Hinduism

Question 1

Primary concentration of Hinduism

Answer 1

90% of Hindus live in India

Question 2

Of the 6000 unreached people groups, how many of them live in India?

Answer 2

Approx 3000

Question 3

Where is the word Hindu derived from?

Answer 3

From the Indus valley, (actually pronounced Hindus valley)

Question 4

Definition of Hinduism

Answer 4

Hinduism does not have a single definition as it describes a variety of religious practices that are native to India. There are 4 broad categories of definitions for Hinduism

1. Cultural definition: A Hindu is someone who originates from and lives in India
2. Common Source Authority definition: A Hindu is someone who believes in the Vedas
3. Doctrinal Definition: A Hindu is someone that holds to the essential doctrines of
   HInduism, such as Karma, etc.
4. Social Practices Definition: A Hindu is someone engages in the social practices of
   HInduism, such as the cast system

Question 5

Outline the History of Hinduism

Answer 5

A. Indus Valley civilization (2800-1700 B.C.E)

B. Aryan Presence in India (1500 B.C. -1200 B.C.)

C. Vedic and Upanishadic Period (1200 B. C. - 400 B.C.)

D. Structure of sacred literature

Question 6

Who were the Indus Valley civilization

Answer 6

A group of people known as the Harapins that settled in the Indus Valley next to the Harapin river and the Saraswati (described in the vedas) between approx 2800 - 1700 BCE.

They migrated south into what is modern day India, due to climate change and the rivers drying up. They were forced even further south, to what is today Tamil Nadu, and Kerralla, by the Arians who Entered India from the North in approx 1500 BCE

Question 7

What three significant artifacts were found in the Indus Valley?

Answer 7

1. A Trimurti: A tablet (420) depicting a figure with three faces in a yogic pose performing a root bahnda, the figure is called Pashupati which translates as “Lord of the beasts”, which is an epithet used for Shiva.
2. Swastikas
3. Lingams

Question 8

Who developed the Vedic Religion

Answer 8

The Arians in 1500 BCE.

Question 9

The Vedic and Upanishadic Period

Answer 9

1200 BC - 400 BC

Question 10

What are the earliest writings of hinduism?

Answer 10

Rig Veda approx 1200 BC, 300 years after the arrival of the Aryans from the North

Question 11

Are the Vedas thought of as the “revealed” word?

Answer 11

No, Vedas are not thought to have been revealed to a certain person or persons at a specific historical moment; they are believed to have always existed and were apprehended by sages in deep meditative states at some point prior to c. 1500 BCE but precisely when is unknown.

Question 12

What are the four Vedas?

Answer 12

Rig Veda - Hymns
Sama Veda - Chants
Yajur Veda - Sacred Formulas
Atharva Veda - Secret Formula

The first three are essential an resection of the same material, the Fourth is somewhat different

Collectively known as the Samhitas

Question 13

Four divisions found in each of the Vedas

Answer 13

Aranyakas - rituals, observances
Brahmanas - commentaries on said rituals
Samhitas - benedictions, prayers, mantras
Upanishads – philosophical narratives and dialogues

Question 14

The difference between the Shruti and Smritis

Answer 14

Shruti are “channeled material”, where as Smritis are historical accounts (“That which is remembered”).

The Vedas are therefore regarded as Shruti in Hinduism meaning “what is heard” as contrasted with other texts designated Smritis (“what is remembered”), accounts of great heroes and their struggles in works such as the Mahabharata, Ramayana, and Bhagavad Gita (although some sects of Hinduism regard the Bhagavad Gita as Shruti). The texts which make up the Four Vedas are:

The sruti are said to be eternally existing sounds without origin, no beginning or end. They are eternal, when the world is destroyed and recreated the these sounds will be heard again and again recorded.

The Smriti on the other hand are the popular stories handed down by the sages, and unlike the sruti, will not survive the destruction of the world. These are the stories that everyone knows. These include the law books, like Manu (if a hindu is caught stealing, then he will be reincarnated as …) Paranas, Mahabarata, Mahayana

Question 15

Rig Veda

Answer 15

Rig Veda - Hymns of knowledge
1028 hymns
Earliest and most sacred
consists out of 10 books (Mandala)

The Mandala’s of the Rigveda is not studied for it’s propositional truth, but rather for it’s cosmic truth. the words contained within the hymns are thought to contain the power to control and understand the universe, which is released when the hymn is recited, like a mantra

Question 16

Mandala (Cosmical Homology)

Answer 16

a cosmical homology is a smaller representation of the cosmos that when studied or meditated on is believed to provide insight into the larger Cosmos.

example
- If you study the human body, you can understand the entire universe, because there is a connection between the body and the universe

Question 17

Brahmans

Answer 17

The Priests, who wrote the commentaries on the vedas in order to explain the vedas.

Question 18

Brahmanas

Answer 18

Commentaries written about the vedas by the Brahman priests to explain the vedas. But these commentaries, don’t describe the vedas themselves rather, they outline and describe what a particular teacher teaches about the vedas. It is written in a very esoteric manner, to purposefully obscure or hide the true meaning, and not to reveal it’s innermost teaching, because the priest that wrote them wanted people to come to him in order to learn their meaning,

NB, not all of the vedas of Brahmanas attached to them

Question 19

Aranyakas

Answer 19

Aranyakas are hermits who renounce the world and go live in the forest, while meditating on the vedas and then wrote commentary about what they discovered in them.

Question 20

Upanishads

Answer 20

HIghly philosophical treatise. The word Upanishads mean “to sit down near a guru”.

Vedanta is a school of Hindu philosophy, that means the end of the vedas, so called because they focus on the upanishads

108 classical upanishads and 18 principle upanishads

Question 21

The meaning of the word Veda

Answer 21

Veda means knowledge, more specifically, sacred revelation

Question 22

Mahabarata

Answer 22

Means “The great epic of India”

Includes the Bhagavad Gita (the longest poem in the world”

Question 23

What religion preceded the Hindu religion?

Answer 23

The Vedic Religion

Question 24

Who were the Daysus?

Answer 24

A group of people encountered by the Aryans as the migrated into india. The Daysus are described by the Aryans as being dark skinned with flat noses. The Aryans also used a lot of pejorative terms to describe them.

Question 25

Varna and the Jati (Cast System)

Answer 25

The caste system was first outlined in the Hindu text, the Laws of Manu – written around 250 B.C, but the concept is actually found in the vedas

The word “Varna” appears in the Rig Veda. The word means “Colors”. A concept in the Vedas, which points to people being created from different color strata. White or light skinned people at the top with darker skinned people at the bottom. It forms the basis for the cast system of India today

The four varnas are:

• white: Brahmanas
• Red: Kshatriyas
• Yellow: Vaishyas
• Black: Shudras

It is also tied to the creation myth, The Parusha Man (10th Mandala in the Rig Veda) where some people were created out of God’s head, and others our of his feet. Providing theological justification for the cast system.

“11. When they divided Purusa how many portions did they make?
What do they call his mouth, his arms? What do they call his thighs and feet?
12. The Brahman was his mouth, of both his arms was the Rajanya made.
His thighs became the Vaishya, from his feet the Shudra was produced.[16]” - (Purusha Sukta (RV 10.90.11–12)

The body of the Parusha, get’s dismembered

His mouth became the Brahmanas (Priests, Teachers, Intellectuals)

His arms became the Kshatriyas (Warriors, Police, Administrators)

His eyes became the Vaishyas (Farmers, Merchants, and Business People)

His feet gave birth to the Shudras ( servants, artisans, workers)

Outcasts are called Dalits

The system is designed to keep the lower casts in service to the higher casts, and is difficult to escape because it is not just a social construct but a theological one.

Digha Nikaya provides a discussion between Gotama Buddha and a Hindu Brahmin named Sonadanda who was very learned in the Vedas.[38][39] Gotama Buddha asks, “By how many qualities do Brahmins recognize another Brahmin? How would one declare truthfully and without falling into falsehood, “I am a Brahmin?”[38] Sonadanda initially lists five qualities as, “he is of pure descent on both the mother’s and the father’s side, he is well versed in mantras, he is of fair color handsome and pleasing, he is virtuous learned and wise, and he is the first or second to hold the sacrificial ladle”.

Question 26

How is Karma related to Varna

Answer 26

A person with bad karma, will be reborn in a lower cast, or as an outcast person.

Question 27

The Parusha Man and the Cast System (10th Mandala in the Rig Veda)

Answer 27

The body of the Parusha, get’s dismembered

His mouth became the Brahmanas (Priests, Teachers, Intellectuals)

His arms became the Kshatriyas (Warriors, Police, Administrators)

His eyes became the Vaishyas (Farmers, Merchants, and Business People)

His feet gave birth to the Shudras ( servants, artisans, workers)

Question 28

Mobility in the cast system

Answer 28

There is no mobility between casts, only within a cast. A Shudra will never become a Brahman or any other cast, however a lower level Brahman can attain a higher status within the Brahman cast

Question 29

What is determined by one’s cast

Answer 29

Your caste is assigned at birth and based on the caste of your family. It determines:

where you can live,
what job you can hold,
what water you can drink.
who you can marry

Dalits are considered so impure that it is forbidden to:

share the same water,
use the same street

Question 30

4 Main gods of the vedic pantheon

Answer 30

33 gods

Divided into different categories (Celestial, Air, earth)

Varuna - upholds moral order, god of justice

Indra - national god of the Aryans, warrior god

Agni - god of the ritual fire

Soma - named after intoxicating drink from a plant in north india, used to connect to spiritual deities.

Question 31

33 Gods of the vedic pantheon

Answer 31

The Thirty-three gods or Tridasha (Sanskrit त्रिदश tridaśa “three times ten”) is a pantheon of Hindu deities, of Vedic origin and some developed later.[1][2] The Samhitas, which are the oldest layer of text in Vedas enumerate 33 devas,[note 1] either 11 each for the three worlds, or as 12 Adityas, 11 Rudras, 8 Vasus and 2 Ashvins in the Brahmanas layer of Vedic texts.[6][7] The identity of the 2 Ashvins sometimes varies.[8]

The 33 are:

Eight Vasus (deities of material elements) – Dyauṣ “Sky”, Pṛthivī “Earth”, Vāyu “Wind”, Agni “Fire”, Nakṣatra “Stars”, Varuṇa “Water”, Sūrya “Sun”, Chandra “Moon”

Twelve Ādityas (personified deities) – Vishnu, Aryaman, Indra (Śakra), Tvāṣṭṛ, Varuṇa, Bhaga, Savitṛ, Vivasvat, Aṃśa, Mitra, Pūṣan, Dakṣa. This list sometimes varies in particulars.

Eleven Rudras, consisting of:
Five abstractions – Ānanda “bliss”, Vijñāna “knowledge”, Manas “thought”, Prāṇa “breath” or “life”, Vāc “speech”,

Five names of Śiva – Īśāna “revealing aspect”, Tatpuruṣa “concealing aspect”, Aghora “destroying aspect Bhairava”, Vāmadeva “preserving aspect”, Sadyojāta “creation aspect”
Ātmā “self”

Two Aśvins (or Nāsatyas), twin solar deities.

Question 32

Henotheism

Answer 32

Worship of a particular God, without denial that other gods exist or that they are worthy of worship.

Different from polytheism due to asymmetrical deism

Essentially the different gods are seen as a reflection of an even greater reality Rta or the more modern term Brahman.

In the vedas you find each one of the major deities claiming to be the supreme deity

Question 33

Asymmetrical Deism

Answer 33

People relating to god in an unclear hierarchical structure.

While relating to a particular god like Indra, one would acknowledge it’s supreme lordship and power, but then when relating to another god like siva, one would also acknowledge its supreme power and lordship

Question 34

Rta in the Vedas

Answer 34

The all pervading order of the universe. The glue that holds everything together

In the Universe, there is a particular order. This order is known as ‘rta’. Since its very beginning, the order of a system prevails in the entire universe and cosmos. This cosmic order is known as ‘Mahan Rta’. Corresponding to this ‘Mahaman Rta’, there is an empirical order which is known as ‘Moral Rta’. To maintain the Mahan Rta it is imperative to follow and protect the ‘moral øta’. Out of all living beings on this earth, only human beings have consciousness and therefore there is a possibility that they only can violate the Mahan Rta. Rta the universal, all-pervading principle for maintaining the order in the society, nature and cosmos at large. It is also an ecological principle which sustains the balance and interrelationship of all life. Now the question is, what are the ways to follow this empirical order? Dharma is identified with rta. Rta is the natural order which reveals itself in and through the world and reveals itself as a moral law, governing and regulating the human conduct. Thus, violating this adharma which is sinful and results in destruction or chaos. Rta is also identified with Satya, Yajna etc.

Question 35

Relationship between Rta, Dharma and Brahman

Answer 35

Rta or ‘reet’ (I prefer to write it this way because in Hindi the sound is like this only) is the way the universe functions. It refers to the cosmic laws and principles that govern the universe. It also refers to the correct way of doing anything when used in a normal human context. Brahman is the substratum consciousness upon which and in which, the universe is created or manifested. The humongous complexity of this gigantic universe is governed by some order, and not the product of some chance or random event. Obviously, wherever there is order, there must be an intelligence that is at work - no matter how unfathomable that intelligence may be. That intelligence is referred to as the Ishwar or God in Sanatan Dharma tradition.

So, we have three fundamental ideas (i) Brahman or substratum consciousness, (ii) Ishwar or God, the Supreme Creator and (iii) the Rta or reet according to which creation is governed. Souls rise and fall in terms of their evolution as well as in terms of the pleasantness and unpleasantness of their life conditions according to this reet. If we understand Dharma better, we are able to live a more harmonious life and thereby get rewarded by the universe according to its reet. The reverse is also true. This understanding helps us to try and grow wiser by striving to understand and follow the principles of Dharma.