Hinduism Essay Research Paper While examining different

Hinduism Essay, Research Paper

While examining different religious paths within Hinduism from the perspective

of four patterns of transcendence (ancestral, cultural, mythical and

experiential) it is interesting to see how each pattern found its dominance over

four segments of Hinduism: Vedic sacrifice, the way of action, the way of

devotion and the way of knowledge. When Hinduism originated as a religion it was

mainly concerned with sacrifices for ancestors. The sacred texts – called the

Vedas – on which Hinduism was based were the main root of the many different

branches of Hindu philosophy. The Vedas originated around 1400-1200 BC. They

consisted of several different documents, the oldest of them called the Rigveda.

The Rigveda is considered to be the foundation of Brahmanic Hinduism. The main

body of Rigveda?s text contains mostly hymns dedicated to the ancient Hindu

gods. The second text of Vedas is called the Yajurveda. It was written in 1200

BC. The main themes of Yajurveda are the sacred formulas recited by Brahmin

priests during the performance of sacrifices. The third book of Vedas, Samveda

(1100 BC), was also known as the Veda of chants. In its essence Samveda was an

anthology of Rigveda writings. The last Veda is the Arthaveda (1200 BC).It

consisted of hymns, incantations and magic charms. 2 The original Vedic texts

were mostly comprised of hymns to gods and rules of sacrificial rituals; the

purpose of which was to provide ancestors with food and means of sustenance in

the kingdom of Yama (the afterworld). As a result of their devotion people

expected certain favorable influences in their lives, such as good fortune and

yet better life in the kingdom of Yama after their death. Sacrifices were

supposed to be a means of survival in the kingdom of Yama. As the Indian

philosophies evolved, Hindus developed the concept of reincarnation. The essence

of that concept lied in the belief that no one is able to remain in the

afterworld forever and eventually should return to the cycle of life, death and

rebirth. As transcendent as the concept of reincarnation was, it did not provide

Hindus with an ultimate salvation from suffering. Thus every living thing must

eventually suffer and die. Such views resulted in further development of Hindu

religion, Hindu philosophers such as Manu questioned the concepts of Vedas and

laid the foundation for a philosophy that transformed Hinduism from a simple

ancestral religion to a set of very complex religious and philosophical beliefs.

Eventually the attempts of the Vedic texts to satisfy people?s need to have

contact with the sacred reality have become insufficient. Even though the

sacrifice was a way to 3 control the cosmos and insure well-being in the world

of ancestors, it did not provide the means of liberation from the realm of maya:

reality which Hindus lived in but thought of it as an illusion. Following the

age of Vedas people of Hinduism looked for happiness through the way of action.

The way of action could be very well considered an example of cultural

transcendence. The main doctrine of such philosophy told that one must do all

the tasks presented to him/her by the place in society and social status; and

the result of such rightful life would be the rebirth into a better social

position. With time "the way of action" philosophy became less

satisfactory for its followers, since it seemed to lack the total liberation

from the infinite cycle of death and rebirth. As Hindu religion became more

complicated and people began to look for total liberation from the circle of

death and rebirth the segment of Hinduism known as the way of devotion came into

existence. Followers of the way of devotion based their beliefs on the myths

about gods such as Shiva, Vishnu and Krishna. These gods were believed to be a

manifestation of ultimate reality. Believers in the way of devotion were

supposed to worship their god through sacrifices and rituals devoting their

lives to the belief 4 and were expected to be saved from the realm of maya by

the manifestation of ultimate reality to which they entrusted their lives. The

essence of the way of devotion was a mythical transcendence, because it was

heavily based on the myth about the encounters between mortal humans and divine

beings (for example the legend of Krishna and Arguna) that described the main

doctrines of this part of Hinduism to its pursuers. Following the age of Vedas,

texts known as Upanishads came into existence (1000-500 BC). Unlike the Vedas,

Upanishads did not talk about the rules of sacrifices and did not contain hymns

to gods. Instead, those texts concentrated on the essence of reality and on the

supreme being ruling the cosmos-the Brahman. The Upanishads contained one

hundred and eight writings. The main theme of these writings was reality. But it

was not the reality which we perceive (because everything we see and know is an

illusion), but the reality that is real, that does not change; the reality that

has answers to every question, including the one about suffering. In addition,

Upanishads spoke of relationship between the world in which Hindus live, the

Brahman, and the ultimate reality. In Upanishads Brahman was identified as the

only true and absolute reality. The Brahman was manifested in everything: one

could 5 identify Brahman in very act of consciousness. By denying Brahman, one

would be denying his/hers own existence. Hindu philosopher Sankara commented:

"The existence of Brahman is known from the fact that it is the Self of

everyone. Everyone is aware of the existence of his own Self. No one thinks ‘I

am not’"(Commentary on The Vedanta Sutras, I,1/1),(Berry 1967,p26)). The

Brahman is everywhere, it is everything, but at the same time no one is aware of

its being. The Upanishads used metaphors to draw the picture of Brahman

existence. An example of such metaphors is the tale of the Uddalaka and his son

Svetaketu. In this story Uddalaka proves to Svetaketu the existence of the

unseen Brahman. First Uddalaka asks Svetaketu to divide a fig; when to his

question of "what do you see inside?", Svetaketu replies:

"nothing, father"; Uddalaka asks: "How can a great tree grow out