Eastern Religions

Hinduism 2:

Vedic Hinduism

1. Indus Valley Civilization2. Vedic Basics: Orality3. Sacred Places4. The Eternal and Creation Stories5. Mono-, Poly-, and Henotheism

Gold and White

Rewriting History: The Indus Valley Civilization

5

Indus Valley Civilization along the Indus River2500-1750 BC

discovered when British werebuilding railroads

Harappa

Mohenjo Daro

ritual purificationby water

•Running Water•Below-ground Sewer system

Seals

Swastika Symbol of the Radiance of the Sun

The Sanskrit word Swastika means “Well- Being”or in some contexts “It is good,” or “Let the Good Prevail”

Ancient Iranian necklace

Nazi misuse of the symbol:Sacred Spiritual Symbol of peace and the blessings of Nature became symbol of racism and World War.

From the Hopi Prophecy Rock

A Common World Archetype

Native American blanket

The Swastika is often worn or displayed as a Good Luck Charm.

Shiva

In Modern Hinduism,there are 2 main gods:

SHIVAand

VISHNU Andsome people

are devoted tovarious forms of

THEGODDESS

Proto Shiva

phallus(creativepower)

buffalohorns

(controlledpower)

Symbols of POWER

elephant(controlled

power)

tiger(uncontrolled flowing

power)

Modern Hindu worship of Shiva is probably partly derived from Dravidian worship of

ThePashupati

Seal

The Mother Goddess

Elamite goddess

IVC Mother Goddess

dancing girl

Modern Hindu worship of the Goddess is probably largely derived from Dravidian worship of

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2 Phases of Hindu History

1.Vedic Hinduism (Vedism)

2.Vedantic Hinduism(Vedanta)

vedic basics: orality

1

Vedas (Knowledge)

‘Vid’ (Sanskrit) is the verb ‘to see’vision visorvideo adviser

visual

PIE: ueid (to know)Greek: eidos (idea)English: wit

The 7 Rishisthe writers of the Vedas

Related to the Sanskrit word rish, “to flow,”the Rishis are sages who possess inner sight

into the Sanatana Dharma

The ones through whomthe sacred sounds flow.

Rishikesh, India

ancient oral texts not written down until around 200 BC to 200 AD

4 Vedas

The Rig Vedathe main source for the stories of the gods

1. Rigveda kn. of praise2. Yajurveda kn. of sacrifice3. Samaveda kn. of melody4. Atharvaveda practical kn.

(includingAyurveda)

Samhitas: Collections

Ayurveda Introduction

Ayurveda (Life Science)Hindu Medicine

some basic understanding of germs

first known use of antibiotics

In the 4th Veda(Atharvaveda)PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE, including

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sacred places

2

Mt. MeruAxis Mundi

Image of Mt. Kenya in Africa

“672k miles high” : )

The Home of the Gods

Mt. Everest is less than

6 miles high

Avg.distance

to the moon?239kmiles

Mt. MeruAxis Mundi

Mt. Kanchenjunga in India, almost as tall as Everest

Mandala (Circle)

Sacred Circle Representing the Order of the Cosmos

medieval Europeanmandala

Aborigines of Australia Native American Chinese

Celtic Aztec Star of David

Christian Labyrinth

Tibetan Sand Mandala

Hindu Mandala

Sometimes called a yantra

Hindu Temples with Mandala Design

the center of the

mandalais a

bindu, and

representsMt. Meru

Angkor Watin Cambodia

Angkor Wat in Cambodia

Sarasvati River

Saraswati RV 7:95THIS stream Sarasvati with fostering current comes forth, our sure defense, our fort of iron.As on a car, the flood flows on, surpassing in majesty and might all other waters. Pure in her course from mountains to the ocean, alone of streams Sarasvati hath listened.

The Ganges River

Ganges Riverhas its origins in the heavens

Milky Way

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the eternal and creation stories

3

The Tao of Physics

Fritjof Capra

Compares the findings in ModernQuantum Physics to Eastern Religions

Science and Hindu Literature

Quoted the Bhagavad Gita: "Death I am, cause of destruction of the worlds..."

"The Vedas are the greatest privilege of this century.“

—J. Robert Oppenheimer

"Vedanta is the most impressive metaphysics the human mind has

conceived.“—A.N. Whitehead

Om (Aum) Sacred Sound of the Universe

Creation Stories*

out of which all else flows

“In the beginning was the Word…”–John 1:1

String Theory in Physics

The Universe as a Concert

“And just as a violin stringcan vibrate in different patterns, each of which produces a different musical tone, the filamentsof superstring theory can also vibrate in different patterns.”—Brian Greene,The Fabric of the Cosmos

String theory is an attempt to unify relativity theory and quantum theory into a TOE.‘TOE’ stands for ‘Theory of Everything’

Planetary nebula called a Cosmic Egg

The Cosmic Egg

The Big Bang

The god Yahweh as depicted by Michelangeloon the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Genesis 1 says “Yahweh created man in his own image. In Yahweh's image he created him; male and female he created them.”

Michelangelo

Rubens’Adam and Evein the Garden

Genesis: Man Created in God’s Image

The Creative Principle w/a Personality…a SELF,an agent

Self-Sacrifice of Purushato Create the World

Purusha is the Cosmic Man (Being)

Purusha is the Consciousness of the Universe

Head Heavens

Torso Atmosphere

Lower Body Earth

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Creation of the Social Orderby the self-sacrifice of Purusha

+ UNTOUCHABLES/OUTCASTES

4 Varnas or Castes(The Caste System)

Mouth Priests(Brahmins)

Arms Warriors

Thighs/GenitalsProducers

Feet Servants

Outside of this caste system—lower than the lowest:

Harijan: children ofGod

Dalits (oppressed)

Gandhi embraced untouchables and called them

The Caste system is illegal today in India, but continues on through customs or habit.

Hymn to Purusha (Cosmic Man)

“A thousand heads hath Purusha, a thousand eyes, and a thousand feet.Covering the world all around, he yet exceeds it on all sides.This Purusha is all that hath been and all that is to be;The lord of immortality as well as of creatures who grow by food.So mighty is his greatness; yea, greater than all creation is Purusha.”

by Valérie Trotin

Purusha: Cosmic Man

Many Arms represent Omnipotence

Many Eyes/Heads represent Omniscience

The SELF behind all creation

art as“spiritual technology”

Purusha and Prakriti

Later Hinduism: Shiva-ShaktiBuddhism: Yab Yum

The unionof male and

female isthe Hindu

equivalent to

The Tai Chi

Consciousness and its field of Material Energy

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monotheism, polytheism,and henotheism

4

Kali Ganesh

Vishnu, Lakshmi,and Garuda

Surya

Ravana(Asura, demon)

Deva (God) Devi (Goddess)The Devas and Devis are Cosmic Powers, like the Kami in Japan

‘Div’ means ‘to shine’ divine, divinity

DYAUS ZEUS THEOS THEOLOGYDYAUS PITR ZEU PATER JUPITER God The study of God

(Sky Father, whose mate is Prithvi Matr/Mother Earth)

(one god in principle, many gods in practice)

vs. Monotheism (belief in one god)or Polytheism (belief in many gods)

330 Million Gods

3 kinds:celestialatmosphericearth

Hinduism is a form of Henotheism

One God

“Sages (learned Priests) call one God by many names.” [Rig Veda 1:164:46]

"O friends, do not worship anybody but Him, the Divine One. Praise Him alone." [Rig Veda 8:1:1]

"Verily, great is the glory of the Divine Creator."[Rig Veda 5:1:81]

Walter BurkertUniversity of Zurich

Theory of Epithets

In sacred literature, ‘epithets’ were used to describe the role and attributes of the divine, and the epithets themselves were later personified and myths

were created to explain their roles.

Epithets are attributes that distinguish a character.

Example:Alexander‘The Great’

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