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Hindu beliefs

Hindu beliefs. Hinduism is best seen as a tradition- today a Hindu can be polytheistic, monotheistic, pantheistic, agnostic or atheistic and still claim to be a Hindu.

gretchen-herrmann
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Hindu beliefs

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  1. Hindu beliefs • Hinduism is best seen as a tradition- today a Hindu can be polytheistic, monotheistic, pantheistic, agnostic or atheistic and still claim to be a Hindu. • However, there are certain central concepts-reincarnation, merging with “Brahman" ultimate reality) and Moksha (the escape from the cycle of reincarnation.

  2. Non-Dualism • Brahman is One & Eternal= no before or after, for everything is everywhere always. • Brahman is intrinsically dynamic= unformed, immortal, moving. • All things are mutually related –all of part of basic oneness.

  3. Devas= Aspects • Shiva, the Cosmic Dancer, is the most perfect personification-through dance everything is sustained.

  4. “That art thou” • Human nature is not just space/time body (samara) nor individual consciousness of mind (jiva)- in each of us is an immortal element, our true self, the Atman. • Brahman and Atman are the same-”Into Him I shall enter.”

  5. Maya and Avidya • Maya is the human tendency to regard appearance as reality; that multiplicity is real; that Samsara is real. • Avidya= ignorance of the true nature of reality. • Nirvana (Moska)= experiential realization of oneness.

  6. Cycle-Life and Rebirth • Samsara= world of relentless mutability= is illusion. • Reincarnation=all living things are besouled, become incarnate in different bodies; depends on kind of life lived previously = Karma.

  7. Existence of Samsara • Why does samsara exist? –Upanishads=“lila” or “sport”- an expression of Brahman’s constitutive delight (“anada). • Will need to solve the problem of one and many and the relationship of Brahman to the world of multiplicity.

  8. Problem of Karma • Is Karma false to the facts?-”the wicked often prosper at the expense of the good.” • Yet- reincarnation- we will inevitably reap what we sow. • Is this satisfactory?

  9. Sankara (788-820A.D.) • Advaita (nondualistic) relation of Brahman and a self. • What is an individual self is in fact not essentially different from the one Self (Atman)-as space in individual jug not different from space as a whole.

  10. Sankara (788-820A.D.) • Comprehend the world at two levels or from two points of view: lower knowledge and higher knowledge. • Sublatable things- (1)object of awareness of some subject; (2) distinguishability; (3) subject to time and change.

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