Hindu Temple Bell

The holy halls ring out with the sacred sound of the bell being rung and chants being recited as the world spins and the human breath moves in an endless cycle of death and rebirth since the beginning of time. You close your eyes and give thanks for another day and another life to lift your spirit one step closer to the ultimate realization of consciousness. Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion (i.e. Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism or Sikhism). With more than a billion adherents, Hinduism is the world's third largest religion. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 940 million, live in India. The word Hindu is derived from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, first mentioned in the Rig Veda, was the historic local appellation for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The notion of grouping the indigenous religions of India under a single umbrella term Hindu emerges as a result of various invasions in India bringing forth non-indigenous religions such as Islam. It is hard to classify Hinduism as a religion because the framework, symbols, leaders and books of reference that make up a typical religion are not uniquely identified in the case of Hinduism. Hinduism is almost 4,000 years old. Most commonly it can be seen as a "way of life" which gives rise to many other forms of religions. This sound uses the following file from Freesound: http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=125981