Hinduism

Hinduism
“liberation”

* Historical Background
-Vedic Hinduism
*Pre-1500 BC:
-focus on nature/agriculture for worship; no remains of temples
- mother goddess, male god, phallic god
*15,00 BC Aryan invasion
-additional gods/specification: Indra (atmosphere), Aguni (fire), Varuna (sky), and Soma (Soma plant)
-sacrificial rituals
-Castes develop: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras, Outcastes
*1,000- 600 BC Priestly Hinduism
-The World Soul: priest's are mouth piece
-The Vedas produced: hymns, prayers, ritual instruction, and cosmos
*800-600 BC
-Development of manifestations (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva)
-Development of Samsara, moksha, and karma
-Vedas Canonized and Upanishads accepted scripture
*600 BC- 1750 AD
-Four Stages of Life (student, householder, hermit, ascetic)
-Shakti approach: focus on feminine
-development of Hare Krishna

*Basic Theology (polytheistic)
*gods:
-estimated over 330 million gods and goddesses
-Brahaman developed over historical development:
-Nirguna Brahaman (without attributes)
-Saguna Brahaman (with attributes)
-Brahaman (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver), and Siva
(the Destroyer)
-Avatars (10 mythical incarnations): animals (tortoise, boar, fish) and people (Rava, Krishna, Buddha
-impersonal and without distinctions (including moral and personal)
*Humanity:
-“that thou art”: humanity (atman)
-same as or extensions of Brahaman (e.g. essence = air inside a jar is the same as air outside jar)
-humanity is ignorant of divine nature
-ignorance causes attachment to desires, individuality thus creating karma
-caught in endless cycle of Samsara (reincarnation)
*Salvation and Afterlife:
-Moksha (liberation) from cycle of reincarnation
-liberation through realizing individual self is an illusion
-paths to enlightenment: karma marga (action and ritual), jnana
marga (knowledge and meditation), and bhakti marga (devotion)
-merge into “oneness” at enlightenment
*Practices and
lifestyle:
-performance of rituals (sunrise and sunset/ men and women)
-Nonviolence leads to careful consideration of all life (including spiders)
-Yoga: physical and mental
-Recitation of mantra “OM”


Additional clarification:

There is a large portion dedicated to the historical background (which is very briefly covered) because Hinduism adds multiple gods due to events. Little is known about the habits or worship Pre-1500 BC with the exception of the three main god concepts (mother, male, and phallic).

The Aryan invasion brought with it new gods. Nature based polytheistic religions will continue to add new gods to the existing system instead of replace the old gods. The development of the caste system becomes increasingly important because it represents and individuals stage on their path towards Nirvana. The lower they are in the caste system, the more bad karma they have collected. This reinforced the interaction between the different castes. From highest to lowest ranking, the classes are as follows: Brahmins (priests), Rajanyas (later Kshatriyas- warriors and rulers), Vaishyas (land owners, bankers, and merchants), Shudras (workers), and Outcastes (untouchables). There are approximately 3,000 subdivisions or subcastes from those listed above.

Initially Brahaman was a great void without attributes. This carried with it the idea of nothingness and fits with the concept that there are no individuals and thus no personality or attributes. The story of life is that at one point Nirguna Brahaman had a dream. Humanity currently lives in the dream world. Only later did Brahaman develop attributes and then appear as Brahaman (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver) and Siva (the destroyer). This fits more aptly into the idea of reincarnation and the cycle that all of humanity is trapped in. The Avatars are other, later incarnations (ways to express and see Brahaman).

Life began to be planned out in stages. The student stage occurs between ages 8 and 12 when the boy is given a mentor (usually a guru or spiritual teacher) and begins to learn from him. The householder stage occurs at marriage and continues until the hermit stage that occurs after the birth of the first grandchild. The ascetic marks any point in life when the individual left all behind him and engaged in a spiritual quest.

The Shakti approach is one where the feminine attributes and the mother goddess is the prime focus of worship. Hare Krishna is an approach to Hinduism founded in the belief that all that attracts us is good and thus part of the eternal soul. While Shakti approach the divine through feminist models, Hare Krishnas seek out energy (often found in pleasurable things).

Humanity is made up of aggregates. These are the evil or good parts. At death if someone has 10 aggregates, some will be negative and some positive. If that individual has 6 negative and 4 positive, when he/she dies the aggregates will split apart in the dream world. In the next life, that individual will receive a mixture of ten aggregates (not necessarily the ones from the previous life) with 6 negative and 4 positive.

A Hindu’s greatest desire is to escape the continual cycle of reincarnation and become part of the eternal essence again. The must choose to work towards that though actions, meditation, or devotion. It is important to do as much good as possible to not gain any more bad karma and work off previous bad karma.

Some Hindus take care to perform multiple rituals exactly as done historically as well as practice non-violence to the point where they will walk with a broom in front of them to make sure and sweep any bugs out of harms way.