifested in a multitude of ways.
Hindus also see the presence of the Divine manifest in the female, worshipped as the Divine Mother. A Hindu temple, or Mandir, will house the image, or murti, of one or more gods. For Hindus, the murti acts as a lens that focuses one on beholding the One God. Hindu tradition is contained in the Vedas, a body of ancient hymns and chants recited orally in verse
Hindus believe in reincarnation, the belief that the soul’s journey to Moksha (liberation or salvation) takes the soul from one life to another and its journey from one life to the next is influenced by the deeds one performs in the present time.
One’s aim in life is to achieve this Moksha, that is to remove oneself from the cycle of birth and death.
For more details see the Inter-faith Wales Report.
