Hinduism and Diversity

Beaker or flagon, or bowl or jar,
clumsy or slender, coarse or fine;
however the potter may make or mar
all were made to contain the wine
Should we this one seek or that one shun
when the wine which gives them their worth is one
 
Into the bosom of the one great sea
Flow streams that come from hills on every side,
Their names are various as their springs,
And thus in every land do men bow down
To one Great God though known by many names. (Indian Folk Song)
 

Supreme reality: Brahman

Thou art that
Atman and Brahman are one
I am Brahman
All this is indeed Brahman (Chandogya Upanishad)
 
The Human Condition: Samsara, Karma, and Moksa
Karma is a law of cause and effect that propels the phenomenal or illusory self forward in the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth known as Samsara. Release from Samsara is Moksa, liberation from the effects of karma.
 

Three paths (Margas):

Historical Background to Development of Philosophic Traditions

 
1) Original inhabitants of India - stone age culture traced back 400,000-200,000 BCE. Variety of funerial practices (burial, cremation, partial cremation) point to a variety of cultures.
Prehistoric cave paintings at Bhimbetka ca. 30,000 B.C.E. discovered in 1967. Site located 46 km south of Bhopal. Petroglyphs Pachmarhi Mesolithic site
Prehistoric Art Virtual Museum
Map of Madhya Pradesh
Visit Discover India Gallery
 

2) Indus Valley Civilization: The Indus Valley civilization extended over a vast area (almost a half a million square miles) of northwestern and northern India.

Around the Indus in 90 slides by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer
 
Slides 5 and 6 topography 7 Mohenjo-Dara mound; 8 and 9 excavated baths MD; 11 well MD; 13 Harappa Mound; 14 well H ; 15 granary; 23 and 24 toys Nuasharo/H; 24 mound tablet MD; 25 unicorn seal MD; 27 bull seal H; 28 bison seal MD; 32 complex seal MD; 33 34 human figure seal MD; 35 multi-headed ram MD; 39 male head; 41 priest bust; 47 figurines; 51 female figure; 54 and 56 bull figures; 69 and 70 burial pottery; 71 burial of adult male H; 72 woman and infant H; 79 ornaments; 80 carnelian belt MD; 87 mask MD; 89 sacrifice scene tablet H; 90 reverse female deity
 
Before the discovery of the Indus Valley Civilization, historians theorized that early Hindu thought was brought by Aryan invaders from Indo-Europe. The initial interpretation of the archeological data was used to support this conclusion. The Rig Veda mentions destruction of powerful centers and irrigations schemes. Perhaps the Indus Valley civilization was in fact destroyed by the invading Aryan peoples, or the Indus dried up and cities were already near death when the Aryans conquered. Recently, this theory has been called into question. The vestiges of the Harappa culture suggest that it included elements of the theism and yogic practices now central to Hinduism. The debate illustrates the contemporary awareness that all so-called scientific hypotheses are ideologically driven. The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries drive to locate the beginning of literary cultures in Europe has been tied to the European hunger for empire. Current theorists are interested in proving that literary cultures arose independently raising the question of whether they are motivated by the new valuation of difference.
Perhaps influences of Harappa culture are best seen in the fire ritual of Agni in which an elaborate brick altar is constructed and then burnt after a long ceremony involving recitation of the vedas.
 
Perhaps Harrapa represents a highly developed proto Dravidian culture, ancestors to Tamils of today.
 
4) The next stage in the development of Hindu thought is Vedic religion manifest in the Vedic literature that appears after the incursion of the Aryan invaders and settlers who spread from the Northwest down through India. The language of the Vedas is Sanskrit, an Indoeuropean language.
 
Arya - the noble ones
 
Hierarchical structure:
Brahmins - priestly leaders, custodians of the all-powerful sacrifice
Ksatriyas - horse-riding noble men
Vaisyas - independent farmer, cattle breeder, artisans and traders
Sudras - services
 
The Brahminic Religion entailed animal sacrifice and recitation of hymns and rites handed down in oral tradition generation to generation
 
The purpose of Vedci sacrifice seems to have been to sustain the universe through the cooperation of human beings and the gods. Vedic Yajna
 
 
The creation of the cosmic order is described in the Rig Veda as the result of the sacrifice of a "world soul" purusha.
 
Thousand-headed was Purusa, thousand-yed, thousand-footed. He having covered the earth on all sides, extended beyond it the length of ten fingers.
Purusa is this all, that has been and that will be. And he is the lord of immortality, which he grows beyond through food.
One fourth of him is all beings. Three fourths of him is the immortal in heaven. ...
That Purusa, born in the beginning, they besprinkled as a sacrifice on the strew: with him the gods, the Sadhas, and the rishi sacrified. ...
When they divided Purusa, into how many parts did they dispose him? What did his mouth become? What are his two arms, his two thighs, his two feet called?
His mouth was the Brahman, his two arms were made the warrior, his two thighs the Vaisya; from his two feet the Sudra was born.
The moon was born from his mind; from his eye the sun was born; from his mouth Indra and Agni, from his breath Vayu was born.
From his navel was produced the air; from his head the sky was evolved; from his two feet the earth, from his ear the quarters; thus they fashioned the worlds. 10.90
 
One of the most famous of the sacrifices no longer practiced is the horse sacrifice (ashvamedha) in which a horse is set free to roam for a period of a year at the end of which it is sacrificed Wherever the horse sets foot uncontested pays fielty to the master of the horse.
 
Elements of vedic sacrifice continue to this day in one form or another, but animal sacrifice is not considered normative. The Agnihotra (fire sacrifice) continues to have central importance. It is performed by the properly initiated household at dawn and sunset by burning ghee and rice (cow dung may also be burned) while reciting mantras. Sacrifice to Agni played a central role in virtually all vedic sacrifices.
Light is Agni, Agni is light. The one who is light, he calls light . . . Agni offers
itself in sacrifice to the rising Sun and the setting Sun offers itself in sacrifice to
Agni in the evening; Night sacrifices itself to the Day and Day sacrifices itself to
the Night. Kaushitaki Brahmana152
To the Lord, the far-renowned, the wise Ordainer,
ancient and glorious, I offer the tribute of a song.
Anointed with oil is he, the Lord, the powerful
giver of bliss and guardian of noble riches. RV V, 15, 1-2
 
On the power of sacrifice which is grounded in highest heaven
and by Cosmic Order in Cosmic Order established,
[our Fathers], though mortal, attained immortal seats
in those spheres above which firmly support the heavens. RV X, 80, 4
 
Agni extends the sacrifice to heaven:
his forms are scattered everywhere. RV X, 100, 6

 

 

I pray to Agni, the household priest who is the god of the sacrifice, the one who chants and invokes and brings most treasure.
Agni earned the prayers of the ancient sages, and of those of the present, too: he will bring the gods here.
Through Agni one may win wealth, and growth from day to day, glorious and most abounding in heroic sons.
Agni, the sacrificial ritual that you encompass on all sides -- only that one goes to the gods.
Agni, the priest with the sharp sight of a poet, the true and most brilliant, the god will come with the gods.
Whatever good you wish to do for the one who worships you, Agni, through you, O Angiras, that comes true.
To you, Agni, who shine upon darkness, we come day after day, bringing our thoughts and homage.
To you, the king over sacrifices, the shining guardian of the Order, growing in your own house.
Be easy for us to reach, like a father to his son. Abide with us, Agni, for our happiness. Rg Veda 1.1

 

 
Vedic rituals are observed by most Hindus on ceremonial occasions.