Many more Hindus proceed with a ritual known as a puja. This is an act of worship during which they burn incense and make offerings of flowers, fruits, milk, or sweets to a statue or a picture of one among the hundreds of Hindu Gods, Goddesses, or spirits.

Some may undertake the system of exercise known as yoga. They practice breath control, sitting for hours in the so-called lotus position.

Hinduism embraces a wide variety of beliefs and practices. Indeed, some Hindu doctrines and practices seem almost to contradict one another, as the very old mixes with the very new.

The Sanskrit word Veda most generally means "truth" or "knowledge." And it is related to the English word "wit". But the word Veda is most often used specifically to refer to ancient Hindu scriptures. The earliest portions of the Vedic library are organized into four separate collections of verse called Samhitas. The Rik Samhita alone contains over 1,000 separate hymns with more than 10,000 verses divided into 10 books.

According to the Hindu belief, inspired sages, known as Rishis, heard these verses directly from the Gods. Each of these religious poems usually addresses one of the Vedic Gods or Goddesses or spirits, each of whom represents natural forces such as the sun, the moon, and the wind. . . . Just the act of reciting them is sacred, and their very sound is holy.

SHANKARACHARYA SWAMI (Sadhana Ashram): The Hindu religion doesn’t have any specific founder. Like, there’s many beliefs that are inherent in the tradition. Some people take a devotional belief towards the supreme. Some follow the path of Jnana, which is a path of knowledge or recognition. There’s many different approaches. There’s Karma yoga, which is the path of selfless service, all these things.

BEN KINGSLEY: When Hindu devotees go to a particular temple, they perform the rituals of Puja, that is, worship involving an offering of food and prayer to the image of the God. The deity is believed to absorb the essence of the food or cloth offered to it.

Hindu worshippers gain spiritual merit by making offerings to the God. They also gain a reputation as sacrificers, which enhances their standing in society. Yet puja at a temple is a comparatively rare event in the lives of most ordinary Hindus, who offer a daily puja to a small shrine in their own houses.

Hinduism does not have a specific lord’s day or Sabbath as Jews and Christians do, though Hindus do have frequent festivals to celebrate one or another God. One of the most famous of these festivals is the Ramlila, or "the drama of Ram," which is especially popular in north India. The Ramayana is nearly as popular and influential as the Mahabharata and its sacred chapters, the Bhagavad Gita.

The various gods and the stories of their feats acquired a standard form of presentation. For example, Shiva was sometimes portrayed as dancing. The religious idea here is that Shiva’s dance keeps the universe in motion. Another image of Shiva is that of the Mahayogi, the cosmic meditator. These images present Shiva sitting in the lotus position, his eyes nearly shut and focused on the tip of his nose. Like other wandering holymen, Shiva sits on the skin of an animal. His hair is piled high on his head, and from it, the sacred Ganges is said to flow. The implication is that Shiva’s meditation creates and sustains the universe.

Images of the Hindu gods are housed in temples, and they are treated as though they were persons. The images are worshipped through prayers and offerings of food. They are frequently bathed and given fresh clothing. Jews, Christians and Muslims tend to think of worshipping images as idolatry, but Hindus know that God exists in a spiritual way, and cannot be limited to a painting or a statue. Though they display great regard for the images themselves, Hindus do not actually worship what the images represent.

Hinduism is not simply a living faith, it is also a lively faith, and a wide variety of beliefs and practices coexist within it. After almost 40 centuries, Hinduism is still in the making. No single version of it has completely dictated Hindu doctrines and values. Perhaps most remarkable of all is that a continuous religious tradition has survived and adapted over this long period. It is one of the oldest religions in the world. Despite the stresses and strains that it has endured, nearly one billion individuals in one way or another identify themselves as Hindus.