Hinduism Notes - World Religions | RELG 102, Study notes of World Religions

Download Hinduism Notes - World Religions | RELG 102 and more Study notes World Religions in PDF only on Docsity! RELG 102-Hinduism Notes We have just concluded our discussion of the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. And we have seen how each faith was unique, yet linked together in certain ways. Now, however, we will change gears completely and start our spiritual journey to India. We will begin by examining Hinduism, a very ancient religious tradition. In fact, it is one of the oldest organized religions in the world. Before we jump right into Hinduism, though, I would like to provide you with some insight concerning just how different the thought process is in the East. Let’s look at four misconceptions concerning Indian/Hindu thought that students have asked me about in the past. This will help us understand the religion better and open up our minds. 1. Hinduism is weird -Sometimes when I begin this unit students are a bit perplexed because they might view certain Hindu beliefs as “weird” and very different from their own. For example, they ask, “Do Hindus really worship cows? How the heck can they do that?” Well, the answer is “yes,” Hindus do revere cows. But once they understand the background and thought process behind Indian thought it helps to clear things up. 2. Hinduism is passive -Sometimes students get the impression that Hinduism means sitting under a tree and watching the world go by. That is not the case at all. Look at the following sentence: “All realities are made up of man’s intellect.” What might this statement mean? Well, we could say that our own thought process is responsible for what we believe to be real. In other words, how we think (and have been trained to think) comprises our world. According to Eastern philosophy, intellect itself is made up of many things, including ideas derived from such things as sensations and reflections. Intellect, then, may be viewed as a sort of mayor or governor of the self who distributes the sum total of knowledge to the rest of the body. Think of all of the information and experiences that have been gathered by your intellect. It’s no wonder many of us seem so grounded in our own personal universes! People sometimes mistake the “looseness” and tolerance of Indian thought for passivity. Hindus acknowledge that there are many paths toward the ultimate goal, but that is hardly the same as saying the different paths are disorganized or incoherent. Indian thought allows for a great diversity of human reason, but knowledge and consciousness are still very vital. Some scholars believe, in fact, that India may have developed the most sophisticated system of religious rationalization and intellectual analysis. For example, consider the concepts of “God” and “soul.” We have looked at these concepts from the Judao-Christian-Islamic side of things. Many Jews, Christians, and Muslims simply accept the existence of God and soul without giving it much thought or demanding concrete proof. They are simply accepted. We might say, therefore, that God and soul exist in the realm of “speculation.” Simply put, where is the evidence? However, Indian thought does NOT emphasize the speculative nature of things. Rather, Hinduism emphasizes “immediate experience” through directly known things. As we will see, one of the principles that is very important to Hindus is experiencing “immediate perception” of the higher power through things such as concentration and meditation. Abstract reasoning, so vital to Judao-Christian-Islamic thought is de- emphasized according to Indian religious and psychological understanding. We will talk more about this throughout this unit. During our study of Hinduism, never lose track of the fact that Hinduism is an “in-your-face” religion! 3. Hinduism (and Buddhism) supports a fantasy, “pie-in-the-sky” theology -Students sometimes think that being a Hindu and worshipping a number of gods means that there is no organized or rational theology. It is not practical in the real world. Once again, this is entirely false. 4. The Indian way of thinking is pessimistic -Consider the concepts of good and evil. Some of us spend our whole lives obsessed with, and discerning between, the two concepts. Regarding evil, how many of us are absolutely devastated when something goes wrong in our daily lives? Let’s say you are on your way to work and your car gets a flat tire. For many of us, we immediately become angry and upset. How could this happen to me? My whole day is ruined! I tell my students that in America many of us expect every day to be perfectly sunny and happy, and we are confused and distraught when anything goes wrong. Simply put, we have trouble accepting the fact that evil things (or just bad things) happen to us. But according to Indian thought (both Hindu and Buddhist), good and evil simply exist. There is no use doubting their existence or getting horribly upset about it. The goal of life, according to Buddhist thought, is NOT to focus or obsess when bad things happen. Bad things will happen; that is part of the struggle of life. Focus instead on the realities of life that are happening in the present. Don’t hold grudges or grumble about the past (we love to do that in America too, don’t we?); what good will it do? Good and evil are part of life; deal with it! As a result, many Indian (and Asian) religious traditions focus instead on seeking a remedy for the common ills of life. Regarding Hinduism, as we will see, this solution is called moksha. For Buddhists, they too seek a way of dealing with all the suffering that everyday life entails. We will talk about Buddhism in Unit 5. So, if one has been taught to think as a Jew, Christian, or Muslim, then it is perfectly understandable that a very different religion like Hinduism might be very hard to accept. For example, technically speaking, there are 330 million gods and goddesses in Hinduism! That seems outrageous! Yet, as we shall see, as we examine Hinduism more closely this fact won’t seem outlandish at all. Indian Psychology, Consciousness, and Ethics According to Indian philosophy and thought, one of the ways religion functions is through the “psychology of consciousness.” But by “consciousness” I mean more than Hindu Origins and History Be sure that you know and understand the following terms: atman, karma, samsara, moksha, and Brhaman. Are you thoroughly confused yet? As you can see, Indian thinking and philosophy is very different from much of Western ideology. Hence, beginning with Unit 4 we really must open up our minds more than ever. The concepts and rituals explained in Units 4 and 5 may seem very different to you. But don’t despair; it will become clearer as time passes. And remember, there are almost one billion Hindus throughout the world, so this line of thinking does indeed make sense to one out of every six people on the face of the earth! Of course, India (in blue) is by far the most populous Hindu country in the world, with the vast majority of Indians practicing the faith. Even though most other world countries contain only a small percentage of Hindus (0-9%) that doesn’t mean their populations are not in the thousands. In the United States, for example, there are many Hindu temples and an estimated several hundred thousand followers. Now let’s examine Hinduism in more detail, beginning with the history of the religion. Hinduism now refers to the religion that was born in southeast Asia. The very word Hindu comes from ancient times, when the Persians and Greeks intermingled with the native culture of India. Sometime around 2500 BCE (or later, around 1700 BCE, depending on what book you read), a fierce group of Indo-Europeans called “Aryans” invaded the “Sindhus” river valley (its Sanskrit name), which was known as the “Indus” river. Eventually, once the Persians and Greeks and others came into the region many hundreds of years later, the name was mispronounced as “Indu,” and eventually, “Hindu,” and the people of the region became known as “Hindus.” A quick note: The Aryans we are reading about here are NOT the Aryans that the Nazis claimed to be related to. That is an entirely different story! The swastika really stood for good luck and prosperity, and you can still see them on Hindu temples to this day. The swastika is a good example of how one culture can take a positive symbol and twist it into something it was never meant to be. What is worth noting here is that the Aryans brought with them to India a language known as Sanskrit. It would become so important to the Hindu faith that it was deemed to be of divine origin. Some Hindu ritual chants today are still voiced in Sanskrit, and many of the earliest texts the Aryans brought with them were also in this ancient language. Perhaps the most important texts that the Aryans brought with them were the Vedas. The word veda means “knowledge,” and since the texts were written in Sanskrit they were believed to be of divine origin. The Vedas are divided into four different volumes, and were probably written down sometime between 1500 and 500 BCE. These early texts contained hymns and praises to the gods, chants and rituals, and explanations of the rituals. The final part of each Veda was called an Upanishad (which we’ll talk about in a moment). The most important text in this group of writings was the Rig Veda, or “Big Veda.” The Rig Veda itself is considered to be the grandest and greatest of all the Vedas for many reasons. Among other things, the Rig Veda introduced the Indian culture to many important early principles such as tapas, or heat, a creative force essential to all levels of the universe. Tapas would later be grafted with asceticism to form orthodox Hinduism. But originally, as Esposito points out, early Vedic religion relied upon such fire sacrifices. Vedic hymns would be chanted by Brahmins (hereditary priests), and things like grain and animal flesh would be sacrificed. Most important for our discussion, though, was that the Rig Veda contained important strata of development for the Hindu religion. The Vedas had essentially discussed three different types of gods: celestial (planets), terrestrial (earth), and atmospheric (thunder) divinities. Throughout time, these deities needed to be condensed, resulting in a progression of development. This progression went from naturalistic polytheism (where the gods are humanlike) to monotheism (one god in charge) to monism after about 600 BCE. Monism meant that God was no longer embodied, but more of a principle; God had no gender or body, but was rather more of an abstract principle. Monism came about, in part, due to the practice of asceticism (a strict, disciplined lifestyle; think of monks in Christianity). This was significant in the progression of Hinduism, and would serve as the focus for Brahman. Do you think Brahman is quite similar to the understanding of the God in Judaism, Christianity, or Islam? And isn’t the goal of Jews, Christians, and Muslims to be united with God, like we see in Hinduism? Karma: means action Atman: soul Samsara: cycle of rebirths Vedic texts: the Upanishads (sit up close to the feet) very important so you had to sit close and listen. The self is free of the body Philosophy represents an investigation of the self and the relationship between the “atman” and Brahman Bramah=god Brahman=ultimate reality Bramin=priests Hinduism is monotheistic and polytheistic Moksha= bond between atman and Brahman Lists to know: 1. Social caste (top to bottom): 2. Priests-spiritual and intellectual rulers 3. Warriors-gov’t, politics 4. Merchants-economic health 5. Servants-supplied manual labor * Untouchables – “throwaways” Only males in the first 3 classes had privileges, or worthy of education According to Hindu law, people are not all equal Every soul must go through samsara, so we all go through castes November 11, 2009 Light represents good works/deeds Traditional role of women: Role of women contradictory in hindu literature Servant vs. goddess, harlot vs. saint. During the vedic era, women composed hymns, engaged in philosophical debates Fidelity bred power, miracles, authority In addition, all power (shakti) comes from women, male gods are agents of this life- giving power Worship to shiva may go to the goddess kali, the fearsome form of the mother goddess. Kali and shiva work together to get rid of the ego, both attached to death. Post 11th century text on women: a harlot in love, a slave in service, a mother in food and nourishment to her husband, and a counselor in times of need Adulteresses have lowest reputation, samsara will reflect this; reborn as jackal Widows considered a bad omen, some jumped on funeral pyres, banned in 1829