Download 4: Hinduism - White Rocket Books

Hinduism
 Found mostly in India
 Perhaps the oldest and most complex religion
 Parts of it are 4000-plus years old??
 Diverse and varied
 From simple animism to elaborate philosophical systems
 Allows for millions of major and minor gods
 Source of Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism
 No single founder
 Aryans
 Peoples who migrated into India between 1750 and 1200 BC.
 Developed a class structure
 Would lead to the caste system
 Brought a polytheistic religion to India
 Personifications of natural forces
 Sacrifices, including horses!
 Vedas
 Oldest sacred books of Hinduism
 All later Hindu books are considered commentary on them
 Basic source of Hindu understanding of the universe
 Written/compiled over centuries
 Four basic books:
 Rig-Veda
 1000 hymns to the gods
 Yajur-Veda
 Materials to be recited during sacrifice to the gods
 Sama-Veda
 Verses recited by priests at sacrifices
 Atharva-Veda
 Rituals to be used in the home, and popular prayers, spells, and incantations to
ward off evil
 Each of the Vedic books:
 Four parts
 Section of hymns (mantras) to the gods
 Rituals
 Materials for hermits
 Upanishads (philosophy)
 The Upanishads
 Basis for Hindu philosophy
 200 of various lengths
 14 principle Upanishads
 Emphasize meditation as means of worship
 Teach that people are bound in a world of illusion and ignorance
 The only reality is the god Brahman
 All things are an expression of Brahman
 All else is illusion
 (somewhat contradicts rest of Vedas--polytheism)
 Complex and difficult to understand
 Karma
 A concept from the Upanishads
 “to do or act”
 Every action and thought has consequences
 These mark each individual internally
 Effects of this are felt in this life or the next
 So we reflect the choices made in our past (or in past lives), good or bad
 Samsara
 “to wander across”
 The life force of a person does not die with the body.
 It “wanders” to another time and body.
 Western version: “reincarnation” or “transmigration of souls”
 Thought of as a curse—
 Forced to live an endless cycle of ignorance and pain
 Moksha
 Breaking the cycle of karma and samsara
 This is the goal of Indian religions
 Be free from the burden/bondage of life
 This comes with true knowledge of the illusion of life
 Requires much study and many lifetimes
 The Law of Manu
 Ethical text written between 300 BC and 300 CE
 Illustrates ethical and social standards
 Reveals roots of social and religious traditions of modern Hinudism
 Cyclical view of history
 Includes Varna system of social stratification:
 Varna
 The Brahmin (priest) at top of social strata
 Raja (ruler) second
 Vaishya (artisans, merchants, farmers) third
 Sudra (servants) at bottom
 Dharma
 Each caste has its own duties (dharma)
 Members of lower castes can move up
 Through reincarnation
 If follow dharma of caste in this life
 Can also move down
 Even to animal or plant level
 If do evil in this life
 Four stages of upper caste males
 Student of the Vedas
 Marriage within caste
 Head the household
 Retreat from society
 Become hermit
 Learn non-attachment
 Become a wandering beggar
 (sannyasi)
 Women
 Constricted social and domestic life
 No independence allowed
 Perpetually under the control of males
 Bear and raise children
 Jainism and Buddhism
 6th Century BC
 Challenge to mainstream Hinduism
 Both reject Vedas and the caste system
 Release is possible for all who live rightly
 Both too austere to appeal to average Hindus
 Main teachings eventually absorbed by Hinduism
 Bhagavad Gita
 Epic poem
 Contains much of the philosophy of Indian culture and religion
 A dialogue between the warrior Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna
 Arjuna ponders the folly of war
 Krishna lectures him on the duty of his caste (dharma)
 Krishna reveals himself as incarnation of Vishnu
 Religious implications of Bhagavad Gita
 Duties to one’s caste are religious
 Bad karma if disobey duties
 Various ways of release from samsara cycle
 Asceticism (denial of pleasure), meditation, devotion/worship of gods, obedience to
caste duties
 Vishnu comes to Earth to help humans, whom he loves
 Post-Classical Hinduism
 Classical version:
 “Brahminism”
 Public worship and sacrifice by priests
 New version:
 Simply “Hinduism”
 Focus on worship of a few major deities
 Through individual love and devotion
 No more sacrificial activity by priests
 Shift in attitudes:
 Away from classical optimism
 Toward Post-Classical life-denying pessimism
 Devotion to 3 major gods
 The “Trimurti”
 Each expresses one function of Brahman, who is ultimate reality
 Creation
 Destruction
 Preservation
 Worshippers of each one tend to attribute all these aspects to that one
 Also: Devi
 Great feminine goddess
 Source of other goddesses
 Counterpart to Brahman in this way
 The three: 
 Brahma the Creator
 Creator of the world
 Post-Vedic (not in the Vedas)
 Receives the least attention
 Few temples
 No cult of devotees
 Wife:
 Sarasvati
 Goddess of knowledge, poetry, wisdom
 Shiva the Destroyer
 Very popular
 God of Death, Destruction, Disease
 Reproduction, Sexuality, Dance
 Ascetics favor him
 They are destroying their old lives
 Symbol: Trident
 Consorts:
 Kali
 More terrible than Shiva!
 Paravati
 Perfect wife and mother; erotic; fertility
 Vishnu the Preserver
 God of love, forgiveness, play
 Concern for humanity
 Has appeared in nine avatars (human forms) to help humans
 Tenth avatar will come at world’s end
 Judge wicked and reward virtuous
 Devoted wife: Lakshmi
 Mediator between humans and Vishnu
 Guardian of world’s welfare
 Hare Krishnas:
 Worship the “Krishna” avatar of Vishnu
 Vishnu
 The Way of Knowledge
 Alternative to worshipping one of the gods
 Focus on a system of philosophy (darshan)
 Six variations
 One variation: Yoga
 “to join”
 Central feature: Meditation
 The physical aspect of Yoga helps free the mind
 Muslim influences in India
 India invaded by Muslims beginning in 712 CE
 Converted many
 More Muslims in India/Pakistan than anywhere else
 Influenced India
 arts, architecture, science
 But Islam could not be absorbed
 Complete opposites in religion:
 Monotheism vs polytheism
 No images of Allah/many images of gods
 Sacrifice of cattle/ cattle are sacred
 All equal before Allah/ caste system
 1000 years of coexistence
 Continuing tensions
 (India / Pakistan)
 Modern Hinduism
 British rule of India (1600s-1947)
 Abolish “suttee”
 Widows would burn on dead husband’s funeral pyre
 Abolish child marriages
 Christian missionaries
 Many worked to raise living standards and education of the Indian people
 Modern Hindu reformers:
 Ram Mohan Roy (1774-1833)
 Respected Christianity
 Monotheist
 Opposed polytheism of Hinduism
 Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886)
 Taught that all truth and religion was essentially one
 Vivekananda (1863-1902)
 Traveled the world as Hindu missionary
 Spread Sri’s teachings
 Impressed American audiences
 Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)
 Religious reformer
 Included elements of Christianity, Islam, etc
 Political reformer
 Trained as lawyer in England
 Civil disobedience to British rule
 Opposed caste system
 Called the Untouchables the “Children of God”
 Caste system in India
 Dominates all aspects of life in traditional Hindu society
 Caste determines diet, vocation, place of residence, choice of mate
 Concepts of purity and pollution:
 The closer your contact with “pollution” (blood, death dirt)—
 --the lower your caste’s position.
 Untouchables: lowest caste
 Others avoid them but couldn’t live without them and their work
 “It must be their karma…”
 Challenges to Hinduism in modern world
 Democracy in India
 Challenges old assumptions
 Islamic Pakistan
 Urbanization; birth control
 Technology’s impact on India
 The Internet (faceless) blurs the caste lines