Scriptures of Hinduism

Before I start telling you more on Hinduism let's recap:

• A Hindu's Place of worship is a Mandir, there we have a caretaker of God who is called a Pujari.
• I believe in Lord Swaminarayan. He has an Ideal devotee whose name is Gunatitanad Swami.
• Hindu's don't reincarnate, they transmigrate. 

Now, that we have introspected on what we learned last time, we can move on to a new topic. Today I will be talking about different Hindu Scriptures. You may have heard the names of some of the common scriptures namely the Vedas, The Bhagwad Geeta, The Ramayan. The scripture name and its importance are stated below:

• The Vedas: These scriptures were narrated by God, and the priests recited them. These were then passed down the generations verbally. The words eventually landed from the mouths onto the paper. There are four types of Vedas: Rig Ved: This ved has praises of Gods. Sama Ved: This ved has songs of God. Yajur Ved: Guide to Priests on how to do any ceremony.  Atharva Ved: Contains knowledge of daily living, sociology, and history. (Diverse form on Rig Ved)
•  Upanishads: A book about main core Hinduism concepts such as the Atma, Moksha, and many others. (Some say these are the simplified form of the Vedas)
• Panchtatra: Legendary collection of animal fables. 
• Jataka: When Buddha took birth on earth he recited stories from his past lives to teach about how to live.
• Ramayan: This is story of Lord Ram and his moral conducts on earth. It teaches us right from wrong. The ideal way of living.
• Mahabharat: This is a book that has a central story but it has many ethical and natural law, fairly tales, and jokes. The Central story is about a battle that takes between Cousins.
• Bhagwad Geeta: The Bhagwad Geeta is a part of Mahabharat, this book has the teachings of Lord Krishna to Arjun. Arjun was one of the brothers that was fighting in the battle, he had asked the lord to be his Charioteer. While the battle was taking place the Lord taught Arjun many things, and these talks are listed in this book.

These scriptures are not just meant to be specific for Hindus. Reading these will not make you a Hindu but a better person. I am a person with faith in Lord Swaminarayan, but that does not mean that I do not respect Hinduism as a whole. In fact lord Swamianrayan in his Shikshapatri, a book containing morals for everyday living, that applies to our lives even today, says that we should follow these codes of conduct written in our scriptures. Lord Swamianrayan himself has done discourses during his time that are written in the Vachanamrut and this has included all of these scriptures.

I hope you learned something about scriptures. Feel free to comment on the bottom. This is enough learning for the day, I will tell you more about Hinduism in my next blog. Have a great day! :)