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A Concise Overview of Hinduism RLST 410—World Religions Jordan Karrigan 2 Hinduism is the oldest of the prominent religions on our Earth that originated in Eastern Asia, dating before the 10th cent. BC. Its primary ties have been located in modern day India, in that time, using Sanskrit as their primary language. While it’s one of the most prevalent Eastern Religion, the individuals who founded Hindu ideology are unknown. Their primary means of communication was through orality, however their philosophy was recorded into a Sanskrit version called the Vedas. The oldest of these Vedas was known as the Rig Vedas which is comprised of Hindu prayer, ritual, hymns, all passed down by the Brahmin. Thereafter, another text was created, known as the Upanishads. This was virtually a philosophical commentary on Hindu ideas with Hindu philosophers attempting to truly comprehend Hindu ideology. Within the Upanishads, however, these thoughts must show correspondence with the Rig Vedas. Moreover, another important text in Hindu scripture is the Bhagavad-Gita, a Hindu epic poem which is a dialogue between Krishna, the reincarnate of the god Vishnu, and a Hindu prince before the start of the war which seemingly rehashes and states Hindu ideas of achieving ultimate enlightenment with the world. While these texts are in place to ground and base the Hindu religion, the religion is an abstract relationship between the physical and spiritual individual and the spiritual and physical world around them. The Hindu religion is grounded that the natural world is not self-existent, but grounded in a much higher spiritual plane. There is a monistic relationship between the physical plane and the spiritual plane in the world—the world is in an infinite plane, i.e. a plane that is, always has been, and always will be. Monistic ideology is identified as a spiritualistic viewpoint in which the world is unified, both physically and metaphysically—both are conjoined with one another in a constant flux of coexistence. This contrasts dualism in which there are two specific planes 3 in which the physical and metaphysical realms exist. So, in terms of Hinduism, while there is the physical world we “see,” there is also the non-seeable metaphysical world that overlaps with the physical world known as Brahma. Brahma is the metaphysical world on which everything has been, is, and will be. The metaphysical individual in all of this is known as the Atman. The physical body houses the Atman, however, when this physical self is shed, the Atman is joined with Brahma—Atman is Brahma, and Brahma is everything. As the Atman is the spiritualized individual in this monistic realm known as Brahma, Brahman is a Hindu deity which was produced from Brahma. Brahman is the ultimate—while Brahma is the creator of Brahman, Brahman is the spirit—the Godhead— that created the universe we live in. He is part of a Trinity of deities, with the other two being Vishnu, the Preserver, and Shiva, the Destroyer. Vishnu has the duty of conserving the physical and metaphysical while Shiva has the duty of destroying the finite to make way for the infinite. Present is the Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer, making for seemingly polytheistic religious practices, however, the conceptualization of Brahma is that all things are one—this gives a monotheistic impression. It’s up to the individual practitioner of Hinduism in what deity to worship and how to achieve enlightenment, but doing so is through a process. There is the overall idea of reincarnation present in Hinduism, known within the religion as Samsara. The ultimate goal of the Hindu is to be liberated of Samsara and be enlightened through Moksha—Nirvana. Through Nirvana, the Atman becomes one with Brahma and achieves all things “desired”—infinite being, awareness, and bliss, all through the conjoining of Atman and Brahma. Achieving this is through realizing two paths in life—the Path of Desire and 4 the Path of Renunciation. It begins with the disillusioned human notion that achieving pleasure and success for the sake of providing you happiness is possible, however, this individualistic notion attached to pleasure and success contrasts the Brahma notion of spiritual “oneness.” Achieving Nirvana is a long, ascetic—extreme self-discipline—process through renouncing transient desires. This is the Path of Renunciation—to renounce complete excess in the individual’s life in order for the person’s Atman to break free of Samsara and attain Moksha. A means for Hindus to achieve Nirvana is through ascetic practices mentioned in the Bhagavad-Gita known as Yoga. There are four types of Yogi—Jnana, Bhakti, Karma, and Raja. Jnana is through the acquisition of knowledge—the path to the metaphysical is through rationality and spirituality. Bhakti is through the adornment and love of God—not a personal relationship with God, but to adore every aspect present in God. Karma yoga is a yoga of action and work—the individual finds God through everyday working affairs. The last, Raja Yoga, is finding god through using intellectuality and exploration of the individual’s mind—it is with experimentation of the mind to find beyond that is within. Through the individual’s chosen Yogi, the person tries to gain attunement with Brahma, but the person must have lived their life with virtue in order to do so. It is up to the force of Karma to decide whether or not the individual is to attain Moksha or be perpetuated into the process of Samsara once again. Karma is the universal force that essentially “judges” if the person is able to achieve Nirvana or if they are to be reincarnated back into the world once again. This force “decides” if they will attain Moksha through the person’s actions in their physical life in the physical world. It is through knowledge the person 5 attains salvation while it is through ignorance the person is once again subjected to reincarnation—the individual may have done something they thought was in tides of good karma, but the action chosen may have garnered bad karma, hence the ignorance. It is through the inward exploration of the Self that satisfies the needs of karma that you seek to relieve yourself of this perpetuated cycle of reincarnation, and the result of your previous life’s karma produces your reincarnated life’s Dharma, or rather the “duty” that your physical life is to fulfill. The Dharma present is a wide term that encompasses the individual’s duty that is needed, e.g. religious duty, ethical duty, or even vocational duty. This Dharma is present in the instilled Caste system that is present in the Hindu religion. Your placement in the Caste is indicative of your previous life in terms of how much karmic value you seemed to have acquired through your previous life. The top of the caste system is the Brahmin—the Hindu priest that has lived a previous life full of virtue and are the closest to understanding and achieving Nirvana. The next is the “kshatriyas”, figureheads that are skillful in arranging society in a way to make the most out of the surrounding populations. Next in line are the “vaishyas,” people who have artisan or merchant traits to offer. The last in the Caste are the “shudras,” or laborers—the only thing they have to offer is the skill of labor to everyone above. Outside of the Caste, however, are the “Untouchables”—individuals who have lived an atrocious past life and are destined in this life to be confined to a poor, unkempt population that aren’t even considered a part of the society around them. Overall, the karmic value acquired in your past life is reflective of your present day life which defines what Dharma, or duty, that your are required to fulfill. 6 While Hinduism is one of the most prominent religions known in the world, it also is coexisting in an amalgamation of different religions present in India. Hinduism is incredibly diverse and has even had a subtype that has merged with Islamic groups, who initially opposed and oppressed Hindus once founded. This group is known as the Sikhs—a group of Islamic and Hindu cultures, living side by side, interweaving ideologies, for example, the monotheism present in Islam and the Guru teachings of Hinduism. Though the ultimate goal for a Hindu is achieving Nirvana of the Atman into Brahma, it is up to the individual in this life, no matter their circumstance, in how to do that. As evident in the Sikhs, there are is an incredible amount of ways, be it through a polytheistic or monotheistic means, of achieving Nirvana. Ultimately, the person must achieve karma to do so by learning how to through their Self and ridding themselves of the ignorance of disillusioned desires.