Hinduism

Hinduism is the oldest of the World’s great religions and the most inclusive, absorbing its rivals.Hindu History: Around 2000 BCE the Aryans invade India bringing a polytheistic religion. Gods of the storm, sun, moon, soil--appeased by sacrifice- animals, dairy products, soma juice.

Aryan Caste System

Brahmins: PriestsKshatriyas: WarriorsVaishyas: Merchants, farmers.Shudras: Pre-Aryan natives- slaves, servants

Hindu ScriptureVedas- 1500-400 BCERig Veda: Hymns to the gods.Yajur Veda: Rites for recitation at sacrifices.Sama Veda: Chants.Athara Veda: Rituals, spells, incantations.

Each book has 4 parts:Mantras- hymns to gods.Brahmanas- ritual materials.Aranyakas- (forest treatises)- advice to hermits.Upanishads (added later)- philosophical materials.

The VedasTraditionally, the Vedas are thought to be eternal. At the beginning of a world cycle, Brahma reveals the Vedas to seven primeval sages (rishis), who are neither human or divine. The rishis hear with the mind’s ear the precise syllables of the Vedic corpus. The sages then pass the words on to humans, who may harness the sacred power of the eternal words. Sing forth a hymn sublime and solemn, grateful to glorious Varuna, imperial ruler, Who hath struck out, like one who slays the victim, earth as a skin to spread in front of Surya.

Hindu GodsMain gods of the Vedas: Indra- god of the thunderbolt; Agni- god of fire; Varuna- god of order; Vishnu- god of preservation; Rudra (Shiva)- god of destruction; Yama- god of the dead.

In contemporary Hinduism the most popular gods are Vishnu (the preserver); Shiva (the destroyer); and Brahma (the creator).Sometimes called the Hindu trinity.

Vedanta (the end of the Vedas)

From a world of violent conflict, there emerged in the axial age a group of mystics embarking on a “peaceful conquest of inner space.” Religious ritual gave way to meditative introspection. As would later occur in the Judaeo-Christian tradition, the new approach was described as the fulfillment of the old. For example, the horse sacrifice of Vedic tradition was reinterpreted in the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad . The head of the horse is the dawn, his eyes are the sun, his breath, the wind. But now the ritual is performed by the mind. Consciousness is expanded, and no blood is demanded.

UpanishadsComposed from 800 BCE- 600 CE. There are 200, 14 of which are most important. The teaching is Monistic (or pantheistic)- there is one Reality- Brahman- the impersonal absolute- eternal, infinite, unknowable. Everything else is Maya- illusion. To attain liberation meditation (not sacrifice) is required. The real problem is ignorance, the illusion of individuality, which keeps us bound in Samsara (birth, death, rebirth). The souls of living things are like drops in the great ocean of Brahman, falsely proclaiming their individuality, and selfishly promoting their illusory goals.

Sacred Speech (OM)Everything derives from sound, and one sound encompasses all of reality, captures the essence of Brahman, As all leaves are held together by a stalk, so all speech is held together by Om. Verily, the whole world is nothing but Om, (CU 2.23.3, in Armstrong, p. 148). By chanting this most sacred of all sounds, the devotee could experience the unity of his soul with Brahman, the ground of being, (Armstrong, p. 148, following Tillich). and in this way, disentangle himself from the Samsaric cycle.

Tat tvam asi “That you are”

The spiritual method recommended in the Upanishads transcends the reach of empirical evidence and rational reflection, Only an arduous path of disciplined meditation can prepare the seeker to receive these deep truths. A reader who has not adopted the Upanishadic method will not be able to comprehend its conclusion. (Armstrong, p. 150).

To know the unknowable atman

You can’t see the Seer who does the seeing, You can’t hear the Hearer who does the hearing; you can’t think with the thinker who does the thinking; and you can’t perceive the Perceiver who does the perceiving. The self within the All is this atman of yours. (BU 3.4 )To see that the core of the self was not the individual “I” that ruled our daily lives… but an ultimate reality in its own right (Armstrong, p. 154).

Code of Manu 300 BCE- 300 CE

Articulation of the caste system. Development of dharma- caste specific duties.Understand the Dharma which is followed by the wise and recognized by the heart by the virtuous who are ever free from ill-will and anger. (2.1)

Non-injury, truth, not stealing, purity, control of the senses- Manu has declared this to summarize dharma for the four castes. (10.63)Stages of life: student, householder, hermit, beggar. Regards cow-killing as a great sin.

Bhagavad Gita 200 BCE- 300 CE

In this sacred Hindu text Krishna appears as a chariot driver to convince a reluctant Prince Arjuna that he must perform his duty as a warrior and fight against family and friends to defend his brother’s claim to the throne.

The Song of God

Considered a handbook for self-realization. When your mind has overcome the confusion of duality, you will attain the state of perfect yoga.You speak sincerely but your sorrow has no cause…. As the same person inhabits the body through childhood, youth, and old age, so too at the time of death he attains another body….As a man abandons worn out clothes…when the body is worn out a new one is acquired by the Self within.

The Illumined ManDeath is inevitable for the living, birth is inevitable for the dead….The Self of all beings, living within the body, is eternal and cannot be harmed. Therefore, do not grieve. (2. 27-29)

You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.  Perform work in this world, Arjuna, as a man established within himself- without selfish attachments, and alike in success and defeat. For yoga is perfect evenness of mind. (2.47f)

Paths of YogaYoga (yoke)- techniques for producing a union of the human with the divine.Jnana Yoga: Path of knowledge. Ignorance is alienation from God. Overcome it by recognizing that atman is Brahman.Bhakti Yoga: Path of love or devotion, chanting, worship producing unity with God.He who offers to me with devotion a leaf, a flower, s fruit, water, that I accept from the striving self. They verily who worship me with devotion, they are in me, and I also in them.

YogaKarma Yoga: Path of work or action: selfless action, identifying with the whole of life, do your dharma and improve your karma.

He is the true worshipper of Vishnu who observes duly the duties of the four castes.Raja yoga: Path of physiological and psychological exercises to control bodily desires. Meditation stills the mind, permitting it to merge with the Absolute.

Central Hindu Beliefs

Samsara: Cosmic process of death and rebirth-- each of us is an eternal soul on an infinite journey, dying in one life only to be reborn in another.

Karma: Actions produce consequences commensurate with their moral quality (a cosmic principle of cause and effect). Evil actions will eventually yield evil fruits, good actions will yield good fruits.

KarmaBelief in karma and rebirth first asserts itself in the Upanishads, where an ethic of non-attachment begins to replace the sacrificial system of the Vedas.Belief in karma came to explain the individual’s station in life- sex, caste, personality, etc.

RebirthThe Samsara doctrine affords individuals the opportunity for spiritual growth that is not thwarted by death. The aspirant, cleansed of stain, with mind controlled through much effort, is perfected after many births and thence treads the highest way. (Gita 6:45)

To Hindus, this belief is superior to the one life view of western religions. The fortunate child of saints and the born and trained criminal plunged in the lowest fetid corruption have equally to create by the action or belief of this unequal life all their eternal future. This is a paradox which offends both the soul and the reason, the ethical sense and the spiritual intuition. (Aurobindo)

Hindu DoctrinesMaya: The illusion of false individuality- to wrongly believe that the individual soul (atman) is distinct from the Absolute, or World Soul (Brahman).

Moksha: Liberation from Samsara, overcoming ignorance and attaining unity with the absolute.Here ye children of immortal bliss! I have found the Ancient One, who is beyond all darkness and delusion: knowing Him alone you shall be saved from death over again.

Cyclical Time: 4 YugasSatya Yuga: Age of perfection. Dharma firmly established, human passions are restrained, caste rules respected, veil between the secular realm and the sacred is transparent. Deities are worshipped in their visible form, images are not necessary.

Treta Yuga: As human passions inevitably become less restrained, the dharma declines, the world becomes prone to disorder, the age of treta yuga begins.Dvarpara Yuga: Further decline, veil between secular and sacred darkens.

Kali YugaAs the decline continues we enter the age of Kali Yuga: a stage where property confers rank, wealth becomes the only source of virtue, passion the sole bond of union between husband and wife, falsehood the source of success in life, sex the only means of enjoyment, and when outer trappings are confused with inner religion.This is the present age, which will end with disaster. Finally, a new Satya age begins.

KaliThe goddess Kali, wielding the sword of enlightening wisdom, with severed heads around her neck, provides the opportunity to acknowledge and then sublimate the disruptive, violent, and unruly parts of life.

Problems and ParadoxesThe view that the soul is on an infinite journey towards liberation seems problematic. If the infinitely existing soul has not yet attained liberation, it is unclear how the offer of more time in future lives can help. Moral progress is meaningful only for finite beings.

Hierarchy of Beings?It is said that a human who lives like a pig will likely inhabit the body of a pig in its next incarnation. But how can a pig improve its character to reincarnate into a higher life form? Are pigs capable of moral progress? Is one species of mammal better than another?

If reincarnation occurs from animal to animal, then either there is a hierarchy of animal souls or animals are capable of making moral progress.Each alternative appears problematic.

Soul and BodyCausal interaction problem: How does an immaterial substance interact with the material body? All known causal connections involve material interaction.

Neural dependence of mental phenomena: Why do drugs and brain damage impair mental function if the mind is a distinct immaterial entity?

Difficulties for DualismExplanatory impotence of dualism: Neuro-science has uncovered vast amounts of information about brain functioning and its correlations with mental states. What can the dualist tell us about spiritual substance and its relation to behavior?

Coherence with evolutionary theory: A physicalist view of mind explains the development of higher mental abilities in terms of the evolution of increasingly complex brain structures; how will the dualist account for this correlation?

ReferencesArmstrong, Karen. ( 2007). The great transformation. New York: AnchorBonevac, D & Phillips, S. (Ed.s). (1993). Understanding non-western philosophy.

Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.Easwaran, E. (Translator). (1985). The Bhagavad

Gita. Petaluma, CA: Nilgiri Press.Easwaran, E. (Translator). (1987) The

Upanishads. Petaluma, CA: Nilgiri Press.

ReferencesGandhi, M. K. (2000). The Bhagavad Gita According to Gandhi. Berkeley: Berkeley Hills Book.Hick, John. (1976). Death and eternal life. New York: Harper and Row.Hoppe, L.M. (1976) Religions of the world. Beverly

Hills, CA: Glencoe Press.Lipner, J. (1994). Hindus: their religious

beliefs and practices. New York: Routledge.