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Home , Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Mundaka Upanishad, Puranas, Purusha, Upanishads, Vishishtadvaita

The and Hindu Philosophical and Religious Tradions Themes from the Upanishads 1. Impermanence and Permanence

• The of sense objects is impermanent, but there is a permanent, enduring .

• This permanent reality is sat-chit-ananda (- -bliss).

• When sat-chit-ananda is viewed as an external, cosmic reality, it is called “.” When viewed as the inner reality of the individual person, it is called “Atman.” 2. The Brahman Reality • Many of the Upanishads teach that Brahman is non-duality, and idencal with Atman.

• Non-dual sat-chit-ananda appears or manifests as the mulplicity of objects in our . What endures is one, but it’s name and form (nama- rupa) is many.

• The non-dual concepon of the Brahman/Atman reality implies ulmate reality has no aributes (nirguna) and is thus not a personal being.

The Non-Dual interpretaon of Brahman implies that “” represent different provisional manifestaons of formless Brahman. Brahma Vishnu Shiva

The Trimur (three forms) represent formless Brahman manifested or immanent in the cosmic processes of creaon, preservaon, and dissoluon/ recreaon of the cosmos. This is the meaning of the or AUM. Brahman as Personal

• The Upanishads also refer to Brahman under various aributes (), including those indicave of personhood: , , and moral goodness (Svetasvatara Upanishad, VI.1-23).

• Some passages in subordinate imperishable Brahman to the supreme “” (person).

• Other later Upanishads emphasize personal (e.g. Katha, Isa, and Svetasvatara).

Atman and

• Brahman as the Supreme personal being implies that atman (the true Self) and the Absolute are disnct, though inmately related to each other.

• This also suggests a plurality of atman realies, as mulple finite manifestaons of the infinite essence of Brahman.

• The true Self of each person is to Brahman what a wave is to the ocean. 3. The Human Condion

• The impermanence of the world is found also in the human disposion to identy Self with the body-mind.

• The “separate self” is the atman reality condioned by aachments to sense objects.

• Aachment = idenfying the Self with the body or mind (thinking, perceiving, and sensing). Unhappiness

• Where there is a “separate self,” there is unhappiness, lack of peace, lack of sasfacon or fulfillment.

• By of its self-understanding, the “separate self” is by definion separated from the permanent sacred reality that alone is the peace or fulfillment it seeks.

• The “self-understanding” of the separate self is really a form of ignorance (avidya). 4. Spiritual Pracce

The Upanishads refer to a variety of “spiritual pracces” by means of which the separate self is dismantled and true peace (ananda) is realized.

Unhappiness

Separate Self

Aachment to Sense Objects Since the separate self is grounded in aachment to sense objects, the dissoluon of the self-separate self is by way of non-aachment, which is facilitated by three pracces:

• Discriminaon () between what is enduring and non-enduring.

• Meditaon (dhyana) on the inner Self or God as the enduring reality.

• Love or devoonal service (bhak) to the Self or God. The Upanishads and Hindu Philosophical Tradions Sankhya

• Oldest systemac philosophy of the Hindu tradions, extending back to the period of the Upanishads.

• Central concepts: the disncon between maer (prakri) and consciousness (purusha). Liberaon from samsara requires culvaon of pracces to realize the Self as consciousness uncondioned by maer.

• Sankhya is dualisc: there are many true selves.

• Sankhya is atheisc, since in a god is not part of Sankhya. Raja- of • Patanjali’s Yoga (circa 100 BCE – 500 CE).

• One’s true Self is purusha or atman, buried beneath the layers of a separate self.

• Yoga is chia-vri nirodha, slling the thought forms of the mind by pracces of moral virtue, discriminaon, meditaon, including physical posture and breath control.

• Belief in a personal god is included in the Yoga Darshan. It’s a marginal element, though, since what is essenal for liberaon is individual self-effort not the grace of a god. Originang with Shankara (circa 9th century CE) - the systemac elaboraon of the Upanishads.

Shankara’s tradion of Vedanta is , “advaita” meaning not-two. This school of Vedanta adopts a radically non-dual understanding of reality.

By contrast, Bhak Vedanta tradions affirm that Brahman is ulmately a personal reality, the true self of each person is disnct from Brahman and each other, even though they are inmately related. Vedanta in the United States The Advaita tradion came to the United States in the last quarter of the 20th century through the teachings of Vivekananda (right), the great disciple of 19th century Sri (le).

Vedanta in the United States The Bhak tradion came to the United States in the 1960s under the guidance of A.C. Bhakvedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of the Hare movement (a species of )

Devoonal Hindu Religious Tradions Textual Sources

• Theism (belief in a single Supreme personal being) emerges in many of the later Upanishads (8th-6th centuries BCE).

• Theism is an important f in the Epic literature of beginning around the 5th century BCE.

• The (circa 300 BCE), for example, emphasized the ulmately personal nature of ulmate reality (Brahman), as well as its manifestaon in human form as (Lord) Krishna. The

• Hindu devoonal tradions are also based on the various texts called the Puranas, which were composed largely during the Gupta period (circa 320-500 century CE), and revised during the medieval period.

• The Puranas are conceptually influenced by aspects of both the Upanishads and Epic literature. As such they are an interesng blend of non-dual philosophy, , and theism.

The Puranas • The Puranas are essenal for understanding of the gods in the mainline devoonal tradions of India today.

• Although acknowledging many of the different gods of , the Puranas demonstrate the rise in popularity of the worship of Vishnu and the worship of Shiva as the Supreme being.

• Some of the Puranas are wrien from a sectarian viewpoint in which Vishnu or Shiva is the Supreme being, and all other gods are subordinate enes. Bhak Renaissance

• Between the 6th to 9th centuries CE, bhak tradions grew in intensity in South India among many poets and myscs, and by the 11th century were widespread in .

• The worship of Vishnu (Vaishnavism) and Shiva () as the Supreme being were the prominent general forms of religious worship in the Bhak tradions.

• Bhak tradions emphasized the loss of ego in total surrender and love for God, oen rejecng more formalized aspects of religious worship (formal temple worship, yoga, and ). Contemporary Devoonal Tradions Vaishnavism: Worship of Vishnu or Krishna as the Supreme Being. Vaishnava Tradions

• Vaishnavism designates a variety of different tradions centered on the worship of Vishnu (or Krishna) and his many expansions or manifestaons.

• Some Vaishnava tradions (dvaita) are strongly dualisc in nature, affirming a disncon between God, the world, and . Others () are non-dualisc with qualificaon: souls are part of God’s being. Others () affirm the simultaneous difference and non-difference between the Self and God. Shaivism: Worship of Shiva as the Supreme Being.

Saiva : Dualistic – Shiva and the devotee are distinct.

Kasmir Shaivism: Non-dualism – Shiva and the devotee are non- distinct, whose essential nature is consciousness. : Worship of or – the Divine Mother – as the Supreme Being.

Rooted in the Puranas and Tantric texts.

Less clearly defined than Vaishnavism and Shaivism.

Often indistinguishable from Shaivism. Smartism: Worship of one’s own chosen as one among many different manifestations of formless Brahman. Philosophically grounded in Advaita Vedanta. “ is one, but the sages call it by different names.” – Rig Veda References

• Steven Rosen, Essential (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006). • R.C. Zaehner, Hindu and Muslim (New York: Schocken Books, 1969), Chapters 2-4. • R.C. Zaehner, Hinduism (New York: , 1972). • Swami Prabhavanda, The Spiritual Heritage of India: A Clear Summary of and (Hollywood, CA: Vedanta Press, 1979), Chapters 1-3. • , Introduction to Hinduism (Cambridge University Press, 1996). • Hans Torwesten, Vedanta: Heart of Hinduism (New York: Grove Press, 1991), Chapter 1. • Dominic Goodall (ed.), Hindu Scriptures (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996).