Hinduism

what is Hinduism NOT

a religion with a founder or a creed

in comparison to other religions, what is the size/ age

3rd largest, and “oldest”

how many adherants

over a billion, (90% in india)

what about the earliest roots

interaction of agriculturalist Dravidians (pre 2000 BCE) with pastoralist Indo Aryans (1800-1500 BCE) in Indus river valley

_____ religion of ______ worship and ________

ancient, nature, fertility goddesses

what does the vedic period mean

the way of works, vedas emerged, devas, brahmins, sacrifices

what does vedas mean

early text - hymns, spells, cerimonies

what does devas mean

gods of eath, air, heaven

what’s a brahmins

a preiest

what do they do with sacrifices

on fire alter with proper formulas

what is the Upanishads period

the way of knowledge (6th cent. BCE)

what happened in teh upanisads period

challenge to priest religion of ritual, interiorization, philosophical questions, and tolerance for differnt forms of devotion

what is interiorization

ascetism and meditiaon

what is the main philosophical question about

universal monism

what is monism

the one ultimate reality

what is the bhakti period

6th cent CE, the way of devotion, pick one deity, open to everyone, temples and domestic shrines

when was the revial of hindusim

during 19th century British occupation

for some groups Indian identity =

Hindu identity

how are different forms of Hinduism manifested

with differtn forms of yoga

what does yoga mean

uniton with true self

what is raja yoga

meditative, path of mental concentraiton, breath, concentraion, peace, posture

what is hatha yoga

type of raja yoga with physical exercise focus

what is jnana yoga

spiritual/ intellectual, path of rational inquiry

what is karma toga

active, path of right action/ service

what bhatkti yoga

emotional, path of devotion

what are the scriptures

shruti and smriti

who wrote the shruti

was revealed, no known authors

what is the shruti

the 4 vedas

what does the Shruit/ 4 Vedas have

formulas, rituals, hymns, brahmanas, and Upanishads

what is brahmanas

commentary, written in Sanskrit, most people dont know much about it - just the priests

what is upanishads

philosophical/ doctrinal

what is smriti

the open/ human side of the canon

what is in the smiriti

epic story’s: Mahabharata (Bhagavad-Gita) - most people know htis one Krishna: Ramanya: Rama

hundreds of other stories, legends etc.

what is brahman

impersonal source of all objective reality, universal force of all that is

what is Atman

a spirit/soul of sort, reality is in our inward world of reason, feeling and self conxiousness, subjective manifestation of that reality

what is brahman - atman

the ocean and its drops of water, drops part of ocean wave

what is maya

illuion is lifes big obstace

what do people fail to recognize with maya

that we are not individuals but only a small part of brahman -atman

what are the two foundational principles

karma and samsara

what is karma

etarnal law that words, thoughs, and deeds fix destinty through unaviodable consequences

are the gods subjected to karma

yes devas are

how was the caste system expalin

wiht dharma and karma terms

what is dharma

duty

whats is samsara

cyclic trasmigraiton from life form to life form with higher and lower forms, (reincartion) until moksha is achived

what is moksha

liberation from samsara (reincarnation)

who are the 3 mains liberated deities

brahma (Creator, not as popular did his job), shiva (destroyer), vishnu (preserver(

what do each beliver see in the god that they are devoted to

aspects of all three

how are the three dieties related to each other?

all separated but part of one reality

what is shakti

feminine divine power, the consort of male gods where female represents the active energic force in union

are both genders represented in moksha

yes

who is shiva

god of life and death, dancing, lot of energy, power of distruction

who is Shivas son

Ganesh - the remover of obstacles, has elephant head

what are the Himalayas

danger, good herbs

who is vishnu

loving God of preservation, most popular, descends often as avatar, has exit cycle and achieved moksha, comes to teach

who are the 2 most popular vishnu avatars

Krishna - flute? (Bhagavad-Gita) and Rama - blue skin (Ramayana)

what were the 4 casts

priests, philosophers, rulers, common people, servants, Dalits (outcastes)

what is the goal of student

righteousness

at is teh goal of a householder

pleasure and sucsess

what is the goal of ascetic

moksha- liberation

what is the goal of retired

moksha-liberation

what are the 4 stages of life

student, householder, retired, ascetic

what is puja

ritual to deity, home or in temples, centrality of muri, do everyday, how they show devotion

what is murti

hindu icons

where is thier pilgrmiage

to the river ganga

what are the festivals

diwali - festival of lights, holi- fesival of colors

what are Hindus (polytheists, monotheists etc.)

henotheists

what is henotheists mean

worship of any one god is acceptable, but usually each person continues to worship the same one

what’s essential in Hindu worship

the practices are essential