Hindu Perspectives Final Flashcards
Hinduism
- Word used by outsiders to refer to religions they found in that area
- Sindhu – ancient Indian Snaskkrit name
- Indos – ancient Greek name
- Hindu – ancient Persian name
Major traditions of Hinduism based on the Vedas
- Centred on the worship of Vishnu/Krishna
- Centred on the worship of Shiva
- Centred on the worship of Devi (the Mother-Goddess)
- The tradition of advaita (non-dualism)
- Plus the numerous village and tribal traditions of what might be called “Folk Hinduism”
The Vedas
• sacred scriptures of the Hindus • composed between 1500 BCE and 600 BCE • the earliest texts consist of verses of praise to the various gods of the ancient Aryan peoples o Surya – sun god o Candra – the moon god o Agni – god of fire o Indra – god of storms o Yama – the lord of death
The stratification of Vedic Aryan Society
• The priestly (Brahmin) class who memorized the Veda, and conducted the fie ritual, which was the main religious ritual • The warrior/ruler class whose job it was to protect the people • The merchant class who constituted the commercial sector of society • The servant class, landless labourers who served others and worked the land o Those, like the indigenous tribal mountain people, who did not fit into society were outside of the social (caste) system and were considered “outcaste”
Dharma
o Dharma = law of duty
o Two aspects:
o Religious, social, and family duty (ethics)
o Eternal cosmic Law or Truth
Karma
o Karma = action
o According to a person’s good or bad actions (karma) the soul (atman) takes rebirth in good or bad conditions. The eternal cycle of rebirth and re-death is called samsara
o In the Vedic period, Karma referred to the ritual action of the fire sacrifice (1500-800BCE)
o In the Upanishads period, karma referred to all intentional action and results of actions (800-600BCE)
Moksha
- the liberation from samsara by realizing the true nature of atman (soul)
- Soul is understood to be undying, unborn and eternal – transforms from life to life taking on that form in this life and the other form in another life but as long as the person does not realize the true nature of the soul, then so long that person is born and dies and re born and redies in the cycle of samsara – Moksha means freedom from rebirth and redeath
Three paths (marga) to liberation (moksha) from samsara
- Karma Marga – the path of action associated with the ancient sacrificial religion of the Vedas
- Jnana marga – the path of knowledge related to the later Vedic tradition of the Upanishads
- Bhakti Marga – the path of devotion related to worship and devotion to a particular deity
Karma Marga - 4 realms of the Vedic universe
i. the celestial realm inhabited by sky gods
ii. the atmospheric realm inhabited by gods of the atmosphere like the win and storms
iii. the earth inhabited by humans and gods of the earth eg. River gods, mountain gods
iv. underworld or world of the fathers inhabited by the dead ancestors
b. main religious ritual was the fire sacrifice so if you did these 4 things, you would have success into the World of the Fathers
Karma Marga - Symbol of Fire
major symbol of transformation – positive connotations of purification and relatedness of things where as fire generally contains negative connotations in monotheistic religions
Karma Marga - The power of the ritual action in the Vedic Period
→ if sacrifice was carried out properly, then it was thought to have great power. Even the gods could not prevent the results of a properly conducted sacrifice.
o A good afterlife was not dependent on the gods, but on whether or not the ritual action (karma) of the sacrifice had been properly performed
Karma Marga - Vedic Death Rituals
o One goes to the World of the Fathers
o Sons performed death rituals intended to create a new body for the deceased and nourish the soul
o Death rituals end in the sapindikarana ritual – transformation of person’s spirit into an ancestor (if annual ritual offerings on the death anniversary were neglected, it was said that ancestors would go hungry in the afterlife)
o Emphasize household life – they needed to marry and secure sons to have a good afterlife – marriage and procreation at this time, would not be considered an option
Jnana marga
o Karma becomes associated with the intention leading to the action
• Karma = intentional actions (positive or negative) and the capacity of the action to bring about results independent of any divine force
• Karma = a natural law operating in the universe
• According to one’s karma (intentional actions) one would be reborn in good or bad conditions
• Note the difference between this and the early Vedic world-view where karma mean ritual action and the dead went to the world of the fathers
the Upanishads -Samsara
unending cycle of rebirth and redeath
o Samsara keeps on going due to self-oriented intentional action (karma)
o Moksha
– liberation from samsara and rebirth
