Hinduism is widely regarded to be the most ancient of faiths with a known history of over 7,000 years. Once known as Sanatana Dharma (the eternal or universal way of life), Hinduism is essentially a spiritual science and way of seeing the sacred in everyday living.

Hinduism has its origins in India and is the source of Buddhism and other major schools of thought in Eastern Philosophy. The scriptures of Hinduism known as the Vedas are amongst the largest known repositories of metaphysics, astronomy and sociology, considered the earliest known writings of mankind. The essence of the Vedas is found in the Upanishads, also known as Vedanta. There is no single author attributed to these writings as they are considered revelations through Rishis (Sages, Mystics and Saints) who claimed no authorship.

The major Hindu texts, besides the Vedas and Upanishads, are The Bagavad Gita, The Yoga Vasishta, and the Bagavad purana which are contained in the epics of Ramayana written by Sage Valmiki and Mahabharata written by Sage Vyasa. Other major scriptures are The Brahma Sutras and Yoga sutras of Patanjali.

Hinduism believes that:

There is a supreme, all encompassing force, divine and benevolent, called by different names.

There are many paths to attain divine realization - based on knowledge (gyana yoga), devotion (bakti yoga) and service (karma yoga) - and all of them deserve respect.

The presence of the divine - the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient Parabrahman - is seen in all of creation. While the Supreme is One, numerous are the deities that represent the infinite aspects of the Supreme.

There are methods by which every human being is capable of speeding up the process of realizing the universal truth and every soul making a sincere attempt in this direction will receive Divine protection and help.