These are the questions that needed to be answered:
Further reflection questions:
- What are some examples you think of that show how it is difficult to separate religion from other aspects of society and culture?
- Elevator speeches. Try to come up with ” elevator speeches” ( 1-2 sentence descriptions) for: Shinto , Hinduism
- Nationalism. Reflect on what you think this term means, and examples of nationalism you may be familiar with, Hint: Some types of nationalism exist in the U.S. If you are not familiar with nationalism, spend a few minutes doing research into the topic. Reflect on how it relates to what we are learning in class.
These are notes I wrote:
Pre-Aryas
Ingenious, Indus Valley civilization
-Southern Indians and Tamils may be partially descended from this civilization.
-Likely spoke a pre-Dravidian language
-Religion in the Indus Valley Civilization.
With an undeciphered language, we know little their religious practices.
- Archeological sites are ambiguous and open to dispute.
- There are no significant temple sites or monuments.
- Worship may have been confines to the home.
-`but some modern Hindu groups claim a lineage to this civilization,
Proto– Hinduism
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-There is some speculation that this deity figure represents the God, Siva.
- Lotus posture.
- Trident representation.
- Identification ratio with animals.
Aryas invasion
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- Tribes from Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
- Developed what would become the caste system (related to the four Venas)
- (Ancestor language of most Indian, Persian and European languages including: Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, Greek, Latin and German, English.
- Spoke a language referred to as Proto Indo- European.
- religion based on sacrifices and ancestor worship.
- Would develop the Vedas around 1200BCE.
Problems with the hypothesis
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- Without deciphering the language, no way to verify.
- Similarities could be coincidental as most Aryas reference to Siva date to the Vedas at least 1000 years later.
- There is political controversy behind the claim.
The four Varnas were representative of the sacred order:
- From the body of Purusha (cosmic being) would emerge the four classes of traditional Indian Society.
- From his mouth, the Priests.
- From his arms, the warriors and administrators.
- From his thighs, the merchants.
- From his feet, the laborers and servants.
Some terms:
Samsara– The ceaselessly turning wheel of the cosmos; birth, life, death, and rebirth.
Dharma- the duties one has in their life in maintenance of Samsara.
Karma- the effect, good or bad, depending on one’s performances of their dharma, Karma can also be seen as divine or cosmic action.
Moksha- liberation from Samsara.
Yoga- A discipline in obtaining both maintenance and liberation. There are different kinds of yoga.
Avatar- incarnation of a deity on Earth.
Maintenance through rituals:
- Fire sacrifice- food offered up in rituals we though to sustain the gods, who in turn maintained the cosmos. Sacrifice thus, maintained the cosmos.
The Upanishads:
- While individual lives may change, the self or atm is eternal END.
Basic Principles:
- Karma, which was once only about ritual, was applied to all action.
- Birth, death and rebirth set a pattern for all cosmos
Basic principle:
Samsara is now a bad thing.
- Continual rebirth and necessarily death is seen as a prison.
Liberation is possible
- It is achieved through the self-realization and knowledge that Atman is Brahman.
Atman- Brahman:
- The essence of the Yama parable is the scriptable establishment of the non-duality of the self (atman) and the cosmos (Brahman).
- The realization that the self is the same as all creation is the obtainment of Moksha and liberation from Samsara.
- Realization ensures that reincarnation ceases by dispelling the illusion (Maya) of an autonomous self. The self is Brahman and Brahman is the self.
Thursday’s work
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The Upanishads
- While individual lives may change, the self or atman is eternal and never changing.
- Vedantic thought shifted the view of death as a gateway to the afterlife and instead saw it as a natural part of an eternal cycle.
- The ideal of Moksha becomes the liberation of the self from death to rebirth.
- The parable of Yama and Nachiketas details this.
Basic Principles:
- Karma, which was once only about ritual, was applied to all action.
- Birth, death and rebirth set a pattern for all the cosmos.
- All lives are a series of death.
- Even places od heavenly reward or punishment were temporary.
- Good action, the following of ones dharma and ethical decisions affected the position of one’s re-birth, or liberation.
The Bhagavad Gita:
- Part of an epic called the Mahabharata ( 3rd – 4th century BCE)
4 Yogas/Paths:
- Karma Yoga – Action/service
- Jnana Yoga – knowledge
- Bhakti Yoga – worship/devotion
- Raja Yoga meditation
Shakti: Goddess Worship:
- Devi
- Kali
Key terms cont.
- Trimurti Hindu “trinity” (Euro-Christian influence here?)
- Brahma (creator)
- Shiva (the destroyer)
- Vishnu (preservation)
- 2. Monism the cosmos is one essence; everything is Brahma
- Some Hindus might be considered is Brahma
- Others might be polytheist
- Others might be henotheists, etc.
- 3. Hindu and other types of nationalism:
- Evidence of other types of nationalism
- Nationalism cannot be neatly described as:
- Political, religious, racial, etc.
- This shows us how much social/cultural overlap there are between these categories, and how religious literacy is essential to understanding the world around us.
