1. World Religions (RELS-211, Rein)
Hinduism vocabulary and study questions:
4 aims of life karma
4 stages of life Krishna
ahimsa maya
artha moksha
bhakti nirguna Brahman
BJP sagunga Brahman
Brahman Sanatana Dharma
Brahmin sat / asat
caste Siva
darshan tantra
dharma varnashrama Dharma
guru Vedas
Hindutva Vishnu
Kali Yuga yoga
kama
Study questions:
1. “Unity in diversity”: give at least four examples of this concept in Hindu practice.
2. What are the three major historical stages of Hindu development over the last three thousand
years or so, and how do they correspond to different religious sensibilities?
3. Some argue that Hinduism is essentially polytheistic, others say it is monotheistic. Explain.
4. Would a practitioner of bhakti be likely to venerate nirguna Brahman or saguna Brahman, and
why?
5. In your view, what is the appeal of the BJP? Would Gandhi approve or disapprove?
6. Ōtsu quotes Gandhi’s dictum that “all religions are true.” What are the differences between Ōtsu
and Gandhi in how they understand this idea? Explain in terms of your knowledge of the Hindu
and Christian religious traditions.

2. Brahman: impersonal spirit, universal substance
Sat / Asat: Being / Nonbeing
Maya: Illusion
Beliefs shared by most Hindus:
1. Presence of the divine in the world around us
2. Multifaceted nature of the divine presence; no one religion has a monopoly on truth
3. Reincarnation; including the concepts of karma, yoga, samsara, moksha
Less universal but very common:
4. Necessity of a spiritual guide (guru) in reaching truth
5. Importance of life-cycle rituals (samskaras) at birth, death, coming-of-age, marriage, etc.
Four ashramas or life-stages:
Student, householder, forest-dweller, renunciate
Four purusarthas or aims of life:
Kama (pleasure, well-being), artha (production, wealth, achievement), dharma (law, religion), moksha
(liberation from the death-rebirth cycle of samsara)
Three margas (paths) or yogas (disciplines) to reach religious truth:
Karma-yoga: good deeds
Bhakti-yoga: love and devotion to god
Jñana-yoga: wisdom, contemplation, meditation on truth
Less common, but sometimes added to this list:
Raja-yoga: esoteric techniques, meditation, cultivating mystical insights and visions
Four caste-groups (also called varnas, literally “markings”)
Priests (Brahmin), warriors (kshatriya), producers (artisans, craftspeople, merchants, some
farmers—vaishya), servants (shudra). Note: In early (Vedic) Hinduism, the castes were believed to have
emerged from the sacrificial division of the "primal man" at creation into four parts: the mouth became
the priests, the arms became the warriors, the genitals and thighs became the producers, and the feet
became the servants.
Three stages of Hindu history:
I. Sacrifice-centered polytheistic religion
● central texts: the early Vedas
● goal of religious life: sacrifices keep the universe functioning
● priests represent the “mouth” of the gods
● heavy focus on ritual
II. Monistic religion
● central texts: the Upanishads
● human beings should meditate on the unity of all things as impersonal spirit (nirguna
Brahman, spirit “without qualities”)
● in contrast to first stage, gods decrease in importance
● goal of religious life: moksha, liberation from samsara (birth-death-rebirth cycle) using the
laws of karma and techniques of yoga
● fundamental insight: “tat tvam asi” (“That thou art”), meaning that atman (the individual
soul) is identical with Brahman (spiritual essence of the universe)
● heavy focus on meditation, wisdom, and truth-seeking
III. Theistic (god-centered) religion
● central texts: the epics (Mahabharata, including the Bhagavad-Gita, and the Ramayana)
● gods gain in importance
● human beings should fulfill their varnashrama dharma, their role in the world, while
devoting themselves inwardly to the service of their God (as a manifestation of saguna
Brahman, spirit “with qualities”)
● heavy focus on devotion, worship, love to God (bhakti)

3. Rein’s Handy Hinduism Timeline
1500­1000 BCE Aryan invasions into northwest India
ca. 1200 BCE Rg-Veda composed
1200­900 BCE later Vedas
around 500 BCE “untouchable” castes develop
900­ 200 BCE Upanishads composed
483 BCE Birth of the Buddha (traditional date)
400 BCE­400 CE composition of the Mahabharata (including the Bhagavad-Gita)
200 BCE­200 CE composition of Ramayana
150­300 CE early Dharmashastras
500­700 CE early Tantras
8th c. CE first Muslim invasions of India
788­820 CE Shankara, a leader of the Advaita Vedanta philosophical school
13th­14th c. CE Muslim rule over India consolidated (lasts until 1707)
ca. 1469­1549 Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism
1757 British East India company defeats Muslim rulers
1828 Brahmo Samaj, a Hindu reform organization, founded
1836­1886 Ramakrishna, a mystical thinker
1858 British rule over India officially begins
1869­1948 Mohandas K. Gandhi, a leader of the Indian independence movement
Earliest Hindu “mission” to the West: Vivekananda lectures at the
1893 World Parliament of Religions, Chicago
A.C. Bhaktivedanta, founder of International Society for Krishna
1896­1977 Consciousness (a.k.a. the “Hare Krishnas”), L.A.
1947 Indian independence; partition of South Asia into India and Pakistan
1970s First Hindu temples in Europe and North America are built