One of the primary 'Daily Spiritual Practices' of the Balinese Hindu is making 'Offerings' or 'Ceremony' to the God's.

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The Hindu people are extraordinary, their Daily Spiritual Practice is fundamentally based on their principles, which honor their belief that we live in a karmic Universe. They believe there is order to this Cosmos, known as dharma, along with a disordering force called adharma. Their life's work is to reach a balance between the two, as to end the cycle of reincarnation and to attain the state of Moksha. Therefore, they believe that we have responsibility to God, to Mother Earth, our families and community. They believe that there are harmonic energies and chaotic energies or angelic entities and demonic energies, aka Adhara. As they do believe in One God, they also believe in many Gods. They have a God for just about everything... a God for rice, a God for education, there are high Gods and lower Gods, etc. They are seeking harmony and balance in this life in order to advance to more freedom, but in this they also have great responsibility. In fact I asked one of the locals what the difference was between Buddhism and Hinduism and they said it was 'responsibility.' They felt that Buddhism was primarily about seeking the God within and connecting to Source, but that it lacked the responsibility of one to their families and their earthly responsibility. Someone could decide to be a Buddhist and relinquish all their duties for personal bliss of their spiritual journey. Whereas, a Hindu isn't able to give up responsibility until they are older in life and have completed their duties with their families, then they can seek God only.

In the Hindu practice, they believe there are three layers to the cosmos...

The highest layer is Suarga, which is in the Godly realm. So, when you look at the temples, at the top is an empty chair which signifies the emptying of ones mind to connect to this realm. They honor this by giving daily 'offerings' to the Gods at the temples. These temples are everywhere.... They are in the North East section of each families home, each village has a temple and every farm, hotel, restaurant, etc. has a temple for 'offerings.' They do believe in One God along with multiple Gods. Their highest God is called Saang Hyang Widhi Wasa. There are a plethora of aspects of the Godly realm, everything from Shiva, which is the masculine aspect of all things in the universe as well as the feminine, Parvati, which is the love of the entire universe.

The Second layer to the cosmos is the human realm called buwah. This is life, where one must take on the responsibility of our family and community. This is what is also considered 'yoga' practice.

The third realm of the cosmos to the Hindus is Bhur. This is considered to be their version of hell, the realm of demons or where spirits are that have been punished from not doing good in the earthly realm. The Hindu people honor this realm as well by making 'offerings' on the ground. I had to really ask around behind closed doors or late at night to find out more about this aspect of their practice. A few of the locals and Balian's explained that this is very well known within their culture, but do not disclose this to vacationers or foreigners, as to not disrupt any other belief systems or cause fear. This is one of the other great practices of the Hindu culture, they truly believe in allowing others their own religion and belief systems.

Hindu's do believe they are here to do good and serve their Gods and human duties. They are very disciplined and, at the same time, very happy people. They have very strict social and moral codes which include no intoxicants, mostly vegetarianism and abstinence of many indulgences. However, their educational system has very low standards, with about 50% illiteracy rate and high poverty. The minimum wage earns someone about $116 U.S. dollars a month. But, I have to say that the people seemed happier and healthier than the average American, by far!

May living your truth set you free!

Love, e