Hinduism: Themes

Achieving Salvation:
Possible Vocab to use: Krinshna, Maya, Moksha

In Hinduism, the belief is that each person is made of a body and a soul, or Atman. The goal in Hinduism is to unite our conscious mind with our Atman because what our conscious mind perceives as reality is known as maya, or illusion. Maya is the belief that we invest ourselves in our life right now, and don't see the larger picture that our Atman is part of. When we finally realize this, and can step outside of our worries in our finite lives, our Atman will achieve Moksha, and escape the cycle of endless rebirths known as Samsara. To help us with this process, there are four main types of Yoga, or ways to unite oneself with one's Atman. These four types of Yoga are: Jnana yoga, the yoga of knowledge, where one studies religious texts to lose numb all other senses through extreme focus so the spiritual sense may be awakened, Bhakti yoga, the yoga of love or devotion for one God where one can lose worldly worry and focus on uniting with one's Atman, Ashtanga yoga, the physical yoga where one must first have moral ethics, then learn to control breathing and focus the mind by banishing all personal thoughts, and finally Karma yoga, the yoga of selfless action, where by acting with good intentions solely for the reason that they are the right thing to do, one does not expect reward and can therefore focus on the most important thing in life and escape selfish desires. By following one of these yogas, our Atman can successfully achieve salvation, and enter into Nirvana where it can reunite with Brahman.

Important figures / deities and/or Concept of God(s):
Possible Vocab to use: Guru, Krishna, Trimurti & Brahman, Trimurti, Avatar, Darshan

There is debate over whether Hinduism is a monotheistic religion or a polytheistic religion. The debate arises because of the following facts about Hinduism. In Hinduism, there is one main god, Brahma who has always been and will always be. Stemming from Brahma are three interpretations of him, the trimurti; Vishnu, Shiva and Brahman. These three interpretations have become deities to help Hindu people understand Brahma better. They each represent one quality of Brahma. For example, Vishnu is the provider of everything needed for the world. Brahman took the material and shaped it into the world we know. Shiva provides a balance of good and evil. Further divisions and sects of Hinduism arise as different depictions of these three deities, such as Vaishnavas, worshippers of Vishnu, Shaivites, worshippers of Shiva, and Shaktas, worshippers of the female version of Shiva. To portray these deities, avatars, or physical representations are used in worship and in festivals. Because of the worship of one God on the surface, and the worship of interpretations of him as deities, Hinduism is both a monotheistic and polytheistic religion.


Sacred Texts / Doctrines
Possible Vocab to use: Shruti, Smirti, Upanishads, Varna

The Vedas are the first recorded religious text in the world, and are records of the Vedic people. Though they do not contain all the main Hindu beliefs of today, they do provide the origins of these beliefs. Within the Four books of the Vedas, the last section, the Upanishads, is perhaps the most influential in the Hindu religion. It provides the philosophical basis for which the Hindu religion was constructed upon. It contains the preliminary beliefs on the Atman, Brahma and Karma which have developed over thousands of years into the system of belief we call "Hinduism" today. The subsequent beliefs that derived from the Upanishads were recorded and retold through Shruti, oral traditon, and Smirti, written tradition. Shruti is passed on with the help of Gurus, religious leaders who have studied with respected Gurus. Smirti is the knowledge passed on through religious texts such as the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Mahabarata. The Bhagavad Gita passes on Hindu beliefs through one main story about warring families in the larger text, the Mahabarata. The Brahmin caste is typically the one that studies these these texts in Jnana yoga and teaches them to the other castes.

Eschatology / Cosmogony / Cosmology

Hindus believe that time is cyclical. It began with the birth of Brahma and it passes in cycles of Brahma's life such as in the "kali yuga" and the "treta yuga". For Brahma, time passes much more quickly than for humans on earth. For humans, one life cycle begins when the body is created, and an Atman joins the body. When we die, our Atman returns to Brahma, a collection of Atman, and our body ceases to be. However, if during our lifetime we reunite our conscious mind with our Atman, our Atman is freed from the cycle of rebirth and can escape to Nirvana. However, if we do not reunite our conscious mind with our Atman, our Atman is again associated with a new body. If we do not perform our duties in life, and we are a bad person in general, our Atman is associated with a body in a lower caste, and it takes that much longer for our Atman to reach Nirvana.
In terms of time, it has always been, and will always be. Our planet and ourselves may cease to exist, but another planet and world will be reborn, and through it all time will always be there. It is the one constant.