Term
| Definition of “Religion”, “Hinduism” |
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Definition
a. Religion> submission to the ultimate
i. Practice
ii. Morals and ethics
b. Hinduism is an umbrella word to describe many different phenomena that is not native to India. Practice and birth make you Hindu; you cannot renounce your Hinduism like you cannot renounce your existence. It is considered a religion that is diffused into culture and everyday life. There is no central text that is required to be read, it’s more like a library of many texts that is made for many different people. |
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Term
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Definition
a. A tree that has many roots to the point that many cannot describe how or where its roots began. The tree grows down and grows many more trees.
b. A western metaphor for the difficulty of describing how the collection of rituals known as “Hinduism” began. |
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Term
| Aryan theory/Aryan culture |
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Definition
a. Two branches of the Aryan tradition
i. Vedic
1. Most likely represents these facts correctly
2. Warrior tribal culture gave rise to Vedic traditions
a. Means auspiciousness
ii. Nazi
1. Misrepresents the facts of history to perpetuate society |
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Term
| Vedic Tradition/Vedas/Rig Veda |
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Definition
a. Fire sacrifice
b. Vedas
i. Collection of Oral knowledge recently recorded
1. Rig. Vedas
a. Descriptions for performing fire sacrifice
2. Arjava Veda
3. Yajur Vedas
4. Sama Vedas
c. Four gods of the Vedic Tradition
i. Indra
ii. Varuna
iii. Agni
iv. Soma
d. Three P’s
i. Protection
1. Climate, Calamity, Enemies
ii. Prosperity
1. Cows and horses{riches}
iii. Progeny
1. Children |
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Term
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Definition
a. Traced back to 1500 BCE
b. Central to Hinduism
c. Brahmin priest performs the ceremony
d. Vedic tradition comes from the vedas which is written in sanscrit |
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Term
| Creation Hymns/Golden Embryo |
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Definition
a. Creation hymn> heat creates, destroys and is the beginning of life
b. Everything began unified and undifferentiated from the beginning
c. The Brahmin priests do not know what is out there but they do know that they want power from it
d. The golden egg is considered to be the beginning of EVERYTHING |
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Term
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Definition
a. One of the four gods of the vedic tradition
b. The god of warfare, fire, thunder, lightning, battlefield
c. The god that is invoked during the fire sacrifice |
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Term
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Definition
| a. God of fire, messenger god, god of sacrifice |
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Term
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Definition
a. A drink that acts like a psychedelic drug
i. Pressed, processed and purified
ii. Person feels like they are divine
iii. Shared with Brahmin priest
b. Also one of the gods |
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Term
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Definition
a. Pestilence, disease, plauges, god of atmosphere
i. Asked for health and protection |
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Term
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Definition
a. From the Upanishads
b. Everything is atman
c. You can reach moksha once you realize this |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| a. Description of what this freedom from confusion(Moksha) is like |
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Term
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Definition
a. 700 BCE
b. Based on a group of texts named the Upanishad
c. A collection of special knowledge passed on from teacher to student
d. Defies the Vedic tradition
e. Nachikketa meets death and asks for the secret of immortality
f. Reject Vedic tradition
i. Question of mortality
ii. Seek knowledge of knowledge that is beyond
iii. What is a person? |
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Term
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Definition
a. Alientation from Brahman
b. Constant cycle of creation and destruction |
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Term
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Definition
a. Action with moral consequence
i. Action without action
ii. Do what you must do but do not get attached to the consequences of your actions |
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Term
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Definition
a. Liberation
b. Point of the Upanishadic tradition is to maintain this
c. Maintain this through different types of extreme yoga |
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Term
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Definition
a. Confusion/delusion
b. Fleeting self
c. Stems from desire and heat
d. Only solution is moksha by yoga |
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Term
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Definition
a. Atman> Soul
i. Undifferentiated and unchanging
b. Brahman> Ultimate Reality
i. Cannot speak or think about it because it is beyond words
ii. Yoga is how you give rise to what you cannot conceptualize
1. Yoga is the purification of the mind
iii. Atman is Brahman
1. The true self is the universe
iv. Yoga is the discipline of the mind and body |
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Term
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Definition
a. The highest class in the Caste System
b. A class of priests
c. They are considered the mouth of Maraparusha
d. Have exclusive access to the vedic chants |
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Term
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Definition
a. Is the displine of the body and mind
b. Steps of yoga
i. Control of breath/prana
ii. Renunciation
1. Desire
2. Food and drink
c. Internal fire sacrifice
d. Rejection of the Vedic tradition because of the rejection of the external fire sacrifice |
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Term
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Definition
a. The set of books in which the Dharma tradition is written down
i. Dharma tradition started in 400 BCE |
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Term
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Definition
a. Order Vs. Disorder
b. In reference to a time that India was torn between the Upanishadic and the Vedic traditions of living.
c. Many viewed the pursuit of Moksha to be selfish; while others viewed the practices of the Vedic tradition to be lies
d. The conflict resulted in the Dharma tradition
i. Dharma means sacred Law{order regulation}
ii. The systems that actually gave order to society
1. The Caste System
2. 4 Stages of life
3. 4 goals of life |
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Term
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Definition
a. Varna> The caste system
b. Jati> Subcaste
c. There are 1000s of castes
d. The ideal of the caste system does not work
e. You can marry between subcastes and improve social status |
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Term
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Definition
a. People who married outside their castes
i. Also children of those who married outside their caste
b. Brings shame on the entire family
c. Considered one of the worst things that a person can do
d. They are gived the most disgusting and degrading jobs
i. For example cleaning latrines |
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Term
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Definition
a. Student hood> When you learn how to conduct your life
b. Householder> Start your own family
c. Hermit>When your hair turns grey and your sons have sons
d. Rennunciant> When you renounce your family and leave to look for moksha
e. Part of the Dharma tradition in a way to keep order in society by compromising the Upanishadic and Vedic traditions |
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Term
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Definition
a. Dharma> Duty
b. Artha> Wealth
c. Kama> Bodily Pleasures {Based on Kama Sutra}
d. Moksha>Liberation
e. Each stage done at the appropriate time |
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Term
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Definition
a. The upper three castes{Brahmin, warriors, and producers} are known as the twice born
b. Twice born is an upper status in in itself
c. When a man learns their Vedic hymns that is considered their second birth
d. Third birth is after death reincarnation |
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Term
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Definition
a. There was a large man
b. Different parts of him gave birth to different castes
i. His mouth gave way to the Brahmin Caste
ii. His arms gave way to the Warrior Caste
iii. His loins/Thighs gave way to the producers
iv. His feet gave way to the servants |
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Term
| “Where there are seven Brahmins there will be seven cooking fires” |
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Definition
a. Reference to the Jati
i. Saying that there are 1000s of castes in India
b. That there is even castes among Bramins |
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Term
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Definition
a. A story of two warring families in the Bhagavad Gita
b. Pandavas
i. 5 sons
ii. Yudistida> Oldest son
iii. Arjuna> Middle son
1. Great warrior
2. Friends with Krishna
3. Dharma vs. Moksha
a. Arjuna rejects his duty which is to kill his cousins
i. Krishna tells him that he cannot renounce his duty like he cannot renounce his birth
b. The solution is that Krishna tells Arjuna to do his dharma as moksha
i. The way to do this is Yoga as selfless action
c. Karavas
i. 100 sons
ii. Duropathana> Oldest Son
iii. This family is ruling unjustly and the Pandavas are supposed to be ruling
d. The families feuding represents dharma vs adarma |
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Term
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Definition
a. Krishna’s friend
i. Krishna reveals to Arjuna that {Krishna} is an avatar
1. An avatar is an incarnation of divinity |
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Term
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Definition
a. Bhakti is considered the best kind of yoga according to Krishna because everyone can love
b. It is rare for one person to do one kind of yoga: it is usually a mix because it is rare for a person to be just one thing
c. Jana>Discipline by means of insight
d. Karma> Action
e. Bhakti> Devotion |
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Term
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Definition
a. Incarnation of divinity
b. Krishna reveals to Arjuna that he is an avatar in the Bhagavad Gita |
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Term
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Definition
a. Devotion
b. Need a specific love/devotion object
i. Why Krishna will appear
c. Perform dharma as an offering to Krishna
d. Krishna says this form is best because everyone can love |
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Term
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Definition
a. 500-900 CE
b. Group of texts born from Bhakti traditions of yoga
c. Describe how Krishna was born through a dream |
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Term
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Definition
a. Herding girls who worshipped Krishna
i. Krishna gave them a lot of pleasure |
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Term
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Definition
a. One of Krishna’s favorite gopi girls
b. Her love for Krishna is the purest of all the gopi girls
c. She is seen as a goddess for her pure love of Krishna |
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Term
| Five Relationships of Krishna worship |
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Definition
a. Amorous> Sexual {primary relationship that everyone has with the gods}
b. Servitude> You serve Krishna in your home{Puja}
c. Peaceful regard> Meditating on Krishna in his true form
d. Parental> one views pictures of Krishna as a baby
e. Friend> Relate to Krishna as your friend or advisor |
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Term
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Definition
a. Mautra> Prayer
b. Puja> Worship
c. Bhajau> Sing devotion songs
d. Lila> dance
e. Pilgramage> go to Brindaban, India because that is where Krishna is from |
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Term
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Definition
a. Playful dance
b. One of the five methods of Bhakti worship |
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Term
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Definition
a. Sacred songs dedicated to the gods
b. One of the five methods of Bhakti worship |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
a. Worship
b. One of the five methods of Bhakti worship |
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Term
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Definition
a. Famous saint
b. She lived during the 1500s
c. She wrote poems in Krishna worship
d. Practically love poems to Krishna
e. Refused to marry because she loved Krishna so much
f. She wrote the poem of Bhil
i. Erotic love poem that activates all the senses of desire regarding Krishna |
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Term
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Definition
a. Vow/oath
b. Anytime a devotee makes an oath to perform a religious practice to the gods.
c. Primary way to form a relationship with the gods
i. This is especially prevalent among women devotees |
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Term
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Definition
a. Nirguna> One cannot conceive Brahmin
b. Saguna> Brahmin takes on characteristic form; finite objects; avatars |
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Term
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Definition
a. Called the three faces of Brahmin{Trimirti}
b. Brahma>creation of the cosmos
c. Vishnu>intervenes in the cycle of creation and destruction by incarnation as Krishna
d. Shiva> the god of destruction
i. The most perfect yogi
ii. Heat created by yoga known as tapas
iii. Always wearing tiger/lion loincloth |
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Term
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Definition
a. All female goddesses
b. Rahda, Kali, Saraswati, Laxmi |
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Term
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Definition
a. Has 3 eyes
b. Often portrayed in black or red
c. Only takes offerrings of fresh blood
i. Eats people
d. Wears a skirt of dismembered limbs
e. Referred to as mother kali
f. She is a mother
g. She represents how creation comes from destruction
i. Mother Kali parables teach that you can invoke violence but you cannot control it
h. She represents the duality of birth
i. Mother Kali is fickle |
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Term
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Definition
a. Literally translated means seeing
b. Interaction with the gods through sight |
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Term
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Definition
a. Considered devil worship by the early colonist
i. Early colonialist said that kali worship was devil worship |
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Term
| Patron Deities: Saraswati, Ganesh, Laxmi |
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Definition
a. Ganesh
i. Elephant headed diety
ii. God of crossing boundaries/good travels
iii. Protector of people on jouneys
iv. Loves pastries
v. Takes offerrings of incense and pasteries
vi. Jolly god
vii. Moves misplaced things to play with you
b. Laxmi
i. The goddess of wealth
ii. Popular among business people and merchants
iii. The quality of good luck in business that is unpredictable
iv. Same kind of offerrings as the rest of the gods
c. Saraswati
i. The goddess of the arts and literature
ii. Represents uncertainty in creation
iii. Gives devotees an extra boost of confidence |
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Term
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Definition
a. Comes to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita
i. Reveals himself as an avatar |
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