Religion is capable of shaping honorable human personality and moral values. By referring to the teachings of any religion as a basis, discuss about the above statement.
Religion has existed with and for mankind since almost the very beginning of humanity itself. Nothing would last for such an immense stretch of time if it did not serve some valuable purpose. All these years, religion has served as a guide and control of human behavior, dictating right from wrong. The most important aspect of religion however, is it's capability to shape honorable human personality and values. For the sake of this paper, I shall look at how religion shapes a righteous human from the perspective of the oldest religion on Earth, Hinduism. .
Hinduism is a very scientific and ritualistic way of life propagated by sages thousands of years ago. Hinduism is also known as Sanatana Dharma, meaning righteous and responsible path. The earliest teachings of Hinduism were recorded in the four Vedas - Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda and Sama Veda. From here we derive the teachings that guide us humans to righteous behavior. In Hinduism, the one Almighty God is known as Brahman, and from him (here the Almighty Brahman is referred to as male, although in Hinduism he is not differentiated as male or female, rather as the only positive charge in a universe full of negative charges) all the other deities in Hinduism originate. The three main deities in Hinduism are Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. Brahma (not to be confused with Brahman, the Almighty God) is the Creator and his wife is Saraswathi, the goddess of knowledge. Vishnu is the Sustainer, whose task is to nurture and preserve Earth. His wife is Maha Lakshmi. Siva is the Destroyer and his wife Sakti also at times, takes on the form of a Destroyer. Having introduced the basic ideas of Hinduism, let's now see how it's responsible to shape our personality and values.