Archive for Hinduism
Intro to Hinduism – a class lecture
If you could boil down Hindi teaching to one sentence it would say –
YOU CAN HAVE WHAT YOU WANT !
Now, that’s a bold statement. But the truth is that most people really don’t know what they want.
As a spiritual counselor, I come face to face with this all the time.
People come to me with what they think their ‘issue’ is and by the time an hour has past, the
‘actual issue’ is revealed. Psychologist call this the presenting problem vs. the real problem.
I have found that the Universe works for us when we are clear!
Hinduism goes further and teaches us that people actually want four things:
The first is pleasure. It is one of the legitimate ends of life. Hinduism teaches us to seek pleasure if that is what we want, but do it intelligently. Eventually, all who seek pleasure discover that it is not enough and perhaps not really want they want after all.
The second major goal, which I believe goes along with what the age/stage development theorists teach us is the pursuit of worldly success. Most people will seek after some aspect of wealth, fame or power. There is a drive for position and possessions especially among Westerners. Most often, the desire for these things can never fully be satisfied for once a person attains one goal, usually another larger one takes its place. Success is somewhat like the story of the donkey driver who put a carrot on a stick just out of reach of the donkey. It chases and chases but never can actually reach it.
In Hinduism, pleasure and success are the two steps along the PATH OF DESIRE. Both of these are not to be considered as wrong, just incomplete. In fact, there is a guiding principle in Hinduism which says, not to turn from desire until desire turns from you. Which, it inevitably will and must.
The next stage of development is the PATH OF RENUNCIATION – not to be considered as it might first negatively appear, but rather to be seen as a signal that life holds more than one is now experiencing. Consider, for example, people who simplify their lives to get back to nature, or an athlete who forgoes certain pleasures to achieve what they see as a greater gain.The emphasis is on the fact that life holds more than one is now experiencing. The major transformation of one’s life is from a will to get to the will to give or to serve.
So – what do people want? The first want is being. No one wants to die. The second is the want to know. The third thing people seek is joy. And they want all of these things infinitely- infinite being, infinite knowledge and infinite bliss. The Hindu word for this liberation is called moksha. Hinduism further teaches that what we all want we already have. The infinite center of all life is no less than the Godhead or Brahman itself. Unfortunately, most people cover over this truth and so the quest of life is the uncovering of the infinite center of all life.
PATHS TO GOD
The path to God for a Hindi is fourfold. There are four types of YOGA that can be followed, depending upon the person’s desire and inclinations and basic spiritual personality type. Yoga can be practiced in one or more of four ways – reflective, emotional, avtive or experimental. Yoga means to unite or yoke together or to place under disciplined training.
JNANA YOGA – path of oneness with God through knowledge – an intuitive discernment that transforms, turning the knower into that which is known. Thoughts have consequence for such people. First, the thinker must learn that he/or she is more than a finite self and then through a process of prolonged, intensive reflection, move from concept to realization and eventually a total shift in self-identification to the more abiding part of our nature. This is the steepest path to God and is only for a select few.
BHAKTI YOGA is emotional and directs toward God the love that abides in every hear.
Type 1 – for those most interested in their bodies. Precision and control of the body
All About Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the religion of the majority of people in India and Nepal. It also exists among significant populations outside of the sub continent and has over 900 million adherents worldwide.
Unlike most other religions, Hinduism has no single founder, no single scripture, and no commonly agreed set of teachings.
Introduction to Hinduism
Hinduism is the religion of the majority of people in India and Nepal. It also exists among significant populations outside of the sub continent and has over 900 million adherents worldwide.
In some ways Hinduism is the oldest living religion in the world, or at least elements within it stretch back many thousands of years. Yet Hinduism resists easy definition partly because of the vast array of practices and beliefs found within it. It is also closely associated conceptually and historically with the other Indian religions Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism.
Unlike most other religions, Hinduism has no single founder, no single scripture, and no commonly agreed set of teachings. Throughout its extensive history, there have been many key figures teaching different philosophies and writing numerous holy books. For these reasons, writers often refer to Hinduism as ‘a way of life’ or ‘a family of religions’ rather than a single religion.
Defining Hinduism
The term ‘Hindu’ was derived from the river or river complex of the northwest, the Sindhu. Sindhu is a Sanskrit word used by the inhabitants of the region, the Aryans in the second millennium BCE. Later migrants and invaders, the Persians in the sixth century BCE, the Greeks from the 4th century BCE, and the Muslims from the 8th century CE, used the name of this river in their own languages for the land and its people.
The term ‘Hindu’ itself probably does not go back before the 15th and 16th centuries when it was used by people to differentiate themselves from followers of other traditions, especially the Muslims (Yavannas), in Kashmir and Bengal. At that time the term may have simply indicated groups united by certain cultural practices such as cremation of the dead and styles of cuisine. The ‘ism’ was added to ‘Hindu’ only in the 19th century in the context of British colonialism and missionary activity.
The origins of the term ‘hindu’ are thus cultural, political and geographical. Now the term is widely accepted although any definition is subject to much debate. In some ways it is true to say that Hinduism is a religion of recent origin yet its roots and formation go back thousands of years.
Some claim that one is ‘born a Hindu’, but there are now many Hindus of non-Indian descent. Others claim that its core feature is belief in an impersonal Supreme, but important strands have long described and worshipped a personal God. Outsiders often criticise Hindus as being polytheistic, but many adherents claim to be monotheists.
Some Hindus define orthodoxy as compliance with the teachings of the Vedic texts (the four Vedas and their supplements). However, still others identify their tradition with ‘Sanatana Dharma’, the eternal order of conduct that transcends any specific body of sacred literature. Scholars sometimes draw attention to the caste system as a defining feature, but many Hindus view such practices as merely a social phenomenon or an aberration of their original teachings. Nor can we define Hinduism according to belief in concepts such as karma and samsara (reincarnation) because Jains, Sikhs, and Buddhists (in a qualified form) accept this teaching too.
Although it is not easy to define Hinduism, we can say that it is rooted in India, most Hindus revere a body of texts as sacred scripture known as the Veda, and most Hindus draw on a common system of values known as dharma.
- Hinduism originated around the Indus Valley near the River Indus in modern day Pakistan.
- About 80% of the Indian population regard themselves as Hindu.
- Most Hindus believe in a Supreme God, whose qualities and forms are represented by the multitude of deities which emanate from him.
- Hindus believe that existence is a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, governed by Karma.
- Hindus believe that the soul passes through a cycle of successive lives and its next incarnation is always dependent on how the previous life was lived.
- The main Hindu texts are the Vedas and their supplements (books based on the Vedas). Veda is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘knowledge’. These scriptures do not mention the word ‘Hindu’ but many scriptures discuss dharma, which can be rendered as ‘code of conduct’, ‘law’, or ‘duty’
- Hindus celebrate many holy days, but the Festival of Lights, Diwali is the best known.
- The 2001 census recorded 559,000 Hindus in Britain, around 1% of the population.