Hinduism Vocab Flashcards
samsara
wheel of rebirth/reincarnation
moksha
liberation/release of individual self from samsara
reincarnation
soul/spirit begins a new life in new body after death
dharma
ethical duty based on divine order of reality
Brahman
eternal essence & source of the universe
Vedanta
affirms the oneness of existence - divinity of the soul, harmony of all religions
Sankhya
reality has 2 categories: matter & eternal selves
Yoga
free ones eternal self from personhood -> samadhi: state of meditative consciousness
avatar
incarnation/living embodiment of a deity, sent to earth to accomplish a divine purpose (Krishna & Rama)
Bhagavad Gita
700-verse Hindu scripture, part of the epic Mahabharata; recognizes the fruitfulness of the path of works & the path of knowledge but tends to favor the path of devotion
caste system
traditional division of Hindu society, varnas/classes of numerous subgroups
brahmin
highest class - priest
kshatriya
2nd highest class - warriors & administrators
vaishya
3rd class - producers/farmers, merchants, & artisans
shudra
4th & last class - servants & laborers
Karma
sum of a person’s actions in a previous state of existence
Ahmisa
important spiritual doctrine shared by Hinduism
Smarta
accepts all major Hindu deities as a forms of the one Brahman
Shavisim
worship of Shiva
Vaishmava
worship of Vishnu
atman
the eternal self
liberation
act or process of freeing someone/something from another’s control
marga
path toward, or way of reaching, salvation
primordial
existing in or persisting from the beginning
milieu
the physical or social setting in which something occurs of develops
vernacular
using language or dialect native to a region or country rather than a literary cultured, or foreign language
incarnation
one of a series of lives that a person is believed to have had in the past on some religions
vedic religion
refers not only to the ancient religious texts, Vedas, but also a fluid corpus of sacred works in multiple languages and an orthopax way of life
