How to Understand Basic Beliefs and Practices
Hinduism is the world's third largest religion and the primary belief system of the Indian subcontinent. With roots in the ancient Vedic religion that first appeared during the Proto-Indo-European age of the fourth and fifth millennium BC, Hinduism is often referred to as the world's oldest living religion. While there are many traditions and religious texts that thread together all followers of Hinduism, it is important to understand that it consists of many different denominations that have their own interpretations of basic spiritual doctrines. In order to properly understand this religion, it is important to begin by discussing the similarities and differences between the two primary traditions of Hinduism: Vaishnavism and Shaivism.
Contrary to the understanding of many Westerners, modern Hinduism is largely monotheistic while retaining traditions that have pantheistic or polytheistic elements. Followers of Shaivism revere Shiva as the Supreme Being that is the creator, destroyer and preserver of all that exists. Shiva is often revered in depictions of Shiva linga, in which he is deeply meditating, or as a dancer performing the Tandava upon the demon of ignorance, Maya. Shaivism is the oldest of the surviving sects of Hinduism. Vaishnavism, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with nearly monotheistic devotion to Vishnu. Shiva is still recognized as a major deity in Vaisnavism as the greatest devotee of Vishnu. The main text of Vaisnavism is the Upanishads, but other Puranic texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Vedas are important to this tradition as well.
Regardless of the particular religious tradition that a follower subscribes to, one of the central beliefs of Hinduism is concerned with the eternal and immutable nature of the human soul that is transmigrated from one life to the next. As the soul, also known as atman or jiva, begins its next life, it brings with it imprints of its previous lives into the experience and personality of its newest incarnation. The metaphysical belief of reincarnation is present in most other ancient religions as well, including Taoism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. In Hinduism, the body is sometimes compared to as a garment that the owner sheds once it has worn out, at which point it simply moves on to the next body.
This physical cycle of birth and death is fueled by the desire of the soul to continue enjoying earthly pleasures and goals that require the soul to be bound to a physical body. While most of these desires are not considered necessarily sinful, this cycle of rebirth will continue so long as the soul remains lured by such temptations. This cycle of birth and death is referred to as samsara and can only be broken when a person finally becomes bored with the limitations of worldly pleasures and begins to seek out higher forms of experience. If a person is able to reach the point that they can realize their own divine and eternal nature, it is believed that they will have attained moksha, the freedom from samsara. It is at this point that most denominations of Hinduism disagree as to what follows. Some traditions hold that the soul goes on to enjoy the eternal company of a Supreme Being, while others believe that the soul is released to rejoin peace and harmony of existence as a whole.
The ultimate goal of transcendental liberation through moksha can best be understood by contemplating the four canonical aims of human life, referred to as purusharthas. The term purusharthas finds its roots in the
Sanskrit term tatpurusha, which can be loosely translated as meaning "human purpose." While salvation through moksha may be considered the final human purpose, the purusharthas covers all of the ends of human life, including dharma, artha, kama and moksha. Some of the purusharthas are based entirely on worldly endeavors, such as artha and kama, while the others are concerned with loftier pursuits, including dharma and moksha.
Artha is the pursuit of worldly success in all of its forms. Although artha is the most materialistic of the purusharthas, it is still considered a noble goal so long as it is pursued in a moral manner. Some examples of specific forms of material prosperity concerned with artha include amassing monetary wealth, obtaining a high social rank or seeking out personal fame. Regardless of the specific worldly goal that a person chooses, all forms of artha are focused on seeking out glory in the earthly realm during the course of an individual lifetime. This is considered to be an important goal of an individual who is at a stage in his life when it is necessary to focus on providing material wealth and opportunities as best as possible for his family.
Kama consists of the truly hedonistic pleasures that bind a soul to human incarnation. The pursuits related to kama include all of the physical and emotional desires that we associate with being human, such as emotional needs, aesthetic gratification, sexual fulfillment and all forms of physical pleasure. Interestingly, the pursuit of such pleasures is not technically viewed as a sin as it is in most Western tradition, but it is generally understood to severely stunt an individual's ability to advance toward loftier purusharthas and eventual release from samsara. Once a person comes to the realization that he is both divine and eternal, the worldly pleasures of kama cease to be so alluring.
While artha and kama are considered to be central to only the early stages of life and moksha becomes increasingly important with age, dharma is the only one of the purusharthas that is central to an individual's life at all points of one's development. Dharma is concerned with notions such as morality, virtue, righteousness and duty. Throughout a person's life, he is influenced by the pursuit of dharma whenever he is actively practicing charity, nonviolence or doing his best to find and fulfill his duties as human being at his current stage in life. While kama informs a person of what is most pleasurable in a situation and artha focuses on what is profitable, dharma informs a person of which actions are morally right or wrong along the path of life.
Moksha is the final pursuit of an individual's destiny and is the purushartha that generally becomes more important to a person as they advance past the stages of maturing and raising a family. Moksha is literally translated from Sanskrit as "release" and is concerned with pursuits of a higher truth and purpose above human experience. The state of moksha is often referring to have three primary components, including ultimate enlightenment, knowledge and peace. The key to obtaining Moksha is the private pursuit of self-realization that is most often obtaining by deep contemplation and the practice of one of the many forms of yoga.
When an individual is still concerned with worldly pleasures, he is said to be influenced by a human tendency known as Pravritti. Translated as "revolving towards," Pravitti is concerned with all of the temptations and pursuits that keep us rooted toward the physical world. Whether it is the pursuit of sensual pleasures or the desire to provide well for one's family, Pravitti keeps us constantly turning back to the demands and desires of human life and makes it difficult to attain any realizations about life beyond the day-to-day. However, it is believed that every individual will eventually become bored with Pravitti and will begin to turn away from the pursuits of the world.
Once a person has advanced to the stage that he is seeking out goals higher than worldly pursuits, he is being motivated by the opposite tendency of Nivritti. Nivritti is translated as "revolving away from" and is concerned with the purusharthas of dharma and moksha. However, dharma and moksha are not actively pursued until an individual begins to find dissatisfaction with artha and kama and is ready to begin searching for a higher path on his own initiative. Regardless of the various traditions of Hinduism that a person might study or believe, all hold that the responsibility for eventually pursuing and obtaining moksha lies squarely with each individual person.
