Tibetan Buddhism

We will explore the Tibetan Buddhism by watching a 30 minutes DVD on a lecture on this subject by Professor Malcolm David Eckel of the Boston University. The brief notes below are quotes taken from Dr Eckel’s Course Guidebook, pages 40-43. You may want to think about the question at the bottom of these notes before you watch the DVD!

Summary: “The “First Diffusion” of the Dharma in Tibet began in the seventh century when the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo built a temple in Lhasa to house an image of Buddha. The early history of Tibetan Buddhism was shaped by models borrowed from India. The Indian saint Padmasambhava, or Guru Rinpoche, gave Tibetan Buddhism a strong Tantric flavor, and Shantarakshita introduced Tibetans to the intellectual traditions of the Indian monasteries. Eventually, Tibetan Buddhist developed a tradition of four schools, the Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Geluk, each with it’s own distinctive characteristic. Today the Tibetan tradition is best known in the figure of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, recipient of the Nobel Prize in 1989 for his peaceful campaign of resistance to Chinese domination in Tibet.”

1. “During the seventh century, a line of kings in central Tibet united the Tibetan tribes and began to extend their military influence outside the Tibetan plateau. As they turned their tradition beyond Tibet, they encountered the lively Buddhist culture of India, Nepal and China, and Central Asia. ...

2. “According to Tibetan tradition, King Songtsen Gampo (c.609-49) invited one of his two wives to help him introduce the cult of the Buddha to Tibet. …

3. “The next major series of events in Tibetan Buddhist history occurred in the eight century, during the reign of King Thrisong Detsen. …

4. “Thrisong Detsen sponsored the construction of a monastery at Samye, the Buddhist monastery in Tibet. …

5. “Tibetan tradition also tells us that Thrisong Detsen sponsored a debate at Samye to determine the character of Tibetan Buddhism. …

6. “According to Tibetan tradition, the king decided in favour of the Indian party and permanently oriented Tibet toward India. …

7. “The First Diffusion of Buddhism came to an end around the year 836, when a king named Langdarma attempted to suppress Buddhism. He was assassinated, and the line of Tibetan kings was broken. …

8. “The “Later Diffusion” of the Dharma in Tibet took place during the eleventh century. …

9. “The important teacher, such as Atisha (982-1054) and the Tantric saint Marpa (1012-96), reintroduced the tradition of monastic learning from eastern India. …

10. “From these tentative beginnings and others like them, grew most of the schools that have dominated Tibetan Buddhism to the present day. …

11. “The Nyingma, or “Old”, school traces its origin back to the First Diffusion of the Dharma, in the eighth century C.E. …

12. “The Kagyu, or “Teaching Lineage,” School traces its origin to the Lama (guru) Marpa, whose disciple Milarepa (1040-1123) became one of Tibet’s most beloved saints. The story of Milarep’s first meeting with Marpa gives a sense of the robust, down-to-earth quality of this tradition. …

13. “The Sakya School emerged in the eleventh century under the leadership of Drogmi (992-1074). Drogmi was the teacher of Konchog Gyeltsen who, in 1073, found the Sakya Monastery that gave the school its name. …

14. “The Geluk, or “Virtuous Way,” School (also know as the “Yellow Hats”) emerged in the early fourteenth century under the leadership of the scholar Tsongkhapa founded several major monasteries in central Tibet, including Ganden, his home monastery. These have been some of the most influential religious institutions in the history of Tibet. … [Emphasis is mine for you to remember for exams!]

15. “The Tibetan Buddhism is personified for many people today by the figure of the Dalai Lama. …

16. “The present Dalai Lama represent a line of incarnations that goes back to the fourteenth century. …

17. “The title “Dalai Lama” was given to the third member of the linage, Sonam Gyatso (1543-1589) by a Mongol leader named Altan Khan. … [Dalai means ocean; teacher or guru (lama) with ocean of wisdom]

18. “The “Great Fifth” Dalai Lama (1617 – 1683) made the Dalai Lamas the spiritual, as well as the temporal or political leaders of Tibet, bringing the ideal of the righteous king and the charismatic monk together in the same person. …

19. “The first Dalai Lama to become enmeshed in international politics was the thirteenth (1876-1935). …

20. “The weight of international responsibility has fallen most heavily, however on Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama. …

21. “The fourteenth Dalai Lama functions as a bridge between the ancient cultural traditions of Tibet and the complex challenges that face many modern Buddhist at the turn of the twenty-first century. …

Question to Explore:

Give a brief account of the various developments that shaped the Tibetan Buddhism that is now led by the Dalai Lama.

Buddhist Denominations

The main subdivisions within Buddhism are three:
A. Theravada – Way of Elders
B. Mahayana – Greater Vehicle
C. Vajrayana – Diamond Vehicle

Please read “Buddhism spreads abroad” in Fisher to explore Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism in pages 147-169.

18 sects known as nikayas evolved in the early days around 3rd century BCE of Buddhism – during the time of Emperor Ashoka! (It was his son named Mahinda, a monk that took Buddhism to Sri Lanka!)

A, above and B above, went in their separate ways from the first century of the Common Era. Mahayana further divided into diverse schools that include the Zen and Pure Land. C above is the esoteric sect of the Buddhists that is predominant in Tibet and is also known as the Tibetan Buddhism.

A. Theravada Buddhism

1. Found in Southern Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Laos, and Cambodia.

2. Use the Pali Canon as the authoritative source!

3. Theravada literally means “Way of the elders”! It is a very conservative form of Buddhism!

4. Theravada, or Southern Buddhism in Sri Lanka has three nikayas – Amarapura, Siyam and Ramanuja!

5. Theravada teaching has remained faithful to the original teachings of Buddha! Hence it has somewhat remained as “Atheistic”! Theravada Buddhists consider Buddha as the ideal and great personality whom they strive to imitate to become a Buddha! For them each individual must strive on his or her own towards Nibbana!

6. Buddha in Theravada Buddhism is plainly historical!

7. There are two types of monks in Sri Lanka – forest monks and village (town & city) monks! Tension between one finding nibbana and helping other find nibbana!

8. Discipline is the basic foundation of the Theravada Buddhists! So this has become Buddhism of discipline, while the Mahayana is Buddhism of meditation and Vajrayana the Buddhism of rituals!

B. Mahayana Buddhism

1. Mahayana or Northern Buddhism flourishes in Tibet, China, and Japan!

2. Yana means vehicle or carrier! There is much uncertainty about the origin of these words Mahayana and Hinayana, meaning big and small vehicle!

3. Lotus Sutra – a Mahayana text (3rd chapter has a parable of the burning house, etc.) This may suggest the meaning! There is one carrier that is large enough for all! And that is Mahayana!

4. On the other hand Mahayana Buddhism has been very accommodative to the needs of the people and ends up somewhat “polytheistic”! It can also accommodate the Shinto and the Confucian teachings as well and synthesize into new forms of Buddhism! In that sense Mahayana Buddhism is very syncretistic!

5. Mahayana Buddhists maintain the basic teachings of Buddha – the four noble truths, eightfold path, tilakhana etc. – and have transformed into a theistic religion with rituals and so on! They believe your nibbana becomes authentic and complete only when you help others also into nibbana! Bodhisattva is useful for the society!

6. Mahayana Buddhists emphasize the concept of Bodhisattva, one out of compassion helps others to achieve nibbana while the Theravadins speak of the Arhant or Arhat, a worthy one who has found nibbana!

7. Buddha in Mahayana Buddhism is somewhat an emanation of a universal principle, leading up to much more mythical expressions! There are those in Mahayana Buddhism who will interpret Buddha and Bodhisattva as metaphors for aspects of enlightenment! Dalai Lama considered Mother Theresa as a Bodhisattva! Dalai Lama is viewed as Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion, a category of being dedicated to “compassion”!

8. Mahayana tradition also has developed detail concepts “The Three Bodies of Buddha”. See Fisher, page 156:
a. Formless enlightened wisdom of Buddha
b. Body of bliss – the celestial Buddha who inspires and informs the bodhisattvas
c. Manifested body – Buddha appears in different forms to help the world

C. Vajrayana Buddhism

1. An offshoot of the Mahayana around 500 ACE in India and established in Tibet around 750 ACE.

2. It is known as the “ritual way”. They believe nibbana can be achieved through the power of rituals. This includes continuous recitations of certain mantras, prayers or sacred formulas.

3. Dalai Lama belongs to this path! Read about Dalai Lama and his contribution to Tibetan Buddhism and world peace. Read Fisher, page 167.

4. Lamas, qualified teacher play an important role in the Tibetan Buddhism.

Question to Explore:

1. Discuss the similarities and the differences between the Theravada and the Mahayana Buddhism.

2. Explain the major contribution of Dalai Lama to develop Tibetan Buddhism and inter-religious dialogue.

3. If you were to choose the Buddhist path which of the two denominations – the Mahayana or the Theravada path – would you choose. Explain your reasons in detail. And if you were one of those who would not choose the Buddhist path why would you reject it. Explain your reasons in detail.

Buddhist Scriptures

The Tripitaka, or Tipitaka is the collection of Buddhist scriptures of both Theravada and Mahayana. It refers literally to the three baskets of literature – large volumes!

The Dhammapada, a small part of the Tipitaka, can provide a quick and an interesting introduction to the sacred writings of the Buddhists. This consists of 423 verses in Pali uttered by the Buddha on some 305 occasions for the benefit of a wide range of human beings. These sayings were selected and compiled into a book. It is beautiful and had relevance for moulding the lives of future generations of Buddhists and very popular among both Buddhists and non-Buddhists interested in Buddhism. They are divided into 26 chapters and the stanzas are arranged according to subject matter.

For a quick reading you may click on:
http://www.serve.com/cmtan/Dhammapada/

A. The Canon

1. It is generally believed that whatever were the teachings of the Buddha in terms of dhamma, the doctrines and vinaya, the disciplines, were rehearsed soon after his death by a fairly representative body of disciples. It is this group that made up of the first council of Buddhists.

2. The threefold division of the Buddhist scriptures into Sutta, Vinaya and Abhidhamma is based on this collection and was done much later.

3. Unity of Buddha’s disciples with a common body of doctrines and disciplines lasted only about a century.

4. The Council that took place at Vesali is known as the second Buddhist Council saw the break up of this original body and as many as eighteen separate schools were known to exist by about the first century B.C.

5. It is reasonable to assume that each of these schools would have opted to possess a Tripitaka of their own, perhaps with a considerably large common core.

6. Buddha is believed to have used the language of Magadha to preach. And it is generally believed that this is what we today call the Pali language. This is why we still use the phrase “Pali Canon” to refer to the original words of Buddha.

7. There is also other Buddhist literature in Pali, mostly commentaries written by the disciples of Buddha!

8. Today besides these Pali literature connected to the teachings of Buddha there are also other Sanskrit literature and Chinese literature suggesting a fuller discussion on Buddhist scriptures must include literature on these two languages as well!

9. Tipitaka, we saw above, is divided into three categories:
a. Sutta Pitaka
b. Vinaya Pitaka
c. Abhidhamma Pitaka

1o. Sutta Pitaka includes the following five collections: (Students are not expected to commit this into memory!)
a. Digha nikāya
b. Majjhima nikāya
c. Samyutta nikāya
d. Anguttara nikāya
e. Khuddaka nikāya (which in turn has 15 books)
i. Khuddaka pātha
ii. Dhammapada
iii.
iv.
v.
…
xv. Cariyā pitaka

11. Vinaya Pitaka has five books and the fifth has further two!

12. Abhidhamma Pitaka has seven books!

B. Quotes from Dhammapada – (part of the Sutta Pitaka): (Taken from http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/dhamma.htm

1. Chapter 15, titled “Happiness”, verses 200-204: “Happy indeed we live, we who possess nothing. Feeders on joy we shall be, like the Radiant Gods. Victory begets enmity; the defeated dwell in pain. Happily the peaceful live, discarding both victory and defeat. There is no fire like lust and no crime like hatred. There is no ill like the aggregates (of existence) and no bliss higher than the peace (of Nibbana). Hunger is the worst disease, conditioned things the worst suffering. Knowing this as it really is, the wise realize Nibbana, the highest bliss. Health is the most precious gain and contentment the greatest wealth. A trustworthy person is the best kinsman, Nibbana the highest bliss.”

2. Chapter 24, titled “Craving”, verses 334-338: “The craving of one given to heedless living grows like a creeper. Like the monkey seeking fruits in the forest, he leaps from life to life (tasting the fruit of his kamma). Whoever is overcome by this wretched and sticky craving, his sorrows grow like grass after the rains. But whoever overcomes this wretched craving, so difficult to overcome, from him sorrows fall away like water from a lotus leaf. This I say to you: Good luck to all assembled here! Dig up the root of craving, like one in search of the fragrant root of the birana grass. Let not Mara crush you again and again, as a flood crushes a reed. Just as a tree, though cut down, sprouts up again if its roots remain uncut and firm, even so, until the craving that lies dormant is rooted out, suffering springs up again and again.”

3. Chapter 26, titled “The Holy Man”, verses 399-402: “He who without resentment endures abuse, beating and punishment; whose power, real might, is patience -- him do I call a holy man. He who is free from anger, is devout, virtuous, without craving, self-subdued and bears his final body — him do I call a holy man. Like water on a lotus leaf, or a mustard seed on the point of a needle, he who does not cling to sensual pleasures — him do I call a holy man. He who in this very life realizes for himself the end of suffering, who has laid aside the burden and become emancipated — him do I call a holy man.”

Questions to Explore:

1. Do you consider Buddha’s teaching on “dukka” pessimistic? Explain in detail your answer.

2. “Buddhist scriptures are old fashioned and irrelevant”. Critically comment on this statement.

3. Write short notes on the following: a. Tipitaka; b. Eightfold Path; c. Four Noble Truths; d. Tilakhana; and e. The Triple Gem.

The Four Noble Truths

Please read Fisher pages 140-147.

Buddha saw the humans as ailing in the world and considered the Buddha dharma as a medicine for the sickness of the world. Buddhism is basically a way self improvement (development) as you can see below in the “Thirteen Greatest” of Atisha, a 11th Century Tibetan Buddhist Master:

“The greatest achievement is selflessness.

The greatest worth is self-mastery.

The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.

The greatest precept is continual awareness.

The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.

The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.

The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.

The greatest generosity is non-attachment.

The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.

The greatest patience is humility.

The greatest effort is not concerned with results.

The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.”

Buddhism offers no saviour to save one’s soul (for Buddhism denies the existence of a soul) and demands no praise or worship to a deity! Buddha in the “Four Noble Truths” speaks of our misserable condition and outlines a way out!

A. Dukkha – Exists

1. Dukkha is suffering, sorrow, pain, stress, etc. Its describes more of an existential condition of human life. Dukkha includes anything that is temporory, conditional, and compounded! Even happiness is dukkha because it is transitory! Life in its totality is full of suffering! Buddha acccepted there is “ease, comfort and happiness” in life. But that is not permanent and therefore that too leads to suffering! Life is incapable of satisfying us totally!

2. “Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, dissociation from the loved is suffering, not to get what one wants is suffering: in short the five categories affected by clinging are suffering.” Samyutta Nikaya LVI, 11

3. What we call as “person” or “human” is an aggregate of aspects (skandha): matter (– a combination of earth, water, fire and wind), sensation (or feeling), perception, vollition (or will), and concsiousness.

4. Suffering happens in different degrees in two realms: suffering in the physical realm and suffering in the psychological realm!

5. Physical suffering is pain, sickness, injury, tiredness, old age, and eventually death!
Psychological suffering is sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment, and depression.

6. Impermanence which is one of the marks of life and that causes suffering. Happy moments do come but soon they pass by. Loved ones do come but they too pass by!

7. Buddha spoke of tilakhana, three marks of life – dukkha, anicca, and anatta.

B. Thannava – Cause for Dukkha

1. Buddha said that the origin of all dukkha is thannawa, craving and attachment to transient things and confusing the unreal as the real. This is the second noble truth.

2. For Buddha it is ignorance to consider the transient as permanent. All is anicca, impermanent like water bubble!

3. Both the physical objects around us and the ideas emerging in our minds are transient, ever changing! But in ignorance we crave and cling on to these. Dukkha emerges from our desire, passion, ardour, pursuit of wealth and prestige, striving for fame and popularity, or in short: craving and clinging.

4. Because the objects of our attachment are transient, their loss is inevitable, thus suffering will necessarily follow. Objects of attachment also include the idea of an atma, a soul (or self) which is a delusion. For Buddhists what we call as soul is just an imagination, an attempt of one’s mind towards “self preservation”. Likewise what we call as “God” is nothing but a human mind’s creation towards “self protection”!

C. Dukkha will Cease when Thannawa Cease

1. Dukkha can be brought to an end by the cessation of thannawa, clinging or craving or both. That is the third noble truth: the ending of all suffering by ending clinging and craving.

2. This means that dukkha can be overcome through human activity, simply by removing the cause of suffering. You do not need any deity for that!

3. Thannawa, then, needs to be rejected, relinquished, and renounced to overcome dukkha. When craving is abandoned dukkha will automatically cease.

4. Becoming perfectly dispassionate will lead to the state of liberation from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth and that state is identified in Buddhism as Nirvana. Nirvana means freedom from all worries, troubles, complexes, fabrications and ideas.

5. Nirvana, the Buddhist argue, is not comprehensible for those who have not attained it. It is an inexplicable experience of perfect bliss, with no dukkha! But one has to work hard, or walk in a particular path to reach this state!

D. Eightfold Path – Path to Overcome Attachment

1. The path to end dukkha is the final, and the fourth noble truth. This is a path to gradual self-improvement, which is described more detailed in the.

2. Buddhist call this path to overcome dukkha as the middle way of avoiding the two extremes of excessive self-indulgence (hedonism) and excessive self-mortification (asceticism).

3. This path has eight steps to follow. Hence it is known as the “Noble Eightfold Path”. This includes adopting in one’s life the following:
a. Right View
b. Right Intention
c. Right Speech
d. Right Action
e. Right Livelihood
f. Right Effort
g. Right Mindfulness
h. Right Concentration

4. The eightfold path, the Buddhists put under three catecories:
a. Wisdom – a and b above!
b. Ethical Conduct – c, d, and e above!
c. Mental Development – f, g, and h above!

5. Eightfold path, then, is a discipline in real life! Buddhism in essence is not a worship of deity, or a set of rituals but “a way of life” in which one becomes wiser with a strong mind that promotes an ethical behaviour! Notice there is no “God talk” in Buddhism!

Questions to explore:

1. Discuss in detail the various aspects of the “Four Noble Truths” of Buddhism.

2. Critique Ninian Smart’s understanding of religion in terms of a “seven dimensional phenomenon” in the light of Buddhism.

Buddhism – Introduction

At the core of the religion of the Buddhists is the “Triple Gem”:
A. Buddha
B. Dhamma – Why, or why not Dharma?
C. Sangha

Essentially we will look at the various aspects of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha of the Buddhism in our series of seven brief lectures.

And you are expected to read through the next twenty days Fisher’s book pages 134-181, less than fifty pages!

As you walk around early morning in a Theravada Buddhist Country such as Sri Lanka one is likely to hear the chanting of the following:
A. Buddham saranam gacchami – I take refuge in Buddha.
B. Dhammam saranam gacchami – I take refuge in Dhamma (Teaching).
C. Sangham saranam gacchami – I take refuge in Sangha (Community).

Buddhists – the members of the Sangha

1. Please go to http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html and you will discover there are only a small percentage (6%) of people in the world who call themselves Buddhists.

2. Top 10 largest National Buddhist Population: China (102,000,000 – ?%), Japan (89,650,000 – 50%), Thailand (55,480,000 – 95%), Vietnam (49,690,000 – 55%), Myanmar (41,610,000 – 88%), Sri Lanka (12,540,000 – 70%), South Korea (10,920,000), Taiwan (9,150,000 – 43%), Cambodia (9,130,000 – 90%), and India (7,000,000 – ?%).

3. To familiarize yourself of Buddhism in Canada you may visit - http://www.buddhismcanada.com/

Buddha (563-483 BCE) – Life and Legend

1. Here is obviously a legend that suggests “a Buddhist Virgin Birth”: “According to ancient tradition, Queen Maya, his mother, first had a dream of a beautiful white elephant coming down into her womb, and this was interpreted as a sign that the Buddha, or a universal emperor, was about to be born. When her time came, Queen Maya went into the garden and gave painless birth to the bodhisattva. He immediately walked, spoke, and was received by Brahma.” But we need to turn to some basic facts!

2. Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama was born in a small country in what is now part of Nepal. He belonged to a clan called the Sakyas. Hence he was called Sakya Sage. Buddha was the head of this clan, and was considered a king. Buddha’s parents are Suddodana Gautama and Mahamaya. Seven days after his birth, his mother died.

3. Astrologer Asita foretold that Siddhartha would either become a great emperor, or a sage! Buddha’s father anxious to see his son a great emperor shielded him from anything that might promote him into religious life providing all the comforts and wealth. Very early in his life he was also married to a beautiful princess of a neighbouring kingdom, Yashodhara.

4. As Siddhartha continued living in the luxury of his palaces, he grew increasing restless and became curious to explore the world beyond the comforts of his palace.

5. Buddhist sources then speak of four visions, or four scenes, that Buddha saw in his explorations:
a. First day he saw a sick person.
b. Second day he saw an elderly person.
c. Third day he saw a corpse being carried for cremation by a group of mourners.
d. And finally he saw an ascetic, a monk who had renounced all the pleasures of this world and looked very peaceful. This one made a lasting impression on Siddhartha’s mind.

6. At the age of 29 renounced his palace after kissing his sleeping wife and the newborn son Rahula. He then began to practice an ascetic life with a group of ascetics. This went on for six years bringing no satisfactory answers to his questions of overcoming pain, old age, and death.

7. Siddhartha realizing that these extreme practices were leading him nowhere, that in fact it might be better to find some middle way between the extremes of the life of luxury and the life of self-mortification. So he ate, drank, bathed in the river and decided to sit under a Boddhi tree until he found answers to the problem of suffering in life.

8. It was at this point he experienced a sense of “enlightenment”, known as nibbana, which means he found answers to his quest that were later to become “The Four Noble Truths”. We will discuss this in our next class. It is believed that his enlightenment happened when Siddhartha was thirty-five years old. In the next forty-five years of his life he went around preaching the dhamma, his doctrines, establishing sangha, the Buddhist community, and died at the age of eighty due to food poisoning. Buddha’s death is considered as parinibbana, supreme enlightenment.

9. More details on Buddha’s life and legends connected with his life can be explored at: http://souledout.org/wesak/storybuddha.html

Questions to Explore:

1. Narrate the story of Buddha’s enlightenment.

2. What role do the legends play to enhance the beauty of Buddhist religion?

Hindu Personalities

At the beginning of this programme, and later many times, we have seen that it is possible to explore a specific religion by closely studying prominent persons of that particular religion.

Students are expected to explore two Hindu personalities:

A. Mahatma Gandhi

B. Amma, both to whom we have made reference in the class several times –

Notice among the two one a man, the other a woman; one is living the other, the other dead; one greatly involved in politics, the other not involved politics but wrapped with the community, etc.!

A. Mahatma Gandhi

He is popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, or simply Ghandi. Bu his real name is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (M. K. Gandhi). His dates are 1869-1948.

Here is one place where you can read a lot about Gandhi:
http://www.mkgandhi-sarvodaya.org/

I like you to browse this site and explore two specific concepts of Gandhi on your own! The two concepts are:

1. Ahimsa (often translated as non-injury)! You may go to the Gandhi’s Philosophy section and click on to explore the 6th chapter of the online book “All Men are Brothers”!

2. Self-Discipline. In that same book “All Men are Brothers” chapter 7 provides Gandhi’s thoughts.

B. Amma

In Amma (b. 1953) one may see the Hindu counter part of the Catholic Blessed Theresa (or Mother Theresa) that you studied in the last semester. Visit the following site to explore Amma, meaning, literally, mother, to understand her faith and her mission:
http://www.amma.org/

1. Amma believes that the “beauty and charm of selfless love and service should not die away from the face of the earth.” Hence, her life is dedicated to “a life inspired by love and service to humanity”.

2. If so, how will she summarise the “Hindu Faith” into that one word “Compassion”?

3. What, then, does she mean by “spirituality”? Explore her spiritual practices such as selfless-services, meditation, bhajan, puja, japa and satsang.

C. Thoughts of Great Sages

Gandhi on Service

“Service is not possible unless it is rooted in love or ahimsa.”

“Voluntary service of others demands the best of which one is capable, and must take precedence over service of self.”

“For me, humanitarian service, or rather service of all that lives, is religion. And I draw no distinction between such religion and politics.”

“My creed is service of God and therefore of humanity.”

Amma and Her Teachings on Spirituality

“Spirituality is the practical science of life.” It is a way of exploring and relating in our real life, that which is beyond “the physical existence”!

“Meditation and studying the scriptures are like two sides of a coin. The engraving on that coin is selfless service, and that is what gives it its real value. Our compassion and acts of selflessness take us to the deeper truths. Through selfless action we can eradicate the ego that conceals the Self. Detached, selfless action leads to liberation. Such action is not just work; it is karma yoga.” Emphasis is mine!

Questions to explore:

1. Discuss in detail Gandhi’s concept of ahimsa and comment on its relevance for global peace today.

2. Critique Gandhi’s concept of self-discipline and explore its relevance to the sustainability of world’s resources!

3. Explain Amma’s understanding of spirituality and the spiritual practices she promotes.

Hindu Philosophies

A class on this topic will be taught by Mr Neil Dalal, a PhD Candidate at the Department of Asian Studies The University of Texas at Austin on February 2nd at 2.00-2.50 PM in our usual class room!

Questions on this topic will be posted later. Please make sure you return to this page soon after the lecture on February 2nd.

Question to Explore:

List the six philosphical systems of the Hindus that accept the Vedic authority and discuss one of them in detail.

Hindu Denominations

The word “denomination” – Fisher uses the word “groupings”, or we may use the word “branches” – is not the best word to discuss the three traditions within that single tradition we call “sanātana dharma”! There other Hindu movements, particularly more modern ones, that may not fit into these three!

Please read Fisher, pages 86-90.

We will also have an opportunity to briefly watch a 12-minutes DVD clip in the class on a Saivite story that may remind us of the “forbidden fruit” story of Genesis 3 and other religious themes! The story is about the fruit Narada brings to the court of Siva causing a clash between Ganesha and Kartikeyah, the sons of Siva and Parwathy.

Narada is somewhat like the tempter who comes to the God’s court in the book of Job or Shaitan of the Qur’an always making “mischief”!

We will take a little time to discuss some of the “religious values” communicated in this clip! What is role Avvai, the woman-sage, Tamil poetess, play in this story? Is this an indication of religion as a “human construct”?

The three traditions – the order I am using here is simply that of Fisher – that we need to explore are:
A. Saktas
B. Saivites
C. Vaishnavites

A. Saktas

1. The female power of the Hindu deity, or the feminine principle, is known as sakti, energy, from where the Saktas are derived. They may follow the Vedic path or may not!

2. Sakti worship is very popular at village – or folk level! Popular also with the lower castes in the Hindu community!

3. Goddess connected with Saktas: Durga and Kali – fearsome yet loving.

4. Durga is … “a gentle face but ten arms holding weapons with which she vanquishes the demons who threaten the dharma; she rides a lion. She is the blazing splendor or God incarnate, in benevolent female form.”

5. Kali is the divine in its fierce form. “She may be portrayed dripping with blood, carrying a sword and a severed head, and wearing a girdle of severed hands and a necklace of skulls symbolizing her aspect as the destroyer of evil. What appears as destruction is actually a means of transformation. With her merciful sword she cuts away all personal impediments to realization of truth, for those who sincerely desire to serve the Supreme ... Fearsome to evil-doers, but loving and compassionate as a mother to devotees, Kali wears a mask of ugliness.”

6. Closely connected to “nature worship”!

7. Connection with tantrism!

8. Today the followers of Mayamma (a cult in Kannyakumari in South India) and Amma in Kerala are considered as somewhat modern day Saktas! See http://www.amma.org/

B. Saivites

1. Those wearing three parallel lines on the forehead! You will see this in the Video clip.

2. Worshippers of Siva as the foremost of he divine! In this Siva “is the unmanifest; he is creator, preserver, destroyer, personal Lord, friend, …” etc.

3. Siva is the dancer! This symbolizes the “acting of the creative force” Siva is. Linga, an elongated piece of stone or a boulder, symbol of a male genital, symbolizes, again, the creative force of Siva.

4. Siva is the god of the yogis!

5. Siva has various feminine consorts. To view some of these you may go to: http://brian.hoffert.faculty.noctrl.edu/REL100/05.SaktasSaivitesVaishnavites.html

C. Vaishnavites

1. Three lines vertical or V shape or U shape line is worn on the forehead of the Vaishnavites.

2. Both the epics Ramayana, story of Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu and Maha Bhartha, story of Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu aiding Pandavas are connected with this tradition.

3. Bhagavad Gita is also directly connected with the teachings of Lord Krishna, an incarnation of primary most gracious deity Vishnu.

4. Lakshmi is the consort of Vishnu; Radha the consort of Krishna and Sita the consort of Rama.

Questions to Explore:

1. What are the three major branches of Hinduism? Explain.

2. Write notes on the following Hindu concepts: a. ahimsa; b. maya; c. ichhā; d. lilā; e. kali yuga and f. moksha.

Hindu Doctrines (More of Hindu Themes!)

Hinduism promotes a religious harmony, at least theologically and philosophically. There is much social “intolerance” in the Hindu Society!

Hindu sages declare that there is no “one religion” that teaches an exclusive road to human liberation, or the path of salvation. For Hindu sages there are as many spiritual paths as humans! All paths are valid and all great religions are true.

Hence all Hindu doctrines should be viewed from this Hindu ideal of universal harmony and religious accommodation.

What follows is some thoughts, some speculations on some of the major themes that concerns the Hindu devotee! We will take up some of these discussions, again, also when we explore the “Hindu Philosophical Systems” next week.

A. God

1. Hindus believe in one Supreme Being. Earlier we saw that many gods – Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, Ganesha, Kartikeyah, Saraswathy, etc – of Hinduism are the various manifestations, the multitude of human imaginations of this one God. Please also see earlier lecture on Hindu Deities!

2. And this one God is considered as the satchit-ananda – existing absolutely (sat), with absolute knowledge (chit) and absolute bliss (ānanda).

3. God is both immanent and transcendent. God is “invisible, indivisible, and ineffable” – absolute, attribute less reality, hence, as we saw earlier, is known as Nirguna Brhahman – one reality that is transcendent. But that one Reality is also known as the one who creates and re-creates the visible and the invisible world – the cosmos!

4. And the one Reality that creates is also the antaryāmi, the inward dweller, and authentic “inner soul of the entire universe”. At this point that one reality manifests with “attributes” and the Hindu devotees speak of that one God, the Brahman as Saguna Brahman – still one reality but immanent in the world.

5. Most Hindus consider God as the creator of both the manifest world and the un-manifest reality. There is no duality of God and the world, but only unity. However, God is much bigger than the world. This is affirmed in the Rig Veda 10:90: “A thousand heads hath Puruṣa, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet. On every side pervading earth he fills a space ten fingers wide. This Puruṣa is all that yet hath been and all that is to be; The Lord of Immortality, which waxes greater still by food. So mighty is his greatness; yea, greater than this is Puruṣa. All creatures are one-fourth of him, three-fourths eternal life in heaven. With three-fourths Puruṣa went up: one-fourth of him again was here. Thence he strode out to every side over what eats not and what eats.”

6. God can be worshipped and prayed in the form the devotee chooses. God can be worshipped either in the temples, or in the homes. God in this sense is Ishta Deva, god in the favourite form of the devotee! Devotee can pick any one of the 330 million gods for his or her devotion!

B. Ahimsa

1. Ahimsa means non-violence or non-injury or non-killing. Non-violence has to be observed at three levels – in thought, word, and deed!

2. The Hindu teaching is that all forms of life are different manifestations of God, the Brahman. Hence the Hindu dharma expects from the devotee sensitivity to the sufferings of any of the creatures.

3. Ahimsa, hence, suggests love and compassion to all humans and non-humans, the other forms of life, encouraging the Hindu devotee to protect the environment.

C. World

1. Samkhya system looks at the “world” as a product of evolution. For those in this system the world arises out of an evolution of the primordial matter known as prakrit with the help of a primordial consciousness called purusa!

2. Other systems look at the world as created by God – Brahma! But they do not speak of creation as an act of creation “at a definite period” unlike the Judaeo-Christian belief! Creation and destruction go in a cyclic order!

3. Sense of mystery around creation is also suggested in the Hindu Scriptures as we see in the following quote from Rig Veda 10:129: “Then was not non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it. What covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there, unfathomed depth of water? Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign was there, the day's and night's divider. That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was nothing whatsoever. Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness this All was indiscriminated chaos. All that existed then was void and form less: by the great power of Warmth was born that Unit. Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire, the primal seed and germ of Spirit. Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent. Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it then, and what below it? There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy up yonder Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation? The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being? He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it, Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not.”

4. Why was the world created? There are two answers! Perhaps, you can add a third! First, then, is the common answer that speaks of God’s lilā, the play of God. Creation they would say emerges from the spontaneous overflow of God’s exuberance, ānanda. Second, there is God’s ichhā, the desire. This one is promoted by the Hindu philosophical system known Nyāya Vaisesika. And the third comes from Sankara’s Advaita Vedanta that looks at the world as māyā, illusion.

D. Religious Discipline

Hindu faith recommends that the devotee get guidance of a guru, a spiritually awakened master to attain perfection in life. Gu, in Sanskrit means, darkness; ru means dispel. Darkness is primarily due to ignorance. Hence the guru is one who dispels my darkness, my ignorance that will lead to my maturity and moksha, liberation!

E. Other Themes

There are many other themes that concern the Hindu mind including the following: ashrama dharma, the individual’s spiritual journey; varna dharma, the social responsibilities, the law of Karma; and Moksha. The three ways, the yoga – gnana marga (path of wisdom), bhakti marga (path of devotion) and karma marga (path of action) - is another important theme that the Hindus spend a lot of time discussing. What is human is also another major concern that is discussed under the theme “atman”!

Questions to Explore:

1. Discuss how a Hindu views God and the World.

2. Explain to your friend in a letter – use a letter format – “yoga” is much more than stretching of your muscles and physical postures that leads to a new outlook in life! (Please read Fisher, 80-85).

Hindu Rituals

With a multitude of gods, and goddess, and a huge collection of sacred and semi sacred scriptures it is natural to expect a huge quantity of rituals that also vary from place to place and according to the changing times with some essentials remaining unchanged!

Please read on “Rituals” in Fisher, pp. 97-99 and “Home Puja” in p. 101.

Puja, Worship:

1. Puja, a daily ritual is performed in a sacred corner or in a “puja room”, or “god’s room” of the home.

2. Regular puja enables the Hindu to remain conscious of “the divine presence” and “devotee’s dharma”, responsibilities in the world!

3. Puja begins with a darshan, seeing the family deity! A small picture or a statue is fond in the sacred corner, in Canada it is usually a closet, or in the “puja room” of the home.

4. This is followed by worship where the worshiper offers the god flowers, fruits, and cooked food. This act brings the deity down to earth – a sense of intimacy is created between the deity and devotee!

5. And the next aspect of the worship is partaking in the prasadam, sacramental food, food offered too god!

6. Puja is generally performed only after a “bath” or “a purification of the body”! And women in their monthly cycles generally keep away from puja room! This may vary from place to place!

Holy Places – Temples:

1. Temples are place where the idols are installed and they have divinity infused into them through a long ritual process to introduce sanctity about them. Thereafter the temple becomes a place for collective worship.

2. Hindu then going to the temple with a clean body, legs and hands with no foot wear as a mark of respect. They may also adorn themselves with holy ash, taking an offering to the deity such as flowers, fruits, coconut, camphor and so on.

3. Singing and chanting god’s name either loudly or quietly in ones heart as long as it does not disturb the other devotee is appropriate.

4. Circumambulating – often three times – the gods and goddess in the temple and offering to the priest and temple up keep are all perfect acts of worship, which is expected to increase “a God consciousness” and “an awareness of one’s dharma”!

5. Professional priests, mainly Brahmin, perform rituals in the temple – every day, several times in a day in some places, every week, etc –! The main ritual here is the puja.

6. The priest bathes the deity adorning with clothing, garlands and flowers. Food and drink are offered to the deity and if taken out on procession for people to have a darshan, to see, and for the deity to bless, then, the deity is shaded with an umbrella. The last part of the puja is the arati, the waving of the lighted lamp, usually camphor flames on a tray! At this point the devotees lift their palms together and utter god’s name and seek grace. When the flames are brought to them by the priests they will cup their palms together and place above the flames and stroke their palms on themselves as symbolic gesture to appropriate the blessings of the deity. Then the priests bring prasadam, the gifts offered to the deity and the water used for washing of the deity (the idol). This water is received in the palms and poured on one’s self after sipping a small portion! Fruits and flowers received as prasadam, grace of the deity, are taken back to home for consumption as a symbol of blessings.

7. Once the puja is over in the temple singing or other cultural entertainment and socializing will follow! The Hindu worship is simple. And there may be opportunities to listen to religious discourses in the temple as well. Hindu temples in North America and Europe also end up as centre for preservation of the language and culture!

Priestly Class and Rituals:

1. Brahmin priests, or other appointed priests, perform other rituals and “temple puja”! This could involve “elaborate sacrifices to the god Agni”! You may see a picture of such a sacrifice in Fisher’s page 77.

2. Rites of passage rituals are the most common special occasion rituals performed by Hindus. A family member rather than a “Brahmin Priest” can do rituals connected with the “rites of passages”.

3. Mantras, or specified prayers, are recited at these rituals. For boys of the first three castes – Brahmin Caste, Kshtriya Caste, Vaisiya Caste – a second birth ceremony is performed. This is known as the thread ceremony.

4. Marriage (vivaha) is the middle age passage. The Hindu marriage is much more than an exchange of vows and rings. Before and during the nuptials, many rites are performed in the presence of family deities. These rites show the importance of a strong bond between a husband and wife. The actual wedding ceremony is performed by the priest and signifies the joining of the souls. The blessing by the priest completes the marriage ceremony and is called ashirwaad.

5. Another important ritual is connected with the funeral rites. In the Hindu tradition, individuals are generally cremated and special rites are done to ensure a good after life.

6. Other rituals include domestic rites, celebration of new and full moons, changing of the seasons, first fruits of the harvest, the building of a new house, birth of a son, and so on.

7. Rituals connected with village Hinduism, or folk Hinduism are very different and may even involve sacrifice of animals – goat and fowl – and strong drinks, particularly if those rituals are connected with exorcism, healing, and so on!

Pilgrimages and Festivals:

1. Pilgrimages and festivals are very important and they keep the Hindu community very vibrant. Please read Fisher, pp. 104-108 to explore, on your own, some of the important pilgrimage centres and the important festivals such as Holi festival.

2. Cultural and musical programmes connected with the Hindu festivals become an opportunity for the Hindu devotee to learn more of his or her own Hindu faith.

Questions to Explore:

1. Why do Hindus celebrate the “Holi Festival”? Explain. (Read Fisher, p. 107.)

2. Discuss the “Temple Worship” of the Hindus, or explain the various aspect of a Hindu puja at home.

Hindu Scriptures

You may be able to read all the Hindu Scriptures from the following site:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/index.htm

Religions we have studied so far – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – have sacred writings that are “authoritative” for its adherents! Generally these writings are considered “revealed” and “sacred”.

Hindus also have a corpus of writings that they consider “sacred” and “authoritative”, which are also “revealed”. And an average Hindu may not have read any of these sacred writings, yet the Hindu will treat them with utmost respect.

A. Shurti

Hindus refer to the “revealed” character of these writings with the use of the term shruti, “that which was heard”! The ancient rishis, sages heard the “knowledge”; they saw the “eternal knowledge” that existed. The message, or the knowledge, in these writings is “trans-human”, not “authored” by any humans!

This is how Hindus speak of the Vedas, the primary Sacred Scriptures, which are four in number as we saw in the last lesson – Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda. Knowledge about the earliest form of Hindu religion is also derived from these four Vedas. And these four Vedas (from around 1500-600 BCE) contain the following four sections, (transmitted orally for centuries before they were committed to writing):

a. Samhitas – These are Vedic hymns praising the deity!
b. Brahmanas – They are Vedic instructions and rules to perform the sacred rituals in the right and appropriate way. They also provide meaning and purpose of these rituals.
c. Aranyakas – These are called “composition for the forests” or “Compostion of the forests”. These are actually additional explanatory materiel on Brahmanas, mainly written by ascetic sages who lived in forests.
d. Upanishads – Further philosophical comments to the Aranyakas that one learns by “sitting beside the teacher (Guru)”.

Here is a quote from Rig Veda 1:1 (Translated by Raimundo Panikkar:

“I magnify God, the Divine Fire,
the Priest, Minister of the sacrifice
the Offerer of oblation, supreme giver of treasure”

Commenting on this Panikkar says:

“This opening verse contains as in a nutshell he whole of Man’s sanātana dharma or primordial religiousness: praise, mediation, sacrifice, commerce with the divine, and also remuneration for Man, all caught up in an atmosphere of invocation”.
The Vedic Experience, 1983 edition of 1977, p. 37.

“The Gāyatrī” mantra, which every devout Hindu recites daily, is also from the Rig Veda that is translated thus:

“Om.
We meditate upon the glorious splendor
of the Vivifier divine.
May he himself illumine our minds!”

B. Smritis

There are more books that are considered as secondary scriptures in terms of authority. But these Sacred Scriptures probably are read more frequently and loved more dearly than the Vedas! These are known as Smritis as opposed to Srutis!

The Smritis are based on the teachings of the Vedas. They stand next in authority to the Sruti (Vedas). It explains and expands the Vedas to the adherents of the sanātana dharma. Some of this literature is known as Dharma Sastras that lay down the laws to regulate the Hindu national, community, family, and the individual’s obligations.

Sruti means what is heard, and Smriti means what is remembered. Sruti is revelation and Smriti is tradition. Upanishad is Sruti. Bhagavad-Gita, which we will discuss later is Smriti. But both Sruti and Smiriti are authoritative for Hindus.

The corpuses that make up the Smiriti are the following:

a. Puranas
b. Dharma Sastras
c. Ithihasas
d. Bhagavad-Gita

a. Puranas

Puranas, meaning old, were composed from around 300 BCE until a little after 1000 CE. They were “old tales” of the Hindu tradition, shifting the emphasis away from the Vedic gods! They are mixture of history and imaginative mythology. They tell stories of gods, sages, and kings of great repute, often describing a struggle between good and evil. There are many but 18 Puranas are very prominent among the Hindus – six about Vishnu, six about Brahma, and six about Siva. Puranas communicate values to the devotees.

For more detail read Fisher, p. 95f.

b. Dharma Sastras

They are 18 in number. The often-quoted one is the Manu’s known as Manu Dharma Sastra (also known as Manava Dharma Sastra). The lawgivers have somewhat codified the content and expectation of the Vedas considering the context in which they were living. And now they have become somewhat universal!

There are Hindus who are aware of the need to somewhat abandon at least the “letter” of the dharma sastras such as that of Manu and evolve a new dharma sastra for the present time! Swami Shivananda of the Divine Life Society, in Rishikesh, is one such person.

He says: “It is not possible to follow some of the laws of Manu at present time. We can follow their spirit and not the letter. Society is advancing. When it advances, it outgrows certain laws, which were valid and helpful at a particular stage of its growth. Many new things, which were not thought out by the old lawgivers have come into existence now. It is no use insisting people to follow now those old laws, which have become obsolete. … Time is ripe for a new Smriti.”
http://www.hinduism.co.za/vedas-.htm#The%20Smritis

Here in a 19th century English translation is a quote from Manu on “Re-birth” taken from his last chapter (chapter 12) verses 39 to 43:

“I will briefly declare in due order what transmigrations in this whole (world a man) obtains through each of these qualities. Those endowed with Goodness reach the state of gods, those endowed with Activity the state of men, and those endowed with Darkness ever sink to the condition of beasts; that is the threefold course of transmigrations. But know this threefold course of transmigrations that depends on the (three) qualities (to be again) threefold, low, middling, and high, according to the particular nature of the acts and of the knowledge (of each man). Immovable (beings), insects, both small and great, fishes, snakes, and tortoises, cattle and wild animals, are the lowest conditions to which (the quality of) Darkness leads. Elephants, horses, Sudras, and despicable barbarians, lions, tigers, and boars (are) the middling states, caused by (the quality of) Darkness.”

c. Ithihasas

Ithihasas, epics – Hindus refer sometimes to four epics. But the common ones are two: Ramayana and Maha Baharatha. Bhagavad-Gita, the most popular and the beloved scriptures of the Hindus, is somewhat an appendix to Maha Bharatha!

1. The Ramayana

Ramayana is the story of Sri Rama, an avatar of Vishnu. In Hindu religion Sri Rama is also the ideal man. Sita, the wife of Rama is depicted in this epic as the ideal woman. Please read the summary of this epic in Fisher, pages 92-94. Hanuman, the monkey god, is also connected with this epic about which you can read in the window in p. 93 of Fisher’s book. The epic conveys the Hindu ideals and values to the devotees who periodically turn to this epic. Valmiki, a sage wrote Ramayana in twenty-four thousand verses, which was later rendered into Tamil by the poet Kamban and is known as Kamba Ramayana.

2. The Mahabharata

Mahabharata is an epic that describes the Great War in a legendry place called Kurukshetra between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, cousins. Mahabharata also communicates the Hindu ideals and values. Hindus believe that this epic, sometimes known as fifth Veda discusses all the themes of religion, philosophy, mysticism and polity. This epic is connected with Lord Krishna, the avatar of Vishnu. Vyasa is the sage who wrote this epic with noble “moral teachings, useful lessons of all kinds, many beautiful stories and episodes, discourses, sermons, parables and dialogues”, which under girds Hindu faith and practices. Please read Fisher, p. 94f for more details.


d. The Bhagavad-Gita

It is a part of Mahabharata. The subject matter of this little book with 18 chapters is a dialogue between Lord Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu, and Arjuna in the battlefield, before the commencement of the Great War between the forces of evil and good.

Sri Krishna, as the Lord Krishna is known among Hindus, became the charioteer of Arjuna and explained the essentials of Hindu religion, the need to keep ones own dharma, to Arjuna.

Hindus believe the Upanishads contain the cream of the Vedas while the Bhagavad-Gita contains the cream of the Upanishads.

Hindus sometimes consider the Upanishads as the cow and the Lord Krishna as the cowherd while Arjuna becomes the calf. Then Bhagavad-Gita is the milk. The wise are those who go straight to drink the milk in the Bhagavad-Gita.

Mahatma Gandhi read and reflected on the Bhagavad-Gita daily! It is a piece of literature that leads to self-knowledge!

Questions to Explore:

1. Clarify the Hindu concepts of Sruti and Smiriti.

2. Discuss the Sacred Scriptures of the Hindu community.

3. Why do you think the two epics, Ramayana and Mahabharatha are so important for Hindus? As you answer this question give a summary of the two epics.

4. How will you explain your Muslim friend the Hindu fascination with their Puranas?

Hindu Deities

In our earlier lecture we noticed that one could be a good Hindu without having any belief in any god or goddess! We referred to “Samkhya”, an “atheistic philosophy” as part of the Hindu Philosophical system!

Nevertheless an average Hindu is a firm believer in God or in several gods and goddesses!

Hindu conception of God then we noted earlier moves from atheism to polytheism, to monotheism including a monism, which I described in the last class as “a singular substance behind the multiplicity in form”.

Polytheism

1. Hindus speak of 330 million gods, divinities known as devas!

2. Vedic religion – the most ancient form of Hinduism (1500-500 BCE) – is very polytheistic and some of the deities that we encounter in the Vedas – four in number: Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharva Veda – are:

a. Varuna – the Lord of order,

b. Mitra – the god of nights, together with Varuna they both maintain social and cosmic order,

c. Agni – the fire god,

d. Indra – warrior deity, connected with thunderstorm and is the leader of gods and in mythology Indra has killed the snake, the symbol of the snake,

e. And so on!

3. Most Vedic gods have no hold on the post-Vedic Hindus.

4. In the post-Vedic Hindu religion we still see polytheism with the mentioning of other gods and goddess including the following:

a. Brahma is the creator of the cosmos. The four castes (varunas) originate from Brahma – from the mouth (brahmins), the shoulders (kshtriyas), the thighs (vishias), and the feet (shudras).

b. Vishnu is the preserver and protector of the creation, the cosmos – You may see different avatars, (loosely translated as incarnations) of Vishnu at: http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses/vishnu.htm

c. Siva (or Shiva) is the destroyer. He is the third in the Hindu Trinity consisting of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. But for Saivites – one of the major denominations – generally consisting of Hindus living in the southern part of India – Siva is the Ultimate Reality!

d. Ganapati, or Ganesha, half elephant and half human god is the remover of obstacles. Hindus go to Ganesha before they begin any new project so that the project is completed without any hindrances. He has four hands, elephant's head and a big belly. His vehicle is a tiny mouse. In his hands he carries a rope (to carry devotees to the truth), an axe (to cut devotees' attachments), and a sweets to encourage and reward devotees for spiritual activity). His fourth hand's palm is always extended to bless people. His elephant head is the symbol of wisdom and strength. Mouse, his vehicle, represents swift movement and a sense of the presence of mind.

e. Kartikeya – warrior god. Popular god among the Tamils.

f. Hanuman – Monkey god!

g. Parvati – consort of Siva. Durga is also sometimes included as Siva’s consort along with Parvati.

h. Durga – please read Fisher, p. 86 and view picture on p. 87.

i. Kali – please read Fisher, p. 86.

j. Saraswati – goddess of knowledge and art. Saraswati puja’s is an important event in schools and universities in Tamil Eelam.

k. Lakshmi – consort of Brahma. Read Fisher, p. 90f. Goddess of wealth and beauty. Aspiring for wealth is a very legitimate religious/spiritual goal for Hindus along with three other – Artha, Kama, Dharma and Moksha.

l. And so on!

Monotheism

1. Both in the Vedic period as well as in the post-Vedic period Hindus speak of Hinduism as a “Monotheistic Faith”. Towards this they quote the Vedas that proclaim: ekam sadviprā bahudhā vadanti – that the truth, referring to God, is one, though the sages call by many names! And that one “ultimate reality” is known as Brahman.

2. The many gods of Hinduism, then, are the various manifestations, the multitude of human imaginations of this “invisible, indivisible, and ineffable” – absolute, attribute less reality, hence known as Nirguna Brhahman – one reality that is transcendent.

3. But that one Reality is also known as the one who creates and re-creates the visible world – the cosmos! At this point that one reality manifests with “attributes” and the Hindu devotees speak of Brahman then as Saguna Brahman – still one reality but immanent.

4. Upanishads, another collection of sacred literature (1000-500 BCE), is predominantly monotheistic in orientation!

A Hindu Seeing and Describing God

1. Professor Tiwari says that there “is an inherent faith in even the most illiterate of Hindus that, at bottom there is only one God and the various gods an goddesses are just his various forms or manifestations”.

2. “The average Hindu”, Professor Tiwari says further, “in his own unsophisticated manner believes that God has no definite shape and form”.

3. Then how do we explain the multitude of forms of the “Formless Ultimate Reality”? You need to take into account the following:

a. Hindu images of divine function symbolically to point beyond themselves to the “Ultimate and Infinite Reality”.

b. In some special sense the images are understood to manifest, or embody, the divine reality they represent!

c. When a craftsman has completed the task on an image, the reality is transferred into the object through “rituals”! But that is a “temporary” arrangement, often till the festival of a particular “deity”. When the festival is over the image is destroyed either by drowning in water or by consuming it in fire, reminding the devotees that image is not god!

d. During times of worship the “image” may be treated as if the image is the “living form”!

Questions to Explore:

1. Give a detail account of Siva (or Shiva), the supreme deity of the Saivites.

2. Discuss the Hindu conception of God.

3. How do Hindus resolve the contradiction within their concept of the deity?

4. Describe and discuss the importance of four goddesses of the Hindu pantheon.

Hindu Religion – An Introduction

We will explore the Hindu Religion thematically under the following themes:

1. Hindu Religion
2. Hindu Deities
3. Hindu Scriptures
4. Hindu Rituals
5. Hindu Doctrines
6. Hindu Denominations
7. Hindu Philosophies
8. Hindu Personalities

By discussing Hindu Religion under those eight themes it is hoped that a serious student will find answers to some of the fundamental questions connected to the seven dimensions of a religion – rituals, doctrines, myths/narratives, experiences, ethics/legalism, organization, and symbols/art and architecture – and in this case the Hindu Religion.

Very Important:

Please read Pat Fisher’s Living Religions, (7th Edition), pp. 72-119. Students should familiarize the “Key terms” (the words in page 118) and words in bold through pages 72-117 of Fisher’s book and become familiar with concepts behind those words!

There are also other introductory books that you may consult to appreciate the Hindu faith and practices. Among them are the following:

1. John L. Esposito, Darrell J. Fasching, and Todd Lewis, World Religions Today, (3rd Edition), Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 301-387.

2. Willard G. Oxtoby & Alan F. Segal, editors, A Concise Introduction to World Religions, 2007, pp. 258-325.

Hindu Religion in a Nutshell

Hinduism is one of the world's oldest religions with about 900 million to 1.4 billion adherents worldwide. The bulk of the Hindus are from India, which has about 1 billion Hindu practitioners, roughly a little over 80% of India’s population. There are about 15 million Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh, two Muslim majority countries. In Nepal there are about 18 million Hindus, and about 15 million in Nepal.

There are large number of Hindus in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Fiji, Myanmar, South Africa, and US!

There are large numbers of Hindus, immigrants from India living in the Western world. In the beginning of 2000 in Britain alone there were about 260,000 Hindus! The first Hindu Temple in North America was established as early as in 1906 in San Francisco! There are about 90 Hindu temples and worship centres – Ontario 65, Alberta 08, Quebec 06, British Columbia 05, Manitoba 03, one each in Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, and New Foundland – in Canada. This excludes the many Sai Baba centres! There are at least 4 temples in Edmonton, the well known one being the Maha Ganapathy Temple in Running Creek Road, Edmonton!

Here are some facts from http://www.adherents.com/adh_predom.html

“The world's third largest religion, Hinduism, makes up the majority of the population of 3 nations: Nepal, India, and Mauritius. Balinese-style Hindus also make up 95% of the large population of Bali, in Indonesia.

It is interesting to note that although the majority of the world's Hindus live in India, the nation as a whole is only about 80% Hindu, and is an officially secular state, i.e., there is no state religion.

In Nepal a higher proportion of the population are Hindus than in India, and Nepal is the world's only official Hindu state. Freedom of worship is protected, but official state religion is Hinduism. As in many countries, religious proselytising is prohibited in Nepal.

In Mauritius, a bare majority of 54% of the population are Hindu.”

Hinduism has no single doctrine, and there is no single founder or teacher originating perhaps in the valley of River Indus, which is in modern day Pakistan around 3000 BCE.

Hindus believe in a universal eternal soul called Brahman, the creator God who preserves and destroys all that is created. However, Hindus do worship a multitude of deities. While worshipping a multitude of gods and goddess Hindus, following their sacred scriptures affirm “One God”. The Rig Veda says, “God is one and single, but the worshippers call God in a multitude of names!"

Hindus believe that existence is a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth – or reincarnation – governed by the principle of 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.

Hindus in India may not have read the Vedas but still consider them as the most ancient religious Hindu texts heard by the ancient Hindu sages.

Some Problems in the Study of Hindu Religion:

1. Words such as “Hindu” and “Hinduism” are post 12th century CE and are imposition on a people by the outsiders! Even the word “religion” is not part of that phenomenon we call “Hindu” or “Hinduism”. The word the Hindus use is “dharma” instead of “religion”. However, Hindus today have begun to use the terms such as “religion”, “Hindu”, and “Hinduism” freely!

2. Hindus call their Hinduism – if we can use those terms – “sanātana dharma”, meaning eternal religion! Unlike other religions “sanātana dharma” has no founders, nor a historical moment of “founding”. Sir Charles Eliot once said, “Hinduism has not been made, but has grown”. It is the “beginning less” (anādi) character of this faith that provides a greater authority to this religion! (God, we may note, for a Hindu too, is “beginning less” and “end less”!)

3. It is one of the oldest living and thriving religions despite it being beaten and battered so many times by so many conquerors – Persians (Muslims) and Europeans (Christians) – Portuguese, Dutch, and English!

4. This religion – sanātana dharma – is not uniform or monolithic does not permit easy defining! Hinduism is simultaneously monotheistic, polytheistic, monistic, agnostic and even atheistic! How can that be? That’s the genius of sanātana dharma! Professor K.N. Tiwari said, “A polytheist is as much a Hindu, as a monotheist or a monist or even an atheist.” [Monism refers to a singular substance behind the multiplicity in form. Samkhya is an atheistic philosophical system that is one among the six philosophical systems of Hindu faith and practice. For the six systems please refer to: http://www.atmajyoti.org/sw_six_systems_of_hindu_philosophy.asp or go to http://www.indopedia.org/Hindu_philosophy.html]. The phenomenon described, as “Hinduism” is capable of accommodating all points of views – very pluralistic, and very liberal!

5. We may also notice the Hindu accommodation of some of the other distinct religions such as Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, etc as “other religious orders of Hindu Faith”! Hinduism thrives not by excluding but by including!

Meaning and Order in the Hindu Way:

A. The controversial Caste System - read Fisher, pages 99f – that goes back to the Vedic age is there to promote an orderly working of the Hindu community on the basis of “occupational groups”:

1. Brahmins – priests and philosophers
2. Kshatriyas – kings and warriors
3. Vaishyas – farmers and merchants
4. Shudras – manual laborers
5. Outcastes & Untouchables – Harijans and Dalits

B. Code of Manu compiled around 100 CE is the source of this system! You may want to explore the content of this controversial document!

C. Individual Hindu is expected to organize his life (confined to the males of the three upper castes) through various stages (ashramas) of life, which numbers four:

1. Brahmacharin – student hood
2. Grahastam – householder
3. Vanaprastham – Semi retirement
4. Sannyasin – Complete retirement and renouncement depending on others!

There is much debate around can women also participate in this process!

If you keep these entire rules you enter heaven, achieve liberation – the moksha, the goal of human life!

Questions to Explore:

1. Explain and critically comment the sevenfold definition of “Hindu Religion” provided by the Indian Supreme Court (found in page 116 of Fisher’s book).

2. Explain the strengths and limitations of the ancient Hindu caste system for achieving of “liberation” in today’s world.