Namaste

Ganesh

Indus Valley Civilization [2500-1500 BCE]

Hydraulic civilization based on agriculture and trade that reach the Mediterranean

Himalayan Note:

Based on analysis of stone beads traded, recent research has discovered that trade in the Indus Valley Civilization stretched up into the western Himalayas.

Vedic Civilization

≠Invasion

Slow waves of migration by

horse/chariot using nomadic peoples

Early and profoundly significant interactions with already settled peoples

Hinduism I:

Vedic Ritualism

Zeus and Indra: warrior gods who are thunderbolt-wielders

Agni: the fire god who “marches ahead” of Aryan warriors, clearing the forest for settlement

Later Hindu holy men also perform this service for humanity.

Beyond Ritual Manipulation of gods and cosmos, new Spiritual Experiments:

Psychotropic Plants, Upanishads, Asceticism, Yoga

800 BCE:

The Rise of Sanyassins, Sadhus: Wandering ascetics

A traditional religious role that continues until today

Microcosm ≈ Macrocosm

Hinduism II: Mysticism and YOGA

Yoking the energies of the body to realize ultimate truth

Normal Waking Consciousness

Samadhi: the goal of Yoga spiritual attainment

[“trance”]

Direct, clear, awareness of divine within:

ATMAN = BRAHMAN [Tat Tvam Asi]

key primordial sound that opens the mind to spiritual understanding. OM/ AUM:

KARMADeed

Effect of deed, a natural law of cause and effect

Deposited in the soul [atman], leading to future fruition: good→good, bad→bad

This life and future lifetimes….

CASTE [varna and jati]

The most notable example of karma fruition is in next life rebirth and in those conditions….

This spiritual understanding of soul, rebirth, retribution in karma formed the foundation of and justification for a hierarchical social order

DHARMAA human’s birth-defined caste and

gender-defined “DUTY”

• An individual who does his/her proper duty creates the karma to move up in the varna system

• Eventually reaching moksha “release”

MOKSHA

Atman merges with brahman

PHASE III. BHAKTI

Devotional refuge in the gods [devata]

Bhakti principle of ista deva

[personal god]

Matched to individual’s karma

The great gods have the power to add karmic grace, and change individual destiny

Vishnu or Narayan

Vishnu Avatara theology

[incarnation]

Rama

Krishna avatara

Krishna as divine child

Krishna as divine lover

Krishna as Sage-Hero of Mahabharata,

second great Hindu epic

Speaks to Arjuna when he loses faith in doing his dharma and reveals ultimate reality of multiple forms of yoga, and his own divinity:

DEVI: the Goddess

Lakshmi and Sarasvati

WealthLearning and arts

Devi incarnations as Personifications of Woman’s virtue

Durga and Kali: Incarnation of Feminine Power [shakti]

Hinduism in Practice: Bhakti ritual [PUJA]

Vrata Rituals

The Himalayas in the Indic Imagination