um cherry-toes was pretty close but not quite accurate with all of it =], i'm not hindu myself i'm agnostic but i come from a hindu family and am studying it for SOR so yeah i'll give you some insight.
hinduism originated a hell of a long time ago , yeah aryans came and it was the ancient religion back then in the indus valley, nothing like it is now but back then it was very much ritual based and they used to believe that sacrificial rites had power OVER the gods.
now it's changed, it's a very philosophical religion and has evolved quite a lot, they have the "Ten Commitments" and some of the basic ones are "ahimsa" - do not harm living beings and..i can't remember the rest.
basically the core beliefs revolve around the concepts of karma, dharma and samsara.
karma - the accumulation of good and bad deeds over time that will lead up to consequences played out in future lives or the current life
dharma - one's role in life eg. you're a doctor your job is to heal so you follow the requirements of your chosen pathways
samsara - is the cycle of eternal rebirth : reincarnation
now the hindus belive that by following your dharma you will be able to accumulate good karma by doing good deeds and being ethical, the more good deeds you do the further it puts you in place of escaping the cycle of samsara or rebirths because that is the ultimate goal of hinduism. Hindus believe that there is ultimately only one god and that is Brahman, all the little deities or gods you see like Vishnu and that, they're just avataras or versions i suppose of god that come down to earth to inspire hindus , kind of like jesus - he wasn't "god" but he had the same kind of effect yeah?
so basically Brahman is the eternal, it is intangible it is universal it is everywhere, it is in everyone's atman (soul) and the soul lives forever, brahman is reality and without brahman there is nothing. that is the belief. hence by breaking free of the rebirth cycle the soul then joins brahman in eternal bliss.
there is no concept of "hell" in hinduism rather one's atman - soul simply continues the cylce of rebirths and sometimes even degenerates to a lower life form such as an animal and is only able to come back up to human form when it is "ready" it is believed that only humans can ascend to be with brahman for they have reached a certain point in the accumulation of good deeds. also hindus then believe that animals have souls and so many of them are vegetarian.
so basically hinduism's ultimate goal is to break free of the rebirth cycle and this can be done through various paths including the path of learning by studying the great texts ( like the bible) such as the Vedas the Upanishads, and The Gita, or through the path of yoga to cleanse the soul, or through pilgrimmage or various paths because it's unique to the individual. but to escape rebirth you have todedicate yourself. most hindus then are the "householder" the lay people who follow rituals and beliefs but aren't too philosophical about it.
i hope this clears things up
pm me if you have any more questions
my trial for this is on monday so its been good revision
