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Hinduism
Dancers, Bali Indonesia
The Balinese religion is based on Hinduism, but incorporates a lot of pre-Hindu, animist
beliefs (primarily ancestor worship). In ancient times the founder of a Balinese village was
revered as a god after his death by the village people. When the Hindu princes from Java
occupied Bali, their form of worshipping their dead kings as gods came very close to the
old Balinese ancestor worship. The many different gods of Bali (gods of Earth, Fire,
Water, and Fertility) were now all viewed as different manifestations of the Trimurti, the
Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and the destroyer/creator Shiva.
The Ramayana narrative being performed in
The traditional Balinese dance form
India – a land of religious diversity
 The
chief architectural
symbol of India is the Taj
Mahal (lower right), a
Muslim mosque.
 India
is
predominantly
Hindu, but after the
division of Pakistan has a
20% Muslim population
and
sizeable
Sikh,
Zoroastrian, and Christian
minorities.
Introduction to Hinduism
 Hinduism is one of the most internally diverse world religions. It has
many gods and allows many “paths” to salvation.
 The scriptures of Hinduism mirror this diversity. Vast in size, varied in
usage, and profound in influence, many scriptures have been used for
three thousand years.
 “Hinduism” and “Indian” were territorial terms applied by foreigners.
Hindu self-identity mirrors external challenges of Islam (9th CE onwards)
and colonialism (esp. 19th C.). Would there be a “Hindu consciousness”
apart from the need to distinguish it from Muslim and Christian, etc.?
 All Hindus have a basic reverence for the most ancient scriptures, the
Vedas written over a vast period of time. Secondly, all acknowledge a
feeling for the structure of society as reflected in the law-code
scriptures (including caste structure).
The Hindu “Trimurti”
 Brahman as all three Gods of
the Trimurti, Brahman, Shiva,
and Vishnu. But Hindus often
have a primary attachment to
a single chosen god or
goddess among many.
 Hinduism a religion of ‘330
million gods’; yet ‘all gods
are one god’ = Henotheism
 “People say, ‘Sacrifice to this
god or that god.’ But each
god is his manifestation, for
he is all gods.” (B-A
Upanisad)
The Trimurti and “Henotheism”
 The
different gods are all
manifestations of the same
divine reality. They are all
manifestations of the infinite,
omni-present and ultimately
incomprehensible
Brahmanwithout-attributes.
 This attitude allows devotion to
different deities, and even
extolling each as as supreme,
while
adopting
religious
pluralism and tolerance. Hindu
polytheism/ henotheism “is an
expression of Hindu pluralism.”
The Upanisads and the mystical ‘yoking’ of self
(atman) and Brahman-Atman

Upanisad means ‘to sit down next
to’ (a spiritual guide or teacher).

What is the relation between the
individual self (atman) and Atman?

Mystical experience related the unity
of all things fleetingly experienced in
the ‘fourth’ state.

The sacred syllable “OM” reflects
the monism and mysticism of the
Upanisadic teachings.

The practice of Yoga is believed to
enable one to realize the highest
self-knowledge, the “non-duality” of
self and other, individual self and
world-soul or Brahman-Atman:
“Thou art that” (the Self or Atman).
Cosmogony in the Upanisads
“In the beginning this world was Self (Atman) in the form of a Person. Looking
around, he saw nothing else than himself. He first said “I am…He was afraid.
Therefore one who is alone is afraid…Verily he had no delight. Therefore one
alone has no delight. He desired a second. He was, indeed, as large as a
woman and a man closely embraced. He caused that self to fall into two pieces.
Hence arose a husband and a wife, and therefore it is true: ‘Oneself is like a
half-fragment.’
He lay with her. Therefore human beings were produced. She changed herself
into the cow, but he became a bull and again they mated. She became a mare,
and he a stallion; she became and ewe and he a ram. In this way he created
everything that exists in pairs, down to the ants. He knew: ‘I indeed am this
creation, for I created all this.’ Therefore he became the creation, and he who
knows this lives on in this his creation.” (Brihad-Aranyaka Upanisad)
Origin of the Caste System (from Hymn to Purusha):
“When they divided the Self, into how many parts did they arrange him?...The
brahmin was his mouth, his two arms were made the kshatriyas (warriors),
his two thighs the vaisya (merchants; farmers), from his feet the shudra
(servile caste) was born.”
The Caste System
The ‘Twice-Born’ Castes:
 The Brahmins (priests and intellectuals) were born of the mouth of Brahma
and speak with the gods for humankind.
 The Kshatriyas (rulers and warriors) were born of Lord Brahma's arms and
are given the task of protecting society.
 The Vaishyas (business people) were born of his thighs and do trade,
business, and large-scale farming.
The Lower Castes:
 The Shudras (or common laborers and small farmers) were born of
Brahma's feet and their only purpose is to serve the other three castes.
Includes the "untouchables" who are considered outside the system (hence
“outcastes”).
Women in Hinduism
 Traditional women often wear devotional
marks to their deity on their foreheads.
Significance of awakening of a third,
“spiritual eye”.
 The life of women in Hinduism has been
tightly regulated in the past by Hindu law.
The Laws of Manu specify that females are
“never to be independent” of male authority.
 Woman can sometimes ascend their caste
through marriage; but no matter what her
caste, a Hindu woman’s life consists of
serving her husband and family.
 In modern India, a movement to liberate
women is taking place, especially in the
cities. Example: ‘The Bandit Queen’
The Bhagavad-Gita
 Its name means “The Song of the Lord.”
 Found in a section of the long epic, the
Mahabharata.
 Comprises a dialogue between Krishna (an
avatar (incarnation) of Vishnu) and Arjuna
in the context of a civil war.
 Its main point: Do your caste duties
faithfully, and even if you have doubts about
them, act with detachment. Each person
has sacred dharma (moral duty) to promote
the stability, solidarity and progress of
society.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPWSGiXKDS8&
feature=related 17 minute video-English; start at 10
THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE
 1. STUDENT
 2. HOUSEHOLDER
 3. RETIREMENT
 4. WANDERING ASCETIC
 Each stage is related, though not strictly, to
the four goals of life: moral education,
earning of wealth, enjoyment of sensual
pleasures, and the seeking of liberation
(Moksa).
THE FIVE YOGAS (MARGAS), OR “PATHS” TO
FINAL EMANICIPATION (MOKSHA)
 DEVOTION (FEELING) = BHAKTI YOGA


PASSIONATE LOVE OF A DEITY AND SURRENDER OF SELF;
EXEMPLIFIED IN POPULAR HINDHISM WORSHIP AND THE BHAGAVAD GITA
 ACTION/DUTY (WILLING) = KARMA YOGA


FULFILLMENT OF RITES/CEREMONIES AND CASTE DUTIES;
EXEMPLIFIED IN KRISHNA’S DEMANDS ON ARJUNA IN THE BHAGAVAD GITA
 KNOWLEDGE (KNOWING) = JNANA YOGA


INTELLECTUAL RECOGNITION OF THE SOLE REALITY OF BRAHMAN-ATMAN;
EXEMPLIFIED IN THE MYSTICAL ORIENTATION OF THE UPANISHADS
 PSYCHOPHYSICAL EXERCISE (MIND) = RAJA YOGA

EXEMPLIFIED IN YOGIC PRACTICE & MEDITATION
 PSYCHOPHYSICAL EXERCISE (BODY) = HATHA YOGA

EXEMPLIFIED IN YOGIC PRACTICE & MEDITATION; 15th C. onwards
Shiva, the dancing god
Vishnu, Preserver & Protector
 At the end of the world
(Kalpa-age) he brings forth
Shiva, who then destroys the
universe by means of his
cosmic dance. After Vishnu
has rested on his snake
couch, and mates with
Yoganidra, the process of
creation starts over again, as
its has countless times
before.
 Cyclical time vs. Western
directional time.
Vishnu as Krishna
Other gods: Ganesha
 God of wisdom and the remover of
obstacles, son of Shiva and
Parvati.
 One day Parvati, wife of Shiva,
made a clay statue of a boy and
breathed life into it to create a son
and guardian of the house. Shiva
arrived home and in a jealous rage
chopped of his head before
learning this was his own son. A
remorseful
Shiva
then
sent
servants to find a head to replace
it, but they couldn’t find a human
head but instead brought back an
elephant head, which Shiva then
re-attached and breathed life into.
Ganesha Symbolism
Hindu Goddesses: Kali

The Hindu goddess Kali is a
ferocious form of the Divine Mother.

Kali is the goddess of time and of
the transformation that is death. In
the ignorant ones she creates fear
(existential death anxiety), while for
others she removes the ignorance
that makes us fear death.

The intention of her standing over
the slain Shiva “is not to portray the
goddess as a slayer of men but as
the power (Shakti) of Shiva, who
without her is inert like a corpse.”

http://kalighat.jagaddhatri.com/Album/adi
ganga.html
Hindu Goddesses: Shakti

Shakti is a more benign image of the
mother goddess, a universal principle of
energy, power or creativity. The ten
Mahavidyas are incarnations of the
Goddess Shakti covering the whole
range of feminine divinity.

Shakti is the divine force, manifesting to
destroy demonic forces and restore
balance. The play of female energy has
no beginning and no end. Every God in
Hinduism has his Shakti, and according
to followers ofs Shakti and without that
energy they have no power.

The worship of Shakti as this energy is
closely associated with of Tantric and
Kundalini Yoga.
the Seven Chakras
Tantric/Kundalini Energy

“Kundalini” energy is one's dormant spiritual
energy.
“Tantra”
means
“continuity”
or
“integration.” As a term for a form of both Hindu
and Buddhist religious practice, tantric practices
have as their goal to reach an awakened state of
higher consciousness by incorporating all the
physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects.

“The divine power—Kundalini—shines like the
stem of a young lotus; Like a snake, coiled round
upon herself, She holds her tail in her mouth, And
lies resting half asleep at the base of the body”
(Yoga Kundalini Upanishad).
 The Kama Sutra. The
dissemination of the
"Discipline of Kama"
(Love/Pleasure)
is
attributed to Nandi, the
sacred bull and Shiva’s
doorkeeper, who was
moved by overhearing
the lovemaking of the
god and his wife
Parvati, to record this
for the benefit of all
man (and woman) kind!