Hinduism

Main Beliefs

Brahman: the Supreme Being.

Dharma: The Sanskrit word derived from the root meaning “to sustain” in truth righteousness, duty, law, & justice. This includes following a non-violent, compassionate, and generous path. There is specific to one’s caste and situation in life and another that leads to liberation from the cycle of life and death. There are four sources that act as the foundation of Dharma: Vedas (epics), puranas (texts of lore), the behavior and practices of good people, and the promptings of one’s mind.

Devotionalism (bhakti): the intense personal worship of & surrender to the Supreme Being. Devotionalism is a common feature of Hindu communities.

Karma: The process whereby the good and bad deeds performed by human beings in the present determine the quality of their lives both now and in future births.

Moksha: means “liberation,” as in liberation from the cycle of life and death that every soul is believed to undergo, which is repeated endlessly until the soul achieves liberation into a state of bliss.

Sadharana and Sanatana: Virtues common and eternal to all human beings.

Hindus believe in many manifestations of the divine. Although most say they are monotheistic, their temples and domestic altars have multiple deities. In some Hindu texts, the Supreme Being is said to be ineffable and beyond name, gender, and form. Others perceive of the supreme as the perfect man or as a primordial mother. Some worship the divine being as half man, half female, or as a family of deities.

Not only is the divine beyond gender and name, but also beyond number and has resulted in its manifestation in many shapes and forms: as human or animal, as trees, or as combinations of those things.

Some Hindus acknowledge many deities and consider one to be supreme, or consider all gods and goddesses equal, but worship one who is their favorites. Many consider all divinities to be manifestations of a single god.

There are also different beliefs to how brahma relates to atman (the human soul). Some consider brahman and atman as identical, but others see them as inseparable, but not identical.

Many Hindus also believe in various routes to liberation. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna describes three ways to liberation: the way of action; the way of knowledge; and the way of devotion. Some view these as multiple paths to the divine, others as aspects of one discipline.

1. 1. The way of action: Karma yoga, is a path of unselfish action. A person must do his or her duty, such as studying or good deeds, but not out of fear of blame or punishment, or hope of praise or reward.
2. The way of knowledge: Jnana Yoga, by attaining scriptural knowledge one may achieve a transforming wisdom that destroys one’s past karma. This knowledge may be acquired through the learning of texts from a suitable guru, meditation, and physical and mental control in the form of the discipline of yoga.
3. The way of devotion: Bhakti yoga, whereby a devotee “yokes” his or her spirit to the divine.

Most Hindus believe in the immortality of the soul and in reincarnation. A person’s death is followed by rebirth, and the cycle of birth and death continues until one attains liberation (moksha). Rebirth is perceived as suffering, and the happiness one has on earth is said to be temporary. Liberation as a loving union with the supreme being; as losing one’s consciousness in the supreme being; and as being in the heavenly abode of Vishnu, called Vaikuntha.

History of Hinduism

Hinduism has no single founder, creed, teacher, or prophet that is acknowledged by all Hindus as central. There is also no book of primary importance. Hindu refers to the people of “Hind,” an Indian subcontinent. In the Muslim-ruled empires of medieval India, it was used for many non-Muslim Indian communities. Ancient roots of Hinduism can be seen in the cultures of the Indus Valley, Sarawati River civilizations, and Indo-European people.

In the Late 18^th Century it became a popular name for the religion, but Hindus identify themselves with reference not only to religion, but also to their caste, community, region, and language. Hindu has 100s of internal divisions created by caste, community, language, and geography. The term Hinduism is a religion, culture, and a way of life and the religion itself is a cumulative collection of communities, faiths, beliefs, and practices that have come together.

Communities have entered Hinduism through processes of “Sanskritization,” where a regional deity becomes identified with pan-Indian gods, and “brahminization,” or the adoption of “high” caste rituals by many communities.

Structure

The text below is  from Eastern Religions: Origins, Beliefs, Practices, Holy Texts, Sacred Places.

“In the Hindu tradition, deities descend to the earth as human beings and human beings ascend to a divine status. Salvific truth is said to be mediated by these holy persons. The earliest holy men and women who “saw” the truth and compiled the Vedas were called “seers.” Although the many lineages of holy teachers in Hinduism were composed of men of the Brahmin caste, hundreds of saints and charismatic people considered to be “gurus” have come from all castes of society. In many Hindu communities, the sacred teacher is considered to be as important as the deity and is venerated, and even worshipped; other communities, however, do not consider the teacher to be so significant. From the 20^th Century, women gurus took on an increasingly significant role and many are now viewed as deities.

For many Hindus the primary religious experience is mediated by a teacher who may be called archarya, guru, or swami (“master”). The term archarya usually denotes the formal head of a monastery, sec, or subsect, or a teacher who initiates a disciple into a movement.

There are also thousands of ascetics, individuals possessed by a deity or spirit, mediums, storytellers, and sadhus (“holy men”), who all command the veneration of their followers.

The caste system is incredibly complex and is based on multiple factors. The initial four broad varnas (classes) were the priests (Brahmins), the rulers and warriors (Kshatriyas), the merchants and producers (vaishyas), and the servants (Shudras). Members of the priestly, warrior, and merchant groups were sometimes known as the “upper” castes, and their male members were known as the “twice born” because of their traditional initiation ritual of spiritual rebirth called upanayana. Through this, they become invested with a “sacred thread” that grants them the power to study the Vedas.

The dharmashastras outline the duties and privileges of the four main varnas (classes) of society. The Brahmin retained sole authority to teach and learn the Vedas, many of them teachers, priests, and ritual specialists. The former kings and princes of India belonged to Kshatriya (“royal,” or “warrior”) class that traditionally held the reins of secular power. The mercantile class (vaishyas) were in charge of trade, commerce, and farming, and were thus potential possessors of great wealth and economic power. Shudras (servants) are not allowed to accumulate wealth, ever if they are able to do so. Their duty is to serve the other classes.”

Religious Symbols and Texts

The earliest compositions in the Hindu tradition are the Vedras (Sanskrit, “knowledge”) which form the core of India’s ancient “proto-Hindu” religion and constitute manuals of poetry, rituals, and philosophy.

1. Rig Veda
2. Sama Veda
3. Yajur Veda
4. Atharva Veda

Some Hindus consider the Vedas to be transhuman, not authored by human beings. They are considered eternal in nature and the Vedic reciters saw or envisioned the Vedas and. The reciters passed them on in oral tradition with accurate pronunciation, rhythm, and diction.

The Aranyakas and Upinshads were composed around the early sixth century BCE. Upanishads sought to liberate one from the cycle of life and death and introduced the notion of immortality as reality. In Hindu tradition, a follower strives to achieve the immortality of the soul and happiness and peace in life. The idea of the “supreme being,” or Brahman was conceived in the Upinshads.

Epic narratives such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata have also become crucial texts to Hinduism and promote the Hindu Dharma, which illustrates “righteous behavior,” “truth,” and “law.” The Bhagavad Gita (“Sacred Song”) is eighteen chapters in the Mahabharata and emphasizes that dharma should be performed without expectation of reward but with devotion to one God, or “supreme being.” The Mahabharata is around one hundred thousand verses long and is considered the world’s longest poem. Few Hindu households will have the Mahabharata, but many will have a copy of the Bhagavad Gita.

Devotionalism became popular for many reasons. One was the emerging use of vernacular languages, rather than Sanskrit, a second factor was its appeal across all social classes, and thirdly, a culture of building temples came about in the 4^th and 5^th centuries. Poet saints such as Nammalvar and Tukaram, who came from lower castes, composed devotional works in a common vernacular language that everyone could understand. Other bhakti poets who came from wealthier social castes also wrote about their devotion to one god. For example, Mira, the Gujarati Princess wrote about her love for Krishna.

Temples became centers of devotion, rituals, poetry, music, dance, scholarship, economic distribution, and were centers of art and astronomy. Because of the various manifestations of the Supreme Being one can see various iconographies in the temples and in artwork.

Hindus have a long history of venerating the divine in female form often referring to it as the Goddess. The Goddess can be seen as a manifestation of Parvati, the wife of Shiva, sometimes called “Amba or Ambika (“Little Mother”). She can also be seen as Kali, the dark Goddess, or as the warrior goddess, Durga. The Goddess also manifests as Shri Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and good fortune. Anjana, a name mentioned in the Brothers K, was the mother of Hanuman, one of the heroes of the Ramayana. She is worshiped as a family deity.

Vishnu is portrayed as having a multiplicity of incarnations. It is believed that over the ages he has descended to earth several times in various animal and human forms to overthrow evil and establish dharma, or righteousness. One of Vishnu’s incarnations is Rama (the hero of a great epic, the Ramayana and another is Krishna who is celebrated in the Bhagavad Gita.

The manifold aspects of Shiva’s power are expressed in his often paradoxical roles: he is both fierce and benevolent, creator and destroyer, exuberant dancer and austere yogi, ascetic and husband of the goddess Parvati.

Vishnu, Shiva, and the Goddess are the most important deities in Hindu texts, but there are still many other deities throughout India. There is Ganesha, the elephant headed son of Parvati, who is known as being able to overcome all obstacles. There is Kartikkeya/Murugan, a son of Shiva, and Hanuman, a divine monkey-devotee of Rama and incarnation of Vishnu.

All of these Gods and Goddesses have their own iconographic characteristic and every position of their hands or feet, every associated animal, plant, or bird, has a special significance.

Sources:

Coogan, Michael David., and Vasudha Narayanan. Eastern Religions: Origins, Beliefs,
Practices, Holy Texts, Sacred Places. Ed. Michael D. Coogan. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005.
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