Hindu Dharma

Question 1

what does karma marga mean?

Answer 1

means the way of action

Question 2

what is samsara?

Answer 2

• cyclical existence of the jiva/atman which is eternal

- reborn after death until liberation

Question 3

why must samsara be escaped?

Answer 3

because the atman is in a state of suffering

Question 4

what are the four aims in life?

Answer 4

• arta
• kama
• dharma
• moksha

Question 5

what is arta?

Answer 5

arta is the honest earning of money, to support one’s family and Brahmin priests, to be able to give back to the community

Question 6

what is kama?

Answer 6

kama is the enjoyment of pleasure and beauty of life

Question 7

what is dharma?

Answer 7

dharma is knowing you religious and social duty and performing it correctly

Question 8

what is moksha?

Answer 8

mosha is the individual escape from the suffering of samsara

Question 9

what is karma?

Answer 9

• karma can be explained as actions and the fruits of action

- anything you do will be ‘paid back’

Question 10

how are karma and samsara related?

Answer 10

• there is more karma than can be paid back in a lifetime

- so karma binds the atman to the wheel of samsara

Question 11

western translation of dharma:

Answer 11

• no western equivalent

- perhaps ‘duty’

Question 12

what vedic concept is dharma derived from?

Answer 12

rta (right order)

Question 13

what does varnasrama dharma determine?

Answer 13

determines an individual’s dharma according to their stage in life and place in society

Question 14

what does sanatana dharma mean?

Answer 14

eternal law

Question 15

what does ahimsa mean?

Answer 15

non-violence

Question 16

what does satya mean?

Answer 16

pursuit of truth

Question 17

what is the difference between humans and everything else in the universe to do with dharma?

Answer 17

• everything in the universe follows dharma without choice

- whereas humans have a choice to do the right thing and to follow their dharma or not

Question 18

what do gods have to do with dharma?

Answer 18

• dharma is not decided by gods, they don’t sit and judge, it is an eternal law like gravity
• gods are in in fact affected by dharma

Question 19

how is dharma similar to gravity?

Answer 19

• both an eternal law
• we can say we don’t believe in gravity but we still can’t levitate, similarly dharma will apply to everyone even if they don’t believe in it

Question 20

meaning of varna:

Answer 20

• position in society

- to do with spiritual purity

Question 21

meaning of ashrama:

Answer 21

stage in life

Question 22

meaning of jati:

Answer 22

means continuing one’s father’s employment

Question 23

if sanatana dharma with the social hierarchies is Hinduism as we in west know it, is it a religion or a way of life?

Answer 23

a way of life

Question 24

what are the four varnas?

Answer 24

Brahmins - priests
Kshatriyas - warriors and rulers
Vaishyas - merchants
Sudras - labourers

Question 25

what do some people think makes you a Hindu, which also means you can’t convert?

Answer 25

• if you are born into a varna you are a Hindu

- only way to change is to die and be reborn something else

Question 26

what is the varna dharma of each of the varnas?

Answer 26

Brahmins - to perform rituals
Kshatriyas - fighting righteous wars
Vaishyas - to accumulate wealth to support society
Sudras - to do physical and manual work

Question 27

what are the people called outside these casts?

Answer 27

• outcastes or untouchables

- dalits meaning the oppressed

Question 28

how is the varna system traditionally meant to work with karma?

Answer 28

pay of negative karma through suffering and hard work in the lower varnas, to gain enough good karma to move up through rebirths until eventually achieving moksha

Question 29

what hymn in what text created the varnas?

Answer 29

the Purusha Sukta in the Rig Veda

Question 30

how did the cosmic man create the varnas? (body parts)

Answer 30

• mouth - brahmins
• arms - kshatriyas
• thighs - vaishyas
• feet - sudras

Question 31

why do people believe in the varna system?

Answer 31

• because it is divinely ordained
• the vedas are shruti which means they were revealed by God
• so the gods created society in this manner

Question 32

how is the varna system linked to spiritual purity?

Answer 32

• the higher up you are the more spiritually pure you are

- it is also fundamentally spiritual because it came from the gods

Question 33

what is special about the upper three varnas?

Answer 33

they are known as twice born or dvijas because they go through the sacred thread ceremony

Question 34

what does your varna determine?

Answer 34

• traditionally affected everything
• who you can marry
• education
• where you lived
• your friends
• where you worshipped
• your job

Question 35

what kind of marriage do most hindus practise

Answer 35

arranged marriage

Question 36

what is the most important thing in deciding a partner?

Answer 36

their social class - has to be the same

Question 37

the varnas and food:

Answer 37

• because it is based on purity

- a person can only eat food made by a person as pure as or more pure than themselves

Question 38

problems for dalits:

Answer 38

• sometimes forbidden to draw water from the same well as the rest of the village
• can’t eat wherever they want
• can’t always go to the village shrine
• difficult to find
• suffer from poverty, lack of education
• social rejection
• spiritual stigma

Question 39

what did Gandhi believe about the varnashrama system?

Answer 39

• believed in the varnashrama system

- didn’t believe in untouchability

Question 40

social justice in the varna system:

Answer 40

• the concept of social justice is a western concept
• the west believe in social equality and so see the varna system as unfair
• however Hindus would argue that a person is in a certain varna according to their karma
• social justice is decided by universal law, not human judgement

Question 41

meaning of stridharma:

Answer 41

women’s duty

Question 42

meaning of svadharma:

Answer 42

one’s own duty

Question 43

what is punya?

Answer 43

good karma

Question 44

what is pap?

Answer 44

bad karma

Question 45

marriage dharma role models in the Ramayana:

Answer 45

Rama and Sita

Question 46

smriti texts:

Answer 46

• the epics the Mahabharata and the Ramayana
• the 6 vedangas - to do with phonology, teach how to perform things in the vedas
• the puranas - myths, astronomy

Question 47

shruti texts:

Answer 47

• the vedas

- the upanishads