Hinduism Vocab

Question 1

samsara

Answer 1

wheel of rebirth/reincarnation

Question 2

moksha

Answer 2

liberation/release of individual self from samsara

Question 3

reincarnation

Answer 3

soul/spirit begins a new life in new body after death

Question 4

dharma

Answer 4

ethical duty based on divine order of reality

Question 5

Brahman

Answer 5

eternal essence & source of the universe

Question 6

Vedanta

Answer 6

affirms the oneness of existence - divinity of the soul, harmony of all religions

Question 7

Sankhya

Answer 7

reality has 2 categories: matter & eternal selves

Question 8

Yoga

Answer 8

free ones eternal self from personhood -> samadhi: state of meditative consciousness

Question 9

avatar

Answer 9

incarnation/living embodiment of a deity, sent to earth to accomplish a divine purpose (Krishna & Rama)

Question 10

Bhagavad Gita

Answer 10

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

Question 11

caste system

Answer 11

traditional division of Hindu society, varnas/classes of numerous subgroups

Question 12

brahmin

Answer 12

highest class - priest

Question 13

kshatriya

Answer 13

2nd highest class - warriors & administrators

Question 14

vaishya

Answer 14

3rd class - producers/farmers, merchants, & artisans

Question 15

shudra

Answer 15

4th & last class - servants & laborers

Question 16

Karma

Answer 16

sum of a person’s actions in a previous state of existence

Question 17

Ahmisa

Answer 17

important spiritual doctrine shared by Hinduism

Question 18

Smarta

Answer 18

accepts all major Hindu deities as a forms of the one Brahman

Question 19

Shavisim

Answer 19

worship of Shiva

Question 20

Vaishmava

Answer 20

worship of Vishnu

Question 21

atman

Answer 21

the eternal self

Question 22

liberation

Answer 22

act or process of freeing someone/something from another’s control

Question 23

marga

Answer 23

path toward, or way of reaching, salvation

Question 24

primordial

Answer 24

existing in or persisting from the beginning

Question 25

milieu

Answer 25

the physical or social setting in which something occurs of develops

Question 26

vernacular

Answer 26

using language or dialect native to a region or country rather than a literary cultured, or foreign language

Question 27

incarnation

Answer 27

one of a series of lives that a person is believed to have had in the past on some religions

Question 28

vedic religion

Answer 28

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