Hinduism

Thank you for the response! I would absolutely love to go to India, I am saving money now in hopes that some day I can spend time there. How do things like the Yoga philosophy and the Sankya philosophy relate to the religion? Are they considered religions? Or are they considered philosophies, which are part of the religion?

it would be great to see you in india!! and really happy you are curious to come to india! about your question, hinduism as a religion says that the ultimate aim of this human life is to become one with the supreme cosmic intelligence, which may also be called god for conveinience. as a religion, it also specifies various paths to reach this goal. yoga, as you are talking about, is most probably the hatha yoga - the physical part of yoga, which is just less than the tip of the iceberg. yoga translates to union of body, mind and soul, so its a lot more. however, hatha yoga is said to speeden up the process of evolution, so you reach your goal in less time. another way to reach god is through the intellect. this path is supposed to be very difficult but the shortest of all! and this is where sankara philosophy comes into picture. as you can see, hinduism as a philosophy and as a religion always go hand in hand, you can never separate them. they coexist.