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cosmic law that has existed forever, preexisting even the gods.
dharma (small d) - your duty within the Dharma. |
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- every action has a moral residue that is either good or bad. Everything from killing someone to brushing your teeth. (also things you don’t do sometimes).
because there are so many actions you don’t necessarily see the consequences in this life.
transmigration means that your soul migrates from body to body and takes its karma with it. Possible to change from one form of life to another. |
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| - liberation (different than salvation) liberated from attachments and this realm. you realize you are this pure being beyond all your karmic stuff, beyond your consciousness. liberation from samsara. |
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- is equivalent to seeing, has two meanings
a worldview, viewpoint, or philosophical school
if you look at the image of a god, the god is actually seeing you. The deity is regarded as actually being in the image. |
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| - sacred text, hymns that are said to have existed forever. seen (darshana) by seers and recorded. Earliest, most sacred. |
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| - (anta=end) End of the Veda, a worldview that appears in a class of text known as the Upanishads. |
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| contain the text of the Vedanta. Largely dialogues. Means literally to sit down close. Not just one voice, it’s interaction and debate about the truth. |
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| - self = cosmic essence. Your being is identical to the essence of the universe. a drop in the ocean(being=Being). (Mystical experience in monistic cosmology) |
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| underlying force of the universe. Divine cosmic power. |
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| the world we live in now where everything is separate and different. Where we are reborn. It appears to be real but with the highest insight it becomes an illusion. |
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| the cast system, does not change throughout your life. depends on your actions in a past life. |
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| literally means birth. officially just 4 casts, but unofficially hundreds. Heredity birth group, with respect to jobs. |
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| people that learned these hymns and repeated them. Help us to control the Brahman (verbal root of Braham, underlying force of the universe.) |
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- life stages, student-->householder-->renouncer
Student - lasts till about 20, learning your dharma
Householder - When you make your contribution back to society, you take you place in your system and you perform your role, acting on your dharma
Renouncer - (Samnyasa) - When you see the face of your grandson, getting to moksha |
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| enounciation or the person who goes for it. You detach yourself from this world, change your name, become homeless. |
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| Story of a Giant Family Feud where everyone is annihilated. |
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| entertaining stories with Gods, humans, and demons interacting. Meant to teach good moral lessons about following the dharma. |
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| terrifying God that gives you destruction powers. sometimes teams up with Kali. If you have both on your side you’re indestructible. |
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| Conversation between Arjuna and Krishna inside the mahabhrata. Krishan is telling Arjuna why he has to fight. It’s so important and central because Krishna integrates a bunch of teachings that may seem to be unrelated. 1-You must follow your Dharma, otherwise your family is slaughtered and your entire side is defeated, your the man. Arjuna asks, what if the dharma’s not right? Should I be a renouncer? |
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| Younger brother of Pandavas (Good Guys) |
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| literally means devotion to a personal, loving God. becomes the single most popular way of being religious. |
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| literally means old. These are the tales of old, they’re repositories of stories about major gods. There’s a Vishnu purana, Krishna purana, etc. The purana will talk about the origin of the God and how time began. In these texts God is over the Dharma. |
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is a Brahma day. equivalent to 4billion of our years. Bird with feather, knocks a little snow off once every 100 years wearing down everest.
1 Kalpa is 1000 Mahayugas
every Mahayuga has 4 yugas 1st one is the golden age the second is
Kaliyuga - dark time |
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| devotional service, when you do this you’re manifesting Bhakti |
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| mage of a god, different than idol (idol has a prejudice associated with it) |
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| Branch of Hinduism. basic idea is that the body is a microcosm of the universe, and you use the body to gain liberation. You have aspects of divinity within you, when you understand how the mind and body work you can awaken that divinity and act |
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| means power, a kind of fundamental energy |
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| literally means heavy. one would follow a Guru to gain Shakti |
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| Picture to stare at to assimilate meaning into ourselves. shows you another dimension like those 3D magic Eye things |
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| - Sound which establishes some kind of relationship between you (Microcosm) and the cosmos (Macrocosm). (om - the basic cosmic sound that will align you with the cosmic energy) Some Mantras will give you powers, but they’re dangerous and you have to be ready. |
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| - General name for Goddess |
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| powerful warrior Goddess. Able to kill things that are “unable to be killed by man” because she’s a woman |
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| single most famous, also a battle Goddess, but more focused on difficult or troubled times of any sort, natural disaster, disease. wild, destructive, lives on a cremation ground, wears skulls. some of her followers beg with skulls. |
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| (non-dual) school of thought formalized by Shankara. Drop in Ocean, all one. |
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| Formalized the school of thought known as Advaita, most famous person in Vedanta worldview. He wrote commentaries on the upanishads, the bhagavad-gitas, and the brahmasutras. He formalized the school of Vedanta known as advaita(non-dual). |
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| 1100’s- (Qualified Non-Dualism) He argued with Shankara. Said the world was real, it’s the body of God. Our jiva is real, we have a soul. He tried to link vedanta with Theism. Devotion to Vishnu was scripturally valid. No merging. |
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| the you you think you are. |
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| Guy that started the Hare Krishnas |
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| Cow-protectors, loved Krishna. |
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| Heroic followers of Shiva |
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| Lived in the 1100s. probably started out as a brahman. said going to temples and stuff is not necessary. |
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| means great follower of God, one of the famous people in Virashaivas. Great example of devoted woman, role model. Also quite controversial, left her husband to be devoted to Shiva. She walked around naked to make the point that God sees everything. Wandered aimlessly looking for God. |
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| - Hindu guy that thought monotheism was a great way to go, found in scriptures evidence that Brahman was like the Christian God. see reading. |
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| Headed up reaction against British westernizing. He actually ended up teaching a lot of the same things Ram Mohan Roy, rejecting the Puja, saying that it was necessary to go back to the Veda (He thought it was monotheistic). |
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| society of Arians - people who were proud of being Hindus and wanted to Reject the West/Christianity. |
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| Bengali, Devotee of the Goddess Kali. What made him famous is his intensity of his passion for the Goddess. He was regularly in a trance state, people who would come and see him and feel the power. So intense that some people thought he was mentally ill. Later in his life he bagan to suggest the idea that the Supreme being took a variety of forms. Began to say that other divine saints were descendants of the divine. |
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| Ramakrishna’s top student. single most influential person for westerners idea of Hinduism. Taught that Vedanta is the highest path, makes Hinduism better than christianity. if atman=brahman then you ARE your brother. in 1893 in Chicago there was a convention, the world parlament of religions. Responsible for the introduction of Hindusim and Buddhism in America. (The plan kind of backfired.) Also taught that there were different Yogas for different temperaments, knowledge, devotion, action, etc. “We’re better than you because we’re so tolerant.” Introduced social reform into Hindusim - against cast system. |
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- figure that shows continuity with the upanishads
do the reading
probably the greatest advaita iin Hindusim
he had this death experience in his youth. Got the profound idea that he was not his body, it completely and immediately changed his life.
after this experience he went to a temple and it in meditation while it’s so hot, scorpions could sting him and he wouldn’t move. he wouldn’t eat, they had to force food down his mouth.
He spent the rest of his life in this meditative state He would sometimes come out and speak, but the important thing is people would feel this energy around him that would be calm and serene. |
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political leader, social reformer, religious figure. Raised with an English-style education. Hindu at home, English influence at school. Educated as a lawyer, identified more with Hinduism while away from India. Thought a lot about Hindi ideas while he was away from India. Mix of Western lawyer and yogic follower. After he got his education in England he went to South Africa and formed his vision, didn’t come back to India until his mid 40’s. Believed that non-violent opposition is the best way to take care of things. More effective than anyone before him. His vision had 3 parts:
1. Ahimsa - non-violence
2. Svaraj - self-rule. We show discipline and proper behavior then you have the capacity to run a country. Personal self-rule leads to political self-rule
3. Satyagraha - truth force. he believed there was a force that bent towards truth, compassion, equality, justice. By ruling yourself you can hook into a power associated with truth and you will be victorious. (The spirit, through living righteously you could touch others and they would change.) |
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| mother of bliss. Female saint she died in ‘52. like ramakrishna, in an ecstatic state all the time, devotion to devi (goddess) |
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