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 sacrificeanimals, dairy products, soma juice.
Aryan Caste System
Brahmins: Priests
Kshatriyas: Warriors
Vaishyas:
Merchants, farmers.
Shudras: Pre-Aryan
natives- slaves,
servants
Hindu Scripture
Vedas- 1500-400 BCE
Rig 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 Vedas
Traditionally, 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 Gods
Main 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.
Upanishads
Composed from 800 BCE- 600 CE. There are 200, 14
of which are most important. The teaching is
Monistic (or pantheistic)- there is one RealityBrahman- 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 cowkilling 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 Man
Death 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 himselfwithout selfish attachments,
and alike in success and
defeat. For yoga is perfect
evenness of mind. (2.47f)
Paths of Yoga
Yoga (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.
Yoga
Karma 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.
Karma
Belief 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.
Rebirth
The 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 Doctrines
Maya: The illusion
of false individualityto 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 Yugas
Satya 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 Yuga
As 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.
Kali
The 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 Paradoxes
The 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 Body
Causal 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 Dualism
Explanatory impotence
of dualism: Neuroscience 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?
References
Armstrong, Karen. ( 2007). The great
transformation. New York: Anchor
Bonevac, 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.
References
Gandhi, 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.