The Basics

It is hard to just state the basics of Hinduism, so here I am just going to give a little "sneak-peak" of the religion, basically the preview.

• Deity(-ies): Brahman: The Supreme Being
• Brahman is broken down into 3 main powers:
• Brahma: The Creator
• Vishnu: The Preserver
• Mahesh (also known as Shiva): The Destroyer
• There are also many other sub-powers to these powers, but I will not go into detail on those right now.  The main concept to grasp is that the Supreme Being, Brahman, is one with nature.  Nature is known to have 3 main powers or abilities.  We are all works of nature's creation, and so are all other living beings and non-living objects on this planet.  Nature preserves all life by providing us with the necessities to live.  Water, food, sunlight...these are all given to us by nature.  Nature also has the power to destroy us.  We just saw how today with the earthquake and tsunami that have destroyed parts of Japan.  
• Scriptures
• There are numerous Hindu scriptures which serve many different purposes, but I will choose to focus on one for now: The Upanishads.
• The Upanishads explain the Hindu philosophy.  The symbolism of AUM is given.  
• The two main concepts that must be understood are Brahman and Atman. It is not about memorizing the definition of these words but rather about understanding and feeling the meaning.

So, these are the basics for now.  As I said, I am trying to explain Hinduism as simply as possible.  There are many more basics that one should know about Hinduism, but I am sure anybody can google terms and find definitions.  My goal is to find the true-meaning behind all those definitions and terms.  


Brahman: Universal Spirit
Atman: Individual Self


The goal is to bring both of these together.  


First, what exactly do "universal spirt" and "individual self" mean? Next, how do we even begin to bring those together?


That is the journey I am going on.