WORLD RELIGIONS
HINDUISM
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WORLD RELIGIONS HINDUISM |
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| INTRODUCTION: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Hinduism was recognized as a religion about 800 BC around India, having developed over a period of about 500 years through various immigrants.� Followers believe in a multiplicity of gods ~ the god of fire, the god of wind, etc. ~ and also of demons which were overcome by the gods through the power of Brahman or the Self (THE UPANISHADS:� BREATH OF THE ETERNAL, "Kena" chapter). ��Prana dwells in eye, ear, mouth and nose.� Apana rules the organs of excretion and generation.� Samana inhabits the navel and governs digestion and assimilation ("Prasna" chapter).� �Also, when a man sleeps, he enters into the Self, into the 72,000 nerves which go out from the lotus of the heart (THE UPANISHADS, "Brihadaranyaka" chapter). | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| GOD: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Brahma, the Self, is embodied in the elements and in them exists.� Brahman is the power that gives breath ("Katha" chapter).� Brahma is the origin and support of the gods and lord of all.� He destroys their sins and their sorrows.� He punishes those who break his laws ("Svetasvatara" chapter). | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� The Self, Brahman, whose symbol is OM, is neither cause nor effect. The First-Born ~ born of the mind of Brahma ~ is the immortal Self ("Katha" chapter).� Desiring that he should become many, that he should make of himself many forms, Brahman meditated and thereby created all things ("Taittiriya" chapter).� Before creation, all that existed was the Self.� Then the Self thought, "Let me send forth the worlds."� Later he decided to send forth guardians.� Later he thought, "Let me enter the guardians."� Whereupon, opening the center of their skulls, he entered ("Aitareya" chapter).� Brahman created out of himself� priests, warriors, tradesmen and servants, among both gods and men ("Brihadaranyaka" chapter).� | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| WORKS: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Works lead only to heaven, whence, to their sorrow, their rewards are quickly exhausted and they are flung back to earth ("Mundaka" chapter).� This vast universe is a wheel.� Upon it are all creatures that are subject to birth, death and rebirth.� Round and round it turns, and never stops ("Svetasvatara" chapter).� The unsteady in heart never reaches the goal but is born again and again ("Katha" chapter).��� | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Of those ignorant of the Self [Brahma], some enter into a being possessed of wombs [animals], others enter into plants, according to their deeds and the growth of their intelligence ("Katha" chapter).� | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� From BHAGAVAD-GITA:� THE SON OF GOD, a collection of divine poems not considered scripture, is a poem called "The Sorrow of Arjuna" which refers to "corruption from which comes mixing of castes, the curse of confusion."� The poem called "Karma Yoga" refers to "caste-mixture and universal destruction." | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� The entire book and its poems seems to center on the need of the caste system, including those of the lower castes such as women, which is the basis of reward and punishment in the scheme of reincarnation.� This scheme must not be altered.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� As a man acts, so does he become.� As a man's desire is, so is his destiny.� But he in whom desire is stilled suffers no rebirth but becomes Brahman ("Brihadaranyaka" chapter).� When a man is free from desire, he beholds the glory of the Self and is without sorrow and becomes immortal.� When all the senses are still and the mind is at rest and the intellect wavers not, a person has reached the highest state ("Katha" chapter).� Those who realize the Self renounce the craving for progeny [marriage and family], wealth, and existence in the other world ("Brihadaranyaka" chapter).� | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� A disciple offers to a guru thousands upon thousands of cattle to get him to speak his wisdom ("Brihadaranyaka" chapter).� He who attains this wisdom wins glory, grows rich, enjoys health and fame ("Taittiriya" chapter).� Livestock, gold, slaves, wives, etc. are man's glory, though they are poor and finite things ("Chandogya" chapter).� | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| RELIGION/WORSHIP: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Those who worship the world of creation produce children, but those who remain alone attain the world of Brahman ("Prasna" chapter).� The requirements of duty are three:� The first is sacrifice, study, almsgiving; the second is austerity; the third is life as a student in the home of a teacher and the practice of continence [celibacy] ("Chandogya" chapter). | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� The Self [Brahman] gave birth to all creatures, hymns, chants, scriptures, rites, gods, angels.� Brahman is action, knowledge, goodness supreme ("Mundaka" chapter).� OM is in all scriptures, the supreme syllable.� Followers must not forget what they have learned in the scriptures.� Brahman is endowed with wisdom ("Taittiriya" chapter).� Seek to know Brahman by acquiring faith in the word of the scriptures and in their Guru.� Brahman is the one to be known through the scriptures; he is the knower of all scriptures ("Kaivalya" chapter).� The Self is not known through study of the scriptures ("Katha" chapter). | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� THE UPANISHADS:� BREATH OF THE ETERNAL is considered the most important half of the Hindu VEDAS or scriptures.� An introduction says that this Hindu book reflects a search for the true nature of Reality.� The preface explains that Atman means God within, and is translated as the Self.� The syllable OM is the verbal symbol of Brahman or God and means peace.� The conclusion is that ultimately the real study of religion is a first-hand experience of God.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| HEAVEN: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� A dying man separates himself from his limbs and hastens to his new abode and there assumes another body in which to begin a new life.� He departs either through the eye, or through the gate of the skull, or through some other aperture of the body ("Brihadaranyaka" chapter). | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� At the moment of death, through the nerve in the center of the spine, the god Udana leads the virtuous man upward to higher birth, the sinful man downward to lower birth, and the man who is both virtuous and sinful to rebirth in the world of men.� Whatever his thought at the moment of death, this it is that unites a man with Prana, who in turn, uniting himself with Udana and with the Self, leads the man to be reborn in the world he merits ("Prasna" chapter). | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Worlds there are without suns, covered up with darkness.� To these after death go the ignorant slayers of the Self ("Isha" chapter).� If the sage desires to see his fathers of the spirit world, lo, his fathers come to meet him.� Also he sees his mothers.� Also his brothers and sisters ("Chandogya" chapter). | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� With a greater knowledge of its meaning [OM], upon his death he will ascend to the lunar heaven, and after he has partaken of its pleasures will return again to earth ("Prasna" chapter).� | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� The pure heart reaches the goal and is born no more.� He reaches the supreme abode of Vishnu, the all-pervading - Brahman ("Kathy" chapter).� The body dies when the Self leaves it ("Chandogya" chapter).�� | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� Where there is consciousness of the Self, individuality is no more. ("Brihadaranyaka" chapter). | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� When death overtakes the body, the vital energy enters the cosmic source and in so doing loses name and form. �He becomes Brahman and is born into his family ("Mundaka" chapter). | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ����������� The sage Vamadeva, having understood Brahman as pure consciousness, departed this life, ascended into heaven, obtained all his desires, and achieved immortality ("Aitareya" chapter)� | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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