Hinduism began in India approximately 5,000 years ago. It is one of the oldest religions still practiced today. Hindus believe that God, or the Supreme Spirit called Brahman, exists in all things in the universe. When Hindus greet each other by saying "Namaste" and bowing with hands together, they are acknowledging the spirit of God within each other.

1. Hinduism

2. Aims of Today’s Lesson By the end of this lesson you should be able to: Tell me where Hinduism began Explain what Hinduism means when it calls God Brahman

3. You have three minutes to write down anything you know about Hinduism in the back of your book Try and think of something but if you can’t, write down one question you would like to ask a Hindu. What do you know about Hinduism?

4. Feedback

5. The religion of India …..

6. Hindu Facts The “ind” in hINDuism teaches us that the religion started in India The word “Hindu” refers to the people who lived up in the North of India, where Hinduism began Hinduism is the oldest religion going back about 5,000 years It is so old that no one really knows how it began The religion has grown over many years into thousands of different branches Unlike Christianity, there is no one founder of Hinduism There are around 900 million Hindus in the world today and 559,000 in the UK making it the third largest religion in the world.

7. Hindus and God For most Hindus, God or the Supreme Spirit is in everything that has, does or will ever exist. When they say EVERYTHING they mean EVERYTHING, from a grain of pollen to the entire universe They call this Supreme Spirit Brahman Because of the belief in Brahman Hindus will bow with their hands together when they greet someone and say ´Namaste´. Namaste means I bow to the spirit within you. Take a moment to greet the people on your table in the traditional Hindu fashion.

8. How do these 2 pictures relate to the Hindu belief in Brahman

9. Feedback

10. Research Task For next lesson each student on each table has to bring in a series of pictures that represent the words Creation Preservation Destruction Tables 1 &4 Creation Tables 2&5 Preservation Tables 3&6 Destruction Homework