HINDUISM



HINDUISM

India and Its Religion

1. A nation of 440 million people whose influence should be recogniz-

ed and people understood.

2. India's Mind ---------- it has been shaped by its world outlook,

its philosophy, and its religion.

3. India's relligion is the oldest living religon going back to the

gods of the great Indus Civilization which reached its heights

between 3,000 and 2,500 B.C..

4. India was subsequently influenced by the gods of invading Aryans

who reached India sometime between 1500 and 1200 B.C.

Aryans (the name means from the earth): they had fair skin and

pointed noses --------- moved by horses and hunted with bow

and arrows ------- they were mobile pushing through Greece,

Italy, and India.

5. Hinduism: evolved and emerged after 5,000 years of history.

a. It is characterized by its lack of unity and its contradic-

tions.

b. No hierarchial orthodoxy has ever been imposed on its follow-

ers.

c. "It commands human sacrifice and yet counts it a sin to crush

an insect or eat meat; has more priests and images than an-

cient Egypt or Medieval Rome and yet out does Quakers in re-

jecting all externals."

The Indus Civilization

1. Originally it was assumed that India which was invaded ca. 1500

B.C. was entirely primitive in its life and religion.

It was also assumed that the essential faith of Hinduism was im-

posed upon a purely primitive animism.

2. Excavations at Mohenjodara and Harappa.

a. Indicate that the Indus Valley had a great civilization of a

developed nature, with considerable cities, and an advanced

religion.

b. The cities had a drainage and water system and excellent

arrangements for the removal of refuse.

c. There are many signs of wealth from agriculture and trade----

its people had the wheel and wheeled vehicles-------- they

also had spinning and weaving and were skilled workers with

metals.

3. Religious Importance

a. Large public baths with its priests' rooms ------------------

probably associated with a cult involving ritual purity.

b. Pottery figures of the female deity, the Great Mother.

c. A figure of a male god with horns and three faces in the

position of profound meditation.

* possibly the prototype of Shiva.

d. It is concluded:

1. There was the worship of a fertility or vegitation god

analogous to Shiva.

2. It personified the reproductive powers of Nature and was

was firmly established in the Indus Valley and became a

permanent part of Indian Religion.

3. The baths and other evidence of ceremonial washing re-

call the important part played by bathing and immersion

in India's religion.

e. It is also concluded that Brahmans who subsequently appear

as the priestly caste were not Aryans but priests of the

native race and religion.

Vedic India and Religion

1. Vedism: is the culture resulting from the mixture of Aryans,

Harrapans, and other peoples of the Indus and Ganges Valleys.

2. Vedas: are the earliest Indian writings which are a collection of

religious songs, hymns, spells and rituals.

a. Veda means wisdom and these pieces of literature were origi-

nally oral.

b. Human speech was considered divine, so singing and praying to

the gods became sacred actions.

c. It is the oldest living relgious literature of the world, and

the Indians are unique among Indo-European peoples in adher-

ing to a religion in direct descent from that of the parent

culture.

3. Vedic literature is thought to be the highest intuitive knowledge

that a rishis (a holy man) can reach.

a. Shrutii: is the technical term to denote such a state of wis-

dom.

b. Shrutii can be translated as "revelation".

* it is what the rishis has perceived and seen through Vedic

literature.

c. Samhitas: are the four sparate collections of Vedas.

The Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, and the Atharva-Veda.

4. Rig-Veda is the oldest and was completed ca. 800 B.C.

a. Two purposes: first to praise the god being addressed, and

second to ask the god for favors or benefits.

b. The Rig Veda also includes petitions for forgiveness which

indicate a developed sense of morality.

* it is evidence of a religion centered on free choices be-

tween good and evil.

5. The Vedic Gods

a. Tradition says that there were 330 million divinities which

were either:

1. devas - good divinities.

2. asuras - evil divinities.

b. Devas

1. They were conceived in either human or animal form whose

primary feature was power.

ie. warmth of the sun/energy of the storm.

2. Normally a male deity with extra body parts.

Extra pair of arms for strength in battle. An extra eye

to see events at a great distance.

c. Depicted their religon with joyous, fun loving Gods.

1. The Sky God, Varuna (akin to Zeus).

2. Mitra or Mithra, god of the sun (sun deity of the Per-

sians, Mithras).

3. Indra, the war and storm god.

4. Agni, the god of fire.

5. Soma, an intoxicating drink which is ascribed to divine

agency.

6. Brahmanism: ca. 800 ------ 500 B.C.

a. A priesthood established itself and flourished during this

period.

b. Religious literature consisted of directions for the carrying

out of ceremonies and the performance of sacrificial rites

known as the Brahmanas.

c. Brahmanism declined for two reasons:

1. Society had more to do than listen to priests chant all

day.

2. Intellectuals desired something more satsfying than

magic.

The Upanishads

1. The Upanishads, a series of sacred books, set forth the whole

philosophy of ancient India.

a. It was a movement away from polytheism in the direction of

monotheistic pantheism.

Monotheistic: the belief in one God or basic principle of

existence.

Pantheism: the belief in the indwelling of God in all things.

b. Lesser gods and goddesses are not abolished, but are subordi-

nated to the Absolute though they are regarded as supermen.

ie. compared to Angles of Christian Theology.

c. The whole movement can be regarded as a reaction against the

elaborate ecclesiastical activities of the Brahmans.

2. The Doctrines of the Upanishads:

a. Brahman: is the ultimate reality, lying beyond the changing

world of sense, that which constitutes the inmost being of

man.

* it is the unchanging something which endures and forms the

substratum of the outward form which changes and passes.

b. Atman: is the individual self, the basic self behind the mind

---------- it is one's deepest identity "the soul or self".

1. It was concluded that the basic reality within and with-

out, of self and the world, is the same.

* Atman is Brahman.

2. As the air in a jar, though enclosed, is one with the

air outside, or as salt dissolved in water disappears

but is tasted in every part.

The Principle of Non Duality (advaita): the universal

self is diffused throughout the universe and yet is

present in the indvidual.

c. Maya: is reality taken as so marvelous that it proves incom-

prehensible for human beings.

1. The world is maya (illusion) and it is only as external

objects are related to the self that they exist.

2. The Imperishable: it is independent, it does not perish,

pass away, or suffer change.

d. Life is evil and obscures our real unity with Brahman-Atman

---------- we must seek deliverance from its traps and not

follow outward pleasures or look for anything enduring among

things unstable.

e. Samasara (the doctrine of rebirths)

1. The world is not ultimate existence or fully real.

2. One must penetrate Brahman, the truly real, to escape

the cycle of rebirths.

3. One must travel the scale of animal life (up and down

depending on one's advancement or regression) ---------

toward Brahman.

f. Karma: is the law that governs advancement or regression in

the cycle of deaths and rebirths.

1. All acts have unavoidable consequences.

2. Karma explains one's status: a person's present life is

shaped by that person's past lives.

3. Rebirth is undersirable and this is another reason why

material existence is evil.

4. The supreme quest of Indian philosophy has been freedom

from the bondage of the Karma of past deeds.

* Moksha

g. The goal of existence for the individual:

1. Release (freedom) from the endless cycle.

2. This may be obtained by the knowledge of the truth of

the unity of the soul and Brahman --------- also

through ascetic discipline and moral effort.

3. This frees man from the round of existence so that he

sinks into the universal self.

h. The Way of Salvation

1. Knowledge of the supreme truth which gives the

possession of it power over his own destiny.

2. Ascetic discipline is also necessary to attain that

state of consciousness in which saving knowledge is

possible.

The Period of Native Challenge: 600 - 300 B.C.

1. The Vedic tradition of revelation (shrutii) grew through

commentaries and instructions.

a. These materials are known collectively as smriti (memory or

tradition).

b. Strong challenges decisively changed the religion of the

majority.

2. North East India: warrior tribes were ready to challenge the

priests' ability to cultural control (power).

a. Aryans (600 B.C.) had established themselves----------------

India was made up of small kingdoms.

b. Intellectuals attacked the Vedic theory that there is a

reality other than the sensible or material.

c. Ajita (materialist) said that earth, air, fire, and water

are the only elements.

1. They are the source of everything in the universe.

2. Differences: reflect different proportions of these

elements.

3. Man at death dissolves back into these four elements

------------ there is no afterlife, no reincarnation,

no soul, and no Brahman.

4. Nothing beyond senses is valid knowledge, and what the

senses reveal is what real.

3. Janinism: came from the enlightenment of Vardhamana called Jina

(conqueror) or Mahavira (great man).

a. Born to wealth ------------- he eventually led a life of

ascenticism.

b. Jina opposed both the ritualism and the intellectualism of

the Vedic tradition.

c. "The only worthy knowledge is that which enables the person-

ality to gain full freedom."

d. Jainism was opposed to all forms of violence and pain.

1. The opposed the Vedic sacrifice of animals--------------

calling it an assualut on life and true religion.

2. Prohibited eating meat, harming anything believed to

have a soul, and physical activity.

3. The Jains tried to balance any injury that they inflict-

ed or bad karma they generated by acts of self denial

or benevolance.

e. Jainism developed a system of vows or commandments to guide

one's life------------ this is one of the reasons why

Jainism has lasted to the present day.

ie. not to injure living beings, not to lie or steal, not to

accumulate wealth, not to travel widely or possess more than

one needs, not to think evil of othters etc.

f. The Jain doctrine of ahimsa (non injury) has made a permanent

impression on Indian Culture.

4. Bhagavata: arose in Western India and unlike other movements

forced changes within Hinduism.

a. Collective word for these movements is Bhagavata (devotional-

ism) -------------- emphasizing an emotional attachment to

personal gods like Krishna or Shiva.

b. Bhaktas (devotees) claim such devotion is a way of salvation

or self realizationthat is superior to sacrifice or intellec-

ual meditation.

c. Mathura, a city in central India, devotion was focused on the

god Krishna.

1. The name means dark blue or black ---------- he is be-

lieved to have originally been a solar diety.

2. Krishna became the object of love of an infant and ro-

mantic love and sexual love for a handsome young lord.

3. Bhagavad Gita (Krishna is the featured god) it offers

ways of salvation to all types of persons.

* Bhakti (devotional love) appears to be its highest

teaching.

4. In later Hindu theology, Krishna became an avatar

(manifestation) of Vishnu.

d. Shvetashvatara Upanship: it was gospel for the god Shiva of

a personal god's love.

* it is unique for its theism (focus on a personal god).

1. What is Brahman? Conclusion----------- to interpret

Brahman (the ultimate reality) as a kind of god who may

become manifest if one meditates upon him.

2. Brahman was designated as Rudra-Shiva.

a. Rudra was probably a Dravidian form of Indra.

b. Shiva was a god of fertility.

* Combination: emphasis is on slaying and healing; des-

troying and creating (dualism).

3. Shiva is everything (depicted with five faces and three

eyes).

4. He controls all direction and all time (past, present,

and future).

* Shiva is a divinity as ultimate and powerful as

Krishna but his destructive qualities are emphasized.

e. Devotion to Krishna (Vishnu) or Shiva satisfied the feeling

for a personal god with whom to interact.

5. Smriti (tradition)

a. A period of commentary on Vedic literature to make it more

understandable and relevant to the contemporary man.

b. The Caste System was the great social development of the

smriti period.

c. The Rig Veda: had spoken of the creation of humanity in terms

of four ranks:

ie. priests, warriors, merchants and laborers (workers).

d. Purusha: the primal man gave his mouth, arms, thighs and feet

to make up the four ranks.

1. Brahminsi (priests) who exercise spiritual authority.

2. Kshatriyas (warriors) who exercise secular authority.

3. Vaishyas (merchants) ie. artisans, farmers etc. who re-

present the economic aspect of society.

* these three classes comprise the "twice born" who

obtain a second birth through initiation.

4. Sudras: somewhat like serfs who maintain certain rights.

e. Below these were the "impure" or untouchables who lie outside

the caste system.

f. Social-Ethical Ideas set forth in the smriti.

1. Doctrine of the Four Legitimate Life Goals.

a. Kama (pleasure) meaning sexual pleasure but also

the pleasure of eating, poetry, sports (lowest

goal).

b. Artha (wealth) ------- it dealt with ethics,

statecraft, manners ------ viewed as more impor-

tant than pleasure. One of wealth propped up

society and had social importance.

c. Dharma (duty) ----- higher than pleasure and

wealth. It meant principle, restraint, obligation,

law and truth ---------- the responsible accep-

tance of one's social station.

d. Moksha (liberation): it is the highest goal of

life. It meant self realization in freedom from

Karma. Realization that life and rebirth was

illusionary (maya).

2. Ashrama (four stages or goals of life):

ie. except for the workers. (life divided into

quarters.)

a. Student: apprentice to a guru to learn the Vedic

tradition and develop his charcter.

b. One would marry, raise children, and carry out

social responsiblities. ie. this would include

economic and political responsibilities.

c. When one had seen his grand children -------------

smriti urged him to retire from active life and

tend to his soul.

ie. he could give advice and be involved in secular

affairs but should begin to detach himself from the

world.

d. Finally, he should seek Moksha -------- by ending

his life as a poor wandering ascetic.

The Period of Reform: ca. A.D. 300 - 1200

1. This period saw the rise of major Hindu Sects which effectively

revamped (changed) Hinduism.

2. Two major divisions.

a. Nastikas (those who say no): materialists, Jains, and Buddh-

ists who rejected the Vedas.

b. Astikas (those who say yes): darshanas or orthodox philoso-

phies originated with the astikas.

1. They attempted to set forth explanations for shruti

(revelation).

2. Minansa, Samklya, Yoga, Wyaya, Vaisheshinka, and

Vedanta (six of them).

3. Vendanta: the oldest of the Darshanas.

a. Shankara, Vendanta Brahmin of the 9th Century, attempted to

systematize the Upanishads in terms of advaita (non-dualism).

b. There are two kinds of knowledge: higher and lower.

1. Lower knowledge is under the limitations of the

intellect.

2. Higher knowledge is free from such limitations.

c. Limitations (of the intellect): include reasoning character,

its dependence on senses, and its dependence on the body to

act.

Objective Limitations (aspects of known things): ie. space,

time, change, and cause and effect relationships.

d. Objective limitations cause us not to see or grasp reality

in itself.

e. Higher knowledge: comes by direct perception that is free

from of either subjective or objective limitations.

f. Direct vision is shrutii of the wise men who produced the

Vedas.

1. Shankara assumed that Vedanta philosophers should

practice Yoga.

2. The philosopher would then experience the removal of the

barrier (veil) between the self and Brahman.

g. Shankara applied his theory to hermeneatics (the study of

textual interpretation).

1. All passages that treat Brahman as one are derived from

higher knowledge.

2. All references to Brahman as many are derived from

lower knowledge.

h. Brahman in itself is one and without limitations.

Brahman for us (as we perceive it) appears to be multiple

(in the world and beyond it) cause and prime mover.

i. Conclusions:

1. Reality within is identical to reality without: Atman

is Brahman.

2. When one realizes through shrutii (revelation) or higher

knowledge that there is no change (space, time, cause

and effect limitations), one discovers there is no self.

3. There is only the Self, the Brahman reality ------------

it is the reality of both the internal and external

being. (? of maya)

4. Vaishnavism:

a. The theistic movements to reform Vedism were more popular.

ie. The two principal ones centered on Vishnu and Shiva.

b. Theistic religion centered on Vishnu was given support and

patronage from the Gupta Kings in the 4th Century.

c. Vaishnavite Doctrine: that the god (Vishnu) is concerned

about human beings, fights with them against demon enemies,

and sends avatars of himself to assist humans in times of

trouble.

ie. 10 avatars have been listed; the most important are

Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and Kali.

d. Frequently depicted with four arms to signify his power to

fight evil.

e. Strength (support of) Vaishnavism

1. It associated Vishnu to the bhakti cult through the

avatar Krishna. 6th-16th Centuries through the Puranas

(legendary accounts of the gods and heroes).

2. Alvars (persons deep in wisdom): troubadours who spread

devotion of Vishnu through religious songs.

ie. Vaishnavite bhakti in southern India during the 7th

and 8th Centuries.

a. Deep love of Vishnu, a love that broke the bonds of

caste.

* b. Theme: Vishnu's own love and compassion for human

beings.

f. Ramanuja, a religious philosopher.

1. Lived in the 11th Century and attempted to (Upanishadic

Doctrine) show that diviniity was compatible with human

love.

2. Vishishtadvaita: "nondualism qualified by difference"

a. He opposed the nondualism of Shankara, whom he con-

sidered a philosophical enemy.

b. Brahman: consisted of three realites.

ie. the unconscious universe of matter, the con-

scious community of finite selves, and the trans-

cedant lord Ishvara.

3. Atman is Brahman ("This thou art"): did not mean an

absolute identity between the two.

a. Ramanuja: believed that it meant the psychological

oneness that love produces.

b. The way to Moksha (liberation) was loving devotion

to the highest lord who represented Brahman.

* knowledge and pure actions were good paths, but

love was better.

g. Vaishnavites made Ramanuja a philosophical defender of their

bhakti by substituting Vishnu or Krishna for Brahman or

Ishvara.

5. Shaivism: devotion to Shiva competed with Vaishnavism.

a. Shiva: Lord of the Dance of life and the Destroyer who ter-

minated each era of Cosmic Time.

b. Response to a Wild God.

* a source of emotional excesses, and its tone always mixed

love with fear and awe unlike Vaishnavism.

c. From the Mahabharta, says that the Pashupati (one of the

earliest Shaivite sects) taught:

1. To end human misery and transcend the material world

-------- one had to engage in rituals such as smearing

the body with cremation ashes, eating excrements,carion,

human flesh, drinking from human skulls.

2. Kalamukha (named for the black mark on their forehead)

became notorious as drug addicts, drunkards, and even

murderers.

d. Shaivite Priests normally came from the lower classes, non

Brahmin classes.

* Shaivite followers often regared the linguam (phallus) as

Shiva's main emblem.

e. Shaivite adiyars (a parallel to the Vaishnavite alavars).

* their poetry and hymns were a principal reason for Shiva's

rise to prominence.

f. 5th - 10th Centuries: the Shaivite movement received royal

patronage in southern India.

1. They waged war against the Jains and Buddhists----------

then turning against the Vaishnavites claiming the

superiority of Shiva over Vishnu.

2. Theology: depicted not only as the Lord of the Cosmic

Dance, god of fertility and destruction but also as the

hidden god.

3. To stress Shiva's ability to transcend all opposites,

his followers depicted him as androgynous.

g. Shaivite Worshippers:

1. Conscious that they were sinners through mysterious

rituals and Shiva's own symbols of fire and a skull.

2. Referred to themselves as curs------ believed it was

pure grace that the god would come to them.

3. Whorship was gratitude that the god chose to forgive

rather than to destroy.

6. Shaktism or Tantrism

a. Focused on secret love whose prime objective was to liberate

the energies of imagination, sex, and the unconscious.

b. Shakti Sects: its rites were secret.

1. Analolgy: the sex act (intercourse) -------------------

to show the relationship between the Cosmos and its

energy flow.

2. Theory of Parallels (dualism): in which male-female,

right-left, and positive-negative pairings had symbolic

meaning.

c. Chakrapuja (circle work) ---------- ritual to gain moksha.

1. Men and women without regard to sex or caste used a

series of elements that might facilitate union with

Shakti:

ie. wine, meat, fish, parched rice, and sex.

2. It was a ritual discipline to participate in lilia

(reality's play).

* Shakti ----------- is the generative energy of a divinity

or ultimate reality, often represented as a Hindu God.

Reformation of the Vedic Tradition

1. There was an expanded role for some Vedic gods, and a shift from

sacrifice to devotional, theistic worship.

2. There was an attempt to defend and extend their heritage, allowing

people to respond to any part they wished.

3. Unique Character: that it is tolerant of diversity in religious

doctrine and practice.

The Period of Foreign Challenge

1. From ca. 1200 -------------- India increasingly came into con-

tact and conflict with foreign cultures and religons especially

from Islam and Christianity.

2. Islam Expansion

a. 8th Century: in the Sind and Punjab (regions of Northwest

India) Muslims were trading and made some military conquests.

b. 11th Century: Much of the Indus Valley was under Muslim

control, and by 1206 Islam had conquered most of Northeast

India.

c. By 1335, Muslims controlled the south and their dunasty, the

Mogul, did not end until 1858.

3. Muslim Policy toward Hindus:

a. It varied form location and time; some were tolerant allowing

traditional Hindu practices.

b. Others attempted to establish a Muslim state by stopping

gambling, drinking, prostituion, use of narcotics, and other

prhohibited by Islamic Law.

4. The Influence (Impact) of Islam on Hinduism

a. Muslim fudamentalism based on the belief the Koran is God's

final word, upgraded the status of the Vedas.

b. Hindus found Sufism, the devotional practice of Islam, quite

compatible with their native bhakti practices.

5. Sikhism: was a direct result of Islam's presence.

a. Revelations of the prophet Nanak, an Punjab born in 1469.

b. He sang the praises of a divinity who combined the Muslim

Allah with the Hindu Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.

c. He called this god the "True Name" -------------- he moved

his followers away from Hindu pilgrimages and devotions to

favoring compassion and neighborly good deeds.

* They number ca. six million in India today.

6. Christianity:

a. Tradition: says that St. Thomas (the apostle) traveled there

in the 1st Century.

b. A.D. 189 ---------- the Bishop of Alexandria sent a delega-

tion to India, and in A.D. 325 Indian reprsenatives attended

the Council of Nicaea.

c. 16th Century: Christian Missionaries came (with Portuguese,

then Dutch and English traders.

d. The British East India Company

1. Founded in 1600, it controlled the Indian economy and

trade.

2. 1857 - after the Sepoy Rebellion (mutiny), India came

under the direct colonial control of the British govern-

ment until independence in 1947.

e. Only 3.9% of Indians consider themselves Christians.

1. It has helped to arouse social consciousness for others.

2. Western Culture brought modern science, technology, and

democratic political theory to India.

Modern Bhakti

1. After the Reformation Period, Hinduism directed itself toward the

further development of bhakti.

2. The poetry of Kabir (1440-1518), he was a forerunner of the Sikh

founder Nanak.

a. "The love of God became the heart of a religion that ignored

distinctions between Muslims and Hindus, priests and work-

ers."

b. For Kabir ----------- love correlated with only a pure

heart.

3. Ramananda, a teacher of Kabir and follower of Ramanuja.

a. The important thing was to adore (love) God whom Ramanada

called Rama.

b. Rama --------- considered all persons equal.

4. Southern India (among those who spoke Tamil)

a. The Lord Vishnu appeared as a god of pure grace.

b. The Tamils said that self concern is useless and distracting

--------------- not works but love is redeeming.

5. Western India: 13th - 17th Centuries

a. Maratha Renaissance: a poetic movement that spread the

message of bhakti.

b. Tukaram (1607-1649) stressed God's otherness and the sinful-

ness of man.

* His God was not Brahman but a free agent and lover whose

goodness in saving sinners was more impressive because of

their distance from him.

6. Modern Hinduism

a. These movements established a focus on bhakti moving away

from Vedic orthodoxy.

b. Upanishadic Doctrine or the idea of shruti or smriti meant

very little to them.

1. The love that they had found undercut traditional views

of social class, sex, and religion.

2. The god of love was no creator of castes, depiser of

women, and a power of Hindus against Muslims.

7. Chaitanya, 16th Century Bengali ------------ best represenative

of Bhakti --------- his followers worship him as an avatar of

Krishna.

a. Chaitanya was originally a Brahmin and was converted to

Vaishnavism.

b. His devotions became very emotional: ie. singing, dancing,

weeping, and epileptic fits.

c. Repudiated the Vedas and non dualistic Vendanta philosophy as

opposing a gracious god.

* all were welcome in his sect, regardless of caste.

d. He emphasized assimilation with Radha, Krishna's lover------

arguing that the soul's relation to God is always female to

male.

e. He stressed the necessity to toil at religious love and

opposed those who said that grace was attained without

effort.

f. Chaitanya ------------ was deified by his followers.

* "Hare Krishna" is an expression of his worship today.

8. Brahmo Samaj founded Rammohon Roy in 1828.

a. Opposition to the excesses of bhakti; (Bengali intellectuals)

influenced by Western Culture; and feeling a need to purify

Hinduism.

b. Roy was a well educated Brahmin:

* influenced by both Christianity and Islam, he believed

there was only one God for all men who inspired social

concern.

1. He was opposed to the Hindu practice of suttee (sati)

--------- where a widow is burned alive on her hus-

band's funeral pyre.

2. Callcutta (1815-1818) -------- there had been more

than 1500 such deaths.

3. Roy pressured the British government to outlaw the

practice which it did in 1829.

c. Brahmo Samaj: believed that this type of social concern was

essential to a pure religion.

9. Ramakrishna Mission: originated in the Bengal during the 19th

Century.

a. Ramakrishna, the founder, was an uneducated Brahmin---------

became a worshipper of Kali; and then progressed through the

Tantric, Vaishnavite, and Vedanta disciplines.

* He even lived as a Muslim and as a Christian for a period

of time.

b. Doctrine:

1. That we can find God everywhere--------- Divinity

exists in every human heart.

2. Stresses the theme of worshipping God by serving other

human beings.

Tagore and Gandhi: 20th Century

1. Questions of religous and social reform in the 20th Century in-

fluenced attitudes over Indian nationalism and independence.

a. Not all Indians opposed the British ---------------- most

Indians thought of themselves as Bengalis or Guratis, or

Punjabis.

b. A national character or tradition had not emerged over the

centuries.

* this fact and differences emerge in the lives of both

Tagore and Gandhi.

2. Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

a. He won the Noble Prize for literature --------------------

he wanted to find the artistic and educational forms that

would instill the Indians with a broad humanism.

b. He feared that nationalism would destroy individual creativ-

ity and blind Indians to the values outside of India.

c. The West:

1. He found a concern for the material world which he

thought could be a cure for India's cultural problems.

2. Emphasis of individual creativity --------------------

that contact with the West would promote the idea of us-

ing individual creativity to improve society.

3. Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948)

a. Trained as a lawyer in England, he went to South Africa where

he represented "color" minorities.

b. Influenced by a Western Idealism:

* New Testament, Tolstoy on Christian Socialism, and Thoreau

on Civil Disobedience.

c. Satyragraha (truth force)

Used a Simple Truth: Indians, like all humans deserve the

right to control their own destinies.

1. Gandhi combined Western Idealism with his own political

pragmatism influenced by Indian Religious attitudes.

2. Bhagavad Gita: athe doctrine of Karma-yoga (work as a

spiritual discipline). The Jain-Hindu attitude of

ahimsa (non-injury).

* these were synthesized into his Satyagraha.

d. On the Question of Ahimsa:

1. hisma (violence) exists and is part of the world-------

the destruction of life (hisma) is inherent in life.

2. Compassion has to be the corner stone of of ahimsa-----

one needs to try to grow in an awareness that leads to

self restraint.

3. The unity and sanctity of all life is the underlying

principle of ahimsa --------- the social character of

man and his falibility will involve him in himsa.

4. Violence is part of the evolutionary and political

reality of the world.

5. We can strive to minimize our violence and destructive-

ness, not injurying any fellow creature needlessly.

e. Very active in the cause of the "Untouchables" whom Gandhi

called the Harijin (children of God) to relieve the disabili-

ties that they faced.

* f. Tagore had criticized Gandhi's nationalism as being reaction-

ary.

g. Gandhi's Vision of India:

1. An India of self-sufficient villages isolated from the

"evils" of modern industry.

2. It would be an India that would spin its own cotton into

cloth, raising its own food, living in harmony and con-

tentment.

h. Acarya Vinoba Bhave (d. 1982) was his successor and sought to

further Gandhi's vision.

1. He sought to persuade villagers and large landowners to

pool their lands, working them and enjoying their

produce communally. (the Bhudan or "land - gift policy).

2. Nearly four million acres have been established for this

purpose ----------- a kind of village communism with

love and moral persuasion replacing class struggle.

i. Hindu-Muslim Enmity

1. 1905 under Lord Curzon, the Bengal was partitioned into

Hindu and Muslim provinces------------ violence led to

the reunion of the Bengal in 1911.

2. Expelling the British was viewed as a sacred duty

(nationalism and Hinduism were merged).

3. Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920) established annual

celebrations in honor of Ganensha.

Ganesha: the elephant - headed god, son of Shiva, known

as the remover of all obstacles.

4. Tilak's commentary on the Bhagavad Gita carried a

message that political action was a teaching of Krishna.

* implication that violence had divine sanction.

j. January 30, 1948: Gandhi was assassinated by a Maratha Hindu

nationalist.

1. Maratha emphasis on Shiva, the destroyer.

2. Gandhi's attempt to bring Hindu and Muslim together to

create one India had failed.

Modern Hinduism

1. Chracteristic: variety and diversity in religous ideas and prac-

tices.

2. Naumi: in the Fall, September or October (9th day of the festival

of 9).

a. Festival devoted to nine goddesses.------- mediums are con-

stantly making contact with the supernatural world ---------

a procession of men possessed in climax to their work.

b. Two principal mediums: a weaver claiming to be directed by

Mata, the mother goddess.

A carpenter claiming to be directed by a local incarnation of

Vishnu.

* people would come to them asking for help for personal

problems.

c. The Afternoon of Naumi: each medium holds rites in their own

home.

* then there is a procession to the center of town.

d. Evening: a goat is sacrificed at each of the three principal

shines.

1. This is to assure the town's good fortune in the coming

year.

2. People purify themsleves with fire by walking between

two flames.

* This sacrifice is performed for the welfare of the

whole village.

3. Rituals: can vary from one geographical area to another depending

on local gods and customs.

4. For Hindus of the Himalayas, the shaman sill remains influential.

a. It normally involves the possession of the shaman-----------

he is usually called upon because of some misfortune.

b. He may be from any caste and is a medium of a particular god.

1. He begins with a prayer or song to the god accompanied

drum beating.

2. He enters a trance becoming impervious to pain which he

demonstrates by touching hot metal.

3. While in a state of full possession, the shaman tells

the individual what the problem is and what can be done.

c. If the client does not like what he is told, he goes to a

different shaman.

d. Puja (short ceremony)---------- in honor of the being caus-

ed the trouble.

* a pligrimage to a shrine or the removal of harmful objects

causing a disease.

* sometimes an impossible treatment such as the sacrifice of

a cow.

e. The Pujua: other specialists are needed.

1. Purpose: to execute the ceremony, so the god can enter

the body and dance in it, and make any further demands.

2. Puja specialists usually come from lower castes and in-

duce possession by playing percussion instruments.

3. Three parts: the dance, the puja or prayer, and the

offering.

f. The Dance:

1. The dance is to attract the god into the human body

(ie. possession).

2. Someone begins to dance, shout, and jerk (he is honored

with incense because for the moment he is a god).

g. Prayer (puja)

1. The god speaking through the possessed person tells the

cause of the problem and what must be done to appease

the god.

2. The victim and his family make a prayer promising to

comply with the requests of the god.

h. The Offering: normally a young male goat.

1. When the goat shakes, it is believed that the god has

accepted the offering.

2. The goat is taken outside and beheaded and the attendant

places the head and a foot of the animal before the

shrine.

3. The ritual specialists will take these as payment while

the family and guests share the rest of the goat.

5. Rite of Passage (life cycle) Ceremony:

* Purpose: to help the people cope with different stages of life.

a. The habisha ritual is a brata or vowed observance:

1. Usually people make vows to gain something in this world

and the next.

2. Habisha: focuses spiritual power to prevent death of a

woman's husband.

b. Purification: to prepare for the ritual.

1. A woman cuts her nails and then takes a ritual bath-----

a Brahmin further purifies her by sprinkling cow-dung

mixed with water over her.

2. The drinking of panchagavia is the ideal way to purify

oneself.

ie. Five holy substances of the cow: milk, curds,

clarified butter, wine and dung.

c. Typical Day (month long process):

1. Predawn ritual bath facing in each of the four direc-

tions praying to the gods, ancestors, and other sources

of help.

2. Mud pictures of Vishnu as a child and prayers are

offered to the rising sun.

3. One could only eat food considered pure and could not

have any spices. Each meal had to contain clarififed

butter.

d. One had avoid defiling contacts such as stepping on animal

wastes or touching a person of a lower caste.

e. She would participate in dances re-enacting legends of

Krishna.

6. To the Hindu: sin consistes in ritual disobedience or infringement

of caste custom, rather than ndecency, untruth, dishonest etc.

7. Primitive Customs

a. Many customs and rituals go back centuries. The idea of

custom may be stronger in India than anywhere else in the

world.

b. Temples and Priests

1. The temple is the home of the god and not a place of

worship.

2. Incense is burned before Him and the offering presented

to him.

3. Priests are all Brahmins but not all Brahmins are

priests (they may enter any profession today).

c. Holy Men (besides priests):

1. Sadhus: teachers.

2. Gurus: wandering ascetics.

3. Sanyassi: magicians and exorcists.

8. Position of Women

a. The woman's role was to subordinate herself completely to her

husband and to bear children.

b. A widow was prohibited from mentioning any man's name except

her dead husband.

* suttee was without merit unless it was done out of pure

love.

c. Hindu Society: women were not generally eligible for moksha

------------ the best they could hope for was to be reborn

as a man.

d. The birth of a girl was attributed to bad Karma in a previous

life.

Birth Announcement: "Nothing was born."

e. Manu's Law: (one of Hinduism's olderst law codes)------------

women are as impure as falsehood itself---------- "the wise

man never sits with a women in a lonely place."

9. Siri Aurobindo:

a. Negative Practice of Escapism: believed that Indians escape

into their souls to avoid the requirements of material

reality.

b. India has allowed her material culture to decay into poverty

and misery.

c. When everything is attributed to Karma, one faces the despair

of constant re-births.

1. The aim of most religons is to overcome death by eternal

life.

2. Hinduism is an effort to overcome life and bring an end

---------- to terminate the endless imprisonment of

the soul in matter.

10. The Western World

a. Hinduism as always had the power of absorbing ideas and

theories from the outside.

b. The power of the priests may decrease as life becomes more

secularized.

* this may lead to the abandonment of many customs and

practices.

Monotheism or Not: Hinduism culminated in a triad of Gods.

1. Brahma: the creator.

2. Vishnu: the preserver.

3. Shiva: the destroyer.

The Threefold Diety: these three are sometimes depicted by one body and

three heads.

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