Hinduism
Kelsi Herron
HUM 130: History of Religion
August 20, 2012
Michael Svoboda

Hinduism

History Hinduism has no particular creator, faith, or prophet acknowledged by all Hindus as central to the religion and no particular holy book is unanimously praised as being the sole text, like how Christians view the Bible. The word Hindu is derived from the term “Sindu,” the traditional name of the Indus River. It was only after the 18th century when the term came to refer to the dominant religion of the Indian people. Hindus refer to themselves with position to their caste, community, religion and language. Hindu history is marked by the configuration of vocally communicated precious texts that express all of the central concepts related to what we call Hinduism. The first civilization existed around 3000-1750 BCE called Harrapan. This culture was followed by the “Age of Vedas.” While their origins are still not known, the Vedas can still be examined (Fisher). The Vedic Age gave way to philosophical review and debate in texts known as Aranyakas (forest treatises) and Upanishads (consisting of teaching from highly realized spiritual masters). These were composed around the 6th century BCE, a time of intellectual speculation. The oldest of the Vedic scriptures and among the oldest of the world’s existing scriptures is the Rig Veda (Fisher).
The Upanishads are thought to have developed last, around 600 to 400 BCE (Fisher). The word Upanishad “embraces the idea of the devoted disciple sitting down by the teacher to receive private spiritual instruction about the highest reality, loosening all doubts and destroying all ignorance” (Fisher). The Upanishads also articulated numerous guidelines central to all forms of Sanatana Dharma. One is reincarnation, which brings up the question, “What happens to us when we die?” Rishis will teach that when the soul leaves the body, it will enter a new one, whether it is another human being, or a plant, or an animal. The 16th century saw emergence of Gurus. In this period, Portuguese, Dutch, English and French established trading settlements in India during the Mughal power. When the Mughal power started to dissipate, Britain took over parts of the country and put a ban on some practices used by Hindus. “Sanatana Dharma” or “eternal faith” has become popular the last two centuries but relates more to philosophical understanding of the religion than to its colorful manifestations.

Dharma Dharma is a Sanskrit word from a root meaning “religion,” encompasses truth, righteousness, duty, law and justice (Fisher). Moksha means “liberation,” that is liberation from the cycle of life and death that every soul is believed to experience and which is repeated infinitely until the soul reaches liberation into a state of bliss (iskcon.org). The Bhagavad Gita emphasizes that dharma should be implemented without expectation of reward, but with devotion to one God. Hindus could be both monotheistic and polytheistic. While they believe in one Supreme Being, they also believe in many deities. They believe in God above all; however, he can take many forms sometimes known as Krishna, Vishnu(the preserver), the Goddess, Shiva(the destroyer) or Shakti(her power is energy).
Karma
An idea first occurring around the 7th century BCE that means “action.” It especially refers to ritual action, but after the Upanishads, it came to mean the concept of rewards and penances attached to various acts. Although the early Vedas contain a unformulated concept of an afterlife, by the time of the Upanishads, it was claimed that the human soul existed always and that after death, it endured rebirth or reincarnation (samsara). The law of karma refers to a system of cause and effect that may span quite a few lifetimes. The law dictates that humans gain merit or demerit from every notion they execute. The balance of merit and demerit will determine the nature and eminence of one’s next existence. However, no books offer theories of how long it may take before a soul is reincarnated.
Caste System There are four major varnas that were established. The first caste was the priests (Brahmins) which retained sole ability to teach and learn Vedas. The second caste was the rulers and warriors (Kshatriyas) which consisted of kings and princes. The third caste had merchants and producers (Vaishyas) in charge of trade, commerce, farming and definitely had the potential to become possessors of great wealth (Fisher). The fourth caste was made up of servants (Shudras) which were not allowed to accumulate any wealth. The members of the priestly, warrior or merchant groups were sometimes known as “upper” caste and their male members as “twice born” because of their traditional initiation rutual of spiritual birth called “Upanayana.” One’s social status in this life is therefore conventionally considered encoded, and indisputable and the individual must adhere to the specific ritual practices and dietary rules.

References
Fisher, Mary Pat. (2005). Living Religions 6th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Iskon.Org. (2012). The Heart of Hindusim. Retrieved from http://hinduism.iskcon.org/concepts/103.htm