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The
Vedas and the Formation of Hinduism
The Vedas are the most ancient spiritual texts in Hinduism. The earliest
Vedic hymns date back to 4000 B.C.E. In the very early times they
were transmitted as an oral tradition, and the written versions came
a little later. There were four major Vedas and each was divided into
four parts. The fourth section in each Veda contained the Upanishads,
which are dated between 1500 B.C.E. and 500 B.C.E. The knowledge contained
in them is what is referred to as Vedanta. This knowledge forms the
spiritual foundation of Hinduism. The practices in Hinduism are so
varied that they cannot be enumerated, but the spiritual foundation
underlying these various practices is the same. |
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Specifics
of Vedanta Philosophy
The knowledge of the Upanishads can be looked at either as the macrocosm
(creation and the dissolution of the universe and other related questions)
or the microcosm (understanding what constitutes the individual, the
goal of life and related questions). This session will look at the
microcosm as well as the macrocosm. In addition to looking at the
creation and dissolution of the universe and the implications of that,
we will also look at all the issues related to the individual; the
various layers that constitute an individual; the functions of the
mind, the three levels of consciousness, karma and reincarnation and
other related issues. |
| The Texts
There are three major texts (or groups of texts) that are the basis
of Vedanta: the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutras
(or Vedanta sutras).
There are 108 extant Upanishads of which ten or eleven are considered
the most important on which commentaries have been written by the
renowned teachers. Shankarcharya, the greatest exponent of Vedanta
lived during the eight century C.E. and among his other writings are
commentaries on ten of the Upanishads. We will look at two, very interesting
and easy to understand, Upanishads – the Katha Upanishad and
the Kena Upanishad.
In the second half of the session we will look at the Bhagavad Gita,
a text which presents the teaching of the Upanishads in a simple cohesive
form. This is a text that is most widely read by Hindus and could
be compared in importance to the Bible and the Koran. The text has
more than 700 verses and is in the form of a dialogue between Sri
Krishna (recognized as one of the forms in which the Divine took birth
on earth) and Arjuna (a very heroic but somewhat muddled student like
most of us). In the brief time we have we will look at the background
setting of this conversation and some of the highlights of the text.
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| Spiritual
Practices, the 4 Yogas
So far we have looked at the theory and philosophy underlying Hinduism.
It is now time to look at the practices. There are many varied practices
that are followed by the Hindus. The reason for this is that the enlightened
teacher plays a very important role. Whenever there is such a teacher
(and there have been many, many such over the ages) the practices
are adjusted to be perfect for that time and place. Spiritual truths
never change, but the detail of practices may change over time to
adjust to historical changes. Another reason why practices may vary
is because people vary in ability, in taste and temperament. A moth
er cooks different dishes for her teenager, toddler and the baby!
And Grandpa my get something special to meet his needs!
Broadly speaking these practices fall into four groups: those for
the active worker (Karma Yoga), those for the devotional person for
whom love of the Divine is very important (Bhakti Yoga), those that
focus on knowledge and for whom intellectual understanding is very
important (Jnana Yoga), and those that focus on concentration and
meditation (Raja Yoga). Most of us prefer some combination of these.
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| Meditation
Meditation is a spiritual practice that overarches all the others.
No matter where you start and how you proceed, at some point you are
going to end up trying (and very hard, at that!) to meditate. This
session will be devoted to the various practices that are really a
pre-requisite to meditation. We will also look at the different types
of meditations and the different phases of meditation. This discussion
will loosely follow a classic text, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.
We will conclude with some guided meditation. |
| Possible Pilgrimage
to India...dates will be announced,
This guided tour of India is an optional feature [a really great
one!] and will focus on visiting Tirthas [Holy Places] in India.
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