Hinduism Textbook Notes PDF

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HINDU TRADITIONS (CHAPTER 2) PAGE 28 

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Founders & Leaders o Important figures include Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Vallabha, Ramananda, Chaitanya, Swami Narayanan, Ramakrishna, and Vivekananda Deities o Hindu philosophy recognizes a supreme being (the ineffable Brahman) who is not limited by gender & number & who may take countless forms o Some sectarian tradition identify the supreme deity as Vishnu, some as Shiva, & some as a form of the Goddess Authoritative Texts o The Vedas are technically considered the most authoritative texts, though the epics (the Ramayana & the Mahabharata, including the Bhagavad Gita), the Puranas, & the serval works in regional languages have also been very important Noteworthy Teachings o In general, most Hindus recognize a supreme being, variously conceived o Most think of the human soul as immortal & believe that when it reaches liberation it will be freed from the shackles of karma & samsara (rebirth)

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The earliest compositions in any Hindu tradition are the Vedas: 4 collections of hymns & texts that are said to have been “revealed” to rishis (visionaries or seers) When Hindus go on a pilgrimage or visit a temple, they seek an experience known as a darshana: to see and be seen by a particular deity or guru Although sacred texts have been important, for most Hindus the primary source of knowledge about their traditions has been performance: rituals, recitations, music, dance, & theatre While some texts & some deities are widely accepted, there is no single text, deity, or teacher that all Hindus would consider supremely authoritative

“Hinduism”  Knowledge of the Vedas is not necessarily required in order to qualify as Hindu  “Hindu” is a kind of default category  An alternative term designating a comprehensive tradition is sanatana dharma (“eternal faith”)  India’s legal system uses “Hindu” to refer to anyone who does not profess one of the specified religions, all of which originated outside India PAGE 31

Origins  The view in the early twentieth century was that it had grown from a fusion of the indigenous religions of the Indus Valley with the faith of the Aryans, an Indo-European people usually thought to have migrated there  The Harappa Culture o Archaeological evidence suggested a certain uniformity in the culture across the entire northwestern part of the subcontinent (Mohenjo Daro & Harappa) o Similar objects found in towns hundreds of kilometres apart suggest continuous travel and communication between them PAGE 32 o Some features of the Hindu religion as practised today go back to Mohenjo Daro & Harappa PAGE 33 

The Vedas o The earliest surviving Indo-European compositions are the Vedas

PAGE 34 o The Status of the Vedas  Almost all educated Hindus would describe the Vedas as their most sacred texts; yet most would be hard pressed to identify their contents  The Vedas are particularly significant to the brahmins, the class that has historically considered itself the “highest” in Hindu society  Nyaya (“logic”) school of philosophy --> God was the author of the Vedas, god is perfect = Vedas is perfect  Mimamsa & Vedanta schools --> Vedas are eternal & of non-human origin PAGE 35  The Mahabharata has been accorded the title of “Veda” o The Vedic Hymns  Indra = a warrior god who battles other cosmic powers  Agni = the god of fire who was believed to serve as a messenger, carrying to the deities the offerings that humans placed in the sacrificial fire  Soma = the god identified with the moon AND ALSO a plant-based elixir, used for ritual purposes  Sarasvati = speech incarnate, the power of the word, & the mother of the Vedas  The early hymns typically offer praise to the gods; thus the river Indus is praised for giving cattle, children, horses, & food

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One of the dominant features of Vedic religious life was the ritual sacrifice (yajna), typically performed using fire Many rituals also involved the making, offering, & drinking of the soma elixir

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“Hymn to the Supreme Person” --> describes how the universe itself was created through the cosmic sacrifice of the primeval man (Purusha)  Is important even today in both domestic & temple rituals

PAGE 37 o The Upanishads  Most take the form of conversations—between a teacher & a student, between a husband & wife, or between fellow philosophers  It is in the Upanishads that we find the earliest discussions of several concepts central to the later Hindu tradition…  Karma & Samsara  To achieve liberation (moksha) from this cycle, according to the Upanishads, requires a transforming experiential wisdom, those who attain that wisdom become immortal  Theme of the Upanishads = the quest for a unifying truth  Significantly, in later centuries the “higher wisdom” is not connected with any Vedic or book learning or conceptual knowledge, it is only through the experience of enlightenment that one is freed from the birth-and-death cycle PAGE 38 

Atman & Brahman  At the heart of this wisdom is experiential knowledge of the relationship between the human soul (Atman) and the Supreme Being (Brahman)  In one famous conversation in the Chandogya Upanishad, a father asks his son to dissolve salt in water & says that Brahman & Atman are united in a similar manner

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The Upanishads represent the beginnings of Hindu philosophical thought The quest for a unifying knowledge or higher wisdom is a recurring theme in various systems of Hindu philosophical reasoning, & continues to preoccupy thinkers today Women in the Vedas  Ghosa, Apala, & Lopamudra are all poets named in the early part of the Vedas

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PAGE 41 Classical Hinduism  The literature that was composed after the Vedas, was recognized to be of human origin & was loosely called smrt (“that which is remembered”)  There are 3 types of smrti: 1. Epics (itihasas) 2. Ancient stories (Puranas) 3. Codes of law & ethics (dharmashastras)  For many Hindus the phrase “sacred books” refers specifically to 2 epics, the Ramayana (“Story of Rama”) & the Mahabharata (“Great [Epic of] India” or “Great [Sons of] Bharata”) o The best-known works in the Hindu tradition, these stories are told to children & invariably constitute their first & most lasting encounter with Hindu scripture  The Ramayana o Is performed as a drama, often in dance, in places of Hindu (& Buddhist) o Prince Rama’s father, Dasaratha, has decided to abdicate in favour of his son, but decides to exile Rama o Rama leaves for the forest with his wife Sita o Bharata, the brother who has now been named king, returns to discover that Rama has gone into exile & his father has died of grief o He finds Rama & begs him to return, but Rama refuses because he feels he must respect his father’s decision to banish him o While in the forest, Sita is captured by Ravana, the demon king of Lanka o Rama, full of sorrow at being separated from his wife, sets out to search for her with the aid of his brother & a group of monkeys led by Hanuman, a monkey with divine ancestry o It is Hanuman who finds Sita and reports her whereabouts to Rama, who, with the monkeys’ help, goes to war with Ravana o After a long battle, Rama kills Ravana & is reunited with Sita o They eventually return to the capital & are crowned o Rama is considered such a just king that Ram rajya (“kingdom or rule of Rama”) is the Hindu political ideal o Rama is also the ideal son & husband, & Sita as well has been idealized both for her own qualities & for her relationship with her husband o Rama is a model of human virtue, & in later centuries he came to be seen as an incarnation of Vishnu o Temples dedicated to Rama & Sita are found in many parts of the world PAGE 42 

The Mahabharata & The Bhagavad Gita

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o The longest poem in the world o Many people own copies of an extract from it called the Bhagavad Gita o The Mahabharata is the story of the great struggle among the descendants of a king named Bharata o A war between 2 families (the Pandavas & the Kauravas) o Though they are cousins, the Kauravas try to cheat the Pandavas out of their share of the kingdom & will not accept peace o A battle ensues in which all the major kingdoms are forced to take sides o Krishna (an incarnation of the god Vishnu) is on the side of the Pandavas but refuses to take up arms  Instead, he agrees to serve as charioteer for the warrior Arjuna (who later symbolizes the human soul in quest of liberation) o Arjuna becomes distressed at the thought of fighting his relatives  Putting down his bow, he asks Krishna whether it is correct to fight a war in which many lives will be lost, especially when the opposing forces are one’s own kin  Krishna replies that it is correct to fight for what is right; peaceful means must be tried, but if they fail one must fight for righteousness (“dharma”)  The conversation between Arjuna & Krishna, which unfolds across 18 chapters, constitutes the Bhagavad Gita o The Gita (one of the holiest books in the Hindu tradition) teaches loving devotion to Krishna & the importance of selfless action as Krishna instructs Arjuna on the nature of God & the human soul, & how to reach liberation  In verses that are still recited at Hindu funerals, Krishna describes the soul as existing beyond the reach of the mind & the senses, unaffected by physical nature o Thus Arjuna is told not to grieve at what is about to take place; however, he is also warned that if he does not fight for righteousness, he will be guilty of moral cowardice and will have to face the consequences of quitting at a time when it was his duty (dharma) to wage a just war & protect the people o Krishna also makes several statements about himself in the Gita that mark an important shift in Hindu theology  The Upanishads presented the Supreme Being, Brahman, as beyond human conceptualization, but in the Gita, Krishna speaks of himself as both a personal god, one so filled with love for human beings that he will incarnate himself when necessary in order to protect them, & the ultimate deity, the origin, dissolution, & maintenance of the universe o When Arjuna is unsure about Krishna’s claim to be God incarnate, Krishna reveals his cosmic form  Arjuna quakes at this vision & is filled with love & awe  Trembling, he seeks forgiveness of Krishna & implores him to resume his normal form The Three Ways to Liberation

o In the course of the Gita, Krishna describes 3 ways to liberation from samsara:  Each way (marga) is also a discipline (yoga)  Some Hindus would argue that they are 3 aspects of the same way 1. The way of action – karma yoga  Is the path of unselfish duty performed neither in fear of punishment nor in hope of reward PAGE 43  Even the “good” karma acquired by performing good deeds is ultimately bad, because to enjoy the good karma we must be reborn PAGE 44

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 A thirteenth-century Hindu philosopher, Pillai Lokacharya, described good karma as “golden handcuffs”  Therefore, Krishna urges Arjuna to act without attachment to the consequences  Evil will not touch the person who acts according to his dharma  All actions are to be offered to Krishna 2. The way of knowledge – jnana yoga  Through scriptural knowledge, we may achieve a transforming wisdom that also destroys our past karma  True knowledge is an insight into the real nature of the universe, divine power, and the human soul  when we hear scripture, ask questions, clarify doubts, & eventually meditate on this knowledge, we achieve liberation 3. The way of devotion – bhakti yoga  Emphasized most throughout the Gita  If there is a general amnesty offered to those who sin, it is through devotion  Ultimately, Krishna promises Arjuna that he will forgive all our sins if we surrender & devote ourselves to him (Gita 18: 66) The Deities of Classical Hinduism o It would be impossible to identify the precise time when the transition occurred, but from the Gupta era onward 3 deities become increasingly prominent: Vishnu, Shiva, and The Goddess (Shiva’s consort – variously known as Parvati, Durga, Devi)  Devotees who give primacy to Vishnu – Vaishnavas; Shiva – Shaivas; & the Goddess – Shaktas

PAGE 45 o The Puranas retold the “old tales” of the Hindu tradition, shifting the emphasis away from the major Vedic gods and goddesses in favour of other deities

o Vishnu (“the all-pervasive one”) --> is portrayed as coming to Earth in various forms (incarnations), animal & human, to rid the world of evil & establish dharma or righteousness PAGE 47 o Shiva --> emerged as a great god in the post-Upanishadic era  Unlike Vishnu, he does not reveal himself with incarnations, instead, Shiva expresses the manifold aspects of his power by appearing simultaneously in paradoxical roles: as creator & destroyer, exuberant dance & austere yogi o The Goddess  Appears in multiple forms, although the lines between them are not always clearly defined  The epics & the early Puranas honour many consort goddesses, but no supreme female deity  It is only in the later Puranas that we begin to see explicit references to worship of a goddess not just as an appendage to a male deity but as the ultimate power, the creator of the universe, & the redeemer of human beings  She was sometimes considered to be the shakti or power of Shiva, but frequently her independence from the male deity was emphasized  The most familiar manifestation of the Goddess is Parvati, the wife of Shiva  Durga is her warrior aspect  As Kali, the Goddess is fierce & wild, a dark, dishevelled figure who wears a garland of skulls; yet even in this manifestation, her devotees call her “mother” o Sarasvati  In the Puranas the Vedic goddess Sarasvati becomes the goddess of learning  Sarasvati seems to enjoy a certain autonomy: portraits usually depict her alone, without any male god PAGE 48 o Other Deities  Ganesha – the elephant-headed son of Shiva & Parvati, he is the remover of obstacles & hindrances, & no new project or venture begins without a propitiatory offering for him, or at least a prayer  Murugan – another son of Shiva, is popular among Tamil-speaking people  Hanuman – the monkey god is a model devotee of Rama & Sita, & is everyone’s protector PAGE 49 Sri or Lakshmi – the mother of all creation, who bestows wisdom & salvation & is grace incarnate The Hindu “Trinity” 

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o The notion of the trimurt (“three forms”) is a part of the Hindu tradition o In the symbolism of trimurti, the gods Brahma, Vishnu, & Shiva either merge/unite into 1 form with 3 faces, or are represented as equal o This has sometimes been interpreted as implying a polytheistic belief in three gods: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, & Shiva the destroyer o It is more misleading than informative: 1. It suggests that Hindus give equal importance to all 3 gods  In practice, however, most sectarian Hindu worshippers focus their devotions on only one supreme deity  Brahma is not worshipped as a supreme deity  Though portrayed in mythology as the creator god, he himself is only the agent of the supreme deity who created him 2. The “polytheistic” interpretation of trimurti suggests that creation, preservation, & destruction are functions that can be performed separately  But in fact, followers of Vishnu or Shiva commonly understand creation, preservation, & destruction to be 3 parts of an integrated process for which their own particular supreme god is responsible  In this context, destruction is not unplanned, nor is it final: it is simply one phase in the ongoing evolution and devolution of the universe. All of creation temporarily enters or becomes one with Vishnu or Shiva until a new cycle of creation begins again. The cycle of creation will continue as long as there are souls caught up in the wheel of life and death. It is in this sense that devotees of Shiva, Vishnu, or the Goddess see their own chosen deity as the creator, the maintainer, and the destroyer of the universe. Ages of Time o The Puranas refer to those cosmic cycles of creation & destruction as the days & nights of Brahma o Each day of Brahma contains approximately 4,320 million earthly years, and the nights of Brahma are equally long. A year of Brahma is made up of 360 such days, and Brahma lives for 100 years. Each cycle therefore amounts to 311,040,000 million earthly years, at the end of which the entire cosmos is drawn into the body of Vishnu or Shiva (depending on which Purana one is reading), where it remains until another Brahma is evolved

PAGE 50 o The Puranas deal with astronomical units of time; the age of the earth, let alone the human being, is infinitesimally small in relation to the eons of time the universe goes through o Although, according to many Hindu systems of thought, it is entirely possible for human beings to end their own cycle of birth and death through transforming wisdom and/or devotion, the cycles of creation & destruction of the universe are independent of the human being’s attaining moksha or liberation.

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o Temples represent the spatial and temporal cosmos, thus their architecture sometimes reflects the Puranic cycles of time Caste & the Laws of Manu o “Caste” is used as a shorthand term to refer to the thousands of social & occupational divisions that have developed from the simple fourfold structure laid out in the “Hymn to the Supreme Person”: priests, rulers, merchants, & servants o There are said to be more than one thousand jats (“birth groups”) in India, and people routinely identify themselves by their jati o Ritual practices, dietary rules, & sometimes dialects differ between castes o Western scholars sometimes translate varna as “class” & jati as “caste” o Treatises written regarding the nature of dharma – called the dharmashastras (these are the foundation of later Hindu laws) o Manava Dharmashastra (Laws of Manu) – the caste system is firmly in place, & women have slipped to an inferior position from the relatively high status they enjoyed in the period of the Vedas

PAGE 51 o In many parts of India, the rules it laid down were not followed strictly o Upanayana = the rite marking a boy’s initiation into studenthood – the 1st of 4 stages in life  The initiatory rite by which the males of the upper social groups were spiritually reborn as sons of their religious teachers & therefore called “twice born” o The dharmashastras set out the roles & duties of the 4 principal castes that make up Hindu society: 1. brahmins (priests) = the priestly class, the only group in Hindu society supposedly authorized to teach the Vedas 2. kshatriyas (rulers, warriors) = they are permitted only to study the Vedas, not to teach them; their dharma is to protect the people & the country  Later Hindu rituals explicitly emphasized kshatriya families’ divine connections 3. vaishyas (merchants) = their dharma is a responsibility for most commercial transactions, as well as agricultural work, including the raising of cattle  The power of wealth and economic decisions lay with the vaishyas, who were likewise permitted only to study the Vedas 4. shudras (servants) = their dharma is to serve the other classes; they would not be permitted to accumulate wealth even if they had the opportunity to do so  As the Laws of Manu put it, “The seniority of brahmins comes from sacred knowledge, that of kshatriyas from valour, vaishyas from wealth, and shudras, only from old age.”  The Laws of Manu, as well as the Bhagavad Gita, tell us that it is better to do one’s own dharma imperfectly than to do another person’s well

o Although the dharmashastras emphasize the importance of marrying within one’s own class, they also recognize that mixed marriages do take place, & so they go on to list the kind of sub-castes that emerge from various permutations  A marriage is generally acceptable if the male partner is of a higher caste, but if the woman is higher, their offspring are considered to be of a lower caste than either parent PAGE 52

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