Hinduism 101 - Hinduism: Origin and Evolution. - free Suite101 course

Lesson 1: Hinduism: Origin and Evolution.
- Introduction and Origin.
- Evolution.
- Some Important Myths within Hinduism.

Lesson 2: Important Religious Texts.

Lesson 3: The Hindu Pantheon - Part One.

Lesson 4: The Hindu Pantheon - Part Two.

Lesson 5: The Yoga Suite.

Lesson 6: Important Sects and Revered Personages.

Lesson 7: Important Pilgrimage Spots.

Lesson 8: Current Status.

Lesson 1: Hinduism: Origin and Evolution.

Some Important Myths within Hinduism.

Here are some important concepts of Hinduism that are instilled within certain myths.

The Brahmanic Age engendered certain unique beliefs. One of these was that universal time is a never-ending cycle of creation and destruction, each complete cycle being represented by 100 years in Brahma’s life. When Brahma is awake all creation exists and when he goes to sleep all is destroyed – Brahma himself, gods, sages, humans, animals, demons and all creation is dissolved in the Great Cataclysm - The Mahapralaya. All beings who have not obtained liberation are judged according to their just deserts and some have to await rebirth when Brahma wakes on the new day and the three worlds – heavens, middle and lower regions – are created. The earth is the middle region and Patala, where the demons and nagas stay, the nether regions.

Each hundred years of Brahma’s life is further subdivided into a number of subunits, the most important of which is the Kalpa, equivalent to one day in Brahma’s life and 4,320 million earth-years. Each Kalpa is subdivided into one thousand Mahayugas and each of these is again subdivided into four Yugas - Krita, Treta, Dwapara and Kali.

The four colors of the Gods in each age signifies the four castes – white for Brahmins, red for Kshatriyas, yellow for Vaishyas and black for Sudras.

The great destruction is preceded by horrible portents. At first, there is a drought lasting 100 years. After that seven suns arise in the sky and suck up all the waters. A great wind arises and fire starts and the wind sweeps the fire across the earth and the underworld and wipes everything out. Next, great clouds, ringed with lightening, burst out and it rains for 12 years and the entire world is submerged. Everywhere there is water. Brahma comes, floating on a lotus, and absorbs all the winds and goes to sleep. All is quiet and the waters rest till the time comes for Brahma to wake and start the good work of creation again. During this interval all beings, including gods and humans, remain absorbed in the cosmic spirit Brahman.

Please note that in this particular part of the lesson, the world means the three regions – heavens, earth and the netherworld.

In the various Hindu mythologies, for there are many, even when sourced from the Vedas, there are many accounts of what the world is physically like. I have had to make a choice and I have contrived to set down the most popular one.

The Earth is shaped like a circle and is the innermost of seven concentric circles featuring other Proto-earths. The earth is, of course, at the centre of the world. At the center of the earth is Mount Meru, 84,000 leagues high, the summit the seat of Brahma’s heaven. The heaven is encircled by the holy Ganga and surrounded by the heavens of Indra and the other deities. At the foothills live some friendly spirits like the Gandharvas while the valleys are dangerous and inhabited by demons. On the plains, on one of the circles, is the human world.

The whole world is supported by the hood of Shesha, the cosmic serpent, who himself rests on the back of a giant tortoise. Otherwise, according to another equally popular version, the world is supported by four elephants standing back-to-back. When they move to shift weight, earthquakes occur.

Hinduism is full of various creation myths, most of which have a common thread running through them. The most popular one is that, at the beginning of time, there are only the cosmic waters, quiet and lifeless. I have chosen it not only because it is the most popular among Hindus but also because it is surprisingly similar to Christian beliefs. It is from the Laws of Manu, which was written down in the 2nd century A.D. It has elements of all the earlier myths as well as a rather new and unique twist.

It must be noted here by the student that the pure monism of the Vedanta envisions the Universal Spirit - The Eternal Brahman - as Totally Attribute-less, Non-doing and Non-sensing while witnessing all. Thus, technically, the periodic creation and the destruction of the universe are not processes in which the Brahman has any direct willfulness though the entire universe is a manifestation of Him in attribute form. Thus, the entirety of creation – all beings – are treated as Maya - delusion – that detract from the featureless reality of the Brahman that is the only truth and the only truth possible. Yet many texts quote the Universal Spirit, in whatever form – Narayana, Brahma and others - as being the direct agent for the creation or destruction of the universe. Hinduism juxtaposes such diverse theories on the same phenomenon with ease. The simple explanation is that the pure monism of the Vedanta is often too difficult to understand for simple devotees and, as such, diverse easier-to-understand elements are propagated by knowledgeable persons for the benefit of the simpler persons who also have a right to worship what they can understand. Manu is a human being, a sage, who has escaped the last destruction and end of the Mahayuga. He lives to play a leading part in the creation of the next age. The novel twist is imparted by Manu himself. Manu was a sage living in the Brahmanic Age when it was increasingly becoming the trend to ascertain that certain humans, sages mostly, could become as powerful and knowledgeable as the Gods by performing severe austerities for many years and becoming absorbed in the Universal Spirit – The Eternal Brahman. Manu asserts himself as one such sage who took part in the creation brought about from the manifestations of the universal spirit.

First the spirit felt desire – an aspect often personified as Kama, the God of desire, who is regarded as the creative force here. The Eternal Brahman wished to create all being out of His own self. So He first created the cosmic waters – Nara. Next He threw a seed into it. From the seed grew an egg, brilliant as the sun. The self-existent spirit, also known as Narayana (usually associated with Vishnu), from the waters where He first resided, began to grow inside the egg till He became Brahma, or Purusha – the male element. After a year’s contemplation within the egg Brahma divided Himself into two halves – one half male and the other female. In the female half He implanted Viraj (the resident), and Viraj in turn created Manu who than created the world.

Manu had performed 10,000 years of austerities and had become as powerful as Brahma. One day he was meditating besides a stream when a fish appeared before him and asked for his protection against another fish which was chasing him. So Manu placed the fish in a jar but it soon become too big for that and asked to be taken to the Ganga. Manu did that but here also the fish outgrew its container and so, at last, Manu took it to the ocean where the fish was content. Here it revealed that it was none other than Brahma Himself. Brahma warned Manu of an impending deluge and told him to build an ark and put in it the seven rishis and the seeds of everything recognized by the Brahmins.

Manu did this and, soon after, it began to rain and this went on for years till everything was submerged. Manu’s ark was pulled by the huge fish which had ropes tied to its mouth. With these it hauled the boat to the highest peak of the mountains. Here Manu and everything in the ark was safe and remained there for many years till the waters subsided and the ark was lowered to the valleys.

Manu took up the work of creation. He worshipped the fish and started great austerities. He offered sacrifice of milk, clarified butter and curds and, after a year, a beautiful maiden grew out of these offerings. She told Manu that, with her help, he would be able to create everything. Manu, with her, began the human race and everything else. And so the world was created again.

The early myths that initially established Hinduism have no mention of the concept of reincarnation. When humans died they went to the abode of their forefathers - The Pitris. Later this abode was specified as a place that Yama, the God of death, had control over. There are specific directions on which part of the compass the abode lies in.

Even later, a myth developed in which humans, when they died, went to Yama’s abode - Kalichi where they were judged according to their karmas in their lives and sent either to the abode of the pitris, for the good, or to Yama’s hell better known as Put where they had to undergo constant torment to purify themselves.

The common Hindu’s honest belief, even today, is that if they did good things in this life they would go to Indra’s heaven - Swarga, synonymous with heaven to the common Hindu, which is a very opulent place and would live a life of eternal bliss among singing and dancing apsaras and gandharvas. An evil person would be consigned to hell, Put, where constant tortures are the norm. Parts of the popular epics – The Ramayana and the Mahabharata – support this belief though the higher concept of the soul of a liberated person merging with the Universal Spirit is also present.

When the ancient Rishis and Sages delved into the latter parts of the Vedas, the Vedanta, they came upon the concept of the Universal Spirit. They popularized it through two main philosophical concepts - Advaita and Dvaita schools of thought – both of which somehow aligned the individual soul with the Universal Spirit. Thus arose the necessity of explaining material existence. The two concepts of Maya (illusion) and Karma (action) were propounded to do this. Maya, through sensory perceptions, enmeshes the individual soul and constricts it to the material body while deluding it from getting a clear vision of the Universal Spirit. Thus the soul cannot achieve liberation from the material world and is trapped in it. Karma, action in life, aids Maya in this if it is not wholly good. Karma cannot be pure and wholly good because of Avidya, ignorance, as opposed to Vidya, which is true wisdom and which can extricate the soul from the entrapment of the material world through good karmas. .

If a person in one life does not do wholly good Karmas then he or she is enmeshed in Maya and, on death, his or her soul cannot attain Moksha or liberation from the material world so that it can unite with the Universal Spirit. So that person has to be reborn as another being in another life to purge the bad actions of the previous life with good ones in this life. This is reincarnation or metempsychosis. The soul or Atman may have to undergo multiple births and be reborn repeatedly to purge actions in previous lives. This is being entrapped within the endless cycles of Samsara, the material world.

According to Hindu theologians the body - Sarira is made up of two components – the Sthula Sarira, the gross body, and the Sushkma or Linga Sarira, the subtle body. The Sthula Sarira is the physical body. The Sushkma Sarira is the intangible body made up of Buddhi (intelligence), Manas (mind), Ahamkara (ego), etc. The subtle body surrounds the soul and acts as an intermediary between it and the gross body. Every action leaves its imprint - Samskara on the subtle body and waits as a seed to germinate and bear fruit. While the gross body disintegrates at death the subtle body remains in contact with the soul and bears imprints of actions of all previous lives. It carries all previous tendencies and merits and demerits of previous births and is reborn with the Atman or soul in the next life if Moksha is not achieved. The subtle body has to be thoroughly purified through good action before the soul can achieve Moksha.