Introduction to Hinduism keyed to Molloy, Experiencing the World's Religions, sixth edition

1. Religions that Originated in South Asia

2. WHAT IS HINDUISM?
Some Key Characteristics
Absolute Reality: Bráhman
immanent, appearing in unlimited material
manifestations but also
transcendent in that it cannot be defined simply
as the aggregate of all material things.

3. Community: very diverse
Religiously it is often centered on a local deity
and its temple.
Socially communities are ordered by the caste
system and the four stages of [male] life
individually lives are ordered around physical
and spiritual goals that ultimately lead to release
from the cycle of birth, death and reincarnation.

4. BRAHMAN & THE GODS
What most Hindu practitioners know about Absolute
Reality begins with the Sanskrit word, Bráhman and
ends with the realization that Bráhman IS the fabric
of the universe.
Ineffable, beyond gender, beyond form, beyond
thinking, beyond will, and beyond love, hate, or
desire but also immanent and accessible

5. In the philosophical works entitled the Upanishads,
Bráhman is the unchanging reality that lies behind
everything visible and invisible in the world we know.
From the human perspective, change is linked to the
passing of time and is inevitable, but from the
perspective of Hindu religious philosophy, all this
change is merely the expression of a timeless,
unchanging reality as it expresses itself endlessly in
different forms.

6. Hindus don’t exactly “believe in” or worship Bráhman
because
Bráhman is not the name of a personal god, rather
they come to know, experientially, that Bráhman IS
Absolute Reality and that Absolute Reality is
Bráhman.
This “aha!” moment is the quintessence of Hindu
enlightenment.

8. HOW MANY GODS??
Scholars call the belief in one, ultimate sacred reality, or “one
God” monotheism. When Ultimate Reality has many forms or
manifestations it has been labeled polytheism: the belief in or
worship of more than “one God”. This taxonomy is
problematic for Hinduism, because the two ideas co-exist.
Philosophically there is only Bráhman, but practically this
reality is experienced in a myriad of forms or manifestations
confusingly called ‘gods’ in English.
The Sanskrit term is देव (deva). A better English term is deity.

9. WHY SO MANY?
Hindu deities function much like Catholic saints. Different
deities are called upon for different needs. For example, if
you are facing obstacles in your life, you would call on the
elephant-headed boy, Ganesha, the ‘remover of obstacles’.
If you are a student studying for your exams, you might
want to connect with the goddess Sarasvati!
Hindu deities tend to come in male/female pairs - deva and
devi: Brahma/Saraswati, Vishnu/Lakshmi, Shiva/Paravati

10. SOME POPULAR DEVAS
Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma
Krishna
Rama
Ganesha
Lakshmi, Kali, Durga

11. Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva
Creator, Maintainer, and Destroyer
“Murti” is a sacred image into which the power and
presence of a deity or deities can be invoked for worship.
Christian Orthodox icons can serve a similar purpose.
Triple deities are quite common in religious mythology.

12. DEVOTION
Very much like the Christian devotion to Jesus, one of
three persons in the Christian concept of God, Hindus
often attach themselves in worship and service to a
particular deity. This personal form of Hindu
devotional practice is called bhakti.
Puja is a ritual of honoring and praying to a particular
deity. Altars for puja can be found in Hindu Temples as
well as in the home. Flowers, food, incense, and fire are
common elements in puja.

13. PUJA ALTARS
celebrating the divine mother (l.); offerings for Krishna (r.)

14. The wheel of existence
(Tibetan-Shri Pa'i Korlho)
www.khandro.net/doctrine_rebirth.htm

15. WORLDVIEW
If all is really Brahman,
what are we?
why are we here?
what is our destiny?

16. ATMAN AND MAYA
According to popular Hindu philosophy, you and I are really
Brahman. We just don’t know it yet. The illusory,
phenomenal world is so ‘real’ to us that we cannot ‘see’ the
truth of Oneness.
Illusion is known as “Maya”. Maya’s job is to keep us in the
dark about the true nature of our eternal being, which is
Atman, a manifestation of Bráhman that is not yet self-aware.
But, we seem to be trapped in the material world and
we need to find a way out!

17. KARMA
We are stuck here, having been here before, and most
likely coming back again until we ‘get it right’ and
overcome the obstacles that keep us ‘sticking’ to the
material world.
Every deed we do here has repercussions; the
consequences, both good and bad, follow an
unwritten law of cause and effect. Both the principle
and the effect it generates are called karma.

18. REINCARNATION
Right deeds or actions move us closer
toward the goal of liberation from our
ignorance and materiality. Wrong deeds
will move us backward on the ladder of
reincarnation.
Either way, until we reach the goal of full
release, moksha, we will be born, live,
die, be reborn, try again, and re-die. This
cycle of birth/death/re-birth/re-death, or
samsara, seems endless.
Popular movies like “Edge of Tomorrow”
and “Groundhog Day” are entertaining
takes on this Hindu principle.

19. DHARMA
What is a “good deed”? In the broadest sense, it is what
you are obligated by duty to perform. This duty is your
individual path in your current life, or your Dharma.
Your dharma as a human being is determined by the
social role you acquired at birth, a function of your caste.
Dharma in general means actions that are in accord with
the law or principle that orders life and governs the
universe. Behaviors and actions opposed to dharma are
adharma.

20. a moral dilemma
in the Bhagavad Gita

21. Arjuna became bewildered upon seeing people he loved and respected ready
to battle, and said: “I desire neither victory, nor pleasure or kingdom, O
Krishna. What is the use of a kingdom, or enjoyment, or even life because all
those for whom we desire kingdom, enjoyment, and pleasure are standing
here for battle, ready to give up their lives?” (1.32-33)
“I do not wish to kill my seniors, spiritual leaders, and relatives who are ready
to kill us, even for the sovereignty of the three worlds, let alone for this earthly
kingdom, O Krishna.” (1.34-35)
-Bhagavad Gita

22. Lord Krishna said: “The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.
There was never a time when these monarchs, you or I did not exist, nor shall
we ever cease to exist in the future. The soul acquires another body after
death (2.11-13). Therefore, fight for your right as your duty, O Arjuna. (2.18)
“Just do your duty to the best of your ability without becoming discouraged
by the thought of the outcome which may be success or failure, gain or loss,
victory or defeat. By doing your duty with this attitude, you will not incur sin
or Karmic bondage.” (2.38)
-Bhagavad Gita

24. IT’S OK TO START SMALL
Starting where you are is OK too. Each of these goals is
acceptable, even virtuous, when pursued in moderation and
with respect for the rules. As a person matures the lower
goals fail to provide the fullest meaning, which can only be
realized when one lives at the highest level.
Pleasure (kama)
Wealth and Security (artha)
Social and Religious Duty (Dharma)

25. SOCIAL CLASSES-CASTES
Priests (Brahmin)
Warriors and Nobles (Kshatriya) - Arjuna’s caste
Merchants (Vaishya)
Peasants (Sudra)
Untouchables (Dalit) - The 20th c. reformer, M.
Ghandi, renamed this caste the “Children of God”

26. STAGES OF LIFE
These apply only to males in the upper levels of the Hindu caste system:
Student - lives with his teacher, studies the Veda and learns to model an
appropriately religious way of life
Householder - after formal studies the student marries and turns his attention to
the ways of the world
Retiree - when the first grandchild is born, the man is free to retire, or withdraw
from his social obligations
Renunciate - Those who take this final step (the wife may go with the husband)
in their current lifetime may detach entirely from the social world and retreat to
the forest to seek enlightenment. Many males defer this stage to a future life.

27. PATHS TO AWARENESS
Yogas are paths toward spirituality or awareness leading to
liberation. They are pursued alongside your individual goals,
and for upper caste males, in each of the stages of life, as
they are appropriate for the particular Dharma associated
with your caste.
Yoga means union, or yoking with the divine. This is a
concept that is remarkably similar to the Jewish idea of
taking on the responsibilities of observing the laws of Torah,
or the call to take on the “yoke” of discipleship (Bhakti Yoga)
that is attributed to Jesus in the Christian New Testament.

28. YOGA-PATHS TO MOKSHA
Jnana Yoga is the pursuit of
intellectual understanding
Karma Yoga is the self-less
pursuit of good deeds,
Raja Yoga is meditation in
pursuit of awareness, and
Hatha & Kundalini Yoga are
physical disciplines leading
to enlightenment.

29. GOOD QUESTIONS TO ASK
OF RELIGIONS WE STUDY!
The nature of sacred reality (God, Ultimate Reality, the Holy, etc.). How does a particular
religion understand, experience or explain the Sacred?
The nature of the Universe. How did the world we experience come into being? Who or what is
responsible? Is it eternal (cyclical) or having begun, will it finally end (linear)?
What is the purpose of human life? Do people have a unique meaning and destiny, or is human
life different only by degree from all other life, wherever it may be found?
How do religious people know Reality? Do they have ancient sacred texts that preserve a divine
revelation, or do they look inward in meditation or mystical union to discover what else is out
there?
Does a religious group think only their religion is ‘true’ and every other religion is ‘false’, or do
they think everyone shares something in what is ultimately true and good?
What does a religion say about male and female; about the different roles for men and women?

30. Image credits
Atman. < http://lit.genius.com/Hermann-hesse-chapter-1-the-brahmins-son-annotated#
note-1754882>
Maya. < http://cdn1.ticketsinventory.com/images/thumbs/concert/v/veil-of-maya/
veil-of-maya_RuFmNZ09_Y8.jpg>
Trimurti. < https://adm1370-
hinduandbuddhistartworks.wikispaces.com/The+Art+of+HINDU+GODS+AND
+GODDESSES>
Ganesha. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha>
Trimuriti (2). <
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1800_1899/dail
ylife_drawings/shoberl/trimurti.jpg>
Puja at home (1).
<http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/Navaratri.html> (2).
<http://sanathanadharmahinduismo.blogspot.com/2009/08/o-altar-domestico.
html>

31. Image credits (continued)
Reincarnation. <http://reluctant-messenger.
com/images/reincarnation.jpg>
Edge of Tomorrow. < http://blogs-images.
forbes.com/markhughes/files/2014/06/EDGE
-OF-TOMORROW-13.jpg >
additional resources
Four States of Life.
<http://philosophy.lander.edu/oriental/stages.html>