HINDUISMReligions that Originated in South Asia

WHAT IS HINDUISM?

Some Key Characteristics

Absolute Reality: Bráhman

immanent, appearing in unlimited material manifestations but also

transcendent in that it cannot be defined simply as the aggregate of all material things.

Community: very diverse

Religiously it is often centered on a local deity and its temple.

Socially communities are ordered by the caste system and the four stages of [male] life

individually lives are ordered around physical and spiritual goals that ultimately lead to release from the cycle of birth, death and reincarnation.

BRAHMAN & THE GODS

What most Hindu practitioners know about Absolute Reality begins with the Sanskrit word, Bráhman and ends with the realization that Bráhman IS the fabric of the universe.

Ineffable, beyond gender, beyond form, beyond thinking, beyond will, and beyond love, hate, or desire but also immanent and accessible

In the philosophical works entitled the Upanishads, Bráhman is the unchanging reality that lies behind everything visible and invisible in the world we know.

From the human perspective, change is linked to the passing of time and is inevitable, but from the perspective of Hindu religious philosophy, all this change is merely the expression of a timeless, unchanging reality as it expresses itself endlessly in different forms.

Hindus don’t exactly “believe in” or worship Bráhman because

Bráhman is not the name of a personal god, rather they come to know, experientially, that Bráhman IS Absolute Reality and that Absolute Reality is Bráhman.

This “aha!” moment is the quintessence of Hindu enlightenment.

HOW MANY GODS??

Scholars call the belief in one, ultimate sacred reality, or “one God” monotheism. When Ultimate Reality has many forms or manifestations it has been labeled polytheism: the belief in or worship of more than “one God”. This taxonomy is problematic for Hinduism, because the two ideas co-exist.

Philosophically there is only Bráhman, but practically this reality is experienced in a myriad of forms or manifestations confusingly called ‘gods’ in English.

The Sanskrit term is दे�व (deva). A better English term is deity.

WHY SO MANY?

Hindu deities function much like Catholic saints. Different deities are called upon for different needs. For example, if you are facing obstacles in your life, you would call on the elephant-headed boy, Ganesha, the ‘remover of obstacles’.

If you are a student studying for your exams, you might want to connect with the goddess Sarasvati!

Hindu deities tend to come in male/female pairs - deva and devi: Brahma/Saraswati, Vishnu/Lakshmi, Shiva/Paravati

SOME POPULAR DEVAS

Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma

Krishna

Rama

Ganesha

Lakshmi, Kali, Durga

THE TRIMURTIBrahma, Vishnu, Shiva

Creator, Maintainer, and Destroyer

“Murti” is a sacred image into which the power and presence of a deity or deities can be invoked for worship. Christian Orthodox icons can serve a

similar purpose. Triple deities are quite common in religious mythology.

DEVOTIONVery much like the Christian devotion to Jesus, one of three persons in the Christian concept of God, Hindus often attach themselves in worship and service to a particular deity. This personal form of Hindu devotional practice is called bhakti.

Puja is a ritual of honoring and praying to a particular deity. Altars for puja can be found in Hindu Temples as well as in the home. Flowers, food, incense, and fire are common elements in puja.

PUJA ALTARScelebrating the divine mother (l.); offerings for Krishna (r.)

SAMSARAThe wheel of existence

(Tibetan-Shri Pa'i Korlho)

www.khandro.net/doctrine_rebirth.htm

WORLDVIEW

If all is really Brahman,

what are we?

why are we here?

what is our destiny?

ATMAN AND MAYA

According to popular Hindu philosophy, you and I are really Brahman. We just don’t know it yet. The illusory, phenomenal world is so ‘real’ to us that we cannot ‘see’ the truth of Oneness.

Illusion is known as “Maya”. Maya’s job is to keep us in the dark about the true nature of our eternal being, which is

Atman, a manifestation of Bráhman that is not yet self-aware. But, we seem to be trapped in the material world and we need to find a way out!

KARMA

We are stuck here, having been here before, and most likely coming back again until we ‘get it right’ and overcome the obstacles that keep us ‘sticking’ to the material world.

Every deed we do here has repercussions; the consequences, both good and bad, follow an unwritten law of cause and effect. Both the principle and the effect it generates are called karma.

REINCARNATION

Right deeds or actions move us closer toward the goal of liberation from our ignorance and materiality. Wrong deeds will move us backward on the ladder of reincarnation.

Either way, until we reach the goal of full release, moksha, we will be born, live, die, be reborn, try again, and re-die. This cycle of birth/death/re-birth/re-death, or samsara, seems endless.

Popular movies like “Edge of Tomorrow” and “Groundhog Day” are entertaining takes on this Hindu principle.

DHARMA

What is a “good deed”? In the broadest sense, it is what you are obligated by duty to perform. This duty is your individual path in your current life, or your Dharma. Your dharma as a human being is determined by the social role you acquired at birth, a function of your caste.

Dharma in general means actions that are in accord with the law or principle that orders life and governs the universe. Behaviors and actions opposed to dharma are adharma.

KRISHNA & ARJUNAa moral dilemma

in the Bhagavad Gita

-Bhagavad Gita

Arjuna became bewildered upon seeing people he loved and respected ready to battle, and said: “I desire neither victory, nor pleasure or kingdom, O Krishna. What is the use of a kingdom, or

enjoyment, or even life because all those for whom we desire kingdom, enjoyment, and pleasure are standing here for battle,

ready to give up their lives?” (1.32-33)

“I do not wish to kill my seniors, spiritual leaders, and relatives who are ready to kill us, even for the sovereignty of the three

worlds, let alone for this earthly kingdom, O Krishna.” (1.34-35)

-Bhagavad Gita

Lord Krishna said: “The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead. There was never a time when these monarchs, you or I did not exist, nor shall we ever cease to exist in the future. The

soul acquires another body after death (2.11-13). Therefore, fight for your right as your duty, O Arjuna. (2.18)

“Just do your duty to the best of your ability without becoming discouraged by the thought of the outcome which may be success or failure, gain or loss, victory or defeat. By doing your duty with

this attitude, you will not incur sin or Karmic bondage.” (2.38)

THE MORAL OF THE STORY: FOLLOW YOUR

DHARMA

IT’S OK TO START SMALL

Starting where you are is OK too. Each of these goals is acceptable, even virtuous, when pursued in moderation and with respect for the rules. As a person matures the lower goals fail to provide the fullest meaning, which can only be realized when one lives at the highest level.

Pleasure (kama)

Wealth and Security (artha)

Social and Religious Duty (Dharma)

SOCIAL CLASSES-CASTES

Priests (Brahmin)

Warriors and Nobles (Kshatriya) - Arjuna’s caste

Merchants (Vaishya)

Peasants (Sudra)

Untouchables (Dalit) - The 20th c. reformer, M. Ghandi, renamed this caste the “Children of God”

STAGES OF LIFE

These apply only to males in the upper levels of the Hindu caste system:

Student - lives with his teacher, studies the Veda and learns to model an appropriately religious way of life

Householder - after formal studies the student marries and turns his attention to the ways of the world

Retiree - when the first grandchild is born, the man is free to retire, or withdraw from his social obligations

Renunciate - Those who take this final step (the wife may go with the husband) in their current lifetime may detach entirely from the social world and retreat to the forest to seek enlightenment. Many males defer this stage to a future life.

PATHS TO AWARENESS

Yogas are paths toward spirituality or awareness leading to liberation. They are pursued alongside your individual goals, and for upper caste males, in each of the stages of life, as they are appropriate for the particular Dharma associated with your caste.

Yoga means union, or yoking with the divine. This is a concept that is remarkably similar to the Jewish idea of taking on the responsibilities of observing the laws of Torah, or the call to take on the “yoke” of discipleship (Bhakti Yoga) that is attributed to Jesus in the Christian New Testament.

YOGA-PATHS TO MOKSHA

Jnana Yoga is the pursuit of intellectual understanding

Karma Yoga is the self-less pursuit of good deeds,

Raja Yoga is meditation in pursuit of awareness, and

Hatha & Kundalini Yoga are physical disciplines leading to enlightenment.

GOOD QUESTIONS TO ASK OF RELIGIONS WE

STUDY!The nature of sacred reality (God, Ultimate Reality, the Holy, etc.). How does a particular religion understand, experience or explain the Sacred?

The nature of the Universe. How did the world we experience come into being? Who or what is responsible? Is it eternal (cyclical) or having begun, will it finally end (linear)?

What is the purpose of human life? Do people have a unique meaning and destiny, or is human life different only by degree from all other life, wherever it may be found?

How do religious people know Reality? Do they have ancient sacred texts that preserve a divine revelation, or do they look inward in meditation or mystical union to discover what else is out there?

Does a religious group think only their religion is ‘true’ and every other religion is ‘false’, or do they think everyone shares something in what is ultimately true and good?

What does a religion say about male and female; about the different roles for men and women?

Image credits

Atman. < http://lit.genius.com/Hermann-hesse-chapter-1-the-brahmins-son-annotated#note-1754882>

Maya. < http://cdn1.ticketsinventory.com/images/thumbs/concert/v/veil-of-maya/veil-of-maya_RuFmNZ09_Y8.jpg>

Trimurti. < https://adm1370-hinduandbuddhistartworks.wikispaces.com/The+Art+of+HINDU+GODS+AND+GODDESSES>

Ganesha. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha>

Trimuriti (2). < http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1800_1899/dailylife_drawings/shoberl/trimurti.jpg>

Puja at home (1). <http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/Navaratri.html> (2). <http://sanathanadharmahinduismo.blogspot.com/2009/08/o-altar-domestico.html>

Image credits (continued)

Reincarnation. <http://reluctant-messenger.com/images/reincarnation.jpg>

Edge of Tomorrow. < http://blogs-images.forbes.com/markhughes/files/2014/06/EDGE-OF-TOMORROW-13.jpg >

additional resources

Four States of Life. <http://philosophy.lander.edu/oriental/stages.html>