1. Hinduism: key concepts

2. Foundational terms
• Brahman: impersonal spirit, universal
substance
• Sat / Asat: Being / Nonbeing
• Maya: Illusion

3. 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:
1. Necessity of a spiritual guide (guru) in reaching
truth
2. Importance of life-cycle rituals (samskaras) at
birth, death, coming-of-age, marriage, etc.

4. Four ashramas or life-stages
Student,
householder,
forest-dweller,
renunciate

5. Four purusarthas or aims of life:
Kama (pleasure, well-being),
artha (production, wealth, achievement),
dharma (law, duty, religion)*,
moksha (liberation from the death-rebirth cycle
of samsara)
* Sometimes, instead of dharma, jñana is used
(insight or wisdom)

6. 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:Raja-
yoga: esoteric techniques, meditation,
cultivating mystical insights and visions

7. 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.

8. Three stages of
Hindu history

9. Stage one: 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

10. Stage two: 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

11. Stage two: Monistic religion(cont'd.)
• 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

12. Stage three: 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)