1-29-07

Vedas Yoga
Brahma Asrama
Shiva Varna
Vishnu Brahmachari
Atma/n Kashatriya
Samsara Vyasa
Karma Sudra
Moksha Chandel
Maya

Hinduism

 The Aryans have everything but start to wonder why they are there. Thinks about
their lives. In the process of this, comes the birth of the Vedas (1500 bc)
o A lot of literature
 The Vedas was written in poetic form on EVERYTHING!
o Priestly matters, cooking, astronomy, children, sex, marriage, education,
ect…
o Written by hundreds of scholars
o Out of the Vedas, Hinduism is born.
 Hinduism is very contradictory – many authors at different times.
 Rules to understanding Hinduism
o Start with a clean slate. Do not compare to other religions
o There is no founder
 Around 900-1100 bc Hinduism emerged
 Everything connected with nature and had divine meaning
• Led to having a god/goddess for everything
o Varuna: god of the sky
o Lakshmi: goddess of wealth
o Indira: god of war
o Ganesh: god of wisdom (elephant face)
 3 major gods emerge: trinity (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva)
o Brahma: creator (most important)
 The father; does not interfere with everyday life
o Vishnu: the preserver; bringer of good; right arm
o Shiva: the destroyer; bringer of bad; left arm
o Vishnu and Shiva are always watching you, recording all good and bad you
do. “reps of Brahma”
o Do not think of Vishnu and Shiva and good god and bad god.
 o Each temple is dedicated to one god but there is always a tiny section for
Shiva just in case.
o Shiva (the bull) is present in the Dravidian culture (only god to do that)
 3 Metaphysical Doctrines of Hinduism
o Samsara: belief in reincarnation. Born many times, each life cycle you are
being tested
o Karma: sum total of all past actions of all life cycles
o Moksha: end of life cycles. Must have great karma (ultimate goal for a
Hindu)
 Brahma is the only one that possesses the universal soul—Atmu/n (soul)
o He is constantly letting out tiny bits of his soul to create new souls that will
be born again and again.
 If your soul has passed all the tests during your life cycles, your Atmu
will reunite with Brahma and you will have reached Moksha
o Maya: illusion. We do not know how many life cycles a person has or will
have.
o Yoga: spiritual exercise, meditate, mental and physical exercise. A good way
to improve karma
 4 Stages of Asrama
o 1-25: responsibility of parents. Obedience to parents.
o 26-50: an adult. Have a career and family. Payback time—do for your kids
what you parents did for you
o 51-75: make up for all your wrong doings
o 75-100: prepare to leave this life cycle. Some would give up their families
and retreat to a mountain and meditate (hermit).