Lecture 3: Upaniṣads & Hindu Cosmology Flashcards
What were the Upanisads said to derive from?
- The Upaniṣads (800-400 BCE)
- Upaniṣad said to derive from classic image of student sitting (ṣad) down (ni) beside (upa) a guru (teacher).
How many upanisads are there and who were their authors?
108 Upaniṣads – 13 principle
No concrete information about their authors.
What are the Upanisads also known as?
Referred to as Vedānta - forms the end (anta) of the Vedas.
- Chronological end
- Culmination of Vedas
What are the Upanisads?
- Composed during a time of great social, economic and religious change.
- Speculative philosophical texts.
- Notice for the first time emergence of central religious concepts of Hinduism (karma, samsara)
What was the format of the Upanisads?
Format of many Upaniṣads – conversations between a teacher (guru) and disciple (śiṣya)
What were the primary concerns of Vedic religion? How was this upheld?
- Worldly goals for the practitioners as well as the order of whole cosmos
- Proper performance of rituals and sacrifices.
- Some teachers quested after: The inner truth of all reality
- Upaniṣads are result of this line of inquiry.
What are the Upanisads concerned with?
Primarily concerned with:
- nature of Absolute Reality (Brahman)
- True nature of individual self (ātman)
- Relationship between Brahman and ātman
What was the Upanishadic view on ritual and sacrifice?
- Some Upaniṣads critical of ritual and sacrifice (empty actions, formal actions, lower knowledge)
- Some Upaniṣads still concerned with it but at a new level.
- Do not entirely reject the early hymns and sacrificial rituals. Rethink and reformulate them – interpreted symbolically.
- Some Upaniṣads held that knowledge was needed for ritual to be effective
- Ritual acts internalized as acts of meditation
What did the early Vedic optimistic view on life give way to?
- Early Vedic optimistic view on life in this world giving way to concern about “repeated death”
- Death ending not just this life but also the next.
- Means to escape this was needed
- Beyond the power of rituals and sacrifices to gods
- Upaniṣads broadened this idea into a cyclical view of human existence.
- Understand the human problem by seeing that it is samsara.
What does Karma mean?
- literally means ‘action’ – came to be understood as a system of cause and effect
- Rewards and punishments attached to various actions.
- All deeds, good and bad, have consequences. Good, meritorious (puṇya) – reborn in good situations - gandharva (celestial muscian), or a god (deva). Evil or sinful (pāp), painful effects– reborn in bad situations – non-human birth.
- Sages already knew that karma had religious implications. Actions of sacrifice causes results for gods and for humans.
What does punya mean?
Good, meritorious
What does gandharva mean?
celestial muscian
What is the Hindu word for god?
Deva
The ____________ reached its present state because of __________ performed in previous lifetimes.
the individual soul (jīva); actions (karma)
How does Karma work?
- The individual soul (jīva) reached its present state because of actions (karma) performed in previous lifetimes.
- Karmic residue attaches itself to the jīva - causes it to reincarnate.
- Actions are spoken of as seeds that will germinate and eventually bear fruit (phala).
- Fruits of karma may be produced in this lifetime or in any future incarnation.
- Actions in this lifetime will bear fruit in the next lifetime. Lead jīva to be born in another body.
What are all acts regarded as?
All acts are regarded as either karma-producing seeds, or the fruit of previous karma – beings are in the thrall of karma.
What does the concept of karma imply?
Implies a continuing cycle of death and rebirth or reincarnation (saṃsāra).
What is samsara?
- a continuing cycle of death and rebirth or reincarnation
- All of the world (including gods) caught up in saṃsāra.
- Existence in saṃsāra viewed as painful.
What is moksa?
liberation, release from the cycle of Samsara
How is Liberation (Moksa) achieved?
- Achieve liberation (mokṣa) required transforming experiential wisdom.
- Those with this knowledge become immortal (a-mrta, ‘without death).