Hinduism

An Introduction

to the

Sanatana Dharma

Write these questions down:

1) What are the 4 things people want?

2) What are 3 of life’s limitations?

3) What are the stages of life?

4) What is the “Caste System?”

5) Define Jiva, samsara, karma, and moksha.

Simple Background

• “Hinduism” is a 19th-century word– Persian: hindu – Sanskrit sindhu (“river”)– Religions from the Indus Valley– “Indian Religion(s)”

• 750+ million “Hindus” in India• 30+ million “Hindus” abroad• Third largest religion in the world

Definition of HinduismIndian Supreme Court 1966 (reaffirmed 1995)

• Acceptance and reverence for the Vedas• A spirit of tolerance• Belief in vast cosmic periods of creation and

destruction• Belief in reincarnation• Recognition of multiple paths to salvation and truth,• Polytheism• Philosophical flexibility (no single dogma)

Partition of India1947

Though relatively stable, there is still some conflict, such at the Ayodhya Temple.

Hinduism is one of the oldest extant religious traditions in the world.

From at least 2500 BCE there were people living in the Indus Valley.

Several cities with advanced plumbing, architecture, and populations of 40,000+ (e.g., Harappa and Mohenjo-daro) flourished.

The earliest forms of Hinduism are often called “Vedic.” (2500-800 BCE)

Dominated by a priestly class concerned with “fire sacrifices.”

The fire rituals communicated with the gods, influenced them, and restored the vital powers of the universe.

Dyaus Pitr (cf: Zeus & Jupiter)

Agni (god of fire)

Soma (a god & a drug?)

What do people want?

What do people want?

• Pleasure

What do people want?*

• Pleasure

• Success: wealth, fame, power– competitive (& precarious)– insatiable (potentially)– centers on the self (lower-case “s”)– achievements are ephemeral

*based on Huston Smith’s, World Religions

What do people want?

• Pleasure

• Success: wealth, fame, power

Together, we can think of these two as the “path of desire.”

What do people want?

• Pleasure

• Success: wealth, fame, power

• Duty

What do people really want/desire?

What do people want?

• Pleasure• Success: wealth, fame, power• Duty

What do people really want/desire?1. “being”2. “knowing”3. joy

What do people want?

• Pleasure• Success: wealth, fame, power• Duty

What do people really want/desire?1. “being”infinite being2. “knowing”infinite awareness3. joyinfinite bliss

What do people want?

• Pleasure• Success: wealth, fame, power• Duty• Liberation (moksh)

– “Liberation from the cycle of existence (samsara) often identified with a state of knowledge in which the phenomenal world and its concerns are shut out in favor of a mystical identification with the ultimate, changeless ground of all things.”--Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy

– “release from the finitude that restricts us from the limitless being, consciousness, and bliss our hearts desire”--Huston Smith

Life’s Limitations

• pain (physical and psychological)

• ignorance

• restricted being

Stages of Life

• The student

• Householder (pleasure, success, duty)

• “Retirement”

• sannyasin (“the one who neither hates nor loves anything”)

Caste System• Beginning with Aryan intrusion (2nd m. BCE)?• Four (plus) castes:

Brahmins (seers)

Kshatriyas (administrators)

Vaishyas (artisans, farmers, craftsmen)

Shudras (unskilled laborers)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------“untouchables” (today: “dalit”)

India’s Caste System

People• Individual souls (jivas) enter the world mysteriously• They begin as the souls of the simplest forms of life and

reincarnate/transmigrate (samsara) into more complex bodies until they enter human bodies

• Souls in human bodies are engaged in issues of freedom and responsibility (karma)

• Is this fatalism?– there is choice

– “natural” causes factor in

– ultimately the soul gets what it wants

• What everyone strives for is Moksha, to be

liberated from the cycle of death and rebirth.

• The Tale of the Magic Kalpataru Tree

God• Brahman (etymology: br=breath, brih=to be great)

– All deities are a part of Brahman, and there is one God, but there are an infinite gods that make up God.

• God can be thought of as Creator (Brahma), Preserver (Vishnu), and Destroyer (Shiva)

• But in many Hindu expressions God is transpersonal: beyond it all

• Using words to describe Brahman is like ladling the water with a net.

Hindu PantheonThough affirming Brahman as “ultimate reality,” Hinduism is highly polytheistic.

The Hindu Pantheon is structured around “divine couples” (male-structure/form::female-energy/matter) who serve different functions in the universe; in a way, they point to the various forces in life/the cosmos.

Many deities are depicted with a “vehicle”—an animal with whom they are often portrayed.

The “Trimurti” is organized around Brahma (creation), Vishnu (maintenance), Shiva (destruction).

Brahma (creation)Consort/wife: Saraswati, goddess of knowledge and speech.

Vehicle: hamsa or swan (seven swans).

Vishnu (maintainer of the universe)Consort: Lakshmi (good fortune and prosperity)Vehicle: “Garuda”—eagle/human hybrid

Vishnu appears in many avatars (traditionally ten, the last, who has not yet appeared, is Kalki, who will come when he is most needed).

The two most important avatars of Vishnu are Rama and Krishna.

Shiva (the destroyer)Consort(s): Kali (et al, Sati, Parvati, Lalita, Durga . . .)Vehicle: Nandi, the Bull

Ganesha (son of Shiva and Parvati)

Devi (the goddess) is sometimes worshipped as the supreme manifestation of Brahman. All other gods and goddesses would then be considered emanations of her.

Devi (Devanagari: दे�वी�) is the Sanskrit word for Goddess.

Devi is synonymous with Shakti, the female aspect of the divine, as conceptualized by the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. She is the female counterpart without whom the male aspect, which represents consciousness or discrimination, remains impotent and void. Goddess worship is an integral part of Hinduism.Devi is, quintessentially, the core form of every Hindu Goddess. As the female manifestation of the supreme lord, she is also called Prakriti or Maya, as she balances out the male aspect of the divine addressed Purusha. [1]ManifestationsDevi or the divine feminine is an equal conterpart to the divine masculine, and hence manifests herself as the Trinity herself - the Creator (Durga or the Divine Mother), Preserver (Lakshmi, Parvati & Sarswati) and Destroyer (Mahishasura-Mardini, Kali &

Smashanakali ).

Source: The Goddess Files

Hindu Scripture

• Upanishads - section of Vedas discussed relationship between Brahman and Atman

• Mahabharata and Ramayana - Long epic poems about a war, a quest

• Bhagavad Gita – part of Mahabharata – dialogue between warrior Arjuna and Krishna, lays out essential concepts.

Bhagavad Gita

• dialogue btw warrior Arjuna + charioteer Krishna - avatar of Vishnu

• Part of Mahabharata - about battle between Pandavas and 100 sons of Dhritarashtra

• In 18 Teachings, Krishna lays out much of Hindu philosophy of duty (dharma), moral choice and consequence (karma) and discipline (yoga), as well as the nature of the divine essence (Brahman), and it's relationship to the self (Atman).

There are three major devotional traditions:Vaishnava (Vishnu)

Generally vegetarianWorship Vishnu, Rama, KrishnaOriented towards duty and tradition

Shaiva (Shiva)Worship focuses on union of opposites, especially creation and destructionTend to emphasize ascetic practices.

Shakta (Devi)Worship “the goddess” as ultimate reality(Bengali)Not as likely to be vegetarian

Hindus worship principally through seeing (Darshan) an image of the divinity.

Shrines can be anywhere, in great temples, by the road, or in the home.

Puja is the act of worship, offering them fruit, flowers, incense, water, or cloth in order to symbolize an offering of the self to the god/goddess.

In some cases deities are processed through the streets (at festivals, etc.). See Diwali Video.

Sometimes the worshipper will take a pilgrimage to a sacred place, the most well-known being Benares, on the Ganges River.

Samsara – Coming of age in the universe

Reincarnation• "When we outgrow a suit

or find our house to cramped, we exchange these for roomier ones that offer our bodies freer play - souls do the same."

• From Gita : "Worn out garments

Are shed by the body.

Worn out bodiesAre shed by the

dweller (soul)."

“The function of your body is to put your jiva in the realm of temporary existence” –

Joseph Campbell What

Brings You Back?

Two Things:

Desireand

Fear

Jainism• There are about 4 million Jains today,

most of them “lay people”• Historians consider Jainism to have been

founded by Mahavira (599-527 BCE) as a reaction to the conservative Brahminism of the 6th-century BCE

• In general, they do NOT accept the Hindu Scriptures or rituals, but they do share a belief in the transmigration of souls

• The most obvious characteristic of them is their devotion to the principle of ahimsa, or non-injury– monks wear a veil– even lay people forbidden to drink after

sunset

Jainism (cont.)

• Jains are followers of the Jinas, or “tirthankaras” (the ford-makers, who reveal the path to moksha)

• They believe 24 tirthankaras appear in every half cycle

• Mahavira is the 24th tirthankara in this cycle

• A contemporary of Buddha, Mahavira renounced the world at the age of 30, and after 12 years as a wandering ascetic achieved enlightenment

• He then converted 12 disciples who structure his teachings into the Jain Scriptures

• He died in meditation and became a liberated soul

Jainism (cont.)• Jain monks commit to the Great Vows:

– non-injury (ahisma)– truth-speaking (satya)– sexual abstinence (brahmacharya)– non-stealing (asteya)– detachment from persons, places, and things

(aparigraha)• Lay people take the “lesser vows” which try to

apply the great vows to more “normal” modes of living: e.g., strict vegetarianism, no work that involves the deliberate destruction of life (e.g., hunting no, farming okay).

• In the fourth century CE a major split occurred:– Digambaras: all possessions, including

clothing are hindrance to liberation– Shvetambaras: detachment is in the mind

(and not wearing clothes can also cause injury; e.g., if you light a fire to stay warm)

The only objects a Digambara monk is allowed to carry are a water-pot and a fly-whisk of peacock feathers.

Sikhism• Some see them as rather different from Hinduism• Guru Nanak, ca. 1500, had encounter leaving him to seek a path to

God that didn’t require strict identification with Islam or Hinduism.• In keeping with Hinduism, it affirms the ultimacy of a supreme and

formless God beyond human conceiving• In keeping with Islam, it rejects the notion of avatars (divine

incarnations), caste distinctions, images as aids to worship, and the sanctity of the Vedas

• Follows Hinduism, but not Islam, in affirming reincarnation• Five k’s (in Punjabi):

– uncut hair (conserves vitality, draws upward)– comb (cleanliness and order)– steel bracelet (shackles one to God)– undershorts (one always dressed for action)– dagger (originally needed for self-defense)

• Seek salvation through union with God, by realizing, through love, the Person of God, who dwells in the depths of their own being.

• World renunciation does not really figure in their faith.• About 13 million Sikhs in the world

Though not really a proselytizing religion, Hinduism, especially in its most philosophical and meditative forms, has made a number of converts in the West.

Swami Vivekananda (appeared at the first World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893)—philosophical Hinduism.

Transcendental Meditation (1960’s—Maharishi Mahesh Yogi)—ascetic Hinduism.

International Society for Krishna Consciousness— so called “Hare Krishnas” (1960’s Swami Prabhupada)—bhakti Hinduism.

Hatha Yoga.