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| a means of interpreting religuious images |
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| monotheism of consciousness |
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| western worldview that emphasizes "one" over "many" and a independent personality |
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| shaped western thought "there is only one- one God, one Book, one nation under God |
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| "name and form" of the sacred (includes gods and goddesses) |
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| violent goddes who destroys evil and is seen as a protecting mother to her devotees; the godess in her "terrific" aspect |
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| sacred river in india; seen as a goddess who grants blessings, health, and renewal to all who bathe in her, or use water for cooking and drinking |
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| goddes of learning, wisdom, sacred sound |
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| Traditional "Hindu Trinity" |
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Brahma- creation
Vishnu- preservation
Shiva- destruction |
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Vishnu- preserver of righteousness and dharma(duty)
Shiva- creative and destructive; the "erotic ascetic" of fertility and celibacky
Shakti- creative and destructive forces; feminine creative engergy; without which the gods cannot act |
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| symbols of shiva and shakti- procreative energy in conjunction with goddess; interconnectedness of creation and destruction |
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student
householder
forest dweller (retiree)
samnyasin (renunciate) |
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| indigenous peoples who lived in large city complexes in the Indus River valley in NW INdia; assimilated by Indo-Europeans: merged beliefs and pracitices associated with yoga, meditation, karma, samsara, and moksha |
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| nomadic pastoralists who assimilated the Harappans and other indigenous groups in India; became dominant religious group whose ideas were shaped by these other cultures; Vedas and Upanishads, caste systems, and meditations came from culture |
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| sacred sound; refers to the Vedas and the Upanishads, which are said to have nohuman authorship, scriptures based on the sacred sound of the universe |
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earliest human scriptures, composed by indo-europeans (1500-600 or 400bc) said to be shurti- sacred sound
Vedas- hymns and ritual texts for priest
Upanishads are philosophical interpretations of earlier vedic material- include practices of karma, samsara, moksha.... |
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3 popular gods earyl veda hymns
Agni- fire god
Indra- warrior god
Somaexhilarating drink and the god of that drink |
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brahmins- priest
kshatriyas- rulers and warriors
vaishyas- merchants, farmers, traders..
Shudras- servants
untouchables (Harijans) subcastes of shudras |
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| the Absolute, the Ultimate; not a proper name; manifest yet munmanifest, one, many, personal, impersonal, all forms, formless; understood in two forms: nirguna Brahman and Saguna Brahman |
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| Brahman without attributes or form;the sacred essence beyond all names and forms; "No word can reach It; no tongue can spoil It" ; referred to as That, It |
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| not this, not hat; a way of expressing the formless, and infinite nirguna Brahman |
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| Brahman with attributes; the mulitple names and forms of the eternal Brahman as the myriad gods and goddesses; all theings in the manifest (existent) universe are part of the Brahman; referred to as He, She |
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| the individual self or soul: one's "true" self |
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| teh cycle of rebirth and re-death |
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| an impersonal law of cause and effect that spans lifetimes; actions and their consequences |
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| liberation from samsara to oneness with Brahman; liberation fueled by karma;trapped in cycles because of ignorance of the true nature of the self and Brahman |
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| "without death" the goal of liberation(moksha) |
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| salvation- knowledge is transformative leads individual to salvation |
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| "that which is remembered" refers to all the sacred literature in Hindu traditions composed after the Vedas & Upanishads; includes the great epics and law codes |
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| one section (18 chapters) of the great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata; one of the most popular scriptures in Hindu traditions; in the Gita, Lord Krishna (incarnation of Vishnu) outlines the 3 paths to salvation and reveals that there is a path to salvation for everyone |
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| preserver; popular god in india; takes physical form sometimes when righteousness and the human ability to connect with the sacred are threatened; krishna is an incarnation |
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| the incarnation of a god in the physical form |
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| the eighth or ninth incarnation of vishnu; central to the Bhagavad Gita |
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jnana marga/yoga
karma marga/yoga
bhakti marga/yoga |
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| the path of selfless action |
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| the path of devotion to a personal god/goddess; most popular way to salvation |
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| popular epic revolving around the story of Rama and Sita as role models of dharma |
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| hero of Ramayana; 7th incarnation of god Vishnu; idea son, brother, husband, ruler |
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| "kingdom of rule of Rama" phrase for political ideal of the just ruler |
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| wife of Rama; incarnation of Lakshmi; ideal daughter, wife, queen; seen as catalyst of action in the Ramayana; without Sita, Rama could not fulfill dharma and restore righteousness and ethical order |
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| goddess of good fortune; seen as consort/ wife to Vishnu; bestows salvation on her devotees |
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| remover of obstacles; god of thresholds; son of the goddes Parvati and the god Shiva; one of the most popular gods in India |
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| great, benevolent mother goddess; Shakti; wife of Shiva; mother of Ganesh |
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| the land where actions bear fruit; the land of karma or action; the place where actions can produce merit or demerit |
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| Hindu-Muslim relationships |
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| these differ depending on local; respectful interrelationships throughout inda and the incorporation of beliefs, exchanges of art, music, poetry |
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| paying close attention to what people themselves say about the meaning and purpose of religious practices |
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| "focal point of religion" - the sacred, the ground of ultimate vitality, value, and meaning |
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| "holy or sacred" the basic human response to experiencing the sacred even before we develop rational ways of talking about it; experience as ultimate mystery, encountered as Mystery |
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| speak to human relaity and this experience of the ineffable mystery; are not arbitrary; cannot be "made up" but come out of experience of the ultimately real; anything can serve as a symbol |
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| formalized and symbolic actions that point to and make present the sacred; experience of being made whole, healed, or saved; transforming; speaks to the issues of meaning and purpose |
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| mysterium tremendum et fascinans |
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| "terrifying and facinating mystery"- the experience of the sacred described by Rudolph Otto (historian of religion) |
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