Hinduism is one of the oldest extant religious traditions in the world dating back to at least 2500 BCE. It originated in the Indus Valley and has no single founder but developed over time incorporating key beliefs such as dharma, samsara, karma, moksha, and respect for the authority of the Vedas. Hinduism is a diverse set of traditions that worship many deities with the most popular being Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha and Devi. The four major paths to liberation are Jnana (knowledge), Bhakti (devotion), Karma (selfless action), and Raja (meditation) Yoga.

1. HINDUISM
An Introduction
to the
Sanatana Dharma

2. Simple Background
• ―Hinduism‖ is a 19th-century word
– Persian: hindu 
– Sanskrit sindhu (―river‖)
– Religions from the Indus Valley
– ―Indian Religion(s)‖
• 750+ million ―Hindus‖ in India
• 30+ million ―Hindus‖ abroad
• Third largest religion in the world

3. Definition of Hinduism
Indian Supreme Court 1966 (reaffirmed 1995)
• Acceptance and reverence for the Vedas
• A spirit of tolerance
• Belief in vast cosmic periods of creation and
destruction
• Belief in reincarnation
• Recognition of multiple paths to salvation and truth,
• Polytheism
• Philosophical flexibility (no single dogma)

4. Partition of India
1947
Though relatively stable, there is still some conflict, such at the
Ayodhya Temple.

5. Hinduism is one of the oldest extant religious
traditions in the world.
From at least 2500 BCE there were people
living in the Indus Valley.
Several cities with advanced plumbing,
architecture, and populations of 40,000+
(e.g., Harappa and Mohenjo-daro)
flourished.

6. Some scholars have hypothesized that the
―Aryan Invasion‖ is the key event in the
founding of Indian civilization and Hinduism.
(2000-1500 BCE)
Now other scholars have questioned the
―invasion‖ theory in favor of more organic
theories of cultural dispersion.

7. The earliest forms of Hinduism are often called
―Vedic.‖ (2500-800 BCE)
Dominated by a priestly class concerned with ―fire
sacrifices.‖
The fire rituals communicated with the gods,
influenced them, and restored the vital powers of
the universe.
Dyaus Pitr (cf: Zeus & Jupiter)
Agni (god of fire)
Soma (a god & a drug?)

8. ―If I were asked under what sky the human mind . . . has
most deeply pondered over the greatest problems of life, and
has found solutions to some of them which well deserve the
attention even of those who have studied Plato and Kant--I
should point to India. And if I were to ask myself from what
literature we who have been nurtured almost exclusively on
the thoughts of Greeks and Romans, and of one Semitic
race, the Jewish, may draw the corrective which is most
wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, more
comprehensive, more universal, in fact more truly human a
life . . . again I would point to India.‖ -- Max Müller.
―"I should have been glad to acquire some sort of idea of
Hindu theology, but the difficulties were too great.‖--Mark
Twain

9. What do people want?

10. What do people want?
• Pleasure

11. What do people want?*
• Pleasure
• Success: wealth, fame, power
– competitive (& precarious)
– insatiable (potentially)
– centers on the self (lower-case ―s‖)
– achievements are ephemeral
*based on Huston Smith’s, World Religions

12. What do people want?
• Pleasure
• Success: wealth, fame, power
Together, we can think of these two as
the ―path of desire.‖

13. What do people want?
• Pleasure
• Success: wealth, fame, power
• Duty
What do people really want/desire?

14. What do people want?
• Pleasure
• Success: wealth, fame, power
• Duty
What do people really want/desire?
1. ―being‖
2. ―knowing‖
3. joy

15. What do people want?
• Pleasure
• Success: wealth, fame, power
• Duty
What do people really want/desire?
1. ―being‖infinite being
2. ―knowing‖infinite awareness
3. joyinfinite bliss

16. What do people want?
• Pleasure
• Success: wealth, fame, power
• Duty
• Liberation (moksha)
– ―Liberation from the cycle of existence (samsara) often
identified with a state of knowledge in which the phenomenal
world and its concerns are shut out in favor of a mystical
identification with the ultimate, changeless ground of all
things.‖--Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy
– ―release from the finitude that restricts us from the limitless
being, consciousness, and bliss our hearts desire‖--Huston
Smith

17. Life’s Limitations
• pain (physical and psychological)
• ignorance
• restricted being

18. Four Paths
reflective through knowledge
Jnana (yoga)
emotional through love
bhakti (yoga)
active through work
karma (yoga)
experimental through experiment
raja (yoga)
[hatha]
yoga = ―union‖

19. Common Preliminary Commitments
Cultivate habits of:
– non-injury
– truthfulness
– non-stealing
– self-control
– cleanliness
– contentment
– self-discipline
– compelling desire

20. Jnana Yoga/Path
Path to oneness with God through knowledge--a
transforming intuitive discernment--turning the knower into
that which she/he knows.
•Reflecting on the nature of the Atman--The self which is
eternal and (in Advaita) identical with Brahman (sacred
Power/Divine Being)
•Shifting self-identification to the ―abiding part‖ of her nature
•―I am Witness‖ approach to his own history/life
•―Brahman is all, and the Self (Atman) is Brahman‖
(Mandukya Upanishad, 2)

21. Bhakti Yoga/path
Directs towards God the love that is at the base of
every human heart.
•Probably the most popular and frequently practiced form
•Tends to insist on God’s otherness: ―Pray no more for utter oneness
with God . . .‖--Song of Tukaram
•Strives to adore God with every fabric of one’s being (as opposed to
acknowledging union)
•Tends towards incarnational representations of the deity--an ishta
•But:
Lord, forgive three sins that are due to my human limitations,
Thou art everywhere, but I worship you here;
Thou art without form, but I worship you in these forms;
Thou needs no praise, yet I offer you these prayers and salutations.
Lord, forgive three sins that are due to my human limitations.

22. karma yoga/path
By wise and proper involvement in the work of the world,
one can also move towards God/moksha.
•by identifying oneself with the transpersonal Absolute (a
la jnana)
•every action performed on the external world reacts
on the doer
•work performed in detachment from the empirical self
•by shifting affection to external ―person‖ (a la bhakti)
•work for God’s sake instead of my own
•work done selflessly
•―He who does the task/Dictated by duty/Caring
nothing/For the fruit of the action/ He is a yogi. (Bhagava-
Gita, VI:1)
•The Tale of the Yogi and the Scorpion

23. raja yoga/path
Disciplined bodily and mental activity designed to explore
the nature of the true self.
Layers of human being:
bodies
minds
subconscious
___________________________________
Being Itself

24. raja yoga/path (cont.)
Eight Steps: (hatha yoga)
1. Five Abstentions: injury, lying, stealing,sensuality,
greed
2. Five Observances: cleanliness, contentment, self-
control, studiousness, contemplation of the divine
3. asanas (postures, e.g., ―the lotus position‖)
4. breathing
5. contemplation (turning inward)
6. concentration (leave the mind alone)
7. merging of subject/object; out of time;
8. samadhi: sam=together with, adhi=the Lord

25. Stages of Life
• The student
• Householder (pleasure, success, duty)
• ―Retirement‖
• sannyasin (―the one who neither hates
nor loves anything‖)

26. Caste System
• Beginning with Aryan intrusion (2nd m. BCE)?
• Four (plus) castes:
Brahmins (seers)
Kshatriyas (administrators)
Vaishyas (artisans, farmers, craftsmen)
Shudras (unskilled laborers)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
―untouchables‖ (today: ―dalit‖)

27. God
• Brahman (etymology: br=breath, brih=to be great)
– sat: being
– chit: awareness
– ananda: bliss
• ―neti . . .neti‖ -- a kind of ―negative theology‖ (Nirguna Brahman
of the philosophers)
• Saguna Brahman: the noblest reality encountered in the world.
• Sri Ramakrishna claimed both were equally correct
• God can be thought of as Creator (Brahma), Preserver (Vishnu),
and Destroyer (Shiva)
• But in many Hindu expressions God is transpersonal: beyond it
all

28. Hindu Pantheon
Though affirming Brahman as ―ultimate reality,‖ Hinduism
is highly polytheistic.
The Hindu Pantheon is structured around ―divine couples‖
(male-structure/form::female-energy/matter) who serve
different functions in the universe; in a way, they point to
the various forces in life/the cosmos.
Many deities are depicted with a ―vehicle‖—an animal with
whom they are often portrayed.
The ―Trimurti‖ is organized around Brahma (creation),
Vishnu (maintenance), Shiva (destruction).

29. Brahma (creation)
Consort/wife: Saraswati, goddess of knowledge and
speech.
Vehicle: hamsa or swan (seven swans).

30. Vishnu (maintainer of the universe)
Consort: Lakshmi (good fortune and prosperity)
Vehicle: ―Garuda‖—eagle/human hybrid

31. Vishnu appears in many avatars (traditionally ten, the
last, who has not yet appeared, is Kalki, who will come
when he is most needed).
The two most important avatars of Vishnu are Rama
and Krishna.

32. Shiva (the destroyer)
Consort(s): Kali (et al, Sati, Parvati, Lalita, Durga . . .)
Vehicle: Nandi, the Bull

33. Ganesha (son of Shiva and Parvati)

34. Devi (the goddess) is sometimes worshipped as the
supreme manifestation of Brahman. All other gods and
goddesses would then be considered emanations of her.
Devi (Devanagari: ) is the Sanskrit word for Goddess.
Devi is synonymous with Shakti, the female aspect of the
divine, as conceptualized by the Shakta tradition of Hinduism.
She is the female counterpart without whom the male aspect,
which represents consciousness or discrimination, remains
impotent and void. Goddess worship is an integral part of
Hinduism.Devi is, quintessentially, the core form of every
Hindu Goddess. As the female manifestation of the supreme
lord, she is also called Prakriti or Maya, as she balances out the
male aspect of the divine addressed Purusha.
[1]ManifestationsDevi or the divine feminine is an equal
conterpart to the divine masculine, and hence manifests herself
as the Trinity herself - the Creator (Durga or the Divine
Mother), Preserver (Lakshmi, Parvati & Sarswati) and Destroyer
(Mahishasura-Mardini, Kali & Smashanakali ).
Source: The Goddess Files

35. People
• Individual souls (jivas) enter the world mysteriously
• They begin as the souls of the simplest forms of life and
reincarnate/transmigrate (samsara) into more complex bodies
until they enter human bodies
• Souls in human bodies are engaged in issues of freedom and
responsibility (karma)
• Is this fatalism?
– there is choice
– ―natural‖ causes factor in
– ultimately the soul gets what it wants
• The Tale of the Magic Kalpataru Tree

36. The World
• A multiple world with innumerable galaxies (horizontally),
innumerable tiers (vertically), and innumerable cycles
(temporally)
• Moral world in which karma is always operational
• a ―middle‖ place; will never replace paradise
• maya (an element of illusion)
• a place of human growth
• lila (site of exuberant divine activity)

37. There are three major devotional traditions:
Vaishnava (Vishnu)
Generally vegetarian
Worship Vishnu, Rama, Krishna
Oriented towards duty and tradition
Shaiva (Shiva)
Worship focuses on union of opposites,
especially creation and destruction
Tend to emphasize ascetic practices.
Shakta (Devi)
Worship ―the goddess‖ as ultimate reality
(Bengali)
Not as likely to be vegetarian

38. Hindus worship principally through seeing (Darshan) an
image of the divinity.
Shrines can be anywhere, in great temples, by the
road, or in the home.
Puja is the act of worship, offering them fruit, flowers,
incense, water, or cloth in order to symbolize an
offering of the self to the god/goddess.
In some cases deities are processed through the
streets (at festivals, etc.). See Diwali Video.
Sometimes the worshipper will take a pilgrimage to a
sacred place, the most well-known being Benares, on
the Ganges River.

39. Jainism
• There are about 4 million Jains today,
most of them ―lay people‖
• Historians consider Jainism to have
been founded by Mahavira (599-527
BCE) as a reaction to the conservative
Brahminism of the 6th-century BCE
• In general, they do NOT accept the
Hindu Scriptures or rituals, but they do
share a belief in the transmigration of
souls
• The most obvious characteristic of
them is their devotion to the principle of
ahimsa, or non-injury
– monks wear a veil
– even lay people forbidden to drink after
sunset

40. Jainism (cont.)
• Jains are followers of the Jinas, or
―tirthankaras‖ (the ford-makers, who
reveal the path to moksha)
• They believe 24 tirthankaras appear in
every half cycle
• Mahavira is the 24th tirthankara in this
cycle
• A contemporary of Buddha, Mahavira
renounced the world at the age of 30,
and after 12 years as a wandering
ascetic achieved enlightenment
• He then converted 12 disciples who
structure his teachings into the Jain
Scriptures
• He died in meditation and became a
liberated soul

41. Jainism (cont.)
• Jain monks commit to the Great Vows:
– non-injury (ahisma)
– truth-speaking (satya)
– sexual abstinence (brahmacharya)
– non-stealing (asteya)
– detachment from persons, places, and things
(aparigraha)
• Lay people take the ―lesser vows‖ which try to
apply the great vows to more ―normal‖ modes of
living: e.g., strict vegetarianism, no work that
involves the deliberate destruction of life (e.g.,
hunting no, farming okay).
• In the fourth century CE a major split occurred:
– Digambaras: all possessions, including
clothing are hindrance to liberation
– Shvetambaras: detachment is in the mind
(and not wearing clothes can also cause
injury; e.g., if you light a fire to stay warm)
The only objects a
Digambara monk is allowed
to carry are a water-pot and
a fly-whisk of peacock
feathers.

42. Sikhism
• Some see them as rather different from Hinduism
• Guru Nanak, ca. 1500, had encounter leaving him to seek a path to
God that didn’t require strict identification with Islam or Hinduism.
• In keeping with Hinduism, it affirms the ultimacy of a supreme and
formless God beyond human conceiving
• In keeping with Islam, it rejects the notion of avatars (divine
incarnations), caste distinctions, images as aids to worship, and the
sanctity of the Vedas
• Follows Hinduism, but not Islam, in affirming reincarnation
• Five k’s (in Punjabi):
– uncut hair (conserves vitality, draws upward)
– comb (cleanliness and order)
– steel bracelet (shackles one to God)
– undershorts (one always dressed for action)
– dagger (originally needed for self-defense)
• Seek salvation through union with God, by realizing, through love, the
Person of God, who dwells in the depths of their own being.
• World renunciation does not really figure in their faith.
• About 13 million Sikhs in the world

43. Though not really a proselytizing religion, Hinduism,
especially in its most philosophical and meditative forms, has
made a number of converts in the West.
Swami Vivekananda (appeared at the first World Parliament
of Religions in Chicago in 1893)—philosophical Hinduism.
Transcendental Meditation (1960’s—Maharishi Mahesh
Yogi)—ascetic Hinduism.
International Society for Krishna Consciousness— so called
―Hare Krishnas‖ (1960’s Swami Prabhupada)—bhakti
Hinduism.
Hatha Yoga.