Founded: Hinduism, the world’s oldest religion, has no beginning—it predates recorded
History founder: Hinduism has no human founder.
Major scriptures: The Vedas, Ågamas and more.
Adherents: Nearly one billion, mostly in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, Indian Ocean, Africa, Europe and North and South America.
Sects: There are four main denominations: Saivism, Sâktism, Vaishnavism and Smârtism.
SYNOPSIS
Hinduism is a vast and profound religion. It worships one Supreme Reality (called by many names) and teaches that all souls ultimately realize Truth. There is no eternal hell, no damnation. It accepts all genuine spiritual paths—from pure monism (“God alone exists”) to theistic dualism (“When shall I know His Grace?”). Each soul is free to find his own way, whether by devotion, austerity, meditation (yoga) or selfless service. Stress is placed on temple worship, scripture and the guru-disciple tradition. Festivals, pilgrimage, chanting of holy hymns and home worship are dynamic practices. Love, nonviolence, good conduct and the law of dharma define the Hindu path. Hinduism explains that the soul reincarnates until all karmas are resolved and God Realization is attained. The magnificent holy temples, the peaceful piety of the Hindu home, the subtle metaphysics and the science of yoga all play their part. Hinduism is a mystical religion, leading the devotee to personally experience the Truth within, finally reaching the pinnacle of consciousness where man and God are one.
GOALS OF THE FOUR MAJOR HINDU SECTS
SAIVISM: The primary goal of saivism is realizing one’s identity with God Siva, in perfect union and nondifferentiation. This is termed nirvi kal pa samâdhi, Self Realization, and may be attained in this life, granting moksha, permanent liberation from the cycles of birth and death. A secondary goal is savikalpa samâdhi, the realization of Satchidânanda, a unitive experience within superconsciousness in which perfect Truth, knowledge and bliss are known. The soul’s final destiny is visvagrâsa, total merger in God Siva.
SÅKTISM: The primary goal of Sâktism is moksha, defined as complete identification with God Siva. A secondary goal for the Sâktas is to perform good works selflessly so that one may go, on death, to the heaven worlds and thereafter enjoy a good birth on Earth, for heaven, too, is a transitory state. For Sâktas, God is both the formless Absolute (Siva) and the manifest Divine (Sakti), worshiped as Pârvatî, Durgâ, Kâlî, Amman, Râjarâjesvarî, etc. Emphasis is given to the feminine manifest by which the masculine Unmanifest is ultimately reached.
VAISHNAVISM: The primary goal of Vaishnavites is videha mukti, liberation—attainable only after death—when the small self realizes union with God Vishnu’s body as a part of Him, yet maintains its pure individual personality. Lord Vishnu—all-pervasive consciousness—is the soul of the uni verse, distinct from the world and from the jîvas, “embodied souls,” which constitute His body. His transcendent Being is a celestial form residing in the city of Vaikun†ha, the home of all eternal values and perfection, where the soul joins Him upon mukti, liberation. A secondary goal—the experience of God’s Grace—can be reached while yet embodied through taking refuge in Vishnu’s unbounded love. By loving and serving Vishnu and meditating upon Him and His incarnations, our spiritual hunger grows and we experience His Grace flooding our whole being.
SMÅRTISM: The ultimate goal of Smârtas is moksha, to realize oneself as Brahman—the Absolute and only Reality—and become free from samsâra, the cycles of birth and death. For this, one must conquer the state of avidyâ, or ignorance, which causes the world to appear as real. All illusion has vanished for the realized being, Jîvanmukta, even as he lives out life in the physical body. At death, his inner and outer bodies are extinguished. Brahman alone exists.
PATHS OF ATTAINMENT
SAIVISM: The path for Íaivites is divided into four progressive stages of belief and practice called charyâ, kriyâ, yoga and jñâna. The soul evolves through karma and reincarna tion from the instinctive-intellectual sphere into virtuous and moral living, then into temple worship and devotion, followed by internalized worship or yoga and its meditative disciplines. Union with God Íiva comes through the grace of the satguru and culminates in the soul’s maturity in the state of jñâna, or wisdom. Saivism values both bhakti and yoga, devotional and contemplative sâdhanas.
SÅKTISM: The spiritual practices in Sâktism are similar to those in Saivism, though there is more emphasis in Sâktism on God’s Power as op posed to Being, on man tras and yan tras, and on embracing apparent opposites: male-female, absolute-relative, pleasure-pain, cause-effect, mind-body. Certain sects within Sâktism undertake “left-hand” tantric rites, consciously using the world of form to trans mute and eventually transcend that world. The “left-hand” approach is somewhat occult in nature; it is considered a path for the few, not the many. The “right-hand” path is more conservative in nature.
VAISHNAVISM: Most Vaishnavites believe that religion is the performance of bhakti sâdhanas, and that man can com municate with and receive the grace of the Gods and Goddesses through the darßana of their icons. The paths of karma yoga and jñâna yoga lead to bhakti yoga. Among the foremost practices of Vaishnavites is chanting the holy names of the Avatâras, Vishnu’s incarnations, especially Râma and Krishna. Through total self-surrender, prapatti, to Vishnu, to Krishna or to His beloved consort Râdhârâni, liberation from samsâra is attained.
SMÅRTISM: Smârtas, the most eclectic of Hindus, believe that moksha is achieved through jñâna yoga alone—defined as an intellectual and meditative but non-kundalinî-yoga path. Jñâna yoga’s progressive stages are scriptural study (Sravana), reflection (manana) and sustained meditation (dhyâna). Guided by a realized guru and avowed to the unreality of the world, the initiate meditates on him self as Brahman to breakthrough the illusion of mâyâ. Devotees may also choose from three other non-successive paths to cultivate devotion, accrue good karma and purify the mind. These are bhakti yoga, karma yoga and râja yoga, which certain Smârtas teach can also bring enlightenment.
HINDU BELIEFS
1. I believe in a one, all-pervasive Supreme Being who is both immanent and transcendent, both Creator and Unmanifest Reality.
2. I believe in the divinity of the Vedas, the world’s most ancient scrip ture, and venerate the Ågamas as equally revealed. These primordial hymns are God’s word and the bedrock of Sanâtana Dharma, the eternal religion which has neither beginning nor end.
3. I believe that the universe undergoes endless cycles of creation, preservation and dissolution.
4. I believe in karma, the law of cause and effect by which each individual creates his own destiny by his thoughts, words and deeds.
5. I believe that the soul reincarnates, evolving through many births until all karmas have been resolved, and moksha, spiritual knowledge and liberation from the cycle of rebirth, is attained. Not a single soul will be eternally deprived of this destiny.
6. I believe that divine beings exist in unseen worlds and that temple worship, rituals, sacraments as well as personal devotionals create a communion with these devas and Gods.
7. I believe that a spiritually awakened master, or satguru, is essential to know the Transcendent Absolute, as are personal discipline, good conduct, purification, pilgrimage, self-inquiry and meditation.
8. I believe that all life is sacred, to be loved and revered, and therefore practice ahimsâ, “noninjury.”
9. I believe that no particular religion teaches the only way to salvation above all others, but that all genuine religious paths are facets of God’s Pure Love and Light, deserving tolerance and understanding.