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 Hinduism
Indian 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 India
1947
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 being
2. “knowing”infinite awareness
3. joyinfinite 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 Pantheon
Though 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
• 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.
Hindu Scripture
• 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).
Bhagavad Gita
There are three major devotional traditions:
Vaishnava (Vishnu)
Generally vegetarian
Worship Vishnu, Rama, Krishna
Oriented towards duty and tradition
Shaiva (Shiva)
Worship focuses on union of opposites,
especially creation and destruction
Tend 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 bodies
Are 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:
Desire
and
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.